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Combine Your Yellow Page Ad and Web Site
By Dr. Lynella Grant
Combine Your Yellow Page Ad and Web Site for Maximum Profits
Dr. Lynella Grant
A Yellow Page Ad isn't Enough Any More
An unquestioned "must" for any small business has been to
run an ad in the Yellow Page Directory. Since most customers
were local, that was enough to establish itself as "open for
business." The annual Yellow Page ad represents the largest
promotional expense for many enterprises.
Yet, Yellow Page directory use is declining, while expanding
segments of the public don't rely on them at all. Yellow
Page advertising costs keep going up, and the complicated
pricing structure is difficult to figure out.
Worse yet, having a Yellow Page ad doesn't deliver like it
used to. People can find most of the information they want
without ever opening a directory. Your business needs its
Yellow Page strategy to be in tune with the times and your
market.
Like most business owners, you must squeeze maximum value
from every promotional dollar spent. That requires you to
move beyond treating a Yellow Page ad like it's a separate,
stand-alone way to promote your business. It's not. Your
Yellow Page advertising needs to work in tandem with all the
rest of the efforts you pursue.
The Internet Expands Your Arena
Every business needs to put itself in front of the people
looking for what it does - and that's not just through the
Yellow Pages any longer. An increasing percentage of
customers, who spend their money close to home, are Internet
savvy. There's a major overlap between Yellow Page directory
users and Internet users. That fact supports integrating
your local and Internet promotional methods so they attract
more new customers.
Yellow Page users are likely to be Internet users as well.
And a business that ignores online activities entirely may
have a tough time getting access to or credibility with
those customers. It is possible to make online and
traditional (offline) methods to attract customers work in
tandem - improving the effectiveness of each alone. So it's
no longer an either-or, all-or-none choice whether to
promote the business online or off.
People who subscribe to online services consult the Yellow
Pages 23% more often than non-subscribers.
Frequent Yellow Page Users are:
- 18% more likely than average to be Internet subscribers
- 32% more likely to be among the heaviest Internet users
- 18% more likely to make purchases on the Internet
- 27% more likely to spend more than $1,000 on Internet
purchases
Source: Simmons
Customer Behavior is Changing
More and more, people are going to the Internet to find,
learn about, or select products and services. Even local
ones. That doesn't mean that they will buy online, however.
People still prefer to spend their money locally when they
can. But, even the smallest business can do a better job of
being found by those who prefer to use both the Internet and
the Yellow Page directory to make their buying decisions.
And, it can be done very inexpensively, too.
Even a 100% local business can pull in more business by
getting its low-tech and high-tech advertising to mesh.
Visit http://www.yellowpagesage.com for lots of free
practical assistance. As you broaden your visibility to
buyers, your business will be found more often - by the very
people you've been looking for.
What Else has Changed?
- Buyers are less trusting and more willing to shop around
- Customers have more options and ways to find what they
want
- Availability of Internet Yellow Pages
- Aging population uses the Yellow Pages differently than
young people
- Development of unique niches and specialties
- More choices for a "better deal"
- More directories competing in a geographic area
- More immigrants, or those from other cultures,
unaccustomed to Yellow Page use
- Area code proliferation fragments cities
- Larger cities have multiple directories, rather than one
large one
- Development of specialized directories - like ethnic,
non-English, women, minority, business to business
Become Visible Online - With or Without Your Own Web Site
If your business already has a Web site, treat it as a way
to expand the reach of your Yellow Page ad and traditional
marketing activities. Jettison the expectation that it
should make sales - few do so. But an information-packed Web
site can support your traditional marketing methods very
well.
Even without your own Web site, your small business can
establish an online identity that helps buyers to find you.
- Get listed in a variety of Internet Yellow Page (IYP)
directories
- Send emails to your "regulars" with special offers and
useful information
- Position yourself for Local Search - a method whereby
customers use search engines to locate local businesses by
town, state, region, zip code, etc.
Expand the exposure of your business beyond your Yellow Page
ad through a Yellow Page strategy that reaches the whole
globe. Your operation, whatever its size, will gain more
credibility and traffic locally when it puts itself in the
bigger picture.
(c) 2004, Lynella Grant
About the Author
-- Dr. Lynella Grant is an expert in visual communication,
how printed materials send signals that reinforce or negate
the verbal message. Decode and repair your unintended
impressions. Author, "The Business Card Book" and "Yellow
Page Smarts." http://www.yellowpagesage.com (719) 395-9450
Off the Page Press P.O. Box 4880 Buena Vista, CO 81211
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/150.html
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| Some other articles by Dr. Lynella Grant | |
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