How much for a full page in your YP?

[Mikey P]

We have a 25 year vet here who for the last two years stopped advertising in the yellow pages. He went the Steve Marsh route instead.
Well for whatever reason he is back in this year with a full page.


$2000 a month.


24 grand a year so the College kids can price shop you to death.

No thanks.

 

[Blue Monarch]

I've quickly learned I don't have the patience for the price shoppers generated from the yellow pages.

 

[Guest]

Last year it was about two grand a month. Depends on if you get color or just black.

Now that AT&T has taken over Bellsouth, it is rumored to be one third more.

The Talking Phone Book rep called me and told me that I could get a full page ad for Five hundred dollars a month. The problem is that nOBODY uses the talking phonebook.

 

[Mikey P]

It only works if I don't live in your town.

 

[Guest]

I used the Talking Phone book-ONCE.

What a waste. It came out right before the "real yellow pages" did. People used it for about a month and then threw it out.

That was another expensive lesson learned. I only spent seven hundred a month on their full page trash.

I found out that a competitor pay three hundred/month for a full page ad with TPB. He showed me the contract. He placed his ad right before the book went to print and TPB was pretty desperate for customers.

 

[Ron Lippold]

works good here the phone wont stop ringing.

 

[alazo1]

$2000 a month.

You must be talking Santa Cruz. San Jose in the better yp is much more. My 1 1/2" in column ad is 240 a month. It does do well though.

Albert

 

[Tile Nerd]

$500 for black & white. Lead with some version of one of these if you want to get rid of price shoppers:

"If your looking for the cheapest cleaner then I respectfully ask you to call someone else. But..."

or

"If you simply want cheap, brush the dirt off the top, wet for days, no guaranty, bait & switch carpet cleaning then I respectfully ask you to call someone else. However..."

 

[Mikey P]

works good here the phone wont stop ringing.

Ron,


I will assume that you are the priciest cleaner in town so what percentage of those non stop calls actually gets completed?

 

[vincent]

My wife is a financial analysis for AT&T yp. For those that use this book, count on no more discounts.

This is the first year I am not in the yp, and I had run 2 books before. I do think it is important to have some type of ad, even a small one.

 

[Mikey P]

Why is it important?


Do you feel it gives your "firm" credibility?

 

[Steve in Omaha]

Who in here would know what a full page costs?

Best have your reading glasses on to find my number

 

[Guest]

My "firm" is quite incredible.



knock wood. No pun intended.

 

[vincent]

It gives you some exposure to the public. When I bought the business, I was running 3 books with 1/2 page in each, about 800 a month.

From there I went to 2 books with a 3 inch in column ad and it seemed to work just fine. Now that I have none, I get no shoppers, but have to boost my marketing elsewhere.

Here's something to remember too. I have my business phone number attached to my cell phone, no land line. If you pull out of the yp, they (yp) are not required to put the free listing in. They are only required to put the free listing in, if you have a land line through a major phone company.

 

[Guest]

They are only required to put the free listing in, if you have a land line through a major phone company.

is it a requirement if you have a land line?

 

[Kevin B]

Yes. You are legally entitled to a free listing.

 

[diamond brian]

I'm running one full-page ad this year. It is in the User-Friendly YP and runs about $900/mo. Same circulation as the AT&T YP, but a third of the price.

 

[Ron Lippold]

Mikey
I do charge a good bit, I would have to say I close 75-80% of the calls. I dont price over the phone so they end up buying me and the truck not my price.

Im in three books and I can tell you the yp ad has the most price shoppers, that ad paid for its self in the first 3 month.

My ad budjet for the year is 21,000

 

[Guest]

When I advertise in YP my percentage was around 30% now my direct mail is at 95%, but when I advertise my price like on my direct mail ads in the YP it went up 80%. So all the seminars I go to and they tell you not to advertise price you tell what is better. :roll:

 

[Jimmy L]

Would someone tell me what YP or yellow Pages means?

Is this some new marketing in your area?

 

[Rob Lyon]

It cost to run 1/3 page in Water damage and 1/2 in Carpet cleaning about $950.00 Per Month. We use Yellow Book Usa and Yellow pages.com



All The Best, Rob

 

[Sticky]

YP

$2000 a month full color with a free half page in the Water Damage section.

We always get flood jobs and the cover the cost of the ad.

