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The Truth About Yellow Page Advertising

Aloha Fellow Rainers,

As we are building our business, whether you are an Agent, Lender, etc., we always look for the best ways to promote and advertise ourselves. There are so many forms of media to choose from, you wonder where you can get the best ROI- Return On Investment.

I've been in mortgage for a few years, but prior to that I sold yellow page ads so I would like to share with you the truth behind yellow page advertising from someone who both sold it and advertised in it:

With yellow page advertising, there are 2 types of ads:

1) An "In-Column" ad where your company name falls alphabetically in the phone book

2) A "Display" ad, where the bigger the ad, the closer to the front of your business category you appear. So a Full Page ad in the Realtor section of the phone book will be the first ad shown, unless there are other full page ads in which seniority will push you ahead.

In Hawaii, a display ad will start at around $300 a month for a business card size color ad, but of course quarter-page, half-page, and full-page ads will be displayed ahead of you. So chances are if you are not spending around $1000 a month for a full-page ad, you will get lost in the sea of ads.

Now Yellow Page reps are trained well to sell. They will push ROI during their sales pitch as they try to get you to purchase the display ad. "For $1000 a month, your competitor with a full-page ad gets X amount of calls a month. If you received X amount of calls, how many would you be able to convert into sales. And how much is each sale worth to you..." Before you know it, the argument is convincing enough to invest!

Well, knowing what I knew, when I first got into mortgage I registered a business name that started with an "A". I purchased an "In-Column" ad in 2 phone books at a fraction of the cost of the full-page display ad. There is a chance that this technique might push you ahead of the full page display ads, depending on how the phone book lays out. In 1 book, I ended up being the first ad! In the other book, I got stuck behind all the full page display ads. Pretty good gamble, I thought.

Phone Book Pros:

The phone book is distributed to nearly every home
People only look at the phone book when they are are ready to buy, so if they do look up your ad they are already motivated to move forward

Phone Book Cons:

With the popularity of the Internet, Google, etc., less people use the phone book. Maybe the older folks still use it.
Yellow page shoppers will do just that..."shop". You will not be the only one they call
You are stuck with the ad contract for the whole year. If it doesn't work the first couple of months, you can't pull the ad! So if you got bad placement, you are screwed for a year...

Did Yellow Page Advertising work for me?

Of course I was biased because I sold a lot of ads to a lot of businesses, and for most of them it did work. But businesses that benefit most from yellow page advertising are Florists, Plumbers, Carpet Flooding, Locksmiths, Auto Repair... basically purchases that may not be THAT expensive or/and you need it right away. And you may not know somebody in that industry (how many plumbers pass out their business cards!) so you look through the phone book.

I did get some calls, but only the first couple of months when the phone books were distributed. After that it collects dust on the shelf for a year! Unfortunately the calls I did get were from people who already got rejected from the bank they go to, so there was only so much I could do by the time I got the call... which wasn't much!

NO! The ads did not work for me, and after the first couple months I no longer received calls, and I still had to pay for the next 10 months! But this was just my experience...

With newspaper, radio, etc., you could at least try it for a while, and if it doesn't work you can pull out.

I hope this helps you as you look to market your business! Feel free to comment and share forms of advertising that may or may not have worked for you.

Aloha,

Pete Castillejos

Specializing in:

Hawaii Mortgage Refinance, Hawaii Real Estate Mortgage Loans

Posted by Pete Castillejos - Hawaii Mortgage Loan and Refinance on 05/12/2007 08:42 PM

Comments (26)

advertising, yellow page, hawaii mortgage loan

26 Comments on The Truth About Yellow Page Advertising

MAY

2007

I've never tried yellow pages. I just don't imagine people going to the yellow pages to find an agent.

Keith- You are right. Maybe only older folks who still use the phone book who don't know any agents

Frankly, I wondered about the Yellow Pages, and was thinking that it was another opportunity to push the name. From your post, I see that the cost for a large ad in a business that is not typically sought in the Y.P would be a big waste of money. The salespeople would likely talk me into at least the minimum listing...being in it may not help, but NOT being in it seemed remiss. THANK YOU- you just saved me money. Great post!

Laurie - Yes, I would at least put a free listing in the white pages and yellow pages so that people who know you and are looking for you can at least find your phone number. If anything "bold print" your white page listing so it's easier to find. It should be less than $30 a month to do that.

Hey Pete...that was interesting and I believe it isn't as "fruitful" as our internet savvy websites etc. are...and definitely not cost effective...thanks for your input and honesty...shows the kind of pro you may be....woohoo!

Hi Sally- yeah, learn from my mistakes! LOL! Thanks for the compliment!

Congratulations on your first feature post and gold star! Woohoo!

