Why I Love The Yellow Pages

I love the yellow pages. They are good for so many things. Today, I stumbled upon yet another amazing use for my local directory…

…kindling for my fireplace!

The thin and cheap paper ignites quicker than newspaper, and the flames give off an nice little colored glow from the ink. Now don’t get me wrong.  7 years ago I was a firm believer in Yellow Page advertising. Which was a good thing since I made my living selling yellow page advertising. I was one of the best sales reps in our office because I believed in the power of “directional advertising” to impact a small businesses bottom line. Directional advertising is the form of advertising that consumers seek out when they are ready to make a purchase. As we used to say to our clients, it brings buyers and sellers together at the perfect moment…when they have money in hand and seeking out a particular service. And woe to you, Mrs. Landscaper, or Mr. Plumber, if you were not advertising in the yellow pages. Because that is how many consumers used to make their buying decisions.

Creative advertising on the other hand, like the newspaper, magazines, billboards, direct mail etc., was and still is a somewhat viable medium but less and less so. Advertising in the newspaper and hoping for a high return on investment is like flushing a $20 bill down the toilet and hoping to see $50 come out of the kitchen faucet. Possible…but not likely.

As a business owner, you’d almost be better off taking the $1,000 plus dollars you would spend in the yellow pages or newspaper and going to Vegas for the weekend. At least you’d have a shot at ROI, and at the outside you’d enjoy a nice seafood buffet.

There were a lot of jokes about the yellow pages that I encountered a few years ago when I was a true believer. One common line was “…yeah I use the yellow pages – FOR A DOORSTOP! Ha ha ha.” Well today you couldn’t even say that. Directories these days are so light on advertising and have gotten so thin that the door would simply swing right over the top of  the book – forget about being a door stopper. It makes a better drink coaster.

Which brings me back to my original thought. It’s raining and cold here in Southern California today. A perfect time to light up my fireplace and enjoy the closest thing to “winter” that we get here in the land of 70 and sunny. As I ripped a few pages from the restaurant section to toss under the easy log I was reminded of the debt we owe as marketing agencies to the yellow pages.

Indebted to the yellow pages you say? Surely a sacrilege coming from a digital company! Not so. You see, directional advertising is still directional advertising. Whether it’s in a faded out directory, or the online screen of the Google search engine. Savvy consumers still want quick answers to their buying questions and thank goodness a viable medium has arisen to take the place of the yellow pages: Local Search Engine Marketing. Consumers connect with Google, Yahoo! and Bing when they are searching for a local restaurant, a plumber, a landscaper, or an auto repair shop. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you can even do it on your mobile phone.

So, the question is… will you Mr. Business Owner, be there when your next potential loyal customer is searching? Or will your competition get the business because they were savvy enough to see the value in paying $1.56 for  a lead as opposed to $75.56 for a lead? Will you get the business, or will your competitor get the business because they saw the value in  optimizing their website to rank well in the free search engine listings?

Something to ponder for sure. And speaking of pondering, my dying fireplace is calling. Need more restaurant pages.

Comments are closed.