Yellow page: Success or failure?

[Guest Danebob]

I have an add in the yellow pages coming out in april. I want to here from those who have placed an add how successful the add has been for you. If possible how manny jobs do you get from the add a month that your aware of?

Thanks for your help.

[Don M. 14]

I say thumbs down. Waste of money.

[Guest Danebob]

and why is that?

[Adrian 155]

When I was operating in ATL I ran for YP 2 years and generated about only 1 a month. Basically paid for itself and a few extras, but you can't rely on it as a main vehicle to generate $$$$. But as always, the longer the exposure the better if it is making $$$ and at the very least paying for itself because it keeps you biz name out there. But there are negatives, like your location and how large your service area is. Plus how many people are actually using it? Roll the dice and see.

[Jarrod 22]

Cancel the ad! Big FAT waste of money! When was the last time you used the phone book? I pick up my phone book once a year, it's when I throw it in the trash.

[bigchaz 157]

and why is that?

Open the phone book for your area. Bet there is at least 20 power washing companies. People that use yellow pages are typically looking for the lowest price. Thats why you see ads in the yellow pages for 50 dollar house wash and such. Youll get mostly calls from people looking for a price over the phone. Once they get it they go ahead and continue calling the other 20 companies there to find a better price

[Jarrod 22]

Exactly! And there's more. I'll post later.

[PressurePros 248]

Danebob, I'll give you a glimmer of hope. The Yellow Pages does well for me. Talk to other contractors in your area and ask them how they do. With all due respect to everyone that has posted, if no one used the Yellow Pages guys wouldn't be spending thousands per month on full page ads.

[Roger Oakley 14]

Ok being in the UK maybe slightly different, but I have run adds in Yellow pages & yell.com (which are still quite big over here) and to be honest a complete waste of time, sure got the calls "how much do you charge per sq metre etc" rival compaies checking me out? maybe, it just about broke even, my adds in US dollars cost around $2000.00 per year, did I renew this year? No way, Leaflets, local press and word of mouth are the best ways to go for me.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

Are we talking about the Yellow Pages or the Yellow Book? I have a Yellow Book ad this year. Just came out in January and I have had two calls from it. One person shopping price and the other was a commercial request that required confined space gear, permits, etc that I was not equipped to handle. I am hoping as the weather warms up it brings in some $$$$.

[Grime Dawg 14]

With all due respect to everyone that has posted, if no one used the Yellow Pages guys wouldn't be spending thousands per month on full page ads.

My sister works for Donnelly Directory as a Yellow Page Sales Person. She has told of many, upon many (especially attorneys) who buy $3,000+ a month full page ads, then go out of business and never pay for them.

Remember these are 'contracts' and once purchased you've got to pay. So those that don't go out of business are forced to keep paying.

Check out ads in other publications that are run on a week to week or month to month basis. If the same ad runs over and over and over, you can bet it at least pays for itself and probably then some.

I personally believe direct mail is THE way to go. You'll get way more mileage out of $1,000 spent on direct mail (when done right) than you'll ever get from the YP.

Another problem with the YP is CATAGORIES. They are NOT sales oriented, they are simply a directory. If you don't fit a certain group, they won't let you advertise there.

Take for instance a roof cleaner who wants to advertise under the heading of ROOFING.

Well guess what...they can't. And the problem with this is how a 'potential client' searches for a service.

If they want their roof cleaned, doesn't it make since that most people would look under ROOFING, then look for ROOF CLEANERS?

But there is NO heading for ROOF CLEANING under ROOFING.

Remember, people are looking for the 'solution' to their problem. If they are having headaches, they would normally try to find 'relief' under 'headache relief'. They may not know to look under chiropactor or massage therapy, etc.

Not everyone is well educated on where to find things in the YP.

If you want a HAIRCUT, where do you look? Well you can actually find a 'few' listings for haircuts under hair (this heading has been recently added), but mostly hair removal, hair implantation and such as that is what you'll find.

If you really want the largest options for people to cut your hair, you've got to look under BEAUTY!

Just NOT the best way to position your ad.

Also consider this about direct mail:

When you've got an ad running in ANY local publication, you can bet your COMPETITION is watching you.

When you mail direct to the customer, no one sees it but you and them. Then, if you end up with a major winner, no one can steal your idea as easily because it's not out there for everyone to see.

Arguments, debates, opinions, clarifications, deletions, recommendations, etc. ????

[Chappy 138]

My yp add that ran for 2 years, garnered about double what I paid for it. Dropped it last june and I still get calls from it. Go figure. I am going to run again a very small in collumn add under 'deck refinishing and waterproofing." only one other guy there. we'll see how it works. If I get the same response rate with this add it will be better, because of maintenance, instead of one time service.

I had no success in a targeted direct mailing this year. 2x to the same upper scale neighborhood,(about 450 flyers each time) with 2 responses and one job that paid for one of the mailings only. In fairness though the first one went out when everything was tanking in this market due to economic factors that still havnt gone away. No other form of advertizing worked for me last year, even usually reliable sources, and as each add bombed, I of course put more money chasing the bad money, with no better results. At least with the YP add, you cant buy more space for an entire year.

[Grime Dawg 14]

That's a great return on YP ad Jon. Why did you stop running it? My belief is, if it's making you a good ROI then keep running it.

In areas without a lot of competition in the YP, it may be worth a try for some folks (small ad first of course). You tend to get overshadowed in the larger books.

[RCBill 14]

YP have been a loser for me. I thought it was producing until I checked the invoices just this morning. Apparently it was only producing estimates.

[Jarrod 22]

Jon, with direct mail you need to send out at least 5,000. The 2nd time you hit the same neighborhood would have been better spent on a different one. With direct mail, you have to have a "Go big, or Go Home" mentality.

