Yellow Pages for Small Business Advertising

It is a well known fact the small businesses have limited resources which they can devote to their advertising. Therefore any small business advertising needs to be well researched before the purchase so as to get the maximum return on investments. People who think that Yellow Pages and other directories are quickly becoming out of date should better think again. According to a new data brought out by the Association of Direct Publishers, the ROI on yellow pages and directory advertisements is about $15 for every $1 you invest on the ad. One might find it hard to believe that even in the digital era of 2015 business calls from listings of directories has risen over one third in the last 3 years.  

Lets take a look at how Yellow Pages ad can benefit a small business. For instance Yellow Pages New Jersey would be shipped to almost all the households of the state along with the business places. This would obviously allow for total coverage. It would enable a small business in New Jersey to place their ads in a number of categories and in multiple books while allowing flexibility in the size of the ads. Though online directories are not as attractive as a video ad, they can be a very effective way of spreading the word. An ad on a New Jersey directory can be extremely engaging in election season or super bowl season. Lets take a look at some interesting data concerning yellow pages ad:  

  1. Between 2010-2014 calls to business from directory ads have increased by about 28%.  

  1. There are 197 calls to advertisers every year with an average cost per call of $15.50.  

  1. Small businesses advertising on Yellow Pages have averaged $81,000 in sales with an investment of $3280.  

This is one of the easiest venues of affordable advertising where the ads can range in size from just the name and location to a full 2 page ad. One of the obvious advantages of this form of advertising is the fact that a single ad placed by you would run interrupted for one year. It is wrong to assume that the advent of internet and mobile searches have outdates the Yellow Pages. This can be proved by the data examining the ROI on directory advertising which indicates a strong usage. Goes without saying that Google ads, social media, and other forms of online advertising can help reach out to potential customers but one needs to remember that Yellow Pages is one advertising medium whose excellent distribution is guaranteed. Dennis Fromholzer the President of CRM Associates is of opinion that the ads on Yellow Pages have a 50% conversion rate from calls to businesses while online ads come with only 3% conversion rate. Mr Fromholzer further explains that this higher value is due to the fact that almost 80% of the Yellow Pages headings are related to service and high value purchases. On the other hand online or mobile purchases are more related to retail or entertainment thus giving them a lower value. So it can be safely concluded that online ads are a great advertising option which goes side by side with directories and YPs and complement them instead of replacing them.