Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Yellow Book Versus Yellow Pages

Posted by Anonymous on 1/27/2008 at 9:11 PM ET 125 Points
Is anyone aware of any THIRD PARTY research that points to which is the most bang for the buck. The Yellow Book claims to have the same distribution (and we all know distribution and use are two often different stats) for a lot less money and YellowPages says that they are the book most turn to so don't waste your money on the cheap one.

Any hard facts out there???
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/27/2008 at 9:29 PM Member
    It may depend on the market and the business category. I had an occasion to look into this for a client about a year ago, and we ended up concluding they were both less efficient than direct mail. Net: we didn't use either one.

    The direct mail approach proved to be quite efficient, but we really can't prove that the Yellows wouldn't have been just as good, better or worse.

    As for which of the two Yellows is better, I'm not aware of any hard research data ... but even if you could find some, I'd be careful about comparing your business, in your market, in your industry, to an average across markets/industries.

    And, of course, it depends on your alternatives and your objectives.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/28/2008 at 8:54 AM Member
    Ask the companies for their studies.

    If you don't have a website, get one, and make sure your site is targeted for your region (so it comes up in local searches). Yellow pages are less necessary for businesses to use so people can find them.
  • Posted on 1/28/2008 at 11:14 AM Accepted
    From what I've seen, it certainly can vary widely between geographical market, but Yellow Book does a better job in our area in terms of ROI. Typically much less cost for similar results to the phone company book (which is what I believe you may be referring to as Yellow Pages, a generic term that would actually include both) .


    Here's a recent press release that cites an independent, Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI), source of usage statistics:

    Yellow Book's Usage Continues To Grow In Lubbock Since Feist Acquisition In 2004

    UNIONDALE, NY (April 4, 2007) - The results are in, and it's clear that people in Lubbock, Texas turn to Yellow Book to search for buying information, as syndicated research reveals that consumer usage continues to grow.

    According to Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI), the survey research firm hired by the yellow pages industry to provide syndicated usage studies, Yellow Book's usage (book) share in the Lubbock Designated Market Area (DMA) grew from 47.6% in the 12 months ending December 31, 2005 to 51.1% in the 12 months ending December 31, 2006, a 7.4% growth in usage in one year--indicating that more consumers in Lubbock are finding that Yellow Book is an excellent source of buying information.*


    Here's another article I found regarding the Pittsburgh market:
    https://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07118/781721-28.stm

    Hope this helps you.

    I think it's certainly best to be in both! And everywhere else people will be looking! But, of course ROI rules the roost, and to me, Yellow Book seems to have the edge there.
  • Posted by michael on 1/28/2008 at 11:26 AM Member
    I also have concluded for for some clients that yellow pages/book is a waste of money.

    The question is WHEN does someone look in the yellow pages? Plumber, movers, mechanics...probably.

    Adoptions...nope.


    Michael
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 1/28/2008 at 7:53 PM Member
    Yellow pages or similar buyer-directory advertising can be a waste of time and money for some businesses. It all depends whether you think consumers are going to be looking for your company under a category heading, or whether they know your name and just want to find your contact details - in which case White, not Yellow pages will give you that accessibility anyway, and usually at a fraction of the cost.

    Remember that Yellow Pages puts you directly up against all your competitors. Is that really helpful? Can you dominate the advertising in that category? If not, why be just another entry?

    Who are you really trying to reach? How have you segmented your market? What is the cpm for competitive forms of online or offline advertising or promotion to reach those segments?

    Yellow Pages and competitive directories have very, very persuasive, persistent advertising sales representatives backed up with fabulous but often facile and meaningless statistics to try to sell you into their books. You need to understand the key drivers for your business before looking to a third party for research.

    If you are still struggling with this analysis and decision support, try a local media buying agency which will have specialist able to dissect the segment information for a wide range of media types and outlets to get you the best "bang for buck".

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB

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