On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
This is from a New Yorker cartoon published July 5, 1993 created by Peter Steiner.
Perhaps that’s why the good old printed Yellow Pages still ranks as one of the most trusted sources of local advertising.
A report published by the Yellow Pages Association from Forrester Research found that Americans trust printed Yellow Pages above all other local media.
It also found that Yellow Pages advertising is nearly as trustworthy as user reviews.
I get asked all the time by clients if they should totally withdraw from the phone book. I always recommend that they DO NOT CANCEL their Yellow Pages advertising unless they’ve done the following:
1. Hire a great ad designer. Do not rely on the publisher’s art team to create your ad. Ad designers are increasingly stressed, and many of them work in India and Pakistan. A great Yellow Pages ad designer is worth ten times the cost of the ad production. I have links to several on my website, but I consider Robert Gould of ImageOne (a link to his children’s book site) to be without peer.
2. Track your ads using call measurement services. The cost is negligible and it’s the only way to truly tell how well your ads are performing. If you can’t find a call measurement service provider, email me, and I’ll hook you up. To learn more about these services, watch this free recorded webinar with CallSource.
3. Negotiate like hell. The Yellow Pages publishers are under extreme pressure to deliver revenue, and there has never been a better time to negotiate rates. For practice negotiating, stand in front of a mirror and say, “No” until your tongue bleeds. I think Harvey McKay came up with that line.
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