How much do you spend on yellow page advertising per month? If you’re in the $0.00 - $0.00 range, it’s dollars well spent. Anything over zero dollars? A colossal waste of money.yellow-pages-706959.jpg

Back in the mid 90s I learned about a study that showed 60%-82% of the people who go to the yellow pages already knew the company they wanted to call. They just didn’t know the phone number. This meant up to 82% of the time, money spent on a yellow page age was wasted. I told my clients that in addition to the wasted money, in the yellow pages they were paying to be smack dab next to their competitors. I’d also point out they weren’t creating any new customers with the money, only making themselves available to people who already knew about them.

Bottom line, I told them the yellow pages is a PHONE BOOK, not an advertising medium. But all those arguments are ancient these days. Aren’t they? I certainly hope so. I hope everyone realizes those arguments don’t matter anymore ’cause of this little invention called the Internet. And this little software company called Google.

Why would I take 2-5 minutes to look up a phone number in the yellow pages when I can type a company name into my Web browser and have their number in less than one second? But take a look through a recent copy of the yellow pages. Evidently some people still think it’s a wise place to spend their dollars.

Recently a stack of yellow pages was dropped off under my neighborhood mailbox. There sat sixteen yellow pages, ready for my neighbors and I to pick up. Two days later, still there. A week later, still there, a little wet. Three weeks later, all sixteen still there.

Do you use the yellow pages? If you do, you’re in the minority.

Let your fingers do the walking? Huh uh. The fingers these days are on the keyboard.

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