Yellow pages case study (how bad they really are)

12 years ago

Originally Posted by mattie77

Hi Guys and girls,

Well it has been a while since I have posted a thread but I had to share this with you guys.

My better half has a Cleaning Business and got sucked in by a swift talking Yellow Pages rep to sign up for an online gold and print ad package, total cost for 6 months was just over $1600.

She was told that with the gold package that she would be at the top of the online search however 90% of cleaning companies had been sold the same package, as a result 2nd from the bottom of the first page of listings.

The rep would not return our calls to speak about the above problem but would call us daily to get the other half to sign.

Then about 2 months in we were hit with extra charges, Still not sure what they were for but it was about an extra $200.....

Great post and great information.

May I have permission to post this on one of my sites; with a link to the cleaning business website you mentioned of course

Paul Barrs

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mattie77

12 years ago

Hi Paul, Yes you can use this on your website. I haven't got around to building the website as yet as there is plenty of business coming through Google places, (although I will have to do some more optimization as some of the listings have dropped to 2 and 3) But still I cant complain about that.

I will get her website going with in the next month or so and let you know what the address is so that you can add a link.

Thanks
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sprks79 12 years ago

That is awesome. glad to hear it went well when someone knowledgeable was in charge YP ads is exactly how I get most of my clients. Truth be told, of the 67 clients I have, 58 of them came from the YP. I wont say YP is dying, however, I'm ok with their shady practices, brings me more clients

On a side note, a lot of businesses have an issue with the way YP runs their online sites. Horrible, but people still swear by it. It's a good thing you were able to help her. Keep it up.
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mattie77

12 years ago

Yellow Pages isn't dead but the dodgy reps are killing it. I tell all of my clients to keep a free listing in YP. It frees up a massive amount of their advertising budget.

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sprks79

12 years ago

Originally Posted by mattie77

Yellow Pages isn't dead but the dodgy reps are killing it. I tell all of my clients to keep a free listing in YP. It frees up a massive amount of their advertising budget.

1 billion % agree...and then they can spend the rest with us

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by mattie77

Hi Guys and girls,

Well it has been a while since I have posted a thread but I had to share this with you guys.

My better half has a Cleaning Business and got sucked in by a swift talking Yellow Pages rep to sign up for an online gold and print ad package, total cost for 6 months was just over $1600.

She was told that with the gold package that she would be at the top of the online search however 90% of cleaning companies had been sold the same package, as a result 2nd from the bottom of the first page of listings.

The rep would not return our calls to speak about the above problem but would call us daily to get the other half to sign.

Then about 2 months in we were hit with extra charges, Still not sure what they were for but it was about an extra $200.

Customer service at Yellow was hopeless many hours spent on the phone only to ring back next time and no notes had been put on the system about the previous calls.

We cancelled at the end of the 6 month contract and surprise the rep started harassing us again. He sent us the report of the performance and was saying how can you say that the advertising isn't working for you.

Well here's some stats.

Total clicks for 6 months : 46
Page impressions : 1531 (this was how many times someone searched for cleaning)

so $1800 total cost divided by 46 clicks = $39.13 per click

My other half was lucky to get 1 call a fortnight from the yellow pages ad.

I set her Google places page up with some optimization and got her straight to #1. Since I have done this the phone rings several times a day with inquiries and bookings. The yellow pages listing nearly caused her business to fail and now she has hired another 3 cleaners just from the work that comes from Google.

Total cost for Google places listing $0 and a couple of hours work for me.

I will put some more brief case studies up in the future currently working on a client that is paying $6000per year and getting worse results than the cleaning business.

How do you know the results now are not because of the YP ads ??? OK, don't shoot, I am only JOKING. Their packages are bad deals and when I asked our rep if they assured me clicks or unique visits, she insisted they are the same.....LOL

I have minimal ads in the phone book and nothing on their website.

You could have purchased a TON of google adwords to get very targeted visits for that much money....the YP reps just do not understand it. That is what the company does, buys adwords to get you traffic. Thanks for posting.

Enterpryzman

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mattie77

12 years ago

At this stage it isnt worth running an adwords campaign for the cleaning business as it is already at the top for the the keywords that we chased. (if not at the top still in the top 3).

