Yellow Pages advertising - useful?

[jasoncrouch]

I also remember the inordinate number of sales calls, but I also seem to get this from doing well on Google. I already had two calls today! One was from a random mortgage person that I have never heard of, and she acted like we were good friends. It went something like this:

Random Mortgage Person: "Hi, Jason, this is Jane Doe from XYZ Funding Group. It sounds like you have some exciting things going on over there!"

Me (stonefaced): "With regard to what?"

RMP: "Like hiring some new agents, and doing some great business. We are located around the corner from you, and I was wanting to see if I could swing by next week and chat with you."

Me: "What is this actually regarding?"

RMP: "Well, we wanted to see if you have a preferred lender and whether we could handle some of your loan business."

I then explained that we were set, since two of us are licensed loan officers already.

I told my wife about the episode, and she said it sounded like a sales pitch that would appeal to our six-year old daughter - "You have some exciting things going on!"

[avonreal]

What, nobody uses yellow pages anymore? Maybe it's that the techy folks like us who hang around in this forum don't use yellow pages? .

someone must do, they reported profits of around $400m, although that includes them venturing online!

[TheBrainchildGroup]

To be honest, I don't think people look in the Yellow Pages much anymore. With specified and niche search engines online the Yellow Pages is or will soon be a thing of the past. I think there are much cheaper and more effective forms of promotion.

Just my $0.02

[Gabe]

I spent $3000 for YP ads in 2005 and got commissions of $7000 from it.
I spent $4500 for YP ads in 2006 and got commissions of $10,000 from it.
I spent $3500 for YP ads in 2007 and they'll be released in November.

I look at it as a supplement to my business rather than the foundation. Its hard for clients to google an agent if they forget your name or tagline (Isellhomesinxyzcity.com, etc.). My clients and leads know they can find me in the book (full page ad) if they lose my card. I'll keep using it until it turns into a loss for me. I recognize it has diminishing returns but it should be profitable for a few more years.

[TrimarkProperties]

I think it really depends on your town and your demographics.

I'm in Gainesville Florida, and we rent apartment complexes, duplexes and houses near the University of Florida campus. Our target market is college students. For us, it makes NO sense to pay big money to be in the yellow pages. None. We had some students do a study on how many students actually use the YP and less than 1% were using it (less than 1% had it in their rental home). We own 13 apartment complexes, and we were spending about $3600 a year on YP listings (not ads) when I started here 4 years ago-- and that was just for 1 of the 4 YP books in our area.

We are now down to $220 per year in YP spending and have seen no drop in traffic.

[toddcov]

YP is a waist of money and a lot of telemarketer calls. Not worth it.

[NCLFA]

I have to say, I wouldn't waste money on a yellow page ad, I spend my money on an online yellow page ad. People are going online more then ever to search the yellow pages(crazy huh?)

[Madtown RM]

I spent a lot of money advertising in the YP a few years ago and, without boring you with the gory details, it was an unmitigated disaster on both a personal and professional front. I would never, ever do it again - even if they gave it to me for free!

[scottiegrace]

I think the Yellow Pages is very useful. You not only get your print listing but you also go on the Yellowbook.com or .ca and are listed on canada411.ca under businesses and 411.com.

[jihni]

I think Yellow Pages advertising can still generate leads. But, not that fast and many as compared with online/web advertising.