Is your construction company still using Yellow Pages ads?
Worried that you’re not seeing any return on them?
Times are a-changing, and the simple fact is that a lot less people are actually reading the yellow pages nowadays – of course, the Yellow Pages may not tell you that as they still have a business to run.
In fact, have you noticed that the big yellow book’s not looking so big anymore?
A good sign that smart construction businesses like yours are no longer advertising in it.
J R Hartley would not use the Yellow Pages to find a copy of his fly fishing book, he would have just done a search on Google or Amazon.
In this article, I hope to divulge some hard facts about how your customers are looking for your business, and give you some statistics about Yellow Pages so you can make up your own mind about whether to keep using them or not.
Yellow Pages ads aren’t the best way to be profitable
The biggest reason it isn’t, and this may sound obvious, is that far less people are using it. Mine goes straight in my bin when they send it to me unsolicited.
Everyone has a computer in their pocket these days that can tell them in seconds who their local plumber, roof or conservatory company is.
However, the main reason that it doesn’t work is because people don’t want to call you anymore.
Does that sound crazy?
It does, but it’s true nevertheless.
What many businesses don’t realise is the fact that consumer behaviour has changed, and people want to research their options before contacting a company.
They have many questions and concerns, and they turn to Google and social media to get answers to these questions – so this is perhaps where you should be spending your Yellow Pages budget.
And I don’t mean on Google or social media ads, either.
You can build trust with your customers when they call you, but if they are not doing that anymore (and they aren’t) – how do you build trust?
The answer is by being helpful and demonstrating you are a trustworthy authority – and you do this by creating content on your website that answers their questions.
Sound simple?
Well, it can be simple, but first you need to understand the questions your customers have before answering them.
Surprising facts about Yellow Pages you want to see
Like I said, fewer people are using this book nowadays, and yet they will still charge you around £10,000 a year for advertising in it.
Take a look at the interest in Yellow Pages over the years since Google came to be.
You’re also paying for an ad that you cannot change.
When it comes to using ads these days, you need to test whether an ad or offer is working and improve it by using iterations over time to make it convert more sales for you.
By doing this, your initial ROI will gradually improve over time, easily making you thousands per year.
Think of the iPhone when it first came out; it took two whole minutes to start up, but by continuously improving it with iterations, it now take a mere 20 seconds.
Without testing and gradually making small improvements here and there, that would not have been possible.
Why you still find Yellow Pages attractive
We are all friends here, and I am not going to lie to you. You are still using Yellow Pages because you always have. It is the same business marketing you do every year. You simply pay Yellow Pages, as you always have, and it’s out the way for another year.
As it is almost impossible to tell whether it is working or not, you keep doing it and hope that it’s working.
Sound familiar?
I can promise you, if you could look at the stats, you would think you were just throwing money away.
I want to help you, and I hope this article is the wake up call to a better way to market your construction business. To learn more about what is possible, read my guide on inbound marketing.
It may surprise you.
Conclusion
The days of advertising in the Yellow Pages are coming to an end, yet they still seem to put out the book every year despite being £2 billion in debt.
Your buyer’s behaviour has changed and they expect more from you than an ad that doesn’t answer their most asked questions.
Help them make their buying decision easier, and move away from old, tired advertising.
To many, Yellow Pages is now considered junk mail.
What is your experience with Yellow Pages – does it still work for you?