Yellow Pages and van signage

[^woody^]

Interesting comments re YP: on our local structural engineers page, it was a case of big dick advertising, with ever-increasing sizing every year between the principal local ones.

lol - That's exactly what my mate found with his engineers practice.

I recall speaking with him about 3 years ago on where he gets his business and he said that about the adverts and he was spending 20k on YP in various editions.

Most of the work was crap from the YP with timewasters and non-payers. I think he reduced the ad and concentrated on repeat clients and recomendation and used some other targeted marketing to generate high-value custom at lower outlay

 

[Shytalkz]

£20k - eek!

The only reason that I bother with YP really is that I walked out on being MD of my last place, before I ended up killing my fellow director, the two-faced, slimey little turd. The vast majority of clients were those that I brought into the biz and the old place have been singularly unhelpful with passing them on (no surprise there), so the current biz runs under my own name, such that they can find me. Had loads come back to me from that . but not a fantastic amount of new clients via YP, I have to say.

Get quite a lot via my website, which is deliberately obtuse, off-the-wall and nothing like any other engineer's website. I didn't know if that was going to be a good thing, but it seems to work...

 

[Thermo]

For 5000 leaflets double sided full colour A5 expect to pay around £150 plus vat.
Steve

I hope you didnt pay 150 plus vat. A5 leaflets are vat exempt (a lot of printers are not aware of this!)

 

[jono_h]

I have to agree with the A5 leaflets idea, which have bought me in a load of work. I put some effort into the design and I've had a number of comments from customers saying that I got the call because the leaflet was considerably more professional than a photocopied flyer shoved through the door.

Delivering them can be a pain, and you don't always get a great return - I find that filling display boxes and then giving them to friends to put on their desks, or on noticeboards at their offices gets a better response. That way people pick them up when they need you, rather than throwing them away because they don't at the point.

 

[Kev F]

joined the yp this year and to be fair everyone says dont bother. Got a 6 bulletin advert with name,nimber,address etc for £21pm. Got my van signed up last month on all sides in massive letters cost £199 everyone comments on how good it looks. Not had any jobs yet from that but have been asked for cards from neighbours of clients.

 

[WabbitPoo]

I'm thinking of using this lot who make you up vinyl signs and you stick them on. seems pretty cheap for a transit's-worth. Anyone got any comments?[/url]

 

[hairyben]

I don't bother with YP any more, more hassle than it's worth.

Was spending £1k+ a year on yell.com/YP, then some salesman comes along with his poncey laptop slideshows and claptrap and insists I need to spend about £3k+ on 1118247, extra areas, etc etc. I tell him i can't afford/don't want all that and we almost got into an arguement as he insisted I needed to spend all that to get "better clients" (they start off asking you if you're happy with your clients, and offer to target better clients. Apparently quality of clients are directly proportional to how much you spend on advertising...)

Then, to top it off, instead of using the ad I'd prepared he used, and charged me artistry on, his own mock up ad- which was made in colour, printed in mono so looked crap, had the wrong address on it, and featured command of english such as "certificates done". Yes that looks really professional. They ended up refunding me 75%.

So they tried to sell me stuff I didn't want, and got wrong the stuff I did want

And I never really got that much response from it, the yell.com was probably more effective, especially given it's linking to google etc.

Can't beat word of mouth, which is where most of my custom comes from.

 

[experience]

I spent £1200 with yellow pages for a double 1/4 column, got on the 2nd page of the electricians section. I think with yellow pages you need to be near the front of the section, being on the 7th page i wouldnt have thought would be much good.

I get alot of work from yellow pages, however from my customer feedback a few have said they normally go for the smaller ad's as they think their cheaper. So this year i've halved my ad to a single 1/4 column £500 and got talked into going on yell.com £470 by the yellow pages rep. I'm yet to see if reducing my ad size will get me more/less work, but yell.com has paid for itselve within 5 weeks of going live.

I've tried A5 leafleting, did 1000 drops and not one call so didnt do any more. Tried shop window ad's, one shop has brought in quite a few jobs as its in a good location so i keep that one going £45 a year - the rest were a waste of time! Sent out my business cards to 30 builders, 2 of them rang and got me £2500 worth of work as well as any future work they offer. I also got my van signwritten £170, again that gets you work and is probably the best form of advertising as well as giving you a professional image.

 

[mattylad]

RE painting your vans..

Folks, please dont consider the stupid squirly writing, its a lot harder to read
as your van goes past, if you want us customers to be able to note your details down then please keep it plain & easy to read, esp on the back doors.

ensure your colours make the lettering stand out well, esp the phone no & make em big.

When I'm stuck for a tradesman I will often try th numbers on the back of local vans.