With the dramatic influx of internet usage for every day searches, including businesses and individuals, one might think the use of paper copies of the Yellow Pages is unnecessary and uneconomical. Recent studies prove otherwise. See why using the old-school paper version of The Yellow Pages is a wise investment, in addition to using the higher-tech versions.
According to new data from the Association of Direct Publishers, the return on investment of directory ads is approximately $24 for every $1 spent on advertising. Additionally, calls to businesses as a result of these directory listings jumped nearly 33% within three years. http://www.bizreport.com/2014/03/study-yellow-pages-still-working-for-many-consumers-business.html
Print and online advertisements and directories may not be as visually appealing as video ads, but according to the ADP Ad Effectiveness Study, directory ads could prove more engaging than a catchy ad during the Super Bowl, election season, or March Madness. http://www.adp.org/
Some interesting results include:
· Calls to businesses from print ads increased more than 25% (2010-2013);
· An average of 197 calls were made to advertisers each year, with a cost per call of $15.50; and
· Yellow Pages advertisers averaged $81,000 in sales from ad investments of only $3,280!
Now, we don’t want to discredit the use of online advertising. Online advertising is a powerful medium of advertising because so many Americans go online on a daily basis for many reasons. Therefore, it is important for a business to “cover their bases” and use all available mediums that are feasible and economical for advertising.
A great resource for advertising online is the Local Search Association Organization (http://www.localsearchassociation.org/Main/Home.aspx). While there, you can discover unique media insights while using their local media planning and performance tool. The LSA Insights uses real-time campaign, geographical, and category data to provide tools to help their users better understand the different local media formats such as mobile, paid search, PYP, IYP and more! LSA Insights contains data from over 350,000 ad campaigns across the 4 media modules just mentioned. New data is added constantly, and plans are in the works to add video and social media modules this year.
So who does LSA Insights benefit? Publishers, agencies, and brand marketers benefit through a vast range of uses, including campaign benchmarking, more efficient budgeting, and more effective sales tools, in addition to others.
After you enter a module, you are able to see charts that provide a picture of the overall performance of that module. These charts are interactive, and can be refined and downloaded directly from that page. The ability to download reports that are specific to your business needs is extremely helpful in planning sales, costs, etcetera. Simply choose the data sets that you desire and download them straight into an Excel spreadsheet for continuous personalization and analysis. The data can be refined further by date range, ad type, business category, and more.
Summary reports and others will be pulled straight from the performance data in LSA Insights. All of these, in addition to many more, can be purchased directly from the site.
When considering whether to use printed yellow page advertisements, online advertisements, or both, it is important to consider all the costs and benefits of each mode. Considering the reasonable cost of each, it is feasible and recommended for most businesses to utilize both mediums for reaching their targeted customers. We live in a society where consumers demand real-time information that is valuable and at their fingertips. Make sure your business is seen by using all avenues possible.