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The Long Painful Death of Yellow Page Advertising
09/23/2008 - By Michelle Pierce Michelle Pierce
Michelle Pierce
Advertising in print yellow pages is perfect for you if:
Advertising in print yellow pages is perfect for you if:
- Your target demographic is older than 55.
- You have no desire to bring your business to a new medium.
- You are perfectly comfortable entrusting your business to a declining medium.
- You are inundated with phone calls every day from people fawning over your brilliant thumbnail-sized ad.
- You enjoy tossing away the equivalent of a car payment for a one-inch ad every month.
If the above phrases describe you in a nutshell, then great! You've found the perfect use for print yellow pages.
For the rest of us, however, advertising in print yellow pages isn't
all that it's cracked up to be, especially in recent years. Slowly but
surely, yellow page usage is declining, with a 10 percent decrease in
usage expected this year alone.
As if that weren't enough, the newest round of consumers – those
between the ages of 18 and 30 – aren't turning to the yellow pages at
all. They almost exclusively use mobile and online searches to find
anything they need. In fact, it's estimated that about 40 percent of
online searches are local in intent. That means lots of people are
using Google as a replacement for the traditional print yellow pages.
If you want to target a younger audience, you CANNOT afford to be advertising in print only. You must be online.
The only question now is: where online should you be? Some online
directories are stepping in to take the place of the yellow pages, but
which one should you put your money in?
1) Somewhere you can showcase customer reviews
Many people are more likely to listen to what their neighbors have
said about a plumber, electrician, or a local apartment complex. This
is one of the reasons that online review sites have become so popular.
Not only do current customers get a chance to praise or rant, but
potential customers get to see what others are saying.
At Search Marketing Expo Local 2008, search marketing experts
discussed how customer reviews can help small local stores outrank
national chains. They encouraged small businesses to focus on getting
reviews from established sites in their industry or region that
syndicate to the search engines.
The review system has worked wonders for sites like Amazon.com and
eBay, and is rapidly becoming more popular with consumers over time.
2) Somewhere you can feature a video advertisement
With better streaming technology, video has become a powerful force
online. According to a June 2007 study by the Online Publishers
Association, around 80 percent of web users have watched a video ad. Of
those users, 52 percent took some kind of action after viewing the ad,
whether it was visiting the website, searching for more information, or
making a purchase.
As if that weren't enough, video ads also help with branding. The
same study found that if a viewer liked the brand before watching the
ad, and liked the video, their consideration for that brand went up 61
percent. Even people who were neutral or negative toward the brand had
their consideration go up 21 percent if they liked the video.
3) Somewhere that local people can find you
Like I said earlier, about 40 percent of Google searches are local
in intent. People are turning to search engines to find out what time
the movie is, how late their local pizza joint delivers, and where they
can get a decent haircut. How can you make sure that they find you?
One of the better ways to do that is to be a part of a local online
business directory. A good site will not only give you a place to
advertise, but you could get some decent SEO benefit as well. Plus,
it's targeted specifically at people in your area. You don't get a much
better chance to hit your local demographic.
Don't put all your eggs in a sinking basket
Print yellow pages are becoming less relevant as people become more
connected, and it's doubtful that future generations will even use them
at all. Consumers are abandoning them for the convenience of the
Internet, and that's where you'll need to be in order to get their
attention.
