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With the high price of gas, more and
more people are doing their shopping on the
Internet. Your leased website advertising can replace your
Yellow Book ad. A leased website is less expensive for you
and can be updated when needed while your Yellow Pages' ad can be
changed only once a year.
Providing
an up-to-date, easy to navigate website for your customers is
essential to growing your business. You can provide more
info in a
one-page site than in an entire
Yellow Page ad.
Just think about
this: You're using a Web marketing tool to read about
Yellow page advertising! Why aren't you reading about it in the
Yellow Book?
Based on our
experience with Web marketing, and as Web searchers, here are a
few common answers to that question:
For Consumer
products:
-
It's convenient.
-
I don't know where my Yellow Book is, I
think I threw it out.
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I'm looking for something very specific.
-
I like to research my needs before talking
to a sales person.
-
I'm shopping from work - it's easier to use
the Web than a phone from cube land.
-
I can't find out about the product/service I'm
interested in through the phone book and
-
Nobody would help me if I called a company to
find out more about this product/service (aka. Phone-tree
black hole)
For Business to
Business products and services:
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It's convenient.
-
I like to research my company's needs
before talking to a sales person.
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I don't know where my yellow page book is, I
think I threw it out.
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I'm looking for something very specific.
-
I'm putting together an RFP (request for
proposal) list and I'm researching who to send it out to.
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I can't find out about the product/service I'm
interested in through the phone book
*While any
advertising source delivering a positive return on investment
for your business is worth pursuing, there is a definite trend
toward online research for both consumer and business to
business purchases. Here are a few things to consider when
deciding how your marketing budget should be divided:
|
Feature |
Yellow Pages |
Web Marketing |
|
Trackable Results |
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Difficult
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Can be used by setting up tracking phone number or
"mention this ad" incentive
|
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Extremely Easy
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Website stats can be tracked in real time for many actions
including number of visitors, where they went, sales,
subscriptions, etc.
-
Can also create printable coupons or "mention this site"
incentives for off-line sales
|
|
Searchable by all relevant search terms. |
-
No. You pay to be listed under a Yellow pages defined
category appropriate for your business
|
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Yes - your site can achieve high search engine rankings
for terms describing your business, but also terms
describing each individual product and service your
company offers.
-
Additionally, you can drive job seekers to your company's
job pages by marketing that section of your site to
appropriate job seekers.
|
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Ad Size |
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Limited options and expensive to include more than a
comment about your company
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Larger ad size gives impression of business success and
importance
|
-
Entire website of content to describe your company's
products and services.
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Higher search engine rankings gives impression of business
success and importance
|
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Contact options available to consumer. |
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Phone call or visit to company
|
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Subscribe to site, bookmark site, eMail direct link, print
Web page, call, visit, etc.
|
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Testimonials |
|
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Free and effective marketing tool
|
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Downloadable White Papers |
|
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Yes - great way to build credibility for Business to
Business sales
|
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Modifications? |
|
-
Often as needed
-
Useful for new products and services updates or seasonal
changes in business
|
|
Ad reach. |
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Metropolitan area for each phone book
-
Phone book users within that area
|
-
International reach, but easily regionally targeted as
needed
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Target the demographic of web searchers - high income and
use phone books less every day
|
Effective
advertising is largely based on getting your message in front of
your potential customers when they're willing to listen. Both
forms of advertising do that, but the Web clearly allows you
to say a lot more to those customers.
We think the
anonymity of online shopping and research should not be ignored.
Consumers prefer being informed before talking to a sales
person, even if they plan on making their purchase off-line. For
example, car buyers are researching the fair price for the car
they're interested in purchasing/leasing before they go to a
dealership. If your website ranks high enough in search engines
to be found by your potential customers, then it proves to your
customer that you can handle their business, you'll generate
well-qualified and cost effective leads for your business.
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