I really wouldn't spend money on yellow page advertising. I know some of the agents in our area swear by it but I'm not going that route for now.

I have never tried yellow page advertising. Thanks for the info.

Good tips. I spent many years, a decade ago, in broadcasting. We sold against yellow pages, very successfully using the information you described, as far as the pitfalls. I have a yellow pages ad and it turns an occassional client but those who call certainly have no loyalty, like from past customer referrals. They are almost always looking for one thing: The lowest price and they call everyone in the pages till they find that.

Pete:

Thanks for post. I have to stop and tink were my Yellow pages book is?

Interesting perspective, Pete. I have had some success with Yellow Pages in my area, but the cost is much less. I am trying something new with ATT this year, where I pay for dollar bill size ad, but it is actually placed in a full page "feature" at the head of the real estate ad pack.

I track my advertising dollars. I am down to only spending $71 a month on yellow pages advertisng from as much as $500 a month the first year I was open - but I did not ever get once buyer that would allow that they had found us by looking in the yellow pages (which is why it is so reduced now). I only stay in to be convenient for my current buyers and sellers have an easy time finding my number if they need me.

I never had much luck from my ads, but it is good to hear comfirmation from another!!

Personally, I find my best ROI is direct mailers to FSBOs

MAY

2007

Thank you for sharing. IMHO Yellow pages ads have no tracki record of value. I advertised for a year with only one reponse.

As one top agent I know says. if I can't track it , forget it.

Keith

I`ve been with the YP for several years and have a tremendous response to their ads...

Yellow pages sucked! Radio sucked! Newspaper sucked! The only advertising that I have ever been truly happy with was direct mail. I wrote about my experiences on "To Advertise or To Not"

Bob Mitchell

ValueList

I also started with a big bill for yellow pages advertising and just did not get the results I wanted. This was for my auto leasing company NOT my mortgage business. Eventully had the bill down to $30 on a very plain listing.

Let's face it, people 35 years old and less are just going to google.

Investing in more than a minimal listing in the Yellow Pages is a giant waste of money. And that's very easy to prove.

When you want to evaluate your advertising -- Yellow Pages, billboard, mail-outs, etc. -- get a new phone number, one that is not on your office roll-over. Put that specific number on, say the billboards or the postcards. You'll then know for sure its effectivness.

Bill Cherry

My 43rd Year as a Realtor

Dallas

Sally - Wow, thanks for noticing! You're right, it's my first for both! I never knew how that worked...

Diane - If you do consider it in the future, check first to see how much competition you have currently in the book and how much you will have to spend to get in front of them

Alice - No problem!

Steven - That has been my experience too. I'm one of several that they call, and I'm not about to get into a price war with 10 lenders! Not worth it if they will nickel and dime you...

Robert - Check under your kitchen sink... it's the book collecting the cobwebs!

Stefan - Sound like a good promo you have. If AT&T owns the phone lines in your area, then they will also have the most accurate numbers and best distribution.

Julie - I think it's important to at least have a small presence, like what you're doing. It adds some credibility when your clients try to find you and they see your ad.

Guy - Yeah, had I known I probably wouldn't have done it.

Carol - Yes, I've seen some succes in direct mail too. Thanks for sharing.

Keith - For some industries it's powerful. I personally haven't had success, and it sounds like you had the same experience!

Scott - Wow! Keep at it then. You must have great placement and little competition?

Bob- Thanks for sharing. I think newspaper has the best ROI out of YP, radio, and newspaper.

Janet - I heard that same statistic! Around mid 30's and younger are groomed to go online now!

Mott - Good point, it is market driven too. And yes, our local phone books keep getting fatter too!

Bill - Good tip. I also make a point to ask each call how they heard about me so that I can track where they came from.

I wonder if there are any success stories from Realtors with the Yellow Pages. Congrats on your featured post Pete.

Tim - Thanks for the congrats! I did sell a business card size ad to a Realtor 5 years ago. It was a nice ad, but she ended up getting placed towards the back of her heading because there happened to be a lot of people that advertised big that year. She did not renew the ad the following year. I felt terrible, but there's no way to know what other ads will be placed thoughout the year before printing... especially if you have 20 coworkers also selling ads!

Pete, thanks for the repsonse. It would be nice to hear a success story or two from anyone one of the 30,000 Active Rainers. Is anyone listening?

FEB

2008

In my business, which is WINDOW TINTING, I get about a 20 times return on my yellow page investment.

I find it is better to say less and add your phone number as part of your text. the bigger the text the better. people come to the yellow pages for a phone number, not to be sold on all that you do. most important thing is to get the call, then it is up to you to make the sale.

John - Yes, window tinting is a strong category in the phone book. Real Estate/Mortgage categories is not as strong in this form of media.

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