We have two phone books. One is yellow book and the other is a frontier book and is put out by the Berry Company.

I have had more success with the Berry Company.

I know you guys say yellow pages suck but I think it works well for guys that are just getting started. Once you have a customer base I can understand why you wouldn't advertise in the yellow book.

IMO its a good way to get started and lets face it most people don't remember who cleaned there carpets the last time they had them cleaned. I have had many people tell us that they forgot who we were but found us in the YP. I know this goes against the grain for this board but it has worked well for many in our area.

 

[steve g]

I think every market varies depending on population, however lets face it there are about as many CC ads is there are attorney ads, in my market if you do it i think a full page or close to it must be the only way to go,I think it runs about $3500 a month for a full page. the first year I started my business I did a 1/4 page ad that cost me $750 a month, it was an utter failure, fortunately I set it up on a market expansion line, it generated exactly the calls they said it would however half where price shoppers the other half where solicitors I was only generating about $350 a month in revenue of it, so I canceled the ad early on. I do think if you have someone that is good handling the calls its a definite benefit.

we have several books the main one is qwest, which is the expensive one, the second is yellow book, along with a couple more that don't amount to much. I have a friend who does pest control and he loves the yellow pages says it works great for him. I think there is way less companies doing it in his market.

what I wanna know is how well YP's work for water damage, because one job could easily pay for a months worth of ad. its something I have had trouble tracking down. I do think one thing to remember is tons of people keep their old books, so the max draw for an ad will prolly not be seen until 2 or 3 years of your ad being in that book. go big or don't go at all, especially with CC.

 

[Tom Servo]

I have a full page color ad that is just now hitting the streets. I got a great deal on it or would have never done it. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement so I can not say what I paid.

 

[White-Magic rebuilder]

2 Full COLOR ads. 8000.00 a month.

1 for pest control.
1 for Carpet cleaning.
Free ads under water damage and misc. other areas!!!

Rob Allen.

PS:I ain't skerred'. LOL.

 

[campusman1]

yellow pages

the latest poll and the same poll ive been reading for about 6 years here it is 80% of the people who are gonna get there carpet cleaned allready know who there gonna call. 10% of the people who are gonna get there carpet cleaned know who there not gonna call. and the last 10% are shoppers looking for the best deal and the greatest job for next to near nothing so keep on feeding the yellow pages. if your good at cleaning youll get all the referral work you can handle my ad used to be 16 then 36 then 56 then 76 not no more its zero. you guys keep feeding the yellow book and the verizon books they must love it.

 

[John Buxton]

The yellow pages worked great for me when I first got into duct cleaning because there were only 4 of us in Indianapolis so the odds were I'd at least get a call. Carpet Cleaning however is another story. You have to have a large ad to be seen, and I dont think its worth it. In fact I havent found a form of advertising that works. Word of mouth and referrals is the ticket.

One Chem Dry here has a 2 page ad in one book alone, and I think there is 3 different yellow books, plus the suburban yellow books.

 

[Guest]

Re: yellow pages

the latest poll and the same poll ive been reading for about 6 years here it is 80% of the people who are gonna get there carpet cleaned allready know who there gonna call. 10% of the people who are gonna get there carpet cleaned know who there not gonna call. and the last 10% are shoppers looking for the best deal and the greatest job for next to near nothing so keep on feeding the yellow pages. if your good at cleaning youll get all the referral work you can handle my ad used to be 16 then 36 then 56 then 76 not no more its zero. you guys keep feeding the yellow book and the verizon books they must love it.

If one was ignorant of the facts they would agree. However you must factor in some variables. For example: Is it a military town? If so it is a very transient population. Therefore YP's would work well. In a small, sleepy town your advice is correct!

 

[Mike Draper]

Whenever I think about advertising I always think about Mc. Donalds. Are they busy? Always! Does every person in the world recognize the golden arches? YES. Why do they stay so busy regardless of the worst food in the world? They are always, always advertising.

 

[Guest]

I'm running one full-page ad this year. . Same circulation as the AT&T YP, but a third of the price.

BUT do people use it? THe Talking Phone Book was thrown out by most people when the Bellsouth book came out. I used to see the TPB put out by the curb and left there.

Even if they say that the circulation numbers are out there, there is still a slight chance that distribution may not be correct.


Personally I never use the other phone book, just the AT&T/bellsouth book.

Recently I have used the internet more often.