Friday, June 26, 2009

Looking for answers---I need your help readers!!

So, yesterday I met with the people from Yellow Book, about our advertising in the phone book's Yellow Pages. My feeling on this is that the Yellow Pages in paper/print form is a dinosaur that nobody really uses any more. We are paying an exhorbitant amount of money every month to have ads in there, and what I am asking you all, is this---do you EVER use the Yellow Pages book?
I realize that if you are reading blogs you are probably the more computer savvy of the population, but my thought is that most of our clients and potential clients are equally savvy, and probably throw those books in the recycling when they come to their house. But I could be wrong, and that's why I am throwing this out to all of you thousands of readers for your opinions on the subject.
Where do you get your information? If you needed a tux, or invitations, or a location for a wedding ceremony, what would you search? Where would you go to look?
Help me out here! Thanks in advance! :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi- I, for one, having planned a wedding with my daughter and for a friend or two and when working for you, am quite computer savvy, but use the local telephone book yellow/white pages often. Sometimes computers are not available or slow or just a pain in the neck. I never use the 'yellow book'... I find it 'too out of the area/range' and would rather use the local Verizon directory.

Also, I worked for an attorney who had bold print... small ad only when I started working for her and we had a pact... to convince her at first... I would keep track... every single client was asked at the initial consult "how did you hear about us/find us" and five times out of ten their remark was yellow pages...by the time I got her to have a half page ad (where they push you forward, especially if you sign the contract early regarless of the name) it was a response of nine times out of ten that people chose this attorney because of the ad, forward in the pages and because it was color and had a picture.

The other reason I think local telephone directory advertising is so important for you... Aberdeen doesn't 'do' bridal fairs, isn't flashed in the paper all the time like Avalon/Strongbow/Sand Creek/ Raddison/ and unless a person comes into the shop and stumbles upon a Wedding Essentials or Chicago Bride, .... there is no local advertising ... other than to drive by.

I asking people while walking from the shop to the chapel... 'where are you from and how did you find out about us'... and rarely did anyone come in because they

-drove by regularly
-saw something in the paper (never)

People do tend to come to Aberdeen (in my humble opinion and from my experience) because of word of mouth but moreover.. not only for weddings, but for business events, funeral luncheons, showers... many people were calling and going right down the pages of the phone book... I asked all the time because I was really curious.

Older people are another reason to have a phone book ad. The 50-60th wedding anniversary people tend not to use computers, at least the ones I booked didn't... and having a pop out type ad that rises above and before Avalon would be helpful.

I think you are right... that a lot of the younger clientele will and are finding you via the internet but there is a ton of older/non-computer savvy population who still use the good ole phone book, me included. My experience, being office manager for many, has been, when the internet/computer frustrates you... you'll grab the ole standby phonebook and there still are places that don't advertise and aren't available on line and people know that and think the book is more reliable. Being as incredibly computer literate as you are, .... I imagine this is hard to believe but you asked and I'm telling.

Push come to shove... Av(alon) comes 'after' Ab(erdeen) but with a bigger more colorful ad... Avalon will be see and chosen first, most of the time..........

I hope you post what you decided to do.

Connie

strwberrryjoy said...

Well, being 29 I have thrown the phone books in the trash for the past 5 years as I refuse to ever even bring them in the house ;) BUT again...you want to be open to all people. For me, if they are not online and if they don't have a good website, I won't do business there.

Kathryn said...

I use the yellow pages for local businesses that I need to call and it is just faster to look them up. I will say that recently a couple of places I was looking for were not listed in the yellow pages and I turned to the computer. I don't ever go "cold calling" in the phone book to find a business that I don't have previous experience with - I use the computer for that. I don't know if these comments will help you any, but that's what I do.

Unknown said...

I am 24, and have not used a yellow book in probably 5-10 years. I agree with strwberryjoy, if a company does not have a good website, I won't even consider utilzing them because they most likely aren't up to the standards I would expect. I am a corporate/association meeting planner in Florida, and I use the internet for all of my research to place my programs. I don't have the time or patience to go through paper print. I am also trying to plan my wedding in Indiana from down here, so I don't even have access to your yellow page book. Having a user friendly website (which you do) is so much more important in my mind. I think if you can find a better way to use your marketing dollar it would be well worth it. My Grandparents who are in the 80's search the web! Good luck!