Ozzie techs - Yellow Pages?

[16k_zx81]

I just had a meeting with a guy from YP with a fairly appealing pitch for online and print.

Bottom line is $140 a month for 12 month contract.

The $140 is do-able, but I guess Im concerned about the 12 month commitment, if its not effective.

Have any of you guys had any luck with YP? Does it bring you a reasonable amount of business?

Is it worth taking a punt on for 12 months? or am I better off investing my advertising dollar elsewhere?

Cheers

Jim

 

[Bryce W]

It didnt work well for me.
Whenever I have a salesman try and sell me advertising, I call a computer business who is already in the publication with the same size/location ad that I was looking at. This is less weird when the publication is lesser known, not sure how well it would go down for the Yellow Pages everyone knows.

Anyway, I say I am a non-competing business of some sort (I said flower shop last time I did it), I am looking into purchasing some ads for it but since it isnt well known I wanted to call around a bit for some feedback on them.
The last time I did it the computer business owner went OFF. Saying its crap, its the biggest scam etc.. like he was just waiting for someone to ask.

Anyway, I think there are better ways to advertise now does in Aus.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Don't waste your money unless they can tell you, with proof, of good results online with SEO.

Last phone book I on my doorstep and trucked out to the dumpster. It is a waste of paper. Everybody looks online. Even if there computer is down they will use a smartphone, probably an iPhone here in USA.

Google is all you need to care about the rest can rot.

 

[angry_geek]

A local salon did a yellow page ad. $150/month for a year, but, if they paid up front, they'd get a deal at only $1,195. They paid up front, and, for a year, potential customers were calling some sweet old lady in the assisted living facility. I don't like yellow pages.

 

[JustInspired]

The Yellow Pages is a dinosaur now. Back in the day they could make a difference to a business but those days are long gone. Here in the UK they have added "Yell" which is supposed to be the online equivalent of the yellow pages. It can make a bit of a difference if you don't have a website or it is ranking poorly. Other than that it's an expensive and not very effective means of advertising.

 

[andcorptech]

I have a reasonable success with them here in Aus. I do have many elderly customers who are still in the era of YP book so alot of them source me from there. I now only pay $78/mnth for the book and online combined so its not too bad. When I first took over the business the previous owners were paying $4000 a year on YP, I soon whittled that down much to the disgust of our YP sales manager.

Im finding local paper and sports sponsership more effective nowdays as it gets my name and logo in the face of local people who are all potential customers. The problem with YP adverstising is they only see your ad AFTER they have a problem

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

YP did nothing for us, less than nothing really. We didn't reup.

 

[tf76]

Waste of money in my opinion.

Better using google or other online marketing.

Customers look for electricians, plumbers, builders etc... in the yellow pages.


Regards,

 

[16k_zx81]

I have a reasonable success with them here in Aus. I do have many elderly customers who are still in the era of YP book so alot of them source me from there. I now only pay $78/mnth for the book and online combined so its not too bad. When I first took over the business the previous owners were paying $4000 a year on YP, I soon whittled that down much to the disgust of our YP sales manager.

Im finding local paper and sports sponsership more effective nowdays as it gets my name and logo in the face of local people who are all potential customers. The problem with YP adverstising is they only see your ad AFTER they have a problem

Do you mind me asking, the rough population of the city you are in, and the approximate number of calls you get for your $78 p/m investment?

Jim

 

[coffee]

Hi Jim,

Im struggling with this YP advertising also. I am looking at a potential cost of about 268 dollars a month. This would get me a banner ad they tell me. I dont really trust them as they sound like some late night TV infomercial whenever I talk to them.

I really think it depends on your demographics of the area you live. Now, The company I used to work for which was in the same type of business used the YP and they got about 90 % of their calls thru them. The demographics of the clients where typically older people that were not too computer oriented. Residential. They averaged about 4 calls a week.

I guess in my area it would pay to be in the YPs but it is very expensive to do so. Im not big enough to handle expensive advertising yet and most of my clients come from word of mouth right now. I do have to make a decision soon before the end of the year though.

Google is what everyone is talking about but Im not too convinced on that. Again it depends on your demographics. I did start a google places ad and then google made those changes and I found my GP site gone. I felt alot of work down the drain so I have backed off on google. Besides, You make one change to your google presence and it can take a month or so to get it back up and running again. Just seems like a lot of work for all the hassle. Then you have to worry about SEO all the time too.

So, Im really confused about advertising also and the best way to go. Im leaning more towards YP's right now but that could change.

Perhaps an online poll at our online sites might help. We already ask for testimonials on our site why not have them answer an anonymous poll also. Just a thought.

Im going to follow this thread closely. I hope I can get some good ideas toward making my mind up.

-----------------
South Bend, Indiana - about 100k population but alot of outlying small cities too.



Best Regards,

coffee

 

[EnigmaTech]

YP for us was a complete waste of money. Book wise anyway. Having said that they are losing so many n listings from the book that it must get to the stage where it is worthwhile. Our yellow advertising never even covered the cost of the package let alone generate any return. I say run. And run fast.

We do use YP online though.

 

[andcorptech]

Do you mind me asking, the rough population of the city you are in, and the approximate number of calls you get for your $78 p/m investment?

Jim

We are in rural NSW with about 25000 population. We are averaging about 10-15 phone calls a day but we dont track sources at the moment. When we were tracking the YP was at least 1 or more per day sometimes many more, but we were taking slightly less calls then , average of 8-10/day. My workshop rate is $95 so if I only get 1 per month it pays off. The key I found for my area is not doing the "picture" ads . They are very expensive and useless unless you are on the first page of your section, which costs even more . Having asked The people who source me from the YP go to the text section and read down the page until they see a number in their area. Thankfully my business starts with "A" so im at the top.

I have a 3 line advert in 2 sections plus yellow pages online, which costs $78.95/month

 

[geeknz]

Jim,

I'm based in New Zealand.

I have found Yellow Pages to be a HUGE source of work.

Our city has approximately 200,000 people.
We have one Yellow Book.

The way I see it, a large part of my customer base is in the 40+ age range. They have always had Yellow Pages and its a deeply embedded habit to refer there when they need a trades person.. especially when their computer is playing up and they can't get to Google!

I don't believe it's so much the advertising medium as it is the words you use and how you design the ad. I estimate about 97% of Yellow Ads in the book will be a huge waste of money for the advertiser, simply because they aren't written in the right way.

All I can say is for me, Yellow is the backbone of my business. Without it things would be shaky.

ps. I don't have shares in any Yellow companies!!