It must be that time of the year again! Yellow Page renewal. My clients are asking if advertising in the Yellow Pages is a good expenditure of their market budget. Sadly my answer has been "I don't know"! Not because I can't commit to a decision; but because there is not enough information to make a decision. If you are considering Yellow Pages this article will help bust any myths that have been created by age old marketing tool called the Yellow Pages or Yellow Book and the other entire knock offs out there!
Because the Yellow Pages have been around so long, the myth is that you MUST advertise in them - doesn't everyone? This myth gets exaggerated by thinking the only way to win the Yellow Page war is with a full page ad. You have now just entered the $20,000 yellow page black hole!
Would you ever invest $20,000 without first knowing what the rate of return will be? Before taking the $20,000 plunge - know your facts. Start asking your new customers how they heard about you. Drill down a little to gain critical marketing data and then record those finding. Then when it's time to renew; you can print out a report that tells you that you received 5 new customers from your Yellow page ad with an average sale of $100. Unless you can get an ad for $50, you may just want to pass on Yellow Pages all together!
Other factors that need to be considered are:
Type of Business - If you are in a high relationship business like business services, Yellow Pages may not work the best for you. Your customer is more apt to research you on the internet to best determine if you are a good fit for them. Hard to do this on a Yellow Page static ad
Customer Profiles - Yes I said profiles! You need to segment your customers into buying profiles. For example if over 50% of your business comes from customers in their 20's - Yellow Pages may not work. This group is surfing, texting, IMing and blogging - they are not letting their fingers do the walking!
Sounds like I'm down on Yellow Page advertising. Not at all. It has its place and may be your best source of leads. You just need to examine all the facts and not hold on to the myths.
Paul is the founder and CEO of mymarketplan.com, a web based sales and marketing firm located in Kansas City. After 28 years of employment, Paul found his passion through a new frontier to sales and marketing - the Internet. Most of his prior life experience has been spent in larger organizations that have the capital to properly market themselves. These companies have a large staff of marketing and sales professionals at their disposal. Unfortunately, this is a luxury small business owners can not afford!
During his interactions with small business owners, He began thinking about new and innovative sales and marketing methods that could deployed within the cost and time constraints of a small business. The result is the birth of his own small business - mymarketplan.com. Creating a sales and marketing plan similar to the ones found in larger organizations but geared to fit the small business. Please check out our website at http://www.mymarketplan.com
Visit Philippine Business Directory an online yellow page in the Philippines.
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