Yellow pages
- Thread starter renogaw
- Start date
m0nk
Active Member
I've used a "yellow pages" book (probably just called the yellow-book, I believe) once in the past 5 years. I haven't had a land-line for about that long so the phone company doesn't really send them my way, and even if I did, the internet is easier because a lot of the places I want phone numbers for also have websites.
I'm also online 24/7, so I'm sorta the exception...
I'm also online 24/7, so I'm sorta the exception...
renogaw
Active Member
"yellow book" is different from the local phone company's yellow pages.
it seems to be cheaper and larger coverage than our local company's yellow pages, which is why i went with them. i saved about $900 a month, but took a risk on who will use it. i did though put in a metering phone number to find out for next year hehe.
it seems to be cheaper and larger coverage than our local company's yellow pages, which is why i went with them. i saved about $900 a month, but took a risk on who will use it. i did though put in a metering phone number to find out for next year hehe.
renogaw
Active Member
Originally Posted by Isistius
oh yeah - it also costs me about $260 a month to advertise in 3 or 4 counties ( i can't remember how many)
WOW. how big/small of an add? in our local yellow pages we had 2 1/4 page adds and the front cover corner and were paying $1400 a month for half a county.
with "yellow book" we're spending a tad lower than $500 a month, have 2 "dollar bill" sized adds and the metering phone number. it covers the WHOLE county
oh yeah - it also costs me about $260 a month to advertise in 3 or 4 counties ( i can't remember how many)
WOW. how big/small of an add? in our local yellow pages we had 2 1/4 page adds and the front cover corner and were paying $1400 a month for half a county.
with "yellow book" we're spending a tad lower than $500 a month, have 2 "dollar bill" sized adds and the metering phone number. it covers the WHOLE county
rylan1
Active Member
I sell Yellow Page advertising. Perhaps I can help! What books do you have to choose from? I believe AT&T is in CT...Right?
IMO yellow book sucks... Very bad layout, no color, in the books I've seen...its understandable why you are paying less... and as you know less isn't always (mostly never) better. Basically what it comes down to is # of leads and your return on investment. I'll give you my opinion if you want it since I have no vested interest.... What type of biz are you?
I also sell online advertising and products... such as yellowpages.com which is a network of sites, websites and that sorta thing, and guaranteed Search Engine leads on like Google/Yahoo...
IMO yellow book sucks... Very bad layout, no color, in the books I've seen...its understandable why you are paying less... and as you know less isn't always (mostly never) better. Basically what it comes down to is # of leads and your return on investment. I'll give you my opinion if you want it since I have no vested interest.... What type of biz are you?
I also sell online advertising and products... such as yellowpages.com which is a network of sites, websites and that sorta thing, and guaranteed Search Engine leads on like Google/Yahoo...
rylan1
Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
"yellow book" is different from the local phone company's yellow pages.
it seems to be cheaper and larger coverage than our local company's yellow pages, which is why i went with them. i saved about $900 a month, but took a risk on who will use it. i did though put in a metering phone number to find out for next year hehe.
this is a big risk... I know you want to save money, however business owners usually don't think about the impact this could have. Usage is very important... Metered #'s are great... what details do they give you in your report?
"yellow book" is different from the local phone company's yellow pages.
it seems to be cheaper and larger coverage than our local company's yellow pages, which is why i went with them. i saved about $900 a month, but took a risk on who will use it. i did though put in a metering phone number to find out for next year hehe.
this is a big risk... I know you want to save money, however business owners usually don't think about the impact this could have. Usage is very important... Metered #'s are great... what details do they give you in your report?
renogaw
Active Member
I took the risk for a couple reasons:
the advertising is in the area i want to be advertising in. This is for the agawam MA area, so the majority of the local co's yellow pages is for springfield, chicopee, and some other ... lower income... areas. I have a very nice plumbing and heating showroom that advertising in the local co's book has brought in next to nothing sales wise.
it also only hits a few cities on my "side" of the river. you wouldn't think it, but getting people to cross a bridge is a pain in the butt, even though we're right off the expressway.
the yellow book includes all the higher income areas on my side of the river, PLUS all the other coverage on the other side of the river. i guess the metering number is going to tell me if we did a good risk or not heh.
the advertising is in the area i want to be advertising in. This is for the agawam MA area, so the majority of the local co's yellow pages is for springfield, chicopee, and some other ... lower income... areas. I have a very nice plumbing and heating showroom that advertising in the local co's book has brought in next to nothing sales wise.
it also only hits a few cities on my "side" of the river. you wouldn't think it, but getting people to cross a bridge is a pain in the butt, even though we're right off the expressway.
