Yellow Pages

Does a Yellow Pages Ad Still Work For You?

By Raymund Flandez

Even in the age of paid-search advertising, many local businesses appear to be sticking with the tried-and-true to get new customers. Yep, that’s right, the yellow pages.

yellow pagesAbout six of 10 small businesses continue to advertise in a printed yellow-pages directory, according to a phone survey from AT&T Advertising & Publishing, a yellow-pages publisher. The survey polled 1,000 businesses with 25 or fewer employees, the sample drawn from Dun & Bradstreet’s list of companies in Atlanta, San Francisco, Connecticut, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee, Oklahoma, San Diego and Charlotte, N.C.

While some of these small businesses have integrated Internet advertising into their marketing, the survey shows the printed yellow pages leads a list of top call generators. About one in five (21%) of respondents cited it as the source that produces the most calls from potential customers. Word-of-mouth is a close second, cited by 19% of respondents, and company Web sites are next, cited by 12%.

An independent survey by the Kelsey Group, a research firm specializing in yellow pages and related advertising, finds that 61% of Americans say they turn to the printed yellow-pages listings to find local business information; 13% say they use search engines.

But the yellow pages are changing with the times. AT&T offers its own Internet Yellow Pages and with video, too. In the AT&T survey, 53% of small businesses say they expect to buy online ads with videos within the next two years. But you don’t need to spend a lot to do online video on your own, especially with YouTube.

Readers, how important is a yellow-pages ad or listing for a local business? And from where are you getting the most interest? The yellow pages or the Internet?

*http://blogs.wsj.com/independentstreet/2007/12/20/does-a-yellow-pages-ad-still-work-for-you/