But definitely you could have a massive adwords campaign with that sort of money

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KateHunter

12 years ago

thanks for sharing this, proves that google is the new yellow pages, who bothers going to yellow pages to search when you can just search google, who bothers actually getting out the phone book, that's so last century!

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by KateHunter

thanks for sharing this, proves that google is the new yellow pages, who bothers going to yellow pages to search when you can just search google, who bothers actually getting out the phone book, that's so last century!

Don't kid yourself, MANY clients still use the YP book and it is very valid to have a listing of some type, it all depends on what service or product you are selling. I would never pay them for a web listing yet, I maintain listings in the book. I have another thread about it here.

OP, thanks, I was talking about prior to your SEO and places work and I am sure it would not be wise now to use adwords in the traditional way.

Best wishes,
Enterpryzman

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rockyonfire

12 years ago

Thank you for the great post. Very informative.

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mattie77

12 years ago

Here's an update. Now this really Pi**ed me off. My other half received a letter in the mail 2 days ago from Yellow that was a bill for another $92.50. We rang them up to query it, their response was the system calculated your account incorrectly in the start so we are now adjusting it. (Nearly 12 months on).

Im sure you can imagine the words that came out of my mouth. Now wouldnt it be nice if we all could just quote a customer, put the price up after the contract is signed and then after the ads had run and the contract had ended send a bill out to our customers and say oops we made a mistake now give us more money.

Time to get into the real world Yellow. Your sinking faster than the Titanic

Thanks
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chart3 12 years ago

Thank you for sharing this info and please keep us udpated.
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thehypnoguy

12 years ago

Originally Posted by mattie77

Here's an update. Now this really Pi**ed me off. My other half received a letter in the mail 2 days ago from Yellow that was a bill for another $92.50. We rang them up to query it, their response was the system calculated your account incorrectly in the start so we are now adjusting it. (Nearly 12 months on).

Im sure you can imagine the words that came out of my mouth. Now wouldnt it be nice if we all could just quote a customer, put the price up after the contract is signed and then after the ads had run and the contract had ended send a bill out to our customers and say oops we made a mistake now give us more money.

Time to get into the real world Yellow. Your sinking faster than the Titanic

They call that residual income. You know the lifetime value of a client. Your not dead yet so they are continuing on the lifetime value part

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AussieT

12 years ago

Thanks Matt
I had not seen this post before. I will use this as an example when talking to clients also.

Thanks
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BaySocial

12 years ago

Matt,

Thanks for the post as I have a customer paying $600/month and we can't even edit their information directly online. As for the charges, if it is like my client, you should have a contract that spells out the monthly charges, as does the online system. Both show exactly the amount my customer is getting charged. So start their. PS, like we tell our own customers, review YP on YELP, Yahoo, Google, Bing, Citysearch etc. Can't hurt !

Thanks
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StratoCentric

12 years ago

Yellow Book and Yellow Pages are scams. They claim to drive all this traffic, but when you do a search for all the sites on a particular ip address, you will find about 17,000 websites per server.

I always tell my clients that companies like Hostgator rarely put over 600 sites on a particular server because of bandwidth issues....so how much traffic could they really be getting each of these 17,000 companies on that server?

Also, don't forget to tell your seo clients that you will be putting listings on these sites and instruct them to tell the pushy sales people when they call that they are under contract for three years. This will usually keep the sales people from calling again if it gets put in their system as a note.

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Vrs 12 years ago

Great thread - thanks. You and your commentors have made some great points, which means more ammo in the arsenal.

I didn't know that about the bandwith but that's some great info to have.

Thanks for the help, again, great thread!
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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by StratoCentric

Yellow Book and Yellow Pages are scams. They claim to drive all this traffic, but when you do a search for all the sites on a particular ip address, you will find about 17,000 websites per server.

I always tell my clients that companies like Hostgator rarely put over 600 sites on a particular server because of bandwidth issues....so how much traffic could they really be getting each of these 17,000 companies on that server?

