I have frequently written about the ineffectiveness of yellow pages advertising for lawyers. The medium is nearing extinction, it’s much too expensive, its contractual obligations are stifling, and the return on investment is extremely poor. An internet search on the subject will reveal many other advertisers who would concur. But here is one more reason not to advertise in the yellow pages – the environment. Every year in the US, over 500 million phone books are published. That’s far more books than there are people! The waste of resources is staggering, and the number of books recycled is far less than the number of books that end up in landfills.
A big selling point for yellow pages salespeople is the number of books published and distributed. But just how many of those directories containing your big full page ad are actually opened and viewed by another human being?
Great topic and good suggestion to evaluate yellow page spend before automatically renewing.
ReplyDeleteHowever folks need to be aware of some pitfalls before they wade in and try to start reducing phone book advertising costs. It's good to get some directory assistants.
First off, the yellow page publishers know that business owners want to reduce this expense. To make this as challenging as possible, most have come up with convoluted discounts plan and pricing structures that make it hard generate savings. It is not uncommon for an advertiser to attempt to reduce their ads by 50% only to be told that the resulting program will cost them more than they currently spend because of lost discounts. Also, be aware that setting up listings and advertising on the internet yellow page sites is just as tricky and costly as the print side. If someone wants assistants with their directories, or other directory assistants they are best served by having someone how understands the yellow page rules and is motivated to help them lower costs. Most yellow page reps are paid commissions based on how much the ad spend increases, and penalized if costs decrease. This makes them the last place businesses should turn to try and lower their net expense. A good place for yellow page help is www.yellowpagehelp.com