Yellow Page Publisher Secrets

October 29th, 2009

In this post I want to differentiate the difference between a utility directory and an independent publisher directory. A utility directory is usually published by a local phone company. Many times a phone company will contract out with a publisher. An example of this is the the partnership between Qwest and Dex.

When it comes down to the end user, the consumer, the utility directory usually has the most up to date information. A reputable independent publisher will often times buy the most up to date data from an utility company however that all depends on the price. If the price for that data is unreasonably high, an independent publisher can be singled out. Independent publishers should view this as the cost of doing business.

That is where some independent publishers cut corners. Rather than buy the most up to date data they just simply copy the information straight out of the utility book. This information can be between six to eight months old. The only current information they will have in their publication is from their own paying customers. Imagine trying to type an entire phone book. Do you think that there would be potential for error?

Some other areas where publishers will cut cost is to do away with color. The worst way for a publisher to cut cost is to not print the number of books they printed in previous years. What this means to the advertiser is that they pay the same or more than the previous year but get less results. In these tough economic times it is sad what some businesses do to remain profitable. It is like taking money away from other businesses just so you can stay in business.

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Yellow Page Rate of Return on Investment

July 30th, 2009

ROI work sheet
1. # OF CALLS TO SECURE ONE SALE _____
2. AVERAGE CUSTOMER WORHT $__.00
3. RECOMMENDED YELLOW PAGE INVESTMENT $__.00
4. ROI EXPECTATIONS (YP INV. + PROFIT) $__.00
5. # OF SALES NEEDED (LINE 4 / LINE 2) _____
6. # OF CALLS PER YEAR NEEDED (LINE 5 x LINE 1) _____
7. # OF CALLS PER MONTH (LINE 6 / 12) _____
Auto Repair ROI work sheet example
1. # OF CALLS TO SECURE ONE SALE 5
2. AVERAGE CUSTOMER WORHT $161.00
3. RECOMMENDED YELLOW PAGE INVESTMENT $7000.00
4. ROI EXPECTATIONS (YP INV. + PROFIT) $21,000
5. # OF SALES NEEDED (LINE 4 / LINE 2) 130
6. # OF CALLS PER YEAR NEEDED (LINE 5 x LINE 1) 650
7. # OF CALLS PER MONTH (LINE 6 / 12) 54

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The New Style of Yellow Pages

May 6th, 2009

“The New Style of Yellow Pages” your Hometown “Collector’s Series Directories” of Lake Oswego / West Linn / Willamette / Stafford / Dunthorpe / Riverwood / Lewis & Clark and surrounding areas. Where people go to not only find products and services they need….to a Phone book they Collect and enjoy!

But what makes us different and why do people collect our directory…it is due to the fact that we fill the directory with Community Photographs, (Local soccer, little league, football team photos, event photos, etc.) Old Family Recipes, Poems, Short Stories, Gardening Tips, History Pages, Sustainable Future Guide…..along with Guides on places to Camp, Bike, Hike, Walking Tours, Area Attractions, Scenic Waterfall Trails, Canoe/Kayaking and so much more!

Compare the costs, time to boot-up and find a quality informational Ad on the Internet or to find or keep current a Website. Not to mention the cost of a virus free computer….using electricity by the minute. We deliver “free” to every home & business in premier areas a green “Recycled paper”…..high-end, easy to use, full of fun information at your finger tips resource/phone directory like no other…..come and experience the difference!

If you are a Business owner…..consider for a moment….thousands of people coming across your informative full color advertisement while they are looking through our “Collector’s Series” for the many things that interest them….especially the kids photos, poems and old family recipes. Then compare our prices to other forms (companies) of advertising….so you can make an informed choice on how to spend your annual advertising budget in such a way that will bring a handsome Return on your Investment.

It is our mission to help support small to mid-sized businesses to become the best that they can be! “Shop Locally” to support your community! Our directories are delivered by the local Boy Scout troops so they can earn money for summer camp and projects….

Call for a free consultation and cost analysis of your marketing and advertising programs.

Collector’s Series Directories
David R. Bush
503.724,1798

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What is the difference between creative and directional advertising?