I never hit an area more than once per season. Either they want it done, or they don't. If they want it done next month, they will most likely hold on to your ad. (If they find it appealing)

Grime Dawg, your post was right on.

[eads 14]

This is my first year in the yp. Its been out for two months now and all the calls that I have received where price shoppers. Things may change come spring time though.

[John T 744]

Yellow Pages has worked for me residentially and more so Commercially. When I advertise in the local papers I just about never recieved any commercial work. Since I have alot of repeat customers because I've been doing this going on 12 yrs now I will continually keep over advertising in the yellow pages because for me it generates enough calls to keep me busy and make me enough money where I think its worth it.

It depends on how long you've been in this business and what your area calls for and what type of calls your looking to get. This is what works best for me.

[Grime Dawg 14]

John,

There is no doubt that once you are well known, it helps to keep your contact information in the YP where someone can find you.

Are you getting primarily 'new' customer calls or 'repeat' business calls from your YP ads?

[PressurePros 248]

18% of my new customer count this past year came from the combination of two books I advertise in. This is down from last year but I also equate that to a rise in referrals. It doesn't work for everyone of course. The writing is on the wall and yes, I do think a larger majority is going to come from the internet and yes, direct mail does better. The Yellow Book in my area is weak.. too much distribution. Verizon splits the county right where I need it to. I do in-column ads. Nothing fancy. No big hooks. There are maybe ten ads for deck restoration and maybe 15 for pressure washing.

[Grime Dawg 14]

Ken

Do you know which ad produces more, the one on the left or the one on the right? Just curious!

[Grime Dawg 14]

Since we're on the topic of advertising, be sure and check out this post. It will become apparent how valuable this information could be at a later date.

http://forums.thegrimescene.com/marketing-advertising-sales/9565-what-your-ltv-anyone-know.html

[Rfitz 14]

TO Answere the original question does it work.? No doubt I get on average 10-15 times in revenue than it cost me and I pay $1,000 a month, and it gets better every year, but the old saying goes it takes money to make money, and I have one of the biggest ads, that means a bunch, direct mail works too , but you better have a big bank roll because you have to send it every month at least 10,000 people are you are just wasting money, my yellow page ad's has been phenominal to say the least... but it goes way beyond the ad, it is your presentation, uniforms, expensive looking trucks

we gaurantee 24-48 hour bid from time of call, alot of follow up plus a great reputation for doing high end quality work, I dont get into price wars

with my competetion, because it is like comparing apples to oranges,

my price is my price and they can take it or leave it, look act and sound professional and you will get top dollar for your services...

Hope this helps

[Jarrod 22]

Phone Book (Yellow Pages)

· Cost – I had a very nice deck restoration ad in the yellow pages. It cost me $545.00 per month. I ran this ad for 2 consecutive years. Since deck season is only from April to July in the Midwest, the ad was really only relevant for 4 months, 5 at best. If you take the total yearly cost of this ad ($6540.00)and divide that by the relative amount of months, (4) you end up with a monthly cost of ($1,645.00) per month!

· Response – In the 2 years that I advertised in the yellow pages, I received a whopping 12 phone calls!

· Prospect type – I didn’t get enough calls to even be able to judge this category properly. I can say that most callers just wanted an over the phone quote because they said they’re “going down the list.”

Why didn’t this form of advertising work?

· Inconvenience – With the internet, 411 and other various ways of obtaining information these days, almost nobody uses the phone book any more. Who wants to lift a 10 lb. 3 million page book to find a phone number anyways, and that’s if they can even remember where they put it!

· Low Visibility – Most phone books don’t even know where to put you, so they suggest that you do multiple listings. Such as – Deck washing, deck staining, painting, maintenance, power washing, pressure washing, pressure washing service & equipment, and so on. (This also allows them to charge you a lot more money!)

· Competition – If the prospect is lucky enough to even find the section you are in, there’s anywhere from 10 to 50 competitors on the same page!

· Shelf Life – 1 year, and it gets really dusty!

· No Control – If your ad does not work, too bad! The bill comes every month and it has to be paid. You cannot just cancel and move on. Any mistakes on your ad will remain there for the whole year. If you advertise in the bigger book, you will be wasting advertising on cities or areas that you will not travel to. Deck season is 4 to 5 months long, however, you will be paying for advertising for 12 months.

[The Cleaner 14]

same here, i have a half page ad in the yellow book. I wont do that again, it cost me $650.00 per month to be in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.I have got a bad response with very little calls.Most of my calls were from other small companies looking for pricing so they can under cut me !!I do well in the homeowners associations monthly newsletter for $50.00 a month GO Fiqure!!We do alot of commercial accounts on a regular basis, i tried it out to see what kind of response i would get, well it did not work for me..

[clean kentucky 14]

I have to say yellow page ads seem to be profitable to me. They are not near as expensive in my area as some others. I just put an ad in the new yellow book this year. They gave me three ads(2in. x 3in.) with color and a logo in different headings (pressure washing, cleaning, and contractors) I also have bold print listings under decks, sealing, maintenance, lawn and garden for a whopping 53.00 a month.

I also have ads in the windstream book and verizon. 2in. x 3in. ads. One ad cost 18.20 a month and the other cost 29.00 a month.

My total for phonebook advertisement for the year will be about $1200.00

This is my only advertisement besides local newespaper which I probably won't do this year because it inflated from 210.00 a month last year to 350.00 a month this year. How do you raise the cost that much?

I stayed pretty busy last year with this advertising!

Doug Baker

Baker's Pressure Washing

270-268-1694

[squirtgun 122]

Jarrod empty your PM's.