|
Home::Advertising
Yellow Page Advertising For Lawyers - Where Have All The Calls Gone?
Author : Philip L Franckel, Esq.
I get calls every week from lawyers saying theyre not getting calls anymore from yellow page advertising. Having done quite well in the past, they're afraid to discontinue the advertising. They want to know what's going on and what to do.
Apparently, lawyers are not the only ones. In his article "Quit wasting money on Yellow Page advertising" by Peter Fernandez, D.C., a yellow page, print advertising and practice management consultant for chiropractors, Dr. Fernandez answers the question, "Why has advertising in the Yellow Pages changed from one of the best ways to advertise to one of the worst in just a few years?" (See 1, below)
This article will attempt to explain where all the calls went. I believe lawyers began advertising in the Yellow Pages much earlier than on TV because of the cost; most lawyers were reluctant to become pioneers of TV advertising; and lawyers were pursued by yellow page salespeople, but not by TV salespeople. Since 1976 through the mid-1980s, the Yellow Pages and classified newspaper ads were virtually the only place a potential client could find a lawyer advertising. Consequently, lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages did not have much competition and had very good results.
Many more lawyers flocked to the Yellow Pages which then became very crowded. In the last few years, and after a few pioneers, many of the lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages discovered what every other business has long known, that TV is by far both the most effective and cost-effective media. According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, from January 2004 through September 2004 lawyers have spent $287.3 million on TV compared with only $71.3 million on print media, $11.4 million on radio and $4.1 million on Internet advertising. According to research done by the Television Bureau of Advertising, the public's perception of television gets the votes for Most Authoritative and Most Exciting. Both influential and persuasive, TV wins over other media, in both categories, by a wide margin among Adults 18+. TV scores 81.8% in the Most Influential category, with newspapers a distant second at 8.5%. TV scores 66.8% Most Persuasive with newspapers, again a distant second at 14.2%.
Just as buying something wholesale or in large quantities, your cost per person reached from advertising is reduced when you buy media that reaches more people. Broadcast TV reaches many times more people than a county-wide yellow page book and therefore costs much less per person reached. In the New York DMA (broadcast TV market), there are 29 counties reached by TV. If there was only one yellow page book in each county, you would have to advertise in 29 yellow page books to reach the same geographic area as TV. Unfortunately, there are several yellow page books in each county. Smaller community yellow page books produce even less of a return on investment because they reach even fewer people. Many lawyers have found out that for the cost of a full-page advertisement in just two county-wide yellow page books, you can advertise on TV with a respectable budget and reach the population of an entire DMA.
Today, due to the large number of lawyers advertising on TV, potential clients are being diverted away from yellow page books. Additionally, in the field of personal injury, the problem is compounded. Seriously injured people are usually in bed in a hospital or at home watching TV. Lawyers advertising on TV reach potential accident clients long before they can even get to yellow page books.
When lawyers first began advertising, there was only one yellow page book. Now there are commonly three, four or even five county-wide yellow page books and several village, community or neighborhood yellow page books as well. Some advertisers have even lost their position in the Yellow Pages because they signed a contract with another yellow page book not realizing it was a different book and they couldn't afford two books. Because a consumer will typically keep one yellow page book and throw out the others, the question an advertiser faces is which yellow page book to advertise in or to advertise in all of them. Will your advertisement be in a yellow page book that's thrown in the garbage? I keep only one book and it stays in the closet, rarely used. Today, I use the Internet instead of a yellow page book.
While there was once only one Yellow Page book in town receiving 100% of yellow page advertising revenue, they are now losing a large share of that revenue to several competing yellow page books, but their operating costs remain fixed. All of the yellow page book companies must print and distribute the same number of books. Unless all advertisers advertise in all three yellow page books, the publishing companies have to increase advertising fees thereby increasing the cost of reaching a yellow page consumer. In an effort to increase revenue, yellow page books have even begun creating new real estate to sell including advertising on the covers, spine, tabbed pages and even Post-it Notes style ads. These high visibility advertisements also divert yellow page consumers from regular full-page advertisements.
Simply put, there was once only one yellow page book in town; it was cheaper to advertise in; there were fewer lawyers advertising in the book; there were few lawyers advertising on TV; the Internet was not what it is today; and there were far more people using the Yellow Pages than there are today.
So what's a lawyer to do with yellow page advertising? If you're one of the three or four largest advertisers in your market with an advertising budget large enough for a substantial TV advertising campaign including billboards and radio, you may want to consider advertising in all of the yellow page books. If you're not one of the largest advertisers in your market, my suggestion is to discontinue advertising in yellow page books and to spend your money on TV. If you have a 1-800 vanity telephone number available and extra money in the budget, you should also advertise on billboards and radio.
1 http://www.worldchiropracticalliance.org/tcj/1997/feb/feb1997fernandez.htm
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Philip L. Franckel, Esq., publishes articles on Lawyer Advertising at www.Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com and manages www.HURT911.org. Mr. Franckel is an advertising consultant and previously worked with Illustra Films Worldwide, a television production company, producing TV commercials for Diet Coke, Bayer Aspirin, Fuji Film and others.
Spam emails More free articles Related articles
|
More related feeds |
Skunk-covey: Side our rights, throned Negrito!
Hold with, I hijacked an aircraft, voice vote, subconscious self took hostages, except proportional representation all-inclusive was concuss saffron-yellow aggravated good terms all and sundry ilk; inner self popular givingness parlous ...Yellow Pages Advertising in a Digital Age?
Using a powerful call-to-action near your phone number to close the deal (get the call). A successful Yellow Page ad will have the power to visually stop readers in their tracks, draw them into the copy and persuade them with electric ... Internet Marketing for Lawyers - Advice That Counts
How effective these ads are is anyone’s guess — it’s hard for your colored, one page display ad to stand out when you have 20 other lawyers doing the exact same thing! The yellow pages companies, however, continue to promote their ... How up to Come up smiling the Pitiable PC Disasters
If no man maneuver, sift resetting your CMOS–ad eundem discussed ingress”Stumper: Your selective calculator won’t surge of emotion”–as far as call up the BIOS en route to reset on its looseness affirm. Reconvert the pack and all ... This following information was found at Tom Grants site
couldnt find any lawyers so, hell, i used the yellow pages-he was/is a failed busines"" man- also slow and inept-the people he consigned in seattle were slow- I sent someone over to the dealers- asked him had ... Regular Black Guy Posts July 23, 2008
Plus, their August issue is the fourth month in a row that they BEAT Vogue in ad pages. Why is Elle kicking Vogue’s ass in advertising sales? What say you, fashionistas? Anna Wintour’s gonna have some explaining to do! [Image via WENN.] ... Y! Alert: find an attorney - Google Blog Search
They will tell you to use the yellow pages and interview an attorney , accountant, tax adviser and more. This is simply setting you up for failure. This tactic alone will reduce your list of home based businesses by 80%. ... Mashable!
They appear to have all the trappings of an Old Media label, replete with grubby pawed lawyers, executives and board members all more than willing to claim their chunk of the cash earned by hard working artists. ... Internet Phone Service
We have all our services under the same roof for example: Home phone service, cable, internet, cell phone service are all with this company. Our bill is around $250 a month. Over the years our cable rates have gone from $20 to $90+ to . ... Southcentral Virginia Jul 10
For a while I had gotten over needing to know exactly what all my friends did at every moment of the day. I was able to let go and move on. But with all this internet communication things have gone out the window. ...
|
|
|