Also, don't forget to tell your seo clients that you will be putting listings on these sites and instruct them to tell the pushy sales people when they call that they are under contract for three years. This will usually keep the sales people from calling again if it gets put in their system as a note.

If you are talking about the book alone, you are simply wrong. I would never pay for an ad on any of the yellow pages websites as I think they are scams....but, the book can still be very important.

I ask anyone who is claiming the book is dead or a waste, how do you qualify this statement ? Tell me in dollars how much business you personally do ? I don't want general statistics, I want personal history.

I promise you that I what I have stated here on this subject is the truth, you can take it to the bank. My business is very successful and it is absolutely in part because of continued ads in the yellow pages book.

Enterpryzman

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Doran Peck

12 years ago

Enterpryzman,

In my mind, the only way your statement could be true is if the yellowpages are
The only advertising you are putting out there. How do you know people are looking in the YP just to get your number, but really it was your newspaper ad they remember seeing a couple days ago, or the
Recommendation from a friend, or they've seen your company van driving around...but when you ask them where they found you they say yellowpages and then the YP gets them credit.

I'm not going argue that your business isn't doing well from the YP but I will emphatically assert that if you put that same money in direct mail and other mechanisms your business you will come to understand a whole new level of "my business is
doing well"
The fact is, "passive" advertising is inferior to proactive advertising. Passive advertising is when an ad sits there and waits for people to go find it. The only people who will ever read the ad are those folks who have figured out that they might need a service like yours. This is a microfraction of the total available potential prospects...of which, as you and I both know would really benefit from your services, they just havnt realized it yet. They need an "education" they need some nudging right?

The yellowpages is completely incapable of doing that for you, or anybody. ...most other mediums, cost the same or less than the YP but can do so much more and reach more
Prospects. This is the inherent problem that people are knocking on the YP, and it is a
Legitimate issue.

Thanks
1 reply

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Doran Peck

Enterpryzman,

In my mind, the only way your statement could be true is if the yellowpages are
The only advertising you are putting out there. How do you know people are looking in the YP just to get your number, but really it was your newspaper ad they remember seeing a couple days ago, or the
Recommendation from a friend, or they've seen your company van driving around...but when you ask them where they found you they say yellowpages and then the YP gets them credit.

I'm not going argue that your business isn't doing well from the YP but I will emphatically assert that if you put that same money in direct mail and other mechanisms your business you will come to understand a whole new level of "my business is
doing well"
The fact is, "passive" advertising is inferior to proactive advertising. Passive advertising is when an ad sits there and waits for people to go find it. The only people who will ever read the ad are those folks who have figured out that they might need a service like yours. This is a microfraction of the total available potential prospects...of which, as you and I both know would really benefit from your services, they just havnt realized it yet. They need an "education" they need some nudging right?

The yellowpages is completely incapable of doing that for you, or anybody. ...most other mediums, cost the same or less than the YP but can do so much more and reach more
Prospects. This is the inherent problem that people are knocking on the YP, and it is a
Legitimate issue.

You are only reading parts of what I stated, I clearly said some businesses require the YP ads. Also, some personal service businesses will completely fail when using direct mailing and aggressive ads because of the sensitive nature of the service they provide.

Also, as I have stated, it is basic ad in YP ( book only ) and it is being searched for when needed and does not require any tracking.

It is very important to fully understand the needs of each unique business and it is impossible to make any blanket statements about what it takes to get more business far any business with ad dollars.

I have my website and have for many years. I do some other advertising which reinforces my brand which is the best known and most reputable in my area. My brand is remembered and when needed, many contacts are made by looking my telephone # up in the YP.

When I say it is successful, I will not get specific but will tell you it is into multiple seven figures. I will not post any more about this subject because most responses to me have been from those who fail to understand what I am saying or perhaps did not read my post's completely.

Best wishes,
Enterpryzman

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redlegrich

12 years ago

The only way you can really tell if a printed YP ad is working is to use tracking phone numbers for each printed medium (and other ad venues) you use. If you don't then all this is just an exercise in guessing. If you know the cost of your ad and how many calls are generated then it's easy to determine the cost per call. Compare it to the other venues you use and it's a simple matter to determine what course to take.

