There are several reasons why in today’s world, yellow pages advertising for your business is just not the most effective way to increase sales:
Technology. As mentioned previously, these days, with the increasing popularity of the internet, a growing number of people now forgo the print version of the phonebook and do their search online.
Clutter. Go flip open a phone book to the yellow pages (if you can find one), and take a look at the large number of ads. Especially in markets that are heavily saturated, the pages can look cluttered. Your ad can get lost in all the clutter, therefore making it ineffective.
Placement. What is the next thing that you notice? All the ads are grouped together by classification, to make it user-friendly. This means that your ad would be placed directly next to your competition’s ad. What if their ad is larger or more eye-catching? The placement of your ad among your competitors makes it much easier for a customer to comparison shop between every single listing, if they so choose.
Specific. We mentioned that potential customers are looking for you, but what if they don’t know what to look for? In thumbing through the phone book, prospects must know exactly what to look under to find your listing. Even if you have multiple listings, including under A for Air Compressor Sales, and I for Industrial Tool Rental, but you don’t have an ad under P for Pneumatic Tools, and this is what a prospective customer is searching under, they will miss your ads.