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For some, not all mind you, directory advertising, the kind the Yellow Pages sells, is still a decent place to advertise.

The upside to this medium is that when somebody picks up an offline directory they are probably looking to buy something right now. Of course the downside is that they must wade through all of your competitors to find your ad.

I put the yellow pages in the category of “consider it as part of the mix” for certain types of businesses. Directory ads can be an effective spend for businesses that provide home services (electrician, plumber), consumer (dry cleaner, restaurant, gifts, flowers) or professional services (tax preparation, mortgage, legal.)

It is, however, a decreasingly effective medium for reaching anyone under 30. I often joke that if I put a yellow pages down in front of my teenage daughters they would want to know where the on switch is.

If you’re one of those kinds of businesses, one that is proven to derive lots of leads from the yellow pages, and you find yourself thinking, “the yellow pages is a waste for me,” then consider that you might simply be running ads that are waste for you.

99.99% of all directory ads do nothing but show how you are just like your competitors and that if a prospect will simply dial your very large phone number you will come on down and sell them something. I’ve watched propects use the yellow pages and most simply call up a few of the advertisers based on how pretty their ad is – of course the first question is always “how much.”

If you determine that it might make sense for you to advertise in offline directories then you must make your ad and your approach unique. The best way to do this is to make your ad a direct response ad. Don’t waste your space with your phone number and logo – instead, make the reader an offer of some valuable information. Invite them to come get your free report “25 little known ways to slash your taxes” or “Home repair tips your plumber hopes your never learn.” By giving your readers an attention getting offer you can stand out and start differentiating your business based on something other than price.

Now when someone responds to your ad you are in the business of educating them on how you have a unique approach to business. This type of relationship building is how you change the entire lead generation and lead conversion landscape. Don’t just get a phone call, get permission to demonstrate why you charge a premium.

A final word of advice – test your directory ad before you place it. Run several different versions of ads with different headlines and offers in free or low cost publications that your target market reads and then place the yellow pages ad, an ad you can’t change for an entire year, based on your test results.

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Posted by: John Jantsch on May 19, 08 | 5:05 am
Category: Advertising | Tags:

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Ben Smith

Isn't Google AdWords really the online equivalent of this? I mean when someone searches for a particular category of product, to me anyway, that doesn't seem any different than a phone book.

I don't know of there is any research on this, but I wonder if given how easy it is test different phrases (in the form of different ads) with AdWords if success there translates to some sort of success in a phone book. That would be much cheaper than testing in the phone book itself.

John Jantsch

@ben - I agree, and often use this strategy, but just to clear things up I wasn't suggesting you test in the phone book, you can't really because you can't change it. I was suggesting testing in other print, even direct mail.

AdWords is great, cheap and fast for testing headlines and offers, and I would suggest using it for such, but you also want to test running some print that has the exact ad creative your will eventually run in a printed book and AdWords is tough to do that with.

Chestin Salisbury

As always, you bring up some great points. Unfortunately, most end up with an ad that simply reinforces the idea that everyone's the same so it all comes down to price.

While Adwords is a great way to test headline and maybe a call to action, it doesn't give you the ability to test the entire creative.

One way I like to pretest directory ads is via cheap, small, black and white postcards. For less than a couple hundred bucks, you can run a pretty thorough test to determine which potential ad will work best.

Ben Smith

Maybe I'm missing something here, but don't you think that the person that sees a magazine ad or post card is a fundamentally different person than someone who sees an ad as part of search (physical or online)?

It seems to me (and I certainly can be wrong) that testing ads with something so general for a phone book or search would not work. The defining characteristic of the person is that they are already interested in that type product. Most viewers of a magazine will not be. So it seems like the ads would have to be very different.

For example, I run google ads for my products on search. Based on the keywords I provide ads that match the type of need they are describing in our CRM. But the key here is I'm not trying to convince them that a CRM in general is necessary, I assume they have already come to that conclusion.

Banner ads on particular sites on the other hand tend to much more generalized. They have to sell the idea of all sales data being in a single place, tracking progress, sales automation, etc.

David Rachford

I agree that it's increasing important to focus efforts on-line; however some small business owners (particularly trade businesses, and those over 45/50) don't think to go online first. *yet*

In the past, I did more yellow page advertising - but have since dropped it. However, I do have a special report available free as a PDF download. IT's geared towards accountants, but the lessons are applicable to any business.

I don't mean this to be self-promotional, but rather a helpful primer or "white-paper" - and perhaps a resource that shows my actual case studies, and how I dramatically improved my yellow page advertising response rates. (by the way, there are lessons that I learned from John in there too!)
http://www.cpamarketingcenter.com/promo/files/Y...

Lee is a Motivated Mentor

I like the feel of stability and trustworthiness of the Yellow Pags for customers. I don't have a brick and mortar location but have been consistently in business since 2004.

I also recently received an invitation to DirectMatches and was told it is the digital version of the Yellow Pages. Could be. I'm still learning.

Thanks for the post.

jbrown

My tip, for what it's worth.... If you are going to run a Directory Ad then tie in a "source code" by means of either a discount, special offer or something else to where you can track leads through that ad. For some reason people seem to grasp that concept really well with online ads but not so much with physical real-world stuff.

Nathan Cain

Another way you can track the an offline ad is to say something like this "Mention you found us in the yellow pages and we will give you a free usb drive." It could be anything enticing and must be unique to that ad.

Joanne Turner

Great information. I started my own business Cosmetic Medicine, less than 2 years ago in Australia and I elected, despite strong advice to advertise in the yellow pages and stay EXCLUSIVELY with an online presence.

Yellow pages called last week, because our directory is due in 2 months am I interested now? I have again been faced with the dilema..do I ...don't I. Online options (organic and google) have provided a cost effective way for me to build my business quickly and effectively (there was a steep learning curve with google adwords). I am still not really convinced about yellow pages ...really a dinosaur (my 70 year old reasonably conservative dad) said this to me two months ago..and if my 70 year old dad is saying that...what is the rest of the world waking up to.

Great advice John: test before you place an exspensive add that will sit for one year. Yellow pages are no longer the be all and end all..so test. I really do not think I am going to invest in Yellow Pages this year..when I think of ROI, and how else I can spend my money..I am really very unsure. Perhaps by the time I make up my mind they will be extinct. Jo

Paul Burri

John,
I am a long-time user of directories such as Thomas Register (the hard copy version) which I find to be much quicker. If I do a search on-line it takes time for each selection to down load and peruse and then discover it is not close to what I want. On the other hand, using a printed directory such as Thomas, I can quickly scan an entire page, highlight the most promising and later have the selections readily available merely by opening to that page. It works for me.

I am a new blogger and just started my own blog burrissmallbizsecrets.blogspot.com

Paul

David Rachford

Joanne:
It sounds like you've done a great job building your business online & through Google SEO / PPC.

The adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is probably sage advice here.

If you were to channel that marketing budget (that you would have spent on Yellow Pages) into more direct and accountable marketing to your existing customers - I'm sure your ROI would be much higher.

Best,
David

JudyAnn Lorenz

The question must be posed: "Where will my clientelle look for me?" They may want to look up your phone number, particularly if they are located near you. BUT, which category? or multiple categories? Would they be willing to look your contact info up online? Would a paid listing in the online yellow pages be more productive? Easier to use with keywords instead of narrow categories.

I have had negative views of any print phone books for years. They are incredibly error prone. As a result,this year, I've had to resort to online information for our city hall!

So, maybe the question should be: "Where do I train my clientelle to look for me?"

Marketing Integrity

I have been doing an integrated print/electronic ad campaign with a non-profit client (a church) for the past three years. We tried a yellow pages ad this past year and the value has proven in-effective. They have seen a much higher response to what we have done online via the yellow pages directory. New people moving to the community have researched a new church home online more than via the yellow pages...I think because they want a lot more information before they make that initial visit.

An interesting case-study from a non-profit perspective!

John Jantsch

@Marketing Integrity

That is a great perspective and emphasizes the notion of testing and measuring.

Brett

Interesting discussion. I had a similar one a few months ago when some positively surprising data came out on Yellow Pages. Seems as though they are finding ways to offer value online.

http://brettduncan.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/yel...

To Ben, I don't think Google AdWords is quite the online equivalent, since accuracy is still an issue when it comes to categorization.

To Judy, I think you've nailed it on the head in wondering where "your people" will be looking for you. When it comes to the service-based businesses that John mentioned, I'm always looking to the Yellow Pages. Albeit, the online version . . . .

PPC

Great post. Many years ago, like many the yellow pages was my place to market and I would highly recommend it. I am 36 so I guess I fit in with the 30's you mention above. I have recently run case studies on the cost per lead for SEM vs the Yellow Pages and based on my clients the Yellow Pages costs about 6x more. Like you said plumbers etc and they are not my target audience.

Karen

I am from Yellow Directory (Yellow Pages), Australia, I thought I would share with you a program we are currently trialling to prove ROI on directory advertising. It might be of particular interest to blogger "Joanne" who is considering "do I or don't I"? to Yellow Pages. We know how important proving ROI is for our customers and these days businesses have lots of options for advertising. For the first time ever, this year we have about 5,000 ads in our directories being “metered” that means advertisers, whose Yellow advertisement includes a unique phone number, get a monthly report that shows how many calls they got directly from their Yellow directory ad. This makes us highly accountable to advertisers. Although it is a trial, we are hoping to offer this to more and more customers.

It is early days in the trial (first 3 months) but we are seeing some strong results. The numbers of calls of course depends on a range of different things from time of year and type of heading to the quality of the ad design. And as you would expect call volumes tend to be lower for higher cost products and higher for lower value sales (eg – we have a restaurant business advertiser getting in the range of 100+ calls per week from their ad compared with a forklift truck business getting 4 calls a week). This morning, I looked at some actual call data from Brisbane Directory customers participating in the metered ad program under the “cosmetic surgery” heading and so far these customers are getting between 4-6 calls a week. Is this good value? – well that depends on the sales generated from the calls and the value of these sales. The important thing is the businesses are now armed with information to help them understand ROI.

The advantage of a business directory Vs general search engine is that where people tend to be “browsing” with search engines online (The median rate of action from click-throughs is only 2 per cent), when they are serious about buying they often turn to a business directory (print or online) such as Yellow (in Brisbane, more than 90% of Yellow Directory searches result in calls to businesses and more than 7/10 of those result in a purchase).

By the way we agree that many people choose to search online these days. Yellow Directory is also online and yellow.com.au attracts more than 8 million searches on average every month. But print is still popular with 7 million Australians using print directories each month (2.5 million use Yellow Directory in Brisbane every month).

The reality is people are searching using a range of tools from print and online to mobile and voice (eg – 1234).

J

My friend works for Yellow Book in Boston. Bottom line it you are all right and you are all wrong... no offense. If I showed you tracking reports from ads in the Boston book (which he showed me) you would think that he was making them up (I joked about it). Now with that said.... there are some 'headings' that do better now online that they do in the books for sure... how ever the preception vs the reality on this matter is waaaaaay off. I'm 26 and I use both. Books are on the decline however they aren't dead yet. I was also told the best way to track YP's is a dedicated phone line that lists the number of calls and sometimes the actual phone numbers on your monthly bill.

J

J

Just to give you numbers.... a taxi company averaging over 250 calls a month from an ad that costs $150/mo. A pizza place averaging over 120 calls a month... ad cost $100/mo. My friend also made the good point that this tracking doesn't reflect repeat customers because you may grab the cab companies business card and then call that number but the business originated from the book.... the pizza place will def bring you a menu so your going to call that number.... you get the point. I know he's a sales man and all but he makes sense. as far as IYP's (internet yellow pages) he says that is the wave of the future as well. He explained that Google and Yahoo dont have local sales people walking down the street of Boston selling ads online to mom and pop shops all the way up to large corporations. Yellow Book... so they have the most up to date database and ad content online. If you look closer on Google while doing a local search for a product or service you will notice that about 68% of the search results on the organic section come from a yellowbook.com, yellowpages.com, superpages.com. etc... all IYP's. Its because google relys on those companies to get local and updated info and the spiders get them and put them up on thier site. I know i personally use yellowbook.com myself (not just because of my friend whether you believe me or not) because i know its actually LOCAL and up to date and it's sooo much cleaner and user friendly compared to those other two previously mentioned. I agree that people as they evolve in the use of the internt will go to Google/yahoo etc... for info, research...etc... but for local products or services... they will go to an IYP. I got the yellowbook.com downloaded on my tool bar. Look into what I just said...when it was told to me I was skeptical...but he's right. He also said that yellowbook.com has more online paid and free listings and advertisers then anyone else in the country including google and yahoo because they have the current contacts/accounts and it's so cheap (23/mo for the smallest paid ad on line). He says that they believe that in the future, whom ever has the most content online will win because the tred (according to some study... Com something) is that people like me are just going to an IYP first because im looking for all of that content... not anything else except a real... local ... service out of Canton, Ma.... not Canton, OH. Anyway.... time for bed........ obviously I was sold... maybe im a fool for jsut believing this stuff but everything I said as far as my preferences are true. I ask you to look into what I said, as I did, and let me know what you think please.

Thank you for your time.

J

LocalGal

You're completely spot-on regarding the fact that paper yellow page directories are increasingly missing the under 30 crowd entirely. The problem with online directories has been, until recently, mostly a matter of editorial quality.

I work for an online business directory that is currently in open beta. We're offering a digital equivalent of exactly the strategy you've mentioned--a way of making your business stand out from the rest. In addition to free listings, Localville offers premium, featured listings and video listings where you can include a :30 spot or a 2:00 informercial, to really set your business apart from the competition.

Great article!

Amanda Scriver

While you’re probably right, with media auditing, we would know for sure whether it’s ineffective or not. Without it, we actually never know whether the right people are seeing the right ads or not. Our team just built www.buysafemedia.com, which gives more information about media auditing.

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