the yellow book includes all the higher income areas on my side of the river, PLUS all the other coverage on the other side of the river. i guess the metering number is going to tell me if we did a good risk or not heh.
rylan1
Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
I took the risk for a couple reasons:
the advertising is in the area i want to be advertising in. This is for the agawam MA area, so the majority of the local co's yellow pages is for springfield, chicopee, and some other ... lower income... areas. I have a very nice plumbing and heating showroom that advertising in the local co's book has brought in next to nothing sales wise.
it also only hits a few cities on my "side" of the river. you wouldn't think it, but getting people to cross a bridge is a pain in the butt, even though we're right off the expressway.
the yellow book includes all the higher income areas on my side of the river, PLUS all the other coverage on the other side of the river. i guess the metering number is going to tell me if we did a good risk or not heh.
Has that book been around for a while and is there another book that covers those areas you want? Do you know what the usage is?
Position and size also play significant roles. What are you doing online?
What is your competition like in the area?
I took the risk for a couple reasons:
the advertising is in the area i want to be advertising in. This is for the agawam MA area, so the majority of the local co's yellow pages is for springfield, chicopee, and some other ... lower income... areas. I have a very nice plumbing and heating showroom that advertising in the local co's book has brought in next to nothing sales wise.
it also only hits a few cities on my "side" of the river. you wouldn't think it, but getting people to cross a bridge is a pain in the butt, even though we're right off the expressway.
the yellow book includes all the higher income areas on my side of the river, PLUS all the other coverage on the other side of the river. i guess the metering number is going to tell me if we did a good risk or not heh.
Has that book been around for a while and is there another book that covers those areas you want? Do you know what the usage is?
Position and size also play significant roles. What are you doing online?
What is your competition like in the area?
renogaw
Active Member
Originally Posted by Rylan1
Has that book been around for a while and is there another book that covers those areas you want? Do you know what the usage is?
Position and size also play significant roles. What are you doing online?
What is your competition like in the area?
the "yellow book" has been around for about 4 years, where the local company (i keep saying this because it keeps changing...) has been around forever, but it seems like you keep getting tons of their books. It was verizon, i think it is now at&t, and you get so many of them everyone i talk to say they just throw it out because of how hard it is to keep track.
We unfortunately do nothing online worth talking about. Our webpage is about a full sentence long (through our mother company) and we have no one with the experience to design one that works in our store, and cant see paying for someone to design one.
we have 8 other wholesalers in the area. The only other *real* showroom has been around forever and everyone knows who they are. We've been open for 2 years now with the showroom, and one other competitor just opened one (and luckily is digging their own grave with it). We're not going after the plumbers/contractors with the advertising (we have outside salesmen for that). so we put the ads in the "plumbing fixtures & supplies--retail" and "bathroom fixtures & accessories" plus "see our ad" in the plumbing supplies (pretty close) and in their white pages.
We didn't do anything in the kitchen area because mainly it would be drowned out by all the cabinetry people, and none of our competitors were there either.
they will put us in their search engines on their webpage
Has that book been around for a while and is there another book that covers those areas you want? Do you know what the usage is?
Position and size also play significant roles. What are you doing online?
What is your competition like in the area?
the "yellow book" has been around for about 4 years, where the local company (i keep saying this because it keeps changing...) has been around forever, but it seems like you keep getting tons of their books. It was verizon, i think it is now at&t, and you get so many of them everyone i talk to say they just throw it out because of how hard it is to keep track.
We unfortunately do nothing online worth talking about. Our webpage is about a full sentence long (through our mother company) and we have no one with the experience to design one that works in our store, and cant see paying for someone to design one.
we have 8 other wholesalers in the area. The only other *real* showroom has been around forever and everyone knows who they are. We've been open for 2 years now with the showroom, and one other competitor just opened one (and luckily is digging their own grave with it). We're not going after the plumbers/contractors with the advertising (we have outside salesmen for that). so we put the ads in the "plumbing fixtures & supplies--retail" and "bathroom fixtures & accessories" plus "see our ad" in the plumbing supplies (pretty close) and in their white pages.
We didn't do anything in the kitchen area because mainly it would be drowned out by all the cabinetry people, and none of our competitors were there either.
they will put us in their search engines on their webpage
rylan1
Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
the "yellow book" has been around for about 4 years, where the local company (i keep saying this because it keeps changing...) has been around forever, but it seems like you keep getting tons of their books. It was verizon, i think it is now at&t, and you get so many of them everyone i talk to say they just throw it out because of how hard it is to keep track.
