Business Yellow Pages vs. Web Marketing - A Comparison

Here's a quick question for you: Why are you using the web to find out more about Yellow Page Advertising?

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 page book is.
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:

It's convenient.
I like to research my company's needs before talking to a sales person.
I don't know where my yellow page book is.
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.
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	Difficult Can be done by setting up tracking phone number or "mention this ad" incentive	Extremely Easy Web site 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 Yellow pages defined category appropriate for your business	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.
Ad Size	Limited options and expensive to include more than a comments about your company Larger ad size gives impression of business success and importance	Entire website of content to describe your company's products and services. Higher search engine rankings gives impression of business success and importance
Contact options available to consumer.	Phone call or visit to company.	Subscribe to site, bookmark site, print web page, call, visit, etc.
Testimonials	Rarely used	Free and effective marketing tool
Downloadable White Papers	No	Yes - great way to build credibility for Business to Business sales
Modifications?	Once per year.	Often as needed] Useful for new products and services updates or seasonal changes in business
Ad reach.	Metropolitan area for each phone book. Phone book users within that area	International reach, but easily regionally targeted as needed. 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 advertisers.

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 before they go to a dealership. If your website ranks high enough in search engines to be found by your potential customers, then proves to your customer that you can handle their business, you'll generate well-qualified and cost effective leads for your business.

Just think about this: You're using a web marketing channel to read about yellow page advertising. Why aren't you reading about it in the Yellow Pages?

Ed Kohler is the president and founder of Haystack In A Needle - a full service web marketing and search engine positioning firm based in Minneapolis, MN. Click here to submit a free quote to get started on your web marketing planning today.

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