Save Your Yellow Pages Money, Spend Time on Search Marketing

Imagine my shock recently when a reliable source informed me that the annual spend on phone book advertising (e.g. Yellow Pages, Idearc, Superpages, etc.) still topped $13 billion.

Yes, that’s a “B”. B-I-L-L-I-O-N.

Despite almost every man, woman, and child in the United States being connected to the Internet, small business are still being convinced that phone book advertising is still worth the money. If you’re reading this post, you’re probably shaking your head.

Hell, most small business owners that spend money on the Yellow Pages admit that it’s probably a waste of resources, but they don’t know what else to do. And, to their credit, this is because the phone book companies have done a great job of building a salesteam that is very good at convincing everyone that advertising with them still makes sense. I’ve often heard the phrase “a marketer doesn’t get fired for buying another advertisement”, and the phone companies certainly play into this mentality

If you think about it, phone book advertising was the pre-Internet version of Inbound Marketing. Rarely would anyone flip through their copy of the Yellow Pages to just read phone numbers. Instead, consumers only picked up that stack of dead trees when they needed something. They would flip to the florist section, for example, and see a great ad for a local florist, and that ad was appearing at the perfect time. Unfortunately, the cost-per-impression, let alone cost-per-conversion (i.e. impression to phone call, etc.) was high. But, the big question is whether that florist’s ad also appeared under Gifts, Funerals, Weddings, or Anniversaries.

That is why search marketing, both organic & pay-per-click (PPC), are a much better way to get found. With 52 million Americans living in households that only use wireless phones, that means that over 25% of households aren’t even being delivered a Yellow Pages. Instead, they use this thing called the Internet. Some people are starting to realize this, which is why the estimated spend on PPC in 2010 will top $7 billion.

With even a small phone book advertisement costing thousands of dollars per year, if not thousands per month for larger advertisements, that is money spent with little ROI. If even half that money was spent on simply optimizing your small business website, you’ll start to show-up for all those searches that will get you customers. While the price for an Inbound Marketing consultant can be several thousand, and good Inbound Marketer will not only help you get found, but also help you convert more visitors into leads.

That’s the beauty of Inbound Marketing. You’re not forced into one, two, or even three categories. Instead, you can go after every word or phrase that will help you get more business. Just being under the label of “plumber Manchester NH” is boring, when a good localization strategy will make sure that you also show up for “how to fix a leaky shower head”, “installing a garbage disposal”, or “frozen pipes NH”.

Next time the phone books come calling, say no thank-you, and then fire-up a search for “Inbound Marketing Strategy” in your city.

photo courtesy of Obsolete: The Book

Tagged as: Inbound Marketing, search marketing, SEO, small business marketing, yellow pages