We unfortunately do nothing online worth talking about. Our webpage is about a full sentence long (through our mother company) and we have no one with the experience to design one that works in our store, and cant see paying for someone to design one.
we have 8 other wholesalers in the area. The only other *real* showroom has been around forever and everyone knows who they are. We've been open for 2 years now with the showroom, and one other competitor just opened one (and luckily is digging their own grave with it). We're not going after the plumbers/contractors with the advertising (we have outside salesmen for that). so we put the ads in the "plumbing fixtures & supplies--retail" and "bathroom fixtures & accessories" plus "see our ad" in the plumbing supplies (pretty close) and in their white pages.
We didn't do anything in the kitchen area because mainly it would be drowned out by all the cabinetry people, and none of our competitors were there either.
they will put us in their search engines on their webpage
IMO you need to advertise... especially since you've only had the showroom for 2 yrs
AT&T is a dominant book and in probably 80-90% of markets is the usage leader, unfournately they most often are the most expensive. Verizon books and Yellow Book are the least attractive books that I've seen.
In my area and probably all across the country... you recieve probably 3-4 books ... problem is it creates confusion and puts a burden on businesses to have to choose or be in them all.
The best bang for your buck would be to invest online. Online advertising is far less cheaper than the print advertising and covers a wider area and can provide more information and a "24 hour salesman"
If I were you and I decided to pull out of the other book all together I would invest some of that $ online.
I would also maintain some presence in the book you pulled out of... you don't always have to have the biggest ad... but you need to be seen and noticed.
the "yellow book" has been around for about 4 years, where the local company (i keep saying this because it keeps changing...) has been around forever, but it seems like you keep getting tons of their books. It was verizon, i think it is now at&t, and you get so many of them everyone i talk to say they just throw it out because of how hard it is to keep track.
We unfortunately do nothing online worth talking about. Our webpage is about a full sentence long (through our mother company) and we have no one with the experience to design one that works in our store, and cant see paying for someone to design one.
we have 8 other wholesalers in the area. The only other *real* showroom has been around forever and everyone knows who they are. We've been open for 2 years now with the showroom, and one other competitor just opened one (and luckily is digging their own grave with it). We're not going after the plumbers/contractors with the advertising (we have outside salesmen for that). so we put the ads in the "plumbing fixtures & supplies--retail" and "bathroom fixtures & accessories" plus "see our ad" in the plumbing supplies (pretty close) and in their white pages.
We didn't do anything in the kitchen area because mainly it would be drowned out by all the cabinetry people, and none of our competitors were there either.
they will put us in their search engines on their webpage
IMO you need to advertise... especially since you've only had the showroom for 2 yrs
AT&T is a dominant book and in probably 80-90% of markets is the usage leader, unfournately they most often are the most expensive. Verizon books and Yellow Book are the least attractive books that I've seen.
In my area and probably all across the country... you recieve probably 3-4 books ... problem is it creates confusion and puts a burden on businesses to have to choose or be in them all.
The best bang for your buck would be to invest online. Online advertising is far less cheaper than the print advertising and covers a wider area and can provide more information and a "24 hour salesman"
If I were you and I decided to pull out of the other book all together I would invest some of that $ online.
I would also maintain some presence in the book you pulled out of... you don't always have to have the biggest ad... but you need to be seen and noticed.
stdreb27
Active Member
I've started using the "yellow pages" again. I basically use it to find, fish stores, in my new area. I used to use yellowbook.com, but their site search engine falls short. And I only use that when I know the name of the company I'm looking for and need their phone number. Basically everything else I need I go word of mouth. Or have started using livesearch by microsoft or google maps mobile.
dogstar
Active Member
As a consumer, I only keep the one that the phone company gives us. Its delivered to my house each year with the white pages and I keep them both together at my desk. I throw all the others away if they get delivered. I dont know if any are better than the others but I figure I only need one anyway.
rylan1
Active Member
Originally Posted by Dogstar
As a consumer, I only keep the one that the phone company gives us. Its delivered to my house each year with the white pages and I keep them both together at my desk. I throw all the others away if they get delivered. I dont know if any are better than the others but I figure I only need one anyway.
The phone company books are the most complete... others usually have wrong info and bad or disconnected phone #'s
As a consumer, I only keep the one that the phone company gives us. Its delivered to my house each year with the white pages and I keep them both together at my desk. I throw all the others away if they get delivered. I dont know if any are better than the others but I figure I only need one anyway.
The phone company books are the most complete... others usually have wrong info and bad or disconnected phone #'s