Do you use Yellow Pages advertising (both print and online) in your media campaigns?
Seeking people who currently place YP ads as part of their media strategies - we're looking to gather opinions as to the pros/cons of print vs. online YP advertising.
Answers (5)
Dave M.
Professional trade show booth traffic builder and party entertainer. Corporate and private sector events.
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Waste of time. Nobody I know uses the Yellow pages anymore. It's all about Google...
Frank F.
►CEO/Bd Director ►IT Governance Advisor ►Future-Proof Strategy ►Keynotes ►Inno-Change ►Social Media Mktg ►China Advisor
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I agree entirely with Dave.
Nobody uses Yellow Pages if they have Web access.
And if they are online, they don't go to Yellow Pages,
they simply use the Google search engine.
Therefore, you should advertise on Google.
Lisa F.
Business Solutions Consultant
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The statements about nobody using yellow pages are absolutely untrue!!
First, I have always been an avid user of yellow pages long before I worked for them as are just about everyone I know. Also, I've been an avid internet user since about 1995 and do tons of research online and email and even met my husband online about 11 years ago. I'm even going to college right now online, too.
The internet is primarily used for two things, communication and research. Think about what you do when you are online. Of course people do contact businesses from online via email or they find info through research and walk in to buy from the business, but honestly, to say nobody uses yellow pages is a lie. Google, Yahoo and Yellowbook.com provide our customers with an excellent source of local information nd they work in conjunction with Yellowbook or any yellow pages as do word of mouth referrals.
A smart business owner uses a mix of advertising means to target the people they want to do business with today and in the future. Depending on the type of business and the geographic location, yellow pages could be the only means of conducting a search for a local service or business. Believe it or not, there are many locations without high speed internet in America. There are many people who use the internet that still prefer to pick up a phone book to look up their doctor's number of a plumber or appliance repair guy. I challenge you to have a competition, one person get a phone book and one get in front of a computer and both look up a plumber and see who finds it first and can make the call. The yellow page user will win everytime!
Recently Nielson did a study asking only people online if they use the yellow pages. Guess what, 65% of the people surveyed said yes!! These were people answering an online survey, not a phone survey or paper survey, but online! In fact yellow page usage is up 14% this year!
Also, there are about 70 million online local searches each month, however there are about 1.5 billion print references each month. Now, are yellow pages not worth it? Also, ROI is so much better using yellow pages than any other form of advertising. Even the Wall Street Journal has reported that 60% of all local look-ups are in print. In 2007 87% of the U.S. population used print yellow pages. This is the statistic that is very relative: 82% of print yellow page users make contact by phone or in person or by email. And, 42% of print yellow pages users made a purchase! Among those making a purchase, 91% had seen an ad placed in the yellow pages and 38% were new customers. These are studies done by YPA and KN/SRI.
Think I made my case?
I can then go on to report statistics for internet yellow pages too if you like. If you are suggesting your customers remove their yellow page advertising, you are shooting them in the foot. Do your research before stating things like "nobody uses yellow pages" just because you may not use them. I may love Nike shoes, but does that mean nobody else wears Adidas?
Clarification added October 21, 2008:
Oh, by the way, I also sell Google advertising and of course internet yellow pages so I know and understand the value of each and can design an appropriate advertising campaign online and in print depending on the customer I'm working with at the time.
Lisa is correct. I would say we tend to steer our clients to the online side of Yellow Pages, but the budget is not very big. Google continues to be the choice of finding businesses. I am suprised that as a consumer more businesses don't take the time to do a website considering all the traffic one gets especially at the local level. Print yellow pages is all but a dinosaur.
Go to any directory and pick any vertical in any major market - say a storage company for this example - scroll down the listings page (past those above the fold) and call them - ask if they are going to renew...I recently came across this very situation in person and needless to say he is not renewing.
There might be some value in premium listings but small business owners are getting burned left and right on this stuff. YP sales people are smart, very well trained, know the numbers, and work very hard. However Google, Yahoo, and MSN have a better product and a better business model. As do some of the bigger verticals like Business.com.
The print version is absolutely dead (especially with the green movement). They will probably figure out how to compete better online and address the scenario I gave above. I hope they do because they provided a lot of value over the years and deserve the chance to re-invent themselves.
