I have a small house painting business and I’m considering placing a credit card size ad in the Yellow Pages book. I will also appear in the online yellow pages. The sales rep gave me a price of a little over ,000 to place my ad in two books, and an optional per month to be listed on Dexknows.com. For my line of business, is it worth the money for a Yellow Pages ad? What has your experience been? Please, small business owners or contractors share your experience with Yellow Pages. Thank you.
Yellow pages companies HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO PROVE THAT ADVERTISING WITH THEM GETS ACTUAL RESULTS!
However, based on your description of the packet quote you’ve gotten, I’d say it’s way too expensive of a quote. A typical credit card size full color add in one book typically ranges from $70 (average price per mo. for full color ad) to &140 (max price for a full color ad) with additional free smaller block advertising under similar headings besides the main heading. Also, paying for online.
The online listing price ranges should be no more than $25/month. Be sure their online directly refreshes its site on a daily basis, and contracts with all known search engines to include your online ad at least in the top 10-20 search results.
The packet quoted as $2,000 is priced too high; negotiate with your rep, don’t be intimidated with them; remember you have the option of using your ad dollars elsewhere including competing yellow pages in your area. So, you have the upper hand in negotiating the packet, which I estimate to be reasonably priced at $ 155/month => $1,860 annually. Negotiate to get boxed or blocked adds for free in similar headings relevant to your business.
To find out if the yellow pages really does bring job leads, ask everyone who calls your business how they found you or heard about you after the books have been delivered in your area. keep track of how many people will actually say they find you in the specific phone book; do this diligently over the length of your ad program in the books. It’s your hard-earned investment; worth it to keep perfect track of callers and how they found your business.
Good luck.
ps-I was an account executive at one of the largest yellow book companies in the nation; so, I know all the tricks. There are so many freebies available they won’t tell you; ask for them and gently remind them you have options as to the medium you will use to invest your advertising dollars. They WANT your account; they’ll negotiate for what you ASK for!
Again, do NOT let them intimidate you; they are all psychologically trained to use all psychological tricks like scaring into thinking if you don’t advertise in their books, you are missing all the job leads you could have; none of the companies have ever produced an objective study of the effectiveness of advertising in yellow pages.
Oh, and another advice; physical copies of yellow pages will be history in matter of a few years. Look to online advertising, most importantly building a very effective website for your company and ensure all search companies refresh their database daily to include your company at least in the top 10-20 search results.
And good luck; best wishes.