April 2nd, 2009

Examples of creative advertising include billboards, radio, TV, newspaper, Internet banner ads and magazines. Businesses use creative advertising to gain name recognition. When we think about a hamburger what fast food restaurant comes to mind? For most it is Mc Donalds. When we think of tissue paper what brand name comes to mind? Because Kleenex is so well branded most people refer to tissue paper as Kleenex. It literally took thousands of impressions in order for us to permanently link the brand to the product.

Because there are thousands of businesses competing for our business we are bombarded with 2500 impressions a day. We could be driving out in the middle of nowhere with the radio off and have some car drive past us when we notice the Mercedes symbol. Two reasons that businesses use creative advertising is to one, brand themselves and two create sales. As stated above, TV, radio, print media and Internet are good ways to do creative advertising.

So what happens when we have been enticed by a billboard ad? We turn to directional type advertising. Years ago the first place we would look was the yellow pages. This is where many businesses missed the boat. Yellow pages was the media that tied all your advertising efforts. Imagine that a acupuncture ad conveys pain relief. A potential customer goes to the phone book to find the business. While they are looking up the phone number they see a competitors ad that is bigger and better. They ultimately do business with the yellow page advertiser. What a sad way to loose business to a yellow page advertiser. This is a classic example of directional advertising. That yellow page ad was designed to direct business directly to that business. The other and ever increasing media type that is directional is Internet search engines. Because of the expense of yellow pages and a multitude of directories to choose from I encourage my clients to have a solid Internet presence. Often times I refer them to AbsoluteWebworks. They specialize in local searches.

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How do I make the most effective ad copy for a yellow page ad?

March 21st, 2009

One of the nice things about yellow page advertising is that it is what is termed directional advertising. What that means is that most people that use a phone book to look for a product or service are ready to buy. This translates to roughly 70 to 80 percent conversion.

Once you have determined that advertising in the yellow pages is going to be profitable, the following acronym can help you with good ad copy.

R - Reliability

  • National Brands - Years in Business

A - Authorized Brands

S - Special Features

  • Area Served - Hours Open
  • Delivery - Credit Cards

C - Completeness of Service

I - Illustrations, Logos & Slogans

  • Products & Services
  • Brand Logos
  • Credit Cards

L - Location of Business

  • Landmarks
  • Maps

The next important thing you want to do is to determine one of the most important things that you can provide to your customers. Place this at the top of your ad. Business owners often times want to put their business name on top. People are more interested in how you can help them rather than your name. Following these steps will help insure that you capture the best rate of return on your investment.

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When does it make sense to advertise in the yellow pages?

March 12th, 2009

The best time to advertise in a yellow page publication is when a new high quality directory enters a new market. That is when prime yellow page real estate can be purchased. In some publications purchasing a full page ad under the attorney heading will place your ad in the tenth position. If you pay full rate for it I am not sure that that is the best use of your money.

As stated in previous posts the first 5 ads get the bulk of the calls. So how does someone find out when a new publication is coming out? You don’t. Generally yellow page representatives learn about proposed new directories. I personally am aware of talk about a special publication that will be started in Oregon that is close to Portland. If this publication is started my gut tells me that it will be successful. The publication will be profitable for both, advertisers and the owner of the book. I will keep you posted and let you know if that publication actually is started. If your heading is in the top ten, you may want to try to capture the number one position. In most cases the number one ad will out perform the number two ad.

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Are yellow pages a good investment for my business?

March 9th, 2009

It truly depends. As stated previously the most profitable ad spaces are in most cases taken. Ads that are in front of their competition will more times than not receive more phone calls. Countless call tracking studies prove this.

When we are dealing with full page ads the only way to get in front is with a two page ad (double truck). Depending on the market I do not think that a business can get their return on their investment. How many products or services are you going to have to sell in order to pay on a $25,000 to $60,000 investment?

As a general rule it is the first five ads that will get the bulk of the business. What this tells me is that when you look at yellow pages profitability, more advertisers loose than win. The reason I say this is because many businesses pay to have their name in bold just in case their customers are looking them up in a phone book. In this case this is the cost of doing business. Advertisers that do an in column ad verses a display will on average get less calls. Something else to consider is the ranking of the heading. With up to 2000 headings, where is your heading ranked? In future material I will give you the top 100.