However, make no doubt the YP ads, for some businesses and in some locales are still useful. Don't go crazy and torch a venue that brings you business. Just track it and be sure.

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4 replies

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Falkonator

12 years ago

We just took on a client who is spending $3500 per month with AT&T for his internet marketing. When we ask him what they are doing for that he said he is not sure. They did manage to get him 150 clicks to a poorly constructed landing page over the last three months. That is $70 per click.

We set up a PPC campaign for him and managed almost 100 clicks the first week, and 250 the second week.

He is interested in doing organic SEO, so we quoted him $2000 per month and he was shocked by the price and asked why it is so expensive, while not really complaining about the $3500 to AT&T.

We keep telling him to ditch AT&T but he is hesitant because he is afraid to lose out on business if he does.

He wants to start with $500 for now and scale it from there. We already proved to him that we can deliver good results.

It is unfortunate that places like that can charge that much with zero value and think they can get away with it.

Thanks
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ronr

12 years ago

What type of business was it?

It can be tough getting offline clients off YP even though tracking shows it's not doing them much good. I usually advise them to try cutting down on YP. That's easier for them to accept when they see the results they realize how much money they were wasting.

Originally Posted by Falkonator

We just took on a client who is spending $3500 per month with AT&T for his internet marketing. When we ask him what they are doing for that he said he is not sure. They did manage to get him 150 clicks to a poorly constructed landing page over the last three months. That is $70 per click.

We set up a PPC campaign for him and managed almost 100 clicks the first week, and 250 the second week.

He is interested in doing organic SEO, so we quoted him $2000 per month and he was shocked by the price and asked why it is so expensive, while not really complaining about the $3500 to AT&T.

We keep telling him to ditch AT&T but he is hesitant because he is afraid to lose out on business if he does.

He wants to start with $500 for now and scale it from there. We already proved to him that we can deliver good results.

It is unfortunate that places like that can charge that much with zero value and think they can get away with it.

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TheCG

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Falkonator

We just took on a client who is spending $3500 per month with AT&T for his internet marketing. When we ask him what they are doing for that he said he is not sure. They did manage to get him 150 clicks to a poorly constructed landing page over the last three months. That is $70 per click.

We set up a PPC campaign for him and managed almost 100 clicks the first week, and 250 the second week.

He is interested in doing organic SEO, so we quoted him $2000 per month and he was shocked by the price and asked why it is so expensive, while not really complaining about the $3500 to AT&T.

We keep telling him to ditch AT&T but he is hesitant because he is afraid to lose out on business if he does.

He wants to start with $500 for now and scale it from there. We already proved to him that we can deliver good results.

It is unfortunate that places like that can charge that much with zero value and think they can get away with it.

They can get away with it because of the trust generated by just the names "Yellow Pages" or "AT & T"

Customers feel like they "know" them. They don't really "know" you.

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MichaelHiles

12 years ago

Originally Posted by redlegrich

The only way you can really tell if a printed YP ad is working is to use tracking phone numbers for each printed medium (and other ad venues) you use. If you don't then all this is just an exercise in guessing. If you know the cost of your ad and how many calls are generated then it's easy to determine the cost per call. Compare it to the other venues you use and it's a simple matter to determine what course to take.

However, make no doubt the YP ads, for some businesses and in some locales are still useful. Don't go crazy and torch a venue that brings you business. Just track it and be sure.

I also suggest to any and every business client to be extremely wary of overly-zealous marketing folks who preach a single-threaded solution. Fortunately, all but the most extreme business hacks take a pretty balanced approach to their business overall, and if they've been around for any length of time, they understand the value and security of diversifying their channels of advertising and promotion.

Try telling a plumber that being in the Yellow Pages doesn't bring them business. lol

The YP went through a pretty radical decline for a while, but they're not out of the game. It's extremely short sided on anyone's part to think that a multi-billion dollar company is going to just disappear with a poof.

See, most inexperienced business folks think they're pulling the wool over someone's eyes, and getting one over on the big evil company. Then the big, evil company just buys up the best of breed of the new thing in every market, and puts just about everyone else out of business.

