Are the Yellow Pages dead?

[TheHogRing]

With Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools gaining ground, I wonder how many independent upholstery shop owners still rely on the Yellow Pages?

If you've given up on the big yellow book, new research may make you reconsider.

Read all about it on The Hog Ring, and please share your thoughts: http://www.thehogring.com/2011/07/21/are-the-yellow-pages-dead/

[Mike8560]

The adds cost way too much. I have nit ever paid for that.  Maybe I've. Got s free add. But I remeber back when I did know it was there but I was alwyshandy listed as canvas goods not boat tops and or upholstery.  I told them about it once but ingueese as a free ad
they did t care.   I've got w website  and a local paper add and I'm Still here

[kodydog]

Thanks for the good information. Despite the cost I'm not ready to give up on the YP just yet. I think internet media is something to do on top of the YPs. Don't know if its the same with autos, but in furniture most of my customers are elder and retired. Most are not computer suave and are more likely to pick up a phone book rather than a blackberry. I do have good luck with the younger crowd (60 and under) finding my adds on craigs list or sending me e-mails through my web site.

Its always tempting to take the advertising budget for the YPs and spend it somewhere else. Local glossy mags for example.

Will the Yellow pages ever die, hard to say, but I think there will always be room for print media.

Enjoy your web site, keep up the good work.

[sofadoc]

Despite the cost I'm not ready to give up on the YP just yet. I think internet media is something to do on top of the YPs. Don't know if its the same with autos, but in furniture most of my customers are elder and retired. Most are not computer suave and are more likely to pick up a phone book rather than a blackberry.

I agree. Even a lot of my younger customers still rely on the YP's. And unlike many areas, my local YP ad really hasn't gone up in price that much in the last 20 years. I know that some large metropolitan areas charge 100's per month for a YP ad. I'm in a town of 25,000. I have a 2" box ad in my local phone book that runs $25 a month. 

[Mike8560]

That's makes good sence kody I knee old guys who said I'll ne er own a pc. Though they now do
this facebook thing I just don't see how it works
maybe I don't get all the deatudlre on my phone

[Mojo]

Marketing your business is a package deal. You need to look at where your target market is at and then design a marketing program around that.

A mention in the YP is a very smart thing. Your catching part of that audience that does not use their computers and the internet search engines and believe me there are still people who despise technology
and never learned how to negotiate the internet.

The whole idea behind marketing is identifying your market and then putting together your marketing program to cover those bases. The hard part is how to budget ad and marketing dollars for those endeavors. This is typically when I was called in by clients to review and give them direction on marketing, brand campaigns and PR programs.

Chris

[scarab29]

The thing I find with the yp's is they always used to try to get more out of me every year , year after year. I am well established over 20 years in my area and that helps but I still have 5 listings in the yp's and they are not the big ads that cost a arm and a leg. One bold listing in my main category and 4 others one of which is n/c. It runs me like 150 a month. I have also found that the big ad just gets you the most calls from people asking "how much" . Those are not my customers. Do you want those customers?

[mike802]

I used to have several ads in the Yellow Pages and it just did not reach my target market.  The adds were expensive and I also had to pay extra for a business line.  I haven't used them for many years now. If I did not have to pay for a business phone, I might consider going back, but not until I don't have to.  There are more effective ways for me to reach my market.  The yellow pages is a real shotgun effect.

[byhammerandhand]

One thing at least my phone co. has is "remote call forwarding."    It's really designed for an out-of-town business to have a business presence here, in a nearby metro area.   The agent I talked to recommended it to me.

There were three options, the cheapest being $20 a month, plus 3 cents a minute, on up to $60 a month and the first couple hundred minutes free, then a per-minute charge.   The lowest worked out for me as I figured for the next (intermediate) rate, I'd need to be  120 minutes a month on the phone (inbound calls only).  As I just had it forwarded to my cell phone, it was a local number (no LD charges).   It got me a listing in the white pages and a one-line, one-category listing in the yellow pages.   It probably paid for itself, but I did get a lot of solicitation calls for what they thought was a new business, things like insurance, CPA, credit cards, yada-yada.     When business land lines were running about $70 a month and all I was going to do was forward it to my cell when I was out of the office, it worked fine.

I used to have several ads in the Yellow Pages and it just did not reach my target market.  The adds were expensive and I also had to pay extra for a business line.  I haven't used them for many years now. If I did not have to pay for a business phone, I might consider going back, but not until I don't have to.  There are more effective ways for me to reach my market.  The yellow pages is a real shotgun effect.

[Mike8560]

I aus thought it was ridiculas.  A hinder or more a month for a one time printing is wwt I was alays quoted. 

[TheHogRing]

I agree with Mojo that "Marketing your business is a package deal. You need to look at where your target market is at and then design a marketing program around that."

However, it's also important to remember not to pigeonhole yourself. Let's say that the majority of your customers are old school folk who turn to the YP before anything else, then - of course - place an ad there. But you also want to expand your business. Marketing online, to a younger more tech savy audience, may be a good way to do that (and it's often free).

In the end, if you don't know your market, then chances are your business isn't going to do so well. But don't forget to grow that market as well.

[sofadoc]

This is an old topic from 2011 that I stumbled on.

As you read the posts, you see that the general consensus 5 years ago was that the YP's were on life support.

I am now ready to officially proclaim the Yellow Pages dead.

When they throw a copy on my doorstep, I pick it up and toss it right in the trash. I no longer even open it up to see if my free business listing is correct. In fact, I don't even check to see if it's in the book at all.

I don't even think the senior crowd relies on them anymore.

RIP YP's

[RiCat]

Interesting you re-posted this. Last year I started doing internal marketing statistics on how people find my phone number. Out of 334 inquiries about various projects, 60% were from Google. I target primarily marine soft upholstery and I am the only one in the boat upholstery section in the local AT&T book. With the free one line listing I got a grand total of 3 hits from it last year. I agree. Seems like physical phone books is primarily a thing of the past.

Rick

[SteveA]

The books list companies that aren't in business.  The books seem unreliable to me.  The only book I use is the smallest local book so if I need a service I can call someone in my own town.  The bigger books I also toss out before reading -
I never had a yellow page or an internet add for my company but the internet found my business and I get 2 calls a month from folks who tell me they found my name on the internet under the word repair and my zip code.  No complaints other than they post the companies earnings - and they are not too far off.

SA

[MinUph]

 The YP online is alive and well. I get calls from the online YP.

The paper books are no longer useful and a waste of trees. And I'm not much of a save the world kinda person. I get more paper weights in one year dropped at my doorsteps than I did in the first 50 years of my life. Can't say I understand the reasoning.