yellow pages

Do you think it is crazy to still be spending $400 a month for our yellow page ad. 1/2 page. We are in a tourist area of michigan with many hotels. Other than that I can’t imagine that alot of people are useing the phonebook. The town is about 5000 residents, the rest tourists in the summer.

I dropped all my Yellow pages ads last year. I changed them all to single line bold listings. Great decision and I dont regret it one bit. I spent the money on other ads with higher and measurable results.

Look at it this way. The effectiveness of Yellow page ads is only decreasing every year due to internet searches, smart phones, etc . . .

Hi Roma,
I would definitely consider dropping them. Metrics are showing that phone books are becoming a very ineffective medium for getting impressions. Unless you do some surveys that show you that you are getting any significant traffic from the ads, I would think about reinvesting the into stronger search engine marketing efforts. For the $4800 a year you are spending on that, you could get an amazing website. :slight_smile:

Personally, I havent used a phonebook in maybe 8 years, but I’m pretty tech savvy so I could be a bit of an outlier. :wink:

drop the yellow pages and spend the money on mail drop coupons, they work way better. the phone book is dead, thanks to the net.

Ok, just to confuse you Roma. I note you said you’re in a tourist area. Only speaking for myself, the guy with a cell phone that does all sorts of wonderful tricks, but all he can do is make it do a phone call. If I’m in a hotel, it’s the Yellow Pages I reach for when finding my local pizza joint. Now, that being said I’ll follow that up with a question to the front desk and usually get their opinion on the place I’d settled on, or simply abide by their recommendation.

Were I in the same boat I’d think about redesigning the 1/2 page ad…drop to a 1/4 or 1/8th and give it another year.

When I was on vacation last month, I went down to the lobby and grabbed the pizza menus that were available. We made our choice from those*. I’m not even sure if our room had a phonebook in it… I never even thought to look for one. That strikes me as really odd as I write this.

So, put some marketing materials in the lobbies**! And whatever size phone-book ad you choose to go with, make sure it gives a solid reason for someone from out of town to choose your place over the “safe” option of a national chain. Testimonials. Guarantees. A vivid description of your signature menu item. Etc.

*On a side note, it was the 2nd-worst pizza I’ve ever eaten.
**I haven’t done this for a while. Now I’ve got some extra work to do tomorrow.

In my travels over the last few years I have noticed quite a number of hotels/motels had “sanitized” Yellow Pages…Ones that had many popular sections removed (pizza, taxis, theaters, etc.)…And in their place were singles fliers from companies that mostly likely had to pay for the privilege of advertising on the property…

I actually did a test. I put a half page add with a free menu in last year and got 16 calls all year…how do I know? because I bought a magic jack and listed that number it tells me all the incoming calls. way not worth it…but I love telling the people who sell adds and try to get me to purchase 1000.00 worth of space

I feel the phone book is diminishing to one day it will be worthless. I advertise in two books in my area and I want to ditch them both but I get a good response from the coupons I placed in them. I feel you need a little exposure in the book for the baby boomers who still use the phone book because it is etched in their brains from 40 years ago. I also feel the presence in the yellowpages.com is worth it as well. People use more than google to search things, and the .com phone book stuff can help out as well. As long as the price is right, I feel they still have some use in todays marketplace.

Just my opinion,

Tony

I have been as big as a full page to now I am down to a credit card sized ad.

Wow! Awesome, cheap idea for testing marketing!

I’ll add something to that - use (free) Google Voice instead of Majic Jack. Forward your google voice number to your regular store number. GV will track the calls, and you will gain the benefit of using your line rollover like normal. You can even get more than one GV number and use them to track multiple marketing ideas.

Hmmm. I’m going to have to think about this some more…

This is the best idea I’ve seen on this forum! (can you tell I’m excited?)

This is interesting as I have never once in my life searched yellowpages.com. What are others habits here. Do you search yellowpages.com? If so, I may need to have a presence on there.

I would definately decrease the size of your ad. Since you are in a touristy area you need to get in with the hotel clerks. When you have a mistake pizza…send it down. Drop off a free dinner coupon or lunch every now and again. Make sure to keep your menus stocked in the lobby. Sometimes just check and make sure they are tidy. Make sure it is a quality menu. Take care of the front desk.

We trade food for our ad. The phone book reps give out certificates when people buy ads or the reps eat when they are in town selling the ads. Works out well for us cuz it costs way less.