Beating the big company shouldn't be the goal of any business owner per se. Small companies feed big ones, and a smart business person realizes that as a strong exit strategy to sell their asset and then create another new business all over again.

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ronr

12 years ago

Just had a plumber call me this week for help doing more online because they were getting almost zero from their YP advertising so they dropped almost all of it this year after spending $2,000-3,000/month for over 10 years.

I'm going to talk to them about increasing their online presence, plus offline like direct mail and phone calling potential big clients. Online marketing is great but the offline stuff still works and in some cases works best for some industries.

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

I also suggest to any and every business client to be extremely wary of overly-zealous marketing folks who preach a single-threaded solution. Fortunately, all but the most extreme business hacks take a pretty balanced approach to their business overall, and if they've been around for any length of time, they understand the value and security of diversifying their channels of advertising and promotion.

Try telling a plumber that being in the Yellow Pages doesn't bring them business. lol

The YP went through a pretty radical decline for a while, but they're not out of the game. It's extremely short sided on anyone's part to think that a multi-billion dollar company is going to just disappear with a poof.

See, most inexperienced business folks think they're pulling the wool over someone's eyes, and getting one over on the big evil company. Then the big, evil company just buys up the best of breed of the new thing in every market, and puts just about everyone else out of business.

Beating the big company shouldn't be the goal of any business owner per se. Small companies feed big ones, and a smart business person realizes that as a strong exit strategy to sell their asset and then create another new business all over again.

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MichaelHiles

12 years ago

Originally Posted by ronr

Just had a plumber call me this week for help doing more online because they were getting almost zero from their YP advertising so they dropped almost all of it this year after spending $2,000-3,000/month for over 10 years.

I'm going to talk to them about increasing their online presence, plus offline like direct mail and phone calling potential big clients. Online marketing is great but the offline stuff still works and in some cases works best for some industries.

He must not have been named AAAAAAAA111111111 to get to the top of the list.

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ronr 12 years ago

Ha you're right their business name started with a B so they were way down the list under the AAAAAAAA111111111 and similar ones

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

He must not have been named AAAAAAAA111111111 to get to the top of the list.
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Bruce NewMedia

12 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

...Try telling a plumber that being in the Yellow Pages doesn't bring them business. lol

The YP went through a pretty radical decline for a while, but they're not out of the game. It's extremely short sided on anyone's part to think that a multi-billion dollar company is going to just disappear with a poof....

Originally Posted by Ronr

Just had a plumber call me this week for help doing more online because they were getting almost zero from their YP advertising so they dropped almost all of it this year after spending $2,000-3,000/month for over 10 years....

I agree YP is not yet dead, and some business types still get some mileage from their ads, (else the book would really be empty)...

However, I've gotten referrals and calls lately from plumbers wanting better websites, google adwords campaigns and more. They all had some presence in YP but it wasn't doing enough anymore.
_____
Bruce

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SFitzpatrick

12 years ago

Originally Posted by redlegrich

The only way you can really tell if a printed YP ad is working is to use tracking phone numbers for each printed medium (and other ad venues) you use. If you don't then all this is just an exercise in guessing.

Or, if you're like us, you just ask people how they found you.... While a tracking phone number is good, there's nothing quite like the information you get from your buyers, especially if there were multiple views through different media.

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Vrs

12 years ago

Originally Posted by redlegrich

The only way you can really tell if a printed YP ad is working is to use tracking phone numbers for each printed medium (and other ad venues) you use. If you don't then all this is just an exercise in guessing. If you know the cost of your ad and how many calls are generated then it's easy to determine the cost per call. Compare it to the other venues you use and it's a simple matter to determine what course to take.

However, make no doubt the YP ads, for some businesses and in some locales are still useful. Don't go crazy and torch a venue that brings you business. Just track it and be sure.

Just read this morning that tracking numbers wreak havoc with Google because the yellow pages share that tracking number across a couple hundred sites which messes with their n.a.p. They actually drop lower in search results because Google interprets the new number as being inconsistent with other citations.

