Yellow Page advertising worth it?

[Enersav]

What are your thoughts on yellow page advertising? I'm looking at appx.
$1700/year for my small business. My website developer says he can put me on first page through Search engine optimization. I'm also thinking of a Facebook page

[Andy1982]

If you are in a busy part of town or need it for the trade your in, ie. plumber, spark or what have you. If you don't or aren't then $1700 could go a long way with leaflet drops which can be done fairly cheaply with the post office. The facebook fan page is a good idea, I'm planning on doing that myself. What's your business?

[AlecD]

It's a rather outdated form of advertising simply because phone-books are found online now. There really is no reason for anybody to go out and obtain one. That money could so much better be invested into internet marketing for the simple fact that everyone from the age of 4-60 pretty much has an iPhone, PC, or some other internet enabled device.

[Thrix]

Internet marketing all the way. Make a site, Twitter, Facebook, all sorts of social networks, and connect those to a big net. Expand your network, and make the customer return to your profiles/pages. SEO is great as well, if the right person is doing it. That would be the marketing for todays client base.

But what's your business about? We should probably know before giving you advices.

[DomDom]

I agree with what everyoen said about the internet marketing but there is another important thing to ask. What kind of business are you in? You should be aware of what your target audience does and where it checks its information and ads. Those are the places you should always look to first!

[Enersav]

Thanks for the replies. My business is supply & installation of solar window film, blinds & shades. My take is most people are going to Google on their smartphone or computer.
My website is being updated now for content and better SEO. I haven't opened a physical yellow pages book in a couple years and search on my Iphone
when I'm looking for something. So I'm paying for online marketing basically in my opinion. I can do alot with $1700 such as joining the Chamber of Commerce, flyers,etc..
I'm sure there are many opinions on this.

[Taru]

Thanks for the replies. My business is supply & installation of solar window film, blinds & shades. My take is most people are going to Google on their smartphone or computer.
My website is being updated now for content and better SEO. I haven't opened a physical yellow pages book in a couple years and search on my Iphone
when I'm looking for something. So I'm paying for online marketing basically in my opinion. I can do alot with $1700 such as joining the Chamber of Commerce, flyers,etc..
I'm sure there are many opinions on this.

Good call. I think it's a lot less relevant nowadays and if you do want to be there it would be much more just for formality than anything. People probably don't use the Yellowpages anymore these days, and you are right that you can just use that money on much more effective ad campaigns. I think it would only be wise if your business grows big enough to warrant it, but if your business is not a big operation yet, I think it's best to allot that money elsewhere.

[rijndael]

I think it depends on your market. Some markets are more old fashioned and still use phone books and the yellow pages website, while others are a little more tech and search on google and facebook.

[donaldplozha]

Don't just think about your Facebook fanpage, do it. And if you invested 1700 dollars a year (that's a little more than 100 dollars a month) on Facebook Adverts, you will find out it's much more worth it than anything else you can use to advertise your business.

[Jordan989]

Are most of your customers older people? I think people who are older (50+) might look to the yellow pages as their primary source for finding businesses, but people in my generation (20s and 30s) use the internet exclusively in looking for a company to do business with. I would focus on online marketing and also watch for reviews for your business online on sites such as Yelp.