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Should there be more than one directory in one community?

March 4th, 2009

Should there be only one phone book in one city? Absolutely not! Here is the reason why. Lets begin with you, the business owner. What if you could be the only business in town that does what you do. Wouldn’t that be nice? Of course. Why would that be nice? Because you would not have any competition. Therefore you could name your own price.

That is pretty much how things were many years ago when the utility companies were the only game in town. If there was a rate increase you did not have an alternative. You either had to take it or leave it. Many businesses could not risk not being in the phone book. They had to bite the bullet and pay the higher price. For years it was such a profitable business for the utility companies.

Back then many businesses could not survive if they timed their yellow page advertising incorrectly. If they missed the cut off they would have to go a whole year not being in the book. That leads to the other advantage of a second book. In most cases a second directory will come out six months apart from the other. In this case if you missed one book you could try to to be profitable in the other.

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Which directory should I choose?

March 3rd, 2009

In the markets that I have worked, there has always been no less than 3 phone books. With so many choices, what is a business owner supposed to do? The truth of the matter is that there is no way of telling what a consumer is going to pick up during a time of need. What amazed me was just because a business owner had a preference they would only advertise in that book. This represented missing over 50% of the market. I understand the frustration of having to be in more than one book. Here are some suggestions.

There are several things to consider. First off determine what is the dominate directory. This can be a difficult task. What I have found is the publisher that contracts with the local telephone utility company has the largest print count. This usually insures better distribution. The other advantage to a utility directory is that when there is a new resident to the community they are usually issued a phone book from there phone service provider. The single biggest disadvantage of a utility directory is that it is usually 3 times more expensive to advertise in them. Some examples of utility directories in the North West are Dex and Verizon.

At a minimum if a business has a large client base they should at least be in bold print in the major directories. Look at it as the cost of doing business. It is a courtesy to existing and referral customers. Once you have determined the books rank, you want to see if it will be possible to be profitable in that directory. If you are new to this media and the directory is well established it is unlikely that your program will be as profitable as the ad that is in the number one position. It does not matter that their full page ad cost 4 times more than your quarter page ad. Depending on how far back you are they will probably get 8 times more calls. I know this because I have analyzed the call tracking results of competing ads in the same heading. If a directory is new this could be a good opportunity to get good ad placement. Placement is everything in this media. Before you do anything you want to make sure your type of business is even looked up in this type of media. I will share business headings by rank at a future date.

This leads me to the question of cost. I have worked a market where the leading directory was the utility book. Just because it was more used did not mean that is was a better investment. In fact it was a worse investment. Here are the reasons why. Apple to apples it cost 3 times more than the competing directory, however it in no way got twice as much usage. It would have to get at least 3 time more usage just to get the same results as the less expensive book. The other reason is that many times there will be less competition in the other directory. This helps the businesses because if you have a larger portion of the pie your odds increase that you will get the call.

Here is one strategy I have seen used in a market where fortunately the non-utility book was clearly dominate. Budget your yellow page advertising dollars and go as big as you can in the leading book. In the remaining books just have representation. In the case of my client she would do a half page in the leading directory and just a quarter of a column in the rest. Most of the time this was just enough to be in the number one position in the top directory. Her strategy impressed me and that is the reason I have posted it here.

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Are yellow pages a dying media?

March 2nd, 2009

My take is that yellow pages advertising is a dying media. Here are my reasons why. Just like newspaper where you can’t find any used vehicles sold by private parties, more people are turning to the Internet for information. I am not saying that yellow pages are dead. There are still thousand of people that use and will continue to use this media. Yellow pages advertising is not as effective as it once was. In most cities there are at least 3 competing directories. This dilutes the effectiveness of all books. With the advent of cell phones, laptops and gps devices it is sometimes quicker and easier to get the information we need using the latest technology.

This leads me to online directories. I do not totally understand why someone would use an online directory when in most cases you can get similar information just by googling it. I think that google could absolutely shut down all the online directories. I think it is foolish to dump thousands of dollar in TV advertising, promoting online directories. I believe that is one of the reasons major yellow page publications are on the verge of bankruptcy.

I challenge anyone in the industry to prove me wrong. I hope I am wrong for the sake of all the hard working sales representatives out there.

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