Does anyone use the Yellow Pages anymore?
This blog entry was posted on April 22, 2009.
I am in the middle of renewing a modest ad in the Yellow Book and I have to ask myself, should I spend the money? We advertise in two of the three local yellow page directories. Each year the books keep getting thinner with fewer people advertising in them.
Each year at the office whenever the directories get dropped off and they go straight to recycling. The same happens at home. I ask myself, why would anyone use the yellow pages when they have the Internet? Now online yellow pages have some value, but the printed books? It seems like such a waste of resources.
In this age of Internet, websites, online advertising and social review websites, printed yellow page directories are a dying resource. A business gets a much better return from a great business website design or from business blog marketing.
You may ask why we keep renewing our yellow page ads. It is because we still get a few new customers from the yellow pages. We ask every new client how they found us and we still get a few who tell us they found us in the Yellow Pages. We get barely enough customers to make advertising in the yellow pages worth while.
Will I renew again next year? I am not sure. The choice would be a lot easier if there was only a single directory like when I grew up. Having three directories in our local area splits the number of readers making it hardly worth the expense.
What do I recommend to other business owners? Track your advertising dollars carefully. If it makes money for your company, keep doing it. If it doesn’t make you money, quickly eliminate it. Replace it with something that works for your business.
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Filed under: Business Consulting
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 am and is filed under Business Consulting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.8 Comments
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Hi Doug,
As I started my own business this year, I’ve asked myself this same question. And I totally agree with your post. However, a couple things to come to mind:
1. What is your demographic? Who are you targeting? If it’s the 40-50 demo, I would tend to think they may still use the Yellow Pages.
2. Do you lose credibility if you’re not in there? What if your TOP competitors are?
3. The Yellow Pages sales reps have been calling on me to advertise with them. I have not got to the point of pricing, but if perhaps the combo package of print and online is fair, it may be worth the ad dollars.
4. For a new business like mine, I think advertising in the print YP will give me instant credibility.
I could be wrong, but that’s my opinion as of today.
Todd
E-volve Creative Group
Comment by Todd Bertsch — April 22, 2009 @ 5:47 am
Todd,
I totally agree with you. There should be more to the decision than just financial. Particularly if your demographic is 50+.
But does this do your company any good if no one is looking at it? I still get some people looking at my ad, so it is worth it to me for now.
Comment by Doug Williams — April 22, 2009 @ 5:54 am
To simply answer your question of, “Does anyone use the Yellow Pages anymore?” I haven’t opened a Yellow Pages in years.
Todd, very valid and interesting points.
Comment by Adam Bullock — April 23, 2009 @ 11:09 am
we never used yellow pages, we did concentrate on better web design and good SEO… more and more people use Internet, not flipping pages in a book for hours.
Comment by gazduire web — April 23, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
I still believe that the yellow pages is one invaluable advertising medium that lawyers should take advantage of. Sure, websites can help increase their credibility, but ultimately, 96% of Americans refer to the yellow page to find lawyers.
Comment by Tom St. Louis — April 24, 2009 @ 7:26 pm
Actually, yellow pages in book form still does have value. Not all people have mobile web and mobile web still doesn’t offer all sites. Yellow Pages travel with us in the car. It’s far faster than booting up a computer. I really don’t understand all the negative publicity for yellow pages.
Comment by Joanne Wei — March 4, 2010 @ 7:58 pm
Joanne,
Yellow pages still have value, it is just that far fewer consumers are using them today. Businesses that advertise in them are receiving many fewer calls and leads for their advertising dollars. This is causing many businesses to stop advertising in the print versions of the directories.
Comment by Doug Williams — March 5, 2010 @ 5:30 am
Business Consulting doesn’t have to be complicated. Using resources like the blog you are reading currently can really help to make this industry much easier to work in.
Comment by Business Consulting Pro — November 4, 2010 @ 6:54 am