Yellow Book

I haven't picked up a print Yellow Pages outside of looking for pizza places when out of town since 2001. The internet has replaced it all. I have a small regional phone book in the trunk of my car. I think I still have one from Fort Worth running around here somewhere. But I never use it.

For $28 a month, well, I like to think of things in terms of annual, so that's $336 a year. If the ad brings in more than that much, then it's worth it. Three one-time customers at $120 a pop for full details. If you get a single repeat customer out of the ad, it will pay for itself as long as you keep that customer happy.

That's not bad. I thought Yellow Pages ads cost much more than that. If a small (business card size?) ad costs $28 a month I'll put one in the Waco phonebook and then use two-liners in all the little regional ones. I'll want to cover everything within a half hour drive of the lot so that'd be Hillsboro, Corsicana, Mexia, Fairfield, Malone, Hubbard, Penelope, Bynum, West, Abbott, Whitney...

uh, on second though, maybe I'll just stick to Hubbard and Hillsboro. Geez, there's a lot of little towns around here!
 
shuddleston said:
Just posting a follow-up on this topic.

I received the yellowbook and the Ad looks good. They even bolded my phone number an increased the font not sure why but it cannot hurt to have your number being the largest on the page.

I received my first call today for a quote - lol a full interior detail. However, I was able to seal the deal with a price range not a quote and will be detailing the interior on Saturday.
The yellowbook hit doors on March 1st, so hopefully I'll catch some more business from the yellowbook Ad.
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Good for you! Already starting to pay off and it's still early! May prove to be a winner for you.


occupant, You've got to cover Abbott! Never can tell when Willie might need a wash-n-wax. :D Don't forget about Itasca and Milford. :) Been a while since I last stopped in to the Czech Stop for some goodies!
 
shuddleston said:
Just posting a follow-up on this topic.

I received the yellowbook and the Ad looks good. They even bolded my phone number an increased the font not sure why but it cannot hurt to have your number being the largest on the page.

I received my first call today for a quote - lol a full interior detail. However, I was able to seal the deal with a price range not a quote and will be detailing the interior on Saturday.

The yellowbook hit doors on March 1st, so hopefully I'll catch some more business from the yellowbook Ad.
Click to expand...


Keep this in mind. That one customer might bring you 3 of their friends, coworkers, or family members. Then those people might do the same. One ad and some word of mouth can get a business off the ground. I suggest posting free ads on places like craigslist. It don't cost a thing and you can say as much about your business as you want. I get a lot of work from there.
 
Yellow Book.....any phone book print for that matter sucks.

Print is dying, if not already dead. Look at your local newspaper classified ads and compare them today to how filled they were say 10 or even 5 years ago. Craigslist, Ebay and the likes of Angies List have killed traditional print.

We were stupid enough to get an ad in the phone book and we have not had ONE person contact us from it. We ask everyone how they found us when they come into our shop and they say:

1) Google
2) Word of mouth

Don't do it.

Anthony
 
While I'm not a strong proponent of Yellow Book advertising, I'm sure not going to say it's a dead media. I have at least 3 at home, and yes I will refer to them on occasion.

A Wall Street Journal survey of 1000 businesses w/25 or fewer companies (source D&B) showed 6 of 10 still ran Yellow Pages ad. Those companies attributed 21% of new business to those ads; 19% word of mouth; 12% websites.

A research said that 61% use printed Yellow Pages for local business info with 13% using search engines.

It should be noted that this data is @ 2 years old, so you could expect some shifts in data but not likely a total reversal. And in shuddleston's case he has seen an immediate return.
 
Aw shoot, I'm not going into a detailing business. I'll be selling cheap used cars for cash. Beater World: because everyone drives a beater! The question remains where my lot will go, I like a place for $27K in Hubbard but it may not be available when I have the money. I like a place here in Malone but the owners don't want to sell or rent it or even give me a price if they did. So I may end up leasing an old gas station in Hillsboro for $600 a month and hope I get an option to buy.

Either way, I think the Waco and Hillsboro books will get my listing, depending on costs associated with a good sized ad. Something the size of a business card (1/12th page or 1/8th page I guess) and I don't really need full color either so it ought to be cheap.

As far as all the little regional books, if it's cheap, I'll do those too. I know that when people move around these rural areas that sometimes that little knockoff book is all they have to contact people with. I guess the best thing to do is not spend too much money on a low volume or relatively ignored book. But if they're desperate to fill ad pages, and want to offer me a great cheap rate with no long-term contract, I'm good for it!
 
yellow pages are great when your first starting out. get the biggest size add you can afford. list everything you specialize in, to give the customer a reason to call you. when they call put your selling shoes on and get the appointment.
Once you have been in business for a while the internet is the way to go...the yellow pages are soon to be a thing of the past. just this year I cut my yellow ad down from 360.00 per month to 74.00 per month. most of my business comes from repeat and referrals and the internet along side my website.
The best advertisement going is Face Book and Twitter, it's FREE and if you have enough friends and followers you change your add by the min,hour day etc..
 
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