Yellow Pages: The Biggest Marketing Game-Changer of 2015

By Haines|Published On: May 27, 2015|

Yellow Pages just might be the comeback kid of 2015

Marketing company Vital recently reported the “surprising ROI” of a client’s Yellow Page campaign. According to author Chuck McMahon, “The results were literally amazing, blowing all of our KPIs out of the water. You might say the results knocked our socks off.”

Over a three-month period, our client received a whopping 2,196 calls, which led to 1,931 purchases totaling $162,559!

The “Surprising ROI” of Yellow Pages

Of course, we’re not surprised. We regularly place call tracking phone numbers in our ads so clients can measure their return on investment. One of them — a pizza shop — got 2,790 calls in 13 months, representing a potential $32,000 in revenue.

McMahon also observed that “running full-page ads was surprisingly cheap” compared to the last time they ran a Yellow Pages ad.

I’m not sure how long ago that was. But the belief that Yellow Page advertising is expensive is a misconception dating back to the early 90s. That’s when companies like AT&T had a monopoly on publishing phone books and could charge whatever they liked.

Today, independent Yellow Page companies comprise 40 percent of the market, and the competition has forced utility directories to lower their rates. (Which means you can get a decent display ad program for less than $1,500 a year.)

Yellow Pages is (Non-Digital) Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is when customers call you, looking to buy, instead of the other way around. It happens when consumers have a need, then find you online or in the Yellow Pages.

In fact, today’s consumers use a combination of both search engines and Yellow Pages to find a local business. That’s why Google’s Matt Cutts recommends a well-rounded marketing strategy that includes both.

McMahon concludes his article by saying: