Comments on: Direct Response Directory Ads http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/ Small business marketing blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:06:52 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Amanda Scriver http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399277 Amanda Scriver Wed, 28 May 2008 16:21:12 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399277 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. 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 http://www.buysafemedia.com, which gives more information about media auditing.

]]> By: LocalGal http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399222 LocalGal Thu, 22 May 2008 15:19:28 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399222 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! 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!

]]> By: J http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399218 J Thu, 22 May 2008 07:26:17 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399218 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 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

]]> By: J http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399217 J Thu, 22 May 2008 07:10:35 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399217 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 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

]]> By: Karen http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399204 Karen Wed, 21 May 2008 02:00:46 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399204 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). 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).

]]> By: PPC http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399199 PPC Tue, 20 May 2008 20:36:08 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399199 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. 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.

]]> By: Brett http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399196 Brett Tue, 20 May 2008 17:43:21 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399196 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/yellow-pages-advertising-is-still-good-advertising/ 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 . . . . 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/yellow-pages-advertising-is-still-good-advertising/

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 . . . .

]]> By: John Jantsch http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-399195 John Jantsch Tue, 20 May 2008 16:16:21 +0000 http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/05/19/direct-response-directory-ads/#comment-399195 @Marketing Integrity That is a great perspective and emphasizes the notion of testing and measuring. @Marketing Integrity

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

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