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Ken Northridge Inner circle Atlantic City, NJ 2392 Posts |
I got a notice in my PO Box today. They wanted me to pick up my new yellow pages book. They handed it to me and said. "Please take it HOME and throw it away." Then they showed me a very large stack of yellow page books that no one will claim! What are your thoughts?
"Love is the real magic." -Doug Henning
www.KenNorthridge.com |
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mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
Nope...the Yellow Pages are here to stay and is a fantastic local resource. The post office told you that because they actually have to work to deliver them!
Mark. |
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
It is a great place to look up the number of your local pizza joint, unless you dial 411 then you don't need the useless book.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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Gerry Walkowski Inner circle 1450 Posts |
I still have a tiny ad in a few of the books but when my contract expires, I'm done forever with them. I have a hard time really saying that as I've been with the Yellow Pages for 25 years or so.
Whenever the new books arrive I just put the new arrival in our recycle container. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. |
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
My wife works in a drug store, several years ago they sold 300 news papers on Sunday morning, they now sell three by special order only. In the words of Bob Dylan "The times they are a changing"
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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trey Loyal user 291 Posts |
Yellow page ads are not worth it! I have used them in the past. And a few years back I stopped and have not seen any drop in calls. Word of mouth is the best advertising there is. If a happy customer tells a friend about you. It is a shoe in with them. If they ever have a need for entertainment. They always call me. The yellow pages are good if you are an auto parts store. Not for entertainers! If you really want to spend your hard earned money on advertising. Put an ad in a local paper in the entertainment section. You will see a better return on your investment. One show from that ad will pay for a bunch more ads. A yellow page ad will have to get you 2 or 3 shows just to pay itself off.
Trey |
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NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts |
YP screwed me around for ten years leading to me having a $5000 credit. When I moved to Melbourne I took a $6000 advertisment and barely made the $1000 difference in bookings.
Every area is different but in Melbourne, Australia, the yellow pages is dead. |
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
I don't even have a listing in the phone book in the white pages. Yellow pages were dropped when libraries and motels got Internet available to walk-ins. Of course your GPS in the car gets more use than the yellow pages.
Yep! Times, they have changed. Last week AT&T became the second largest phone company in the USA. It's time to smell the toast burning! Bob Sanders Magic By Sander |
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Bradacal Special user 591 Posts |
Im not very happy with YP, I have been with them for about 5 years and I get a few bookings from them, but not enough to constitute a bill in the mail for $350 a month...Some months are worth it, some I don't think so...I will be hard pressed to put an ad into the YP next year, 85% of the calls I get are for BDAYS...I might reduce the amount of books Im in...every market is different.
The only thing that is good is that you get put into the search engine. Give it a try for one year and see what you think.... |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
As times change, so does your marketing and theway in which you market yourself. I evaluate things each year and can then seewgat works and what does not and make changes as needed. I too have found out a fewyears ago that I was just getting much more inquieries from internet traffic from my website and other online sources.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
I must have misread the original post and question. For some reason, I didn't see anything relating to whether it was a good or bad place to advertise for entertainment reasons in hopes of getting a gig.
I just read where someone went to the post office to get their mail and was asked to pick up their book, which wouldn't fit in the slot. Then heard a (possible) complaint from those who handle the mail that a bunch of the books won't be picked up. I don't advertise in it at all and personally use mine to order pizza's, find auto parts stores, etc...and have never had a need to use it to find someone to entertain me. Hmmm... Mark. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I think more folksare just turning to the internet for things of thissort instead of the YB. It is justeasier, faster and does not take up space.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
Yep.
Mark. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
This is why I personally place more emphasis on my internet based marketing and it has done well for us.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
MB OMG
My car paymenta are $350 a month.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Kyle,
My experience with Internet has not been any better than the Yellow Pages. It generates the wrong traffic for me. My focus is getting in contact with talent buyers who can continually buy booking dates. I don't really want any one-time deals. I understand that those are the basis of bookings for many entertainers. (I used to be an agent.) These mass methods tend to attract inquiries but not experienced talent buyers. Often the reason for having a website and listings is to maintain a presence but not a direct solicitation for contact. I do agree that Internet reaches more people than yellow pages. Yellow pages suffer from dilution by competing yellow page publishers and the lack of a good search system like is available on the Internet. (Life's opportunities are not in alphabetical order! Yellow pages are!) Yellow pages are not very timely either. Most are only published annually and then delivered weeks later. Websites knock them in the dirt every time! Unless I confined my work to one very centralized geographic location, the yellow pages and phone company have very little to offer me. They are geared for very local business. Most populations simply can't support it for an entertainer. Back to rule #1 for duck hunting: Go where there are ducks! (And take your advertising dollars too!) Bob Sanders Magic By Sander |
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Dennis Michