Ads in yellow pages

[jaxxy]

I think ive made the biggest mistake, i phoned to get a qoute to put an ad in yellow pages, ended up with sales guy coming round and me booking an expensive colour one, i told him i just wanted prices, god these guys are good and high pressure, don't know if to try cancel it or hope i get enough work from it to pay the bill.
Does anyone get decent bookings from yellow pages or have i blown alot of cash.
Thanks

[andyw]

if you feel you were pressured into it and it is not what you want then cancel it.i've not used them myself so cannot voice an opinion,i believe you will get a few enquiries along the lines "how much for a disco".do a quick search of the forum i am sure it would of been discussed before on many occasions

here is one such topic
http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=18219&highlight=yellow+pages

[rob1963]

I think ive made the biggest mistake, i phoned to get a qoute to put an ad in yellow pages, ended up with sales guy coming round and me booking an expensive colour one, i told him i just wanted prices, god these guys are good and high pressure, don't know if to try cancel it or hope i get enough work from it to pay the bill.
Does anyone get decent bookings from yellow pages or have i blown alot of cash.
Thanks

In my opinion, (and probably that of many others) you've blown a lot of cash.

Whenever YP is discussed on this forum, the vast majority of people say what a waste of money it is.

If I was you, I'd try & cancel the ad and divert the money to advertising online, where you WILL get good results.

Have you paid yet?

Even if you HAVE paid, don't they have a "cooling off" period during which you can cancel?

Get on the case quick!

Edit: Here's the most recent thread on YP: http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=18219&highlight=yellow+pages

[Mark Wild]

I used to be in this game but with "The Phone Book" I know customers I signed were left T&C's and we HAD to notify them of a 2 week cooling off period from signature, so I'm guessing Yell will be the same. Paper directories work for certain types of businesses without doubt, but I don't think mobiles discos is one of them. I agree with Rob, pump advertising & marketing money into certain online ventures, primarily Google Adwords (IMO).

[jaxxy]

Phoned yell and cancelled the ad, but they tried talking me round £2600 is just too much for two coloured ads, id have to do quite a few gigs before i broke even on that, and my main nights are fri/sat even if i got lots of enquires i'd have to turn some down, the salesman phoned a couple secs later just had to be blunt i ended up putting phone down, sales is a different world. I'm gonna go with selected web sites to advertise.
Thanks..
I,ve learnt my lesson on this one

[andyw]

that is a lot to pay on yp,i think you made a wise decision.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Well, I must be in the minority then. When I first started out and wanted to get my name out there, I took out a Yellow Pages advert. I designed it myself and saved on their 'designers artwork' fee and the box is a decent size. I got lots of enquiries straight away and a number of confirmed bookings. I have now been with them for 3 years and the same happens every year. The price hasn't gone up and I still get enquiries and confirmations. To be honest with you, it only takes just under 2 bookings to pay for the advertising. I can pay by monthly direct debit too so no problems.

The sales people ARE pretty full on but that's their job and as long as you stick to your guns then there should be no way that they can talk you into doing something or paying over the odds for something that you don't want to. I don't even get them coming out to visit me anymore as they know the score with me. I say that it works for me as it is and therefore it is staying as it is. I don't like being pressurised and if they try to then I would rather tell them where to go. I don't get loads and loads of work from it but I get more than enough to keep me happy and to justify paying for it.

On another note, my wife also advertises with them and I have been witness to her getting the pressure from one of their sales people. I was sat in the house when she worked from home and one of them visited her. It was a woman actually and she was (in my opinion) out of order. Everytime my wife tried to explain that she was happy with how it was working and didn't intend to upgrade, the sales woman would interrupt her and almost ignore what she was saying. In the end I shouted at her and said "Look, if you aren't going to listen then there is no point you being here is there?" I also asked if I could have her regional managers name and she said "I am the manager for this region"...so I replied.."Well, you should know better then".

[andyw]

shakermaker can i ask how much you pay and what size your add is,what sort of enquiries come from it and how many.the op quoted £2600 which is a lot by anyones standard.so i would be interested to know what you get for less

[Julia Hart]

After many years of trial and error - I have now stopped all Yellow pages advertising. It is very costly and the return is very low. However, is is still good to have a presence so keep your name and number in. they should give you a cooling off period - did you sign the final paper work?

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The last one was £352.50 and is for an advert size which is slightly smaller than a cigerette packet. I am in the Fleet and Hampshire directory which is enough for me, hence the price. I must admit, I thought it was more than that, that's why I said it only takes 2 confirmed bookings to pay for it...it's actually just the one.

Maybe, your quote was for more than one directory?
I know if I wanted to go into the Berkshire and Surrey directories too (which I don't) then the price would obviously inflate quite a lot.

[andyw]

The last one was £352.50 and is for and advert size which is slightly smaller than a cigerette packet. I am in the Fleet and Hampshire directory which is enough for me, hence the price. I must admit, I thought it was more than that, that's why I said it only takes 2 confirmed bookings to pay for it...it's actually just the one.

Maybe, your quote was for more than one directory?
I know if I wanted to go into the Berkshire and Surrey directories too (which I don't) then the price would obviously inflate quite a lot.

thank you very helpful as always
that is a more sensible price imo

[rob1963]

Phoned yell and cancelled the ad, but they tried talking me round £2600 is just too much for two coloured ads, id have to do quite a few gigs before i broke even on that, and my main nights are fri/sat even if i got lots of enquires i'd have to turn some down, the salesman phoned a couple secs later just had to be blunt i ended up putting phone down, sales is a different world. I'm gonna go with selected web sites to advertise.
Thanks..
I,ve learnt my lesson on this one

Glad to hear you managed to get it cancelled.

£2,600 for one YP advert is way too steep in my opinion...that's my entire advertising budget (on about 45 different online listings sites) for 4 years!

[Mark Wild]

Different books charge different prices depending on circulation, all I have is a free line entry, as even £300 - 500 for a quarter column imo is better spent elsewhere.

http://rates.yelldirect.com/advertisingRates.aspx

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Mark, it's better spent elsewhere IF it doesn't work for you.
Surely if you advertise with them for £300.00 a year and get a booking from it in the first month or so then it has paid for itself already? Then, in theory...the rest of the year is more or less free if you look at it that way and any bookings that come in are profit.

[Danno13]

Only if you attribute the entire value of that gig towards advertising! A more sensible way to measure it would be to work out a realistic % of turnover that should be spent on advertising and go from there.

So say 5%.. if you spend £300 on an advert and for examples sake, charge £200, then you'd need to get 30 gigs for that ad to have been worthwhile.. doesn't seem such a good deal now, does it?

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Depends what your outlays and costs are overall though. If you have paid for your equipment and don't owe any money on it etc etc...

It works for me. It may not work for everyone and I understand that, hence the reason for the thread going off in this direction.

[andyw]

sorry to op if the thread is taking a different direction to the question,but i still think it is very relevant to contnue
danno can you explain in more detail your 5% theory,how i see it if you did not advertise in yp,you might not get the enquiry so no booking.

[NKR]

I had a free listing in Yellow Pages for 1 year. Got one enquiry and literally hundreds of high pressure advertising calls. I was quite cute and listed my number but with my partner in crimes name so I knew where the enquiries were coming from. I would suggest they sell their lists to thrid parties. One even called me to say we had booked an advert with them and demanding payment. I would avoid yellow pages like the plague.

Plus all wedding co-ordinators etc do recomment you don't just pick a DJ number out of the yellow pages (you read it everywhere), so it is literally dead money.