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Big Gee

12 years ago

great way to use this as an example of why to use a personal IM

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Web Junkie

12 years ago

You think that's bad...here's another one for ya-

One of my clients (A Veterinarian) paid for the Yellow Pages internet package (a total joke). I went online to check what their results were for the year. Guess what I found.....His traffic was being redirected to a local plumber's website!

I called Yellow Pages, asking them to explain why this was happening & they told me that they "had to look into it". I got a call back the next day with an apology, and an explanation that someone must have clicked the wrong button. Of course, I demanded a full refund for him. After arguing with these clowns for a bit, they gave him a refund.

We compared the costs of a campaign that I created for him & the potential of the Yellow Pages campaign and discovered that they would need to produce over $562,500 in revenue to match the returns that I'm bringing him. This would be difficult, as it's a small practice in a small city.

In fact, the full story will be in the September Issue Of Entrepeneur magazine. At least the doctor & I got some PR out of the deal...

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Murlu

12 years ago

I did a bit of social engineering a while back by getting a hold of a Yellow Pages representative for rates around the Orlando area. For a small blurb it was nearly $6000 a year which is incredibly ludicrous.

Furthermore, they didn't have a robust system to track a lot of the lead generation and when presented with online advertising options they quickly dismissed them and went into a rhetoric on how they are trusted and have years of showing results.

Yeah ... okay.

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SFitzpatrick

12 years ago

Yellow Pages recently ran an expensive advertising campaign on TV for 'getting found on the internet' - it has a bloke saying 'Look at me, Look at me' - a good TV ad but they failed in their online delivery. Here's a link to the Look At Me Yellow Pages campaign summary showing how poorly they performed with that ad (and the ad's also there too so you can see how good the TV ad was).

Do i advertise in their book - not a chance. Last year we had 0 calls from the book. Do i advertise in their online directory - yes, but only for Google/Bing benefits.

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imback

12 years ago

YP is dead for 99% of all businesses....

Oh and they only reason they arn't dead is because those 1% businesses havn't tried other marketing techniques

lol

CHAD

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by imback

YP is dead for 99% of all businesses....

Oh and they only reason they arn't dead is because those 1% businesses havn't tried other marketing techniques

lol

CHAD

Chad,
you could not be farther from the truth about the 99% or what you call the 1%. I don't understand why some here just don't get it ? I would ask you to quantify your statement as it is just plain wrong.
Do you understand your other marketing and promotions will reinforce your brand better than anything BUT, you need to be able to be reached by the phone by EVERYONE at any time. If no listing is found when I go to the book to look you up and I do find another listing for another service provider, I may very well contact them. It's easier than calling info and asking for your telephone #.

Enterpryzman

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SFitzpatrick 12 years ago

enterpryzman - you're way out of touch or a YP sales person who still believes the company hype, or trying to justify why you spent so much money on a crap campaign. Unless your business is AAAAA11111 blah blah, you're getting little to no return on your investment, or you're in some obscure niche business that markets to 80 year olds only who live in a retirement village where they don't have internet access.

Go speak to 100 people on the street and ask them the last time they picked up a YP book, then ask them the last time they searched for a product or service online using a search engine. The ratio will be close to 1:99.
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Doran Peck

12 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

Chad,
you could not be farther from the truth about the 99% or what you call the 1%. I don't understand why some here just don't get it ? I would ask you to quantify your statement as it is just plain wrong.
Do you understand your other marketing and promotions will reinforce your brand better than anything BUT, you need to be able to be reached by the phone by EVERYONE at any time. If no listing is found when I go to the book to look you up and I do find another listing for another service provider, I may very well contact them. It's easier than calling info and asking for your telephone #.

Enterpryzman

Yes a free phone listing in the book is highly advisable....but the $400 to $4000 per month ad space is wasted money.

Even if you are a Plumber.

In my town of 20k there are a number of them doing battle in the YP at a solid $5000 per month.

They could spend $3000 a month on saturation postcards and reach 100% of households repeatedly, making new offers, educating with advice and tips, upselling new services or brand products....and all the while establishing themselves as the authority, the go-to guy...and ensuring their name is at the forefront of the public minds.

The yellowpages can't do any of that, and those are some of the most important marketing elements.

