Why I will never advertise in the phone book again
Image via Wikipedia I don’t know why I let the salesman talk me into it in the first place. I told her that nobody I know uses the paper phone book anymore.
I had not advertised with them for over five years. But somehow, I understood I was buying something that would link to my salon’s website from their online directory.
Alas, I was misled. What I got was my website printed in the white pages of my local directory.
Really?
Who looks for a salon in the damn white pages?
Our website is the best way for us to get new clients. It gives them more information than I could ever communicate into an advertisement. It is the path I want all potential clients to take.
I called the claims department and they said they could give me the additional web listing FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE and that I was stuck paying for the ad I didn’t want.
Hate Dex.
Perhaps other salons have a different result from phone book advertising than I do. Do any of you think that the money you spend on phone book ads gets you enough new clients to make it worth the expense?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
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Could it have been the design and information in your ad???? Those books got 14 billion references last year. Advertisers in the MILLIONS continue to by print ads. It must be working for them
KenC
August 21, 2008
It is absolutely possible that the ad was not well designed. Over the course of a dozen years we worked with the designers employed by the directory and with independent firms specializing in yellow pages advertising. All of this was pre-web. When tracking new clients, and more importantly, new client retention, we found that the phone book ad didn’t do a good enough job (with our budget) of attracting the clients most likely to become our repeat customers.
I was willing to give the company another shot by agreeing to work with their digital product instead of the print directory, but had a bad experience and am feeling disgruntled.
My business is in a city with high internet usage. It is unlikely that people without internet access are looking for services at our price point. Also, one of our big draws is our online appointment service. We are quite simply an online business and we want to focus our advertising in that direction.
The advertising that HAS provided results for us? Citysearch. We continue to use them because they continue to send us clients who are already predisposed to like the way we do business.
Every business has to decide how to spend their advertising budget. Small salons have smaller budgets and have to be very careful about the efficacy of the ads they chose.
I would love to hear from a small salon who is using the yellow pages and getting great results! We are here for conversation and healthy debate. Cheers!
Aura Mae
August 21, 2008
I completely agree with you. Phone Books are a waste of time, I can’t even think of a single person in my life that still uses a land line and I don’t think cell phones are included in phone books. These days people check google or yahoo for everything. Great blog btw http://EmersonSalon.com
Alex
December 28, 2008
Oh and don’t bother with CitySearch either, besides being a bit misleading there was something wrong with the traffic stats.
Alex
December 28, 2008
I don’t know about the stats or anything misleading, but I can tell you that any almost every new client we get that isn’t personally referred comes from Citysearch. It may not be the best solution for every salon, but it works for us.
Aura Mae
December 29, 2008