We are planning our marketing strategy for the next Yellow Page book to be published in October.
I find increasingly, that more and more customers are finding us by internet searches rather than the phone book. Some people tell me they throw out the book when it arrives.
Yellow Pages is offering us packages combining a book ad and an internet marketing budget.
What would be the pros and cons of doing the internet marketing ourselves with Google AdWords, and only paying Yellow Pages for a book ad?
Can we reduce marketing costs AND generate more calls?
A recent article from a credible author might help.
Quote:
In 2012, Is It Still Worthwhile To Advertise In The Yellow Pages?
The answer to this question isn’t purely black-and-white, although industry proponents and opponents frequently characterize it as a simplistic yes-or-no answer.
I’ll try to make this super-easy for you to figure out if you’re a small business owner trying to decide whether to advertise in a printed phone book or not. Here are the facts as I know them:
I've been tapering back my Yellow Pages spend every year for the past few while ramping up my AdWords campaign. One dollar with AdWords goes way further than a dollar with Yellow Pages.
I would think most people over 45 already have a lawyer and wouldn't pick up the Yellow Pages or use the Internet to find one. Anybody under 45 in need of a lawyer wouldn't pick up a Yellow Pages because they'd always use the Internet first.
The only thing Yellow Pages has going for it is the drop-dead gorgeous sales rep that comes around once a year. Or is that CanPages? Or are they the same thing now? Either way, my annual visit from the 10/10 super model is probably the only thing that keeps me spending what I do.
The Following User Says Thank You to Sliver For This Useful Post:
Adwords is effective - I saw it first hand doing procurement a few years ago. We had a sudden surge in demand for a particular brand of laptop case, and I couldn't figure out why or where the demand was coming from, until I noticed the company was showing up on Google when I searched for laptop cases.
Anecdotal, I know (and not a very interesting story), but we moved hundreds of the cases while the ad was still in place, whereas previously we probably wouldn't have sold even 1/10th that number.
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-Scott
The Following User Says Thank You to sclitheroe For This Useful Post:
By far, the most cost effective, and possibly most effective form of advertising would be to invest in Search Engine marketing. Not particularly adwords, but good ol' Search Engine optimization targeted at effective keywords for your industry. This will give you continual exposure and targeted traffic from people searching in Google.
I know myself I very rarely click an adwords ad when searching. I haven't tried Facebook ads myself, but with the data that Facebook has on users, the potential for very targeted advertising looks good there too.
The Following User Says Thank You to Kev For This Useful Post:
Seriously, though, my old firm went through this exercise a few years ago. At the time, the partners were sceptical of new technology and the inertia of doing things the same way we always had won the day. I wasn't a huge fan of Yellow Pages then and I am even less a fan now.
When I was more junior, I was tasked with handling all of the cold calls that came into the office (except for real estate matters, mind you). I kept track of how the majority of those callers found our office and the resounding answer, to my surprise, was through the Yellow Pages. However, even though a lot of people found us through the Yellow Pages, most of those leads did not result in an open file or retainer. They were pretty low quality leads and tended to be people who were shopping around for the lowest rates, desperate or not serious about retaining a lawyer.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to fredr123 For This Useful Post:
I don't know the exact way this works, but I was talking to someone about a year or two ago about Yellow Media as an investment. I was (and still am skeptical) but his explanation was that Yellow Media gathers all of the information and sells it to Google. So all of the names and addresses for businesses on there are coming from Yellow anyway.
Now I just assume that Yellow Media and the Yellow Pages are the same thing, but I don't know that the be the case. In case anyone cares, an investment into Yellow Media a year or two ago would've been terrible...
Google AdWords vs. Yellow Pages
