Phone book advertising - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

joe1208 · 06-10-2009, 07:14 PM

Hey guys new member im starting a hvac company in marland what do u guys think of phone book advertising worth the money or not would appreciate any feed back thanks

scollison · 06-11-2009, 02:48 PM

You'll have better chances of getting anything out of it!

Contractor, Severn, MD

*My boss has quite a bit to say about this and I'm sure he would LOVE to have an excuse to rant about it. Yes, there are valuable details and evidence. Nonetheless, without a doubt in my mind I would say HELL NO!

electricohio · 06-11-2009, 04:12 PM

Nope...bad idea. I used to run a half page ad that would pickpocket just over 17k a year from me. A few years ago it worked great but the quality of people who use the phone book are not going to be a desirable client. Not saying that all the calls you get from the ad would not be worth it just that the vew that you do get don't make it worth while.

Actually I just put up a video blog explaining how I have created my marketing system. Costs a bit to set up but after it's done you'll have almost an unending supply of leads that you can control...

DevonZ · 06-11-2009, 04:24 PM

I think these days people go to the internet first to find or buy anything. I haven't look at a phone book in years. I would think there would be other places to advertise that would have a better ROI.

Devon Zimny
Vintage VA services

Tiger · 06-11-2009, 06:07 PM

In my experience...DEX in the last year has had diminishing returns, so they are increasing the cost to advertise with them. Makes sense to them anyway. Last years' book was MUCH thinner and I suppose this year it might get even thinner.

If I recall correctly Yellow Book wanted to bundle two ads together with internet and a tracking phone number. I have my own phone numbers already, thank you & I can track real calls instead of sales calls.

I've never had a client call saying they called from DexKnows or YellowBook internet search engines. That was a $1k mistake I won't repeat.

Maybe you'll have better luck. For me it was always an expensive gamble & it hasn't paid off since spring of 2008. Most of my good calls are from past clients, referred clients & my own website.