What Print Advertising Is Working For You?

[shailendre chutoorgoon]

I usually check for and attend small networking events for a certain target market (like tradies etc) and handout my flyers or business cards. Personal contact is best

 

[glricht]

We also advertise in the Yellow Pages (not Yellow Book), but we've gradually cut back the number of phone books we're in to the point where this may be our last year.

Cancelled all our Yellow Pages advertising last week. Have gotten only three new customers in the last two months from YP, so it wasn't worth it. Still doing the local paper everyday as it continues to pay for itself.

 

[JaTom]

Cancelled all our Yellow Pages advertising last week. Have gotten only three new customers in the last two months from YP, so it wasn't worth it. Still doing the local paper everyday as it continues to pay for itself.

I completely agree! Yellow Pages or any phone book for that matter, while this advertising format was a decent format in the past, has grown to be a poor choice for us. I do have to make a positive note on this topic, the websites for the phone books do seem to work for us. Our sales rep gave us the option to do printed book ads or online ads or both. The online ads do get several clicks per month. Now with that said, my google ads and organic search are a far better return, however, the number coming in from the phone book's online version is enough to keep me interested.

 

[maclaptech]

for large cities, at least where I am in US, print marketing doesn't really work well. Not even car wraps. Best is to use Adwords, Yelp (I hate it but I have to live with it) Facebook and ask your clients to recommend you on apps like Nextdoor.

 

[resolvetech]

In my opinion, direct mail does not turn good results unless they are existing customers. My typical metrics are 1-4% return from non-customers and 10-12% from existing. Depending on the rates where you are located, that can be quite an investment that may not pay for itself...much less your services.

I agree; however, one thing that gets lost in these calculation esp. with managed service customers is the value of the client over a lifetime. I've done target mailing of flyers to business folks using flyers and captured managed service clients....paid off many times over.

BUT, you must target and be prepared to get very low hit rate just like you mention. This "game" is all about hitting someone at the right time....essentially luck but you improve your odds the more you do it.

I'd MUCH RATHER have a referral. It's by far the cheapest and easiest to grow a business!