Do you still pay for listings in the Yellow Pages, the Phone Book, Thomson Local or industry-specific directories? Do you still advertise in the local press? Do you get any return from them?
As the Internet and social media recommendations (from Amazon reviews to asking your friends on Facebook) have grown, people are increasingly turning away from directories and printed ads as a way to discover products and services.
You might say that the directories still serve an older generation that aren’t on the Internet. My experience though is that even this audience are shunning directories… Having heard their family talk about social media they understand that there is better value to be had on the Internet even if they can’t use it themselves. So what do they do?
They ask their children or grandchildren to do the research for them and come back with a recommendation.
So as you think about how to best allocate your marketing spend over the next year take a critical look at your directory and print advertising spend and think about how you can more effectively re-allocate that online. If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at this.