If your in business....and people have to go looking in the yellow to find your service it can only mean one thing.

Your marketing sucks (I'm talking about any business)

The YP is the las place anywhere on the planet you want people to go looking for you because when they do they get introduced to every single one of your competitors.

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Doran Peck

Yes a free phone listing in the book is highly advisable....but the $400 to $4000 per month ad space is wasted money.

Even if you are a Plumber.

In my town of 20k there are a number of them doing battle in the YP at a solid $5000 per month.

They could spend $3000 a month on saturation postcards and reach 100% of households repeatedly, making new offers, educating with advice and tips, upselling new services or brand products....and all the while establishing themselves as the authority, the go-to guy...and ensuring their name is at the forefront of the public minds.

The yellowpages can't do any of that, and those are some of the most important marketing elements.

If your in business....and people have to go looking in the yellow to find your service it can only mean one thing.

Your marketing sucks (I'm talking about any business)

The YP is the las place anywhere on the planet you want people to go looking for you because when they do they get introduced to every single one of your competitors.

With respect to your opinion and a complete understanding, I must not agree. I have stated the book is not about marketing, that is NOt what this was about, it is about be able to be reached when needed......I promise you that if you make a statement like that and insist it to be a general rule, you are creating legal exposure for yourself or your company.

If I employed that school of thought, it would be the dumbest thing I ever did for my business and I am not alone.

I am not telling anyone to market via the book and I have clearly stated that many-many times. I am saying unless every single person in your market has a computer and/or smart phone stuck up their a#* 24 hours a day or has your telephone info in the form of a tatoo on their hand, they will need a way to find your phone info at the instant it is needed. If they then go to the book and everyone BUT you is listed because you decided to save money and only focus on Internet ads and marketing......you very well may have lost the best client you ever had.

This is such a simple concept to understand and my only hope is that some of those posting here are handling my competition's marketing and I will continue to grow and grow like every other year I am in business.

This is not meant as a personal attack and I hope you do not take it as such however, this is not only feedback from a customer or data I am reading.....it is my own very successful business, the thing many at WF are trying to build for the first time.

Regards,
Enterpryzman

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thehypnoguy

12 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I am saying unless every single person in your market has a computer and/or smart phone stuck up their a#* 24 hours a day or has your telephone info in the form of a tatoo on their hand, they will need a way to find your phone info at the instant it is needed.

I'm more likely to find my computer or my phone quicker than I am to find the Phone Book. It no longer holds a specific place where you just go and look.

If they then go to the book and everyone BUT you is listed because you decided to save money and only focus on Internet ads and marketing......you very well may have lost the best client you ever had.

They would still find you unless you disconnected your telephone. You always get a "FREE" listing along with an overpriced phone bill for your business. If they were looking for you then there is more going on than yellow pages advertising for them to know you were the one they wanted and were looking for

This is such a simple concept to understand and my only hope is that some of those posting here are handling my competition's marketing and I will continue to grow and grow like every other year I am in business.

I would not pin my annual growth to just you yellow pages listings. If you keep growing they are likely finding you in more than the yellow pages.

This is not meant as a personal attack and I hope you do not take it as such however, this is not only feedback from a customer or data I am reading.....it is my own very successful business, the thing many at WF are trying to build for the first time.

I've had many brick and mortar businesses and not one of them would have grown depending on the yellow pages advertising. It took active promoting in various ways. Since I've mostly been in B2B it usually involved cold calling.

Martin

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rsteadm2

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Doran Peck

They could spend $3000 a month on saturation postcards and reach 100% of households repeatedly, making new offers, educating with advice and tips, upselling new services or brand products....and all the while establishing themselves as the authority, the go-to guy...and ensuring their name is at the forefront of the public minds.

The yellowpages can't do any of that, and those are some of the most important marketing elements.

Great Point!

How much money is being spent from that one business sector in a small town of 20K?

Business Idea:
You could build a lead generation site/page, sell them the leads, and cut their expense by over half. (very rough Idea)

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enterpryzman

12 years ago

I will only tell you without factual question that......one size does not fit all.

Enterpryzman

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