The Yellow Pages are slowly dying.
Doubt me?
1. Did you get a Yellow Pages directory delivered automatically to your home this year? Probably not. Why not? Because it costs too much to print them.2. If you didn't get it delivered, did you notice?
3. If you noticed, did you call the local Yellow Pages company to get one delivered?
4. Do you know the telephone numbers of all the Yellow Pages directories?
Are you aware that the Yellow Pages are not delivered to households that do not have a land line phone? This means young families. Cell phones are replacing land line phones.
Do you understand what this means? The Yellow Pages go to older people -- people without much money to spend. People on Social Security. People who don't use Google.
This is why AT&T sold 53% of its Yellow Pages business in 2012. The cash cow is dying.
Yet you are probably paying as much for your Yellow Pages ad as you paid five years ago. You are paying for a declining number of eyes that will ever see your ad.
Are you paying more? Has the company hiked the monthly fee? Then you are really getting reamed.
THE END OF YELLOW BRICK ROAD
I want you to click a link. It will take you to an article published in 2013. It asked a crucial question: When Will The Last Yellow Pages Book be Printed? Here is the link. (Note: I use a Bit.ly link shortener. So should you for your business.)
The experts know. The Yellow Pages are doomed.
This is why one expert sounded a warning in early 2015: Jump Ship! Yellow Pages is Sinking! Here are highlights.
Simply put, small businesses should not waste their money on Yellow Pages. We know that, Google knows that, and Yellow Pages is starting to realize that. With less than 10% of Google's traffic, it seems irrational to invest money with companies similar to the Yellow Pages. As business owners, we want our business to be in front of customers so that we can increase our business sales. . . .The Yellow Pages charges per city your business ad is in. One of our client's, Ali Shirmohammadi, owner of Foothill Lock & Key, told us he had been advertising in the Yellow Pages for over 35 years. For a handful of cities, Ali told us he was paying over $120,000 per year just for their ads with the Yellow Pages. When asked how he tracked his ROI with the ad, he didn't know how to respond. He wasn't provided any additional documentation with respect to the effect of the advertising on his business; he was only given the bill. When we started his online marketing campaign on Google, he ended up paying less than half of what he was paying; additionally he noticed an increase in sales month after month.
Google Wins
If Google VS Yellow Pages was a boxing match, and if I was the referee, I would end the game right away and give the title to Google.
Looking for something to do or somewhere to go? Google it! It's 2015, and everyone now has a "Google Search" on the front screen of their phones. Google's search engine has over 100 billion searches per month. The concept of searching things on Google has become so popular that Google has now become a verb.
I don't think I have used the Yellow Pages in over 4 years now. With the help of the rapid growth in technology, we can simply utter what we are looking for in a tiny microphone, and Google will actually respond to you with an answer.
RIP Yellow Pages: 1920-2015
It's 2015, and the Yellow Pages are still one of the most prominent advertisers in the industry; however, with the passing of every year, Yellow Pages will gradually disappear. They are under tremendous financial stress, and are struggling to attract new customers, while trying to hold on to their current ones.
You can read the entire article here:
ARE YOU THROWING AWAY YOUR MONEY? PROBABLY
If you continue to pay money for a Yellow Pages display ad, you had better make sure that your ad is more than paying for itself.
You don't know, do you? You're guessing.
Stop guessing.
I am going to tell you how to find out. No one who sells you Yellow Pages advertising has ever recommended this. That is because he knows you will find out that your Yellow Pages display ad is losing money.
You must test the ad. The best way to test it is to have a dedicated phone number for your Yellow Pages ad. Do not use your White Pages number!
First, you need a dedicated Yellow Pages phone number.
1. Have a land line installed.
2. Use a cell phone number.
3. Use a local answering service (recommended)
4. Use a number with an inexpensive Internet phone service such as Vonage.
Second, with maniacal dedication, record every call that comes in on this number. This is why an answering service is worth the money. The service will track every call. You can be alerted by the end of the day.
You will not get many calls. Trust me on this. But, as President Reagan said with respect to any treaty with the Soviet Union, "trust, but verify." Test my assertion.
This will tell you the number of calls. But do these calls lead to sales? Most will not. These calls waste your time. People want price quotes. They are older people. They do not know about Google searching/shopping.
