The Cost of Yellow Pages Advertsing

[Trinity]

Right - I've been looking into the Yellow Pages and I thought the prices might be of use/interest to others, so here is what I have found:-

Yellow Pages and 118 247 are two different things - and just because you pay to advertise in the Yellow Pages it does not automatically include you on the 118 247 database too I was surpised to find this out, may be I'm just a bit stupid, but I assumed paying for a YP ad would also put you 118 247.

To put an ad on 118 247 phone service costs £150 per year, but they have a current discount bringing it down to £129.00 for the year - you can also give 6 bullet points for the operator to reel off, and they can transfer the customer to you should they wish to be put through.

To advertise in the Yellow Pages there are loads of options but the best deal I could find for me was a 45mm ad 'Semi display' which will include a logo and it one of the largest ad sizes without having your own personal display ad made. It's one of the ones set between bold lines and is fairly large. They do 3 sizes 15m, 30mm and 45mm

Normal price of the 45mm is £404.00 but they are offering a new customer and category discount of 30% bringing it down to £282.80. This is cheaper than the standard price of a 30mm ad so is quite good value for money.

ANT Yellow Pages - I didn't get anything from either ANT or YP about their ad for this year (a bit annoyed about that as I've just missed the book!) but you can add your details to the ANT ad they put in for a minimum of £114.00. That gets your name and address and up to 3 phone numbers. You can have a Standard ad (name, address, numbers and one line of text) for £150.00, or 2 lines of text for £175.00

This is cheaper than an ad of your own, and you have the benefit of falling under the heading of our Association. However, there are pro's and con's to this obviously.

Yell.com - You can get a free listing - not sure about others and I'm confused enough as it is with so many choices :Scared: so I gave up!!

Bringing it all together I can get a logo ad in Yellow Pages, listing under the ANT banner ad, a mention on 118 247 and place on Yell.com for £562.00

Not cheap, but they do offer 10 months interest free installments, so two new clients a month would cover the cost of advertising.

Still confused about which way to jump :o - but at least I have some facts now instead of guesses!

Anyone got any recommendations - success stories to encourage me?? Tales of doom and rip off to caution me???



Please note prices correct at the time of writing and refer to single book entry in the Brighton area due for release January 2006 - other areas and sizes may vary

 

[Kimberley0699]

I have a free line in the Yellow Pages - was going to place a bigger add but they couldnt get the draf right so I gave up. I think that its quite a common problem that they make mistakes. In the end they didnt even get my line in the right section (beauty not nail techs)! Make SURE its right before you agree to any add.

 

[Debs]

I have a one liner in Yellow Pages and have done so for a couple of years, I never get round to putting in a bigger ad. Something always goes wrong for me and money is never available. I`m always a bit wary about telephone recommendations as its a commodity you can`t see, you pay all that money and you only have their word for it that they`ll pass on your number. Unless of course you get people to bogusly ring them and find out but I couldn`t be bothered with that.
I prefer to be in the Yellow Pages and I also have a free ad in the Thomson Local too

 

[naturalnails]

Hi Trin,

great post, however not to confuse everyone even further LOL these are the prices in your YP area - the prices are not standard across the YP range. For example it will probably cost more to advertise in a London Yellow Pages than it would to advertise in say Auchtermuchty YP - it all comes down to circulation.

For example my ANT advert in my local YP was less than £100. I think that ANT and YP only got their act together at the tail end of last year so any cut off times before that would have missed it. My YP comes out in April and I got a flyer in January with a "hurry up" if you want it.

YP offer a large discount for first time advertisers - plus all businesses are entitled to a FREE single line entry as well or instead of if you wanted to test the water so to speak.

I have advertised in the YP for about 5 years now and my ad has got bigger every year and now costs me an arm and a leg but I keep a track of income generated from each place of advertising and last year my ad brought in 3/4 of my total annual income.

Certainly worth the arm and leg LOL.

 

[chrisbow]

The prices in Cambridgeshire YP for a 45mm ad is £227 inc VAT. As said earlier - 1 new client a month pays for the advertising.

 

[Kellyc]

Hi ya, i too have just re-newed my advert and they offered me a buy one get one free for a special price as i wasnt intending to renew it, so i reasoned with them and now am really happy with the advert that is better and i will be in the beauty and nails section of yellow pages, they can offer you some really good deals so do try and get what you can out of them x

 

[Urban Geek]

Hi Trin,

I made the same assumption as you. I payed a subscription for a bigger ad in my YP only to get a call a couple of days ago (c1 month after confirming the ad) trying to sell me yell.com and 118 247. I was really annoyed cause I felt they should have been up-front about all my options in the beginning rather than approach me separately for each thing. I will pursue it and will let you know what happens. (I was relieved that I wasn't the only one to make the assumption. We can be daft together!)

 

[Sassy Hassy]

It's true that in advertising size matters, so the bigger and bolder the ad the more likely you are to get the call. Your ad is effectively your shop front and so it is how people may perceive your business and so a flashy / pretty ad is more likely to get a response than an ad without pics. Remember the old adage, a picture speaks a thousand words well it is never more relevant than in advertising. (Trust me guys I came top on my Thomson Local Field Sales course!!). If you don't believe me go the hairdressing section, pretend you are new to the area and see which ones grab your attention, chances are it'll be a colour one with a picture of a fab haircut. I was taught on the sales course that the smaller ads (ie non display) are really just to help your existing customers find your number more easily, and shouldn't really be classed as an advert.

Trinity forget the 118247, I NEVER got a call from this and when I phoned them up and asked for a nail technician in my area they didn't even mention me!! However Yell.com works, but Thomsonlocal.com doesn't. I would save the money from the 118247 and put it towards a better display ad.

When I did my training with Thomson they taught us to go through a full fact find about your business. They should find out about the amount of profit each client gives you. Then they should find out your conversion rate of phone enquiries to actual bookings. They should then be able to calculate how many calls you would need to get to cover the cost of the ad.

HTH, let me know if I can give you any more info.

 

[nailtech]

Well, you've got plenty of time to think about the actual Yellow Pages book as the Brighton one came out in January & the cut off is November (well October but you can usually faff for a bit longer) every year.

Debs - you can pay over 10 months, it works out very reasonable for what you get back out of it. And I do agree with Sassy about size mattering (& I'm still talking about YP!) its a business you are running so it deserves good advertising that pays off.

Karen S.