Is Yellow Pages Marketing Dead? What Your Yellow Pages Ad Rep Does Not Want You To Know!

I just read a very interesting post written by Dan Buglio over at onlinevideoadvantage.com.

Dan discusses why most people are no longer using their yellow pages to find business anymore, or at least there are far fewer people doing so.

Now I do agree with Dan and the statistics are there to prove it but I don’t think you should completely abandon your yellow pages ads just yet.

So why shouldn’t you completely abandon your Yellow Page Ads?

Because when people pick up the Yellow Pages they are ready to buy!  Usually with their check book sitting right there next to them.

So the real  trick here is to have a compelling ad setting your business apart from all the rest.

I mean just take a look at your local yellow pages. Open the book  up to your business niche and I can guarantee you most of the ads look exactly the same. You’ll  probably see the name of the business, how long they have been in business and an address with a phone number, am I right?

I bet not one has a headline, a call to action, an irresistible offer or any type tracking mechanism.

See this is where you can make some hay. Most business owners just follow the advice of what their yellow page ad rep tells them to do.

Some other things to consider before running  a yellow pages ad is you must consider who your customers are and  how much does it cost to get a customer?  These are all questions you need to ask before you advertise ANYWHERE!

If you are selling video games to teenagers you probably don’t need to be in the yellow pages but if you are selling a product to baby boomers or Senior citizens it probably makes sense for you to be in the yellow pages, make sense?

How do you know if you should run an ad or not?  Well what’s your return on investment for your yellow pages ad?  Do you know how much it costs you to get a customer?  You see, this is why you must track your marketing.

If you offer some sort of discount or extra service just by asking your prospect to mention they saw you in the yellow pages or they clip out a coupon then you’ll have a pretty good idea to your response rate.

Now, how much is your average customer worth to your business? In other words, on average, how much money does you customer spend with you ?

So lets look at an example.  Lets just say for argument sake it costs you $1000 to run a yellow pages ad.  Depending on what you sell lets say you make $250 for each sale. How many customers do you need to break even and how many customers do you need to make money?

You see, if you are not tracking your marketing you’ll have no idea. This is why it’s so important to include some sort of tracking mechanism in your yellow pages ad.

Finally make sure you use some sort of lead generation in your ad if your business is in one of the 4 selling situations when you MUST use Lead Generation.  Offer a FREE report or some sort of information in exchange for a name, phone number or email address so you can follow up with your prospect. ( If you want to learn more about Lead Generation Check out this post here).

So lets boil this down into some simple tips when considering to run an ad in the yellow pages.

1. Know your customer
2. Use Direct Response ads and not business card ads
3. Have A Headline in your Ad
4. Have A Specific Call to action in your ad
5. Make an irresistible offer in your ad
6. Use Lead Generation if it applies to your business
7. Track your response
8. Know The Value of Your customer.

Now I’m not saying run right out and place an ad in your local yellow pages but what I am suggesting is make sure you do your homework before you invest one thin dime of your marketing dollars. After all–you are in the marketing business first!

Now Go Get Busy, Bill Parlaman

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Related posts:

1. Marketing Strategy-Are You Throwing Your Marketing Dollars Away?
2. Marketing Strategy-Why Most Small Business Struggle And How You Can Avoid These Mistakes!