Local Internet Marketing and the Yellow Pages

How good of a resource is my local Yellow Pages?

Most of the available evidence, statistical, anecdotal and otherwise points to one thing: the return on investment for yellow pages advertising is decreasing. Even if overall Yellow Pages usage is staying the same (despite population growth), there are so many new books that your advertising in the YP is becoming diluted unless you advertise in all of the books-which probably will cost you significantly more. In 2007, more and more businesses that I work with either cut out their Yellow Pages completely, or are planning on doing so the next time the YP salesman comes around. In most cases this is because their Internet Marketing program is outperforming their Yellow Pages.

There are at least two ways in which Internet Marketing outperforms the Yellow Pages:
1-Internet marketing, if done strategically usually has a lower cost per customer acquisition and/or return on investment. Bottom Line: A well implemente Pay Per Click marketing program, Search Engine Optimization program, or other Internet marketing program has a better ROI than the yellow pages.

(I know that many of the Internet marketing programs out there are NOT working very well-which is why you need to call Dan Stratford for a free 15 minute consultation at 720-985-7945 if you are considering Internet marketing or looking to improve your program. In 15 minutes Dan can point you in the right direction.)

2-The quality of the customers is higher online. On average, the income and education of an Internet user is higher than that of a yellow pages user. Of course, all demographics use both to some degree, but on average the Internet is higher.

3-In most cases the Internet is outperforming the yellow pages advertising when a business is spending the same amount on both (provided their Internet marketing is legit)

If you spend the amount of money it takes to dominate the Yellow pages (which, for an attorney in a metro area the size of Denver can easily be over $150K/year) this can result in a higher quantity of calls than what you might get from Internet marketing. However, you will have to do a lot of sifting to get to the diamonds in the ruff. So if you have the time or resources to advertise aggressively in the phone book and you are aggressively growing your business, then the yellow page might be at least a break even proposition in the short run. However, my Internet marketing customers consistently increase their Internet marketing budgets and many are cutting out their yellow pages advertising completely.

Come back tomorrow for advice on Internet marketing with the yellow pages-what works what to look out for.