Third, what you really need is a special offer in your Yellow Pages ad. You will offer to give them something as a bonus when they buy something. But they must ask for this bonus. This way, you can track sales generated by your Yellow Pages ad.
If you do not track sales, you will never know if the ad is paying for itself.
If you are unwilling to track sales, do not renew your Yellow Pages ad.
Fourth, if you are willing to renew an ad, you must re-write your existing ad to refer to the special free offer. If you don't know how to do this, hire someone who does. Do not stick with your present ad if it is not generating a profit.
There is a fifth strategy. Use your Yellow Pages ad to get people to visit your website. Offer something of value. For example, offer a free report. Post it on a page on your Website. What page? The one you must create, or your web designer must create.
Once the page is online, use bit.ly to create a customized short link. (Bit.ly is a great free tool.) Then put this customized short link in your Yellow Pages ad. Use bold face.
TOP BUSINESSES FOR YELLOW PAGES ADS
In 2012, a company made a detailed study of which businesses do best in terms of Yellow Pages searching. It lists 435 businesses.
If your business is not in the top 10, you should not be paying for a Yellow Pages display ad. The list is here:
NEGOTIATE THIS YEAR
Your Yellow Pages ad salesman wants a sale. Do not give him an automatic sale. You must negotiate for a discount this year.
Call the Yellow Pages company today to set up a sales appointment. You must give yourself at least a month to have a new ad designed.
You must tell the sales representative what to put in the ad. If you don't fell confident enough to do this, then you must hire a professional who understands Internet marketing. Your ad must drive people to your website.
Take the advice of the man who wrote the book on Yellow Pages advertising -- literally. His name is Barry Maher. His book is a classic: Getting the Most from Your Yellow Pages Advertising. If you are serious about your Yellow Pages ad, you will order a used copy on Amazon. You will read it. Yes, it will take a few hours. Take a few hours. Stop throwing away money.
There is one problem with the book. It's obsolete. It's almost a decade old. The author has moved out of Yellow Pages advertising. He is now making his living as a motivational speaker.
His strategies are still good. The problem is this: the Yellow Pages are increasingly obsolete. His strategies will make your ad work better. That will do you no good if the Yellow Pages are essentially dead. If the ad pulls 20% better, but it still loses a pile of money, you should drop the ad.
Here is what Maher says about ads designed by the Yellow Pages directory company.
Your goal should be to have the best ad under any heading you're in. At the very least you want have one of the best ads there. Ask--no, insist--that your directory publishers develop an ad that justifies the cost. If they can't do better than standard Yellow Pages block lettering, cluttered and jumbled layout and 1950's clip-art, you can and should have the ad produced yourself.
You can read his interview here:
When the sales representative sees that you are serious, he will be ready to negotiate. He rarely comes across anyone who does any of these steps.
If he refuses to budge, thank him and tell him you intend to call his rivals. If there are other Yellow Pages books in your region, call them. You need to negotiate with all of them. Make them compete for your money.
MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCKS
I strongly believe that the money you are paying for your Yellow Pages ad would be far better spent on redesigning your website to meet Google's standards for mobile access: smartphones and tablets. You need a site that performs well in both mobile and desktop/laptop modes.
Make sure that your website designer understands the basics of direct-response marketing. Not many of them do.
Your designer should provide you with links to at least three sites he has designed. Then do a Google search. See if each site is one of the top three links that Google delivers. If it is, you have just hit the mother lode. Hire that designer to create your site and keep the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) up to date.
If the person cannot give you three sites, then have him tell you the books he has read on direct-response marketing. If he cannot do this, do not hire him. A business website must be designed by someone who understands direct-response techniques.
You should demand a WordPress-based site. WordPress is by far the most versatile for business sites that are not text-rich like this one.
Use direct mail rather than the Yellow Pages to drive traffic to your site, which will generate income for your business. Few local businessmen ever use direct mail to drive business to a well-designed website. This is why their businesses rarely perform well.
Still, it is better to have a well-designed passive website than a standard passive Yellow Pages ad. You can test this.
You must spend money on marketing.
"If you build a better mousetrap, but you do not spend money on marketing, you will die alone and broke with a garage full of mousetraps." -- Mac Ross
CONCLUSION
If you decide to keep your Yellow Pages display ad, demand a discount. Do not continue to pay what you have paid in the past.
Unless you prove to yourself that the present ad is bringing in more money, net, than it is costing, drop the ad.
If you are not sure, find out.
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