ADVERTISING IN THE PHONE BOOK

[juniorc82]

IM THINKING OF PUTTING SOME ADS IN A COUPLE OF THE PHONE BOOKS IN MY AREA. MY SERVICE AREA IS MADE UP OF A TRI CITY AREA AND RURAL AREAS IN BETWEEN ABOUT 400,000 TOTAL POP.. MY BUSINESS HAS PICKED UP OFF OF WORD OF MOUTH AND PASSING OUT CARDS , MY QUESTION IS ... WHEN I START ADVERTISING IN THE PHONE BOOK DO I NEED THE BIGGEST MOST COSTLY AD OR WILL A SMALLER AD BE OK? IM OPEN TO ANY AD SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE PHONE BOOK

 

[Mark Imbesi]

I suggest a basic line with your company name and phone number. There will be people who remember your name, but do not have your number.

I would rather see money to go direct marketing campaigns, rather than yellow page ads. Your dollars are DIRECTED more toward people who YOU WANT TO WORK FOR.

 

[dicksboyle]

What Marc said I would do. Yellow book cost a lot ,big bucks.. Save your money Young Feller.. May need it when your my age..
Hi Dick Boyle

 

[Royal Man]

Put a small ad in the phonebook. A much better ROI is to network your area.


Dave-

 

[CleanExtreme]

Just a small ad or line is plenty, you mentioned customers are finding you through referrals ect. and thats the best way, however sometimes a customer will refer your company name only and they will have to look your number up and the first place they look will be the yellow pages. Some say that once they go to the yellow pages they have all the companies to compare but many times it is that referred person that is looking for your phone number specifically, so the YP is a necessary evil.

 

[monsterclean]

Save your money, try Google adwords instead. http://adwords.google.com/
Pay only if someone actually visits your website.
Control your spending with down to the minute fidelity.

Jim Stallings, Owner, MonsterClean
http://www.monsterclean.net

 

[Larry B]

Change your name to AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Carpet care so you get 1st placement in the book. Otherwise go with a small ad

 

[bob vawter]

And QUIT screamin'!

 

[monsterclean]

OK, just noticed you have decided phone book is what you are going to do, and just want to know how big to go.

I spent $25,000 my second year in business for a full page black & white ad with negative ROI

The following year, I spent $10,000 for a half page ad with negative ROI (return on investment)

My ad was professionally designed by a National ad agency (another $5,500 expense)

Both of the above ads directly led to about the same number of new clients.

In my opinion the smaller 1/2 page ad is the better deal. I do not advertise in the yellowpages any more.
It is Google adwords all day long for me.


Visit my website at http://www.monsterclean.net

 

[prouddadx3]

I used to spend about $200.000 .000 a year in phone book advertising. If you are not in the first three ads usually, you do not get very many calls. The problem is that fewer and fewer people are using the phone book. Most are on line shoppers. Local Google Maps and Yahoo Local Maps are free. If you want to be ahead of the curve spend some time learning about SEO. Build a website that is informative and useful. Build separate pages for your Key words and find other cleaners and relevant sites to exchange links with.

I really don't think the phone book is a good investment or their on line service.

http://www.colorado-carpet-masters.com/

:mrgreen:

 

[Wayne Miller]

I'd be worried more about placement than size. It's no good to get buried in the back. And, I don't think you have to be the first full-page ad. Study the current edition of the directory and take your best guess at what the new one is gonna look like. If there's 20 half-page ads, why be #21 if there's only 2 quarter page ads? I'd rather be the 3rd quarter page. If you have 20 quarter page ads and 4 half page ads, I'd rather be the 5th quarter page. Look at everything in the section and consider where the size is gonna put you in the pecking order.

 

[alazo1]

Try a small in column ad and make it stand out. I've had this one (1 1/2" x 1 1/2") for 3 years and it pulls well at a fraction of the cost.

Albert

 

[Mountain View Carpet Care]

There are better ways to spend your money. Networking meeting will do far better then the book.

 

[Brian R]

I agree with everyone so far.

I would get an online ad with the biggest phone book provider in your area.

The internet works and the bigger companies get your name out there a little better than the average joe.
Sometimes they can build a good website for you at a low cost as well.
They might work with google..they would be stupid not too. Even if they do, you can still get some ad stuff from Google

Once you have that, they will give you a better price on a small ad in the phone book. They will wheel and deal with you too so ask for better prices.


They know that the phone book is on it's way out.