[behigher]

I am really interested in finding out about experiences in Yell.com, thomson, upmystreet etc

My collegue David is writing an article this week for allinlondon.co.uk all about yell.com and other directory's that seem to be fading more and more into the distance, and social networking takes a bite, along with the monster that is google taking everything in it's path.

interested from anyone, people who swear by it and people who hate it.

I mean it must work for some, and be awful for others, can't work for everyone can it?

Thanks in advance!

[stephendoyle]

hi tom,

i think it depends on what industry you are in.

personally i always advise my marketing clients to go for the
free listings and then see how it goes and get something
bigger next time.

i personally think that if you offer a serviced based product
that you normally do well from the classifieds etc....


regards,
stephen doyle

[boxby]

Originally Posted by behigher

I am really interested in finding out about experiences in Yell.com, thomson, upmystreet etc

My collegue David is writing an article this week for allinlondon.co.uk all about yell.com and other directory's that seem to be fading more and more into the distance, and social networking takes a bite, along with the monster that is google taking everything in it's path.

interested from anyone, people who swear by it and people who hate it.

I mean it must work for some, and be awful for others, can't work for everyone can it?

Thanks in advance!

We used to spend thousands on Yellow Pages. My husbands business is House Clearances, so most of the customers are middle aged - elderly, usually female etc etc. Typical Yellow page directory customers.

Also Yell is the worst company i have ever dealt with. in 10 years they didn't get the order right once. Wrong telephone numbers, wrong addresses, and when it's printed - you can't correct it - complete waste of money for a year.

Over the last few years we have reduced the spend to less than £1k, and put it into PPC & SEO instead.

Thomson & Touch Local & Yell; If they're services were any good, they wouldn't have to do the hard sell. One number I would love to see from any of these businesses is their "repeat order" number/value. I bet it's very very low.

118247 - 15 month advertising - not one call!

That's our experience.

[behigher]

i wonder if we could find out true repeat order figures from somewhere?

interesting point.

[stephendoyle]

hi tom,

don't know the exact figures for my clients but i know if worked
well.

they then got larger adverts and been advertising for some time.

like with all marketing you need to measure the response rate as
sometimes its not always the publication it could be the wrong audience,
section or even bad copy.

i always make sure that you capture where your orders, enquiries and
prospects are coming from thats the only way to make sure that it
is working - give your customer a reason to make that call!

regards
steve doyle

[boxby]

Originally Posted by stephendoyle

hi tom,

don't know the exact figures for my clients but i know if worked
well.

they then got larger adverts and been advertising for some time.

like with all marketing you need to measure the response rate as
sometimes its not always the publication it could be the wrong audience,
section or even bad copy.

i always make sure that you capture where your orders, enquiries and
prospects are coming from thats the only way to make sure that it
is working - give your customer a reason to make that call!

regards
steve doyle

But this is where we were, and where most (paper) directory advertisers are. Each you you need a more colourful (more expensive) and larger (more expensive) advert with new artwork (more expensive) to attract the more, or sometimes just the same, amount of business.

And everyone else in your category does the same.

So proportionately, year on year you are getting less return for your money.

I think if you use advertising sources like this it is really important to ask every new lead where they heard of you, so that you can make informed decisions on next year's budget.

[stephendoyle]

exactly sandra,

colour and larger obviously work but still think that decent sales
copy far outways other adverts.

obviously yp, thomson etc are one form of advertising.

if it is a large part of anyones budget i would advise to advertise
elsewhere or run other campains that give you a far better return
like ppc etc...

regards
steve doyle

[behigher]

yes, I mean if we are looking at a large (ish) city, say Nottingham for instance, I was quoted 12,000 for a full colour page in yellow pages, but that was about 4 years ago.

Having said that, and using not particually ruthless negotiating skills I got the quote down to 8k but still did'nt go for it at all.

Just think what 8k could do for you in all the advertising methods we have available today!

[RayB]

Originally Posted by behigher

interested from anyone, people who swear by it and people who hate it.

I mean it must work for some, and be awful for others, can't work for everyone can it?

Thanks in advance!

My experience tells me that a paper advert in YP or similar for a tradesman or popular B2C service can work extremely well.

For B2B it's useless

And the online versions such as yell .com are a pointless waste of money for all IMO.

When it comes to online searches, Google is King, so it's SEO or PPC for online traffic.....

[stephendoyle]

true Tom,

all print and publication advertising can be halved.

one simple technique is to call and get a quotation.

ask for a discount. take it on board and find the deadline day.

call back on that day even break it down to the time required.

call them and i guarantee you will have them eating out of your
hand especially if it is their monthly or weekly target.

anyway Tom sorry to spoil the thread back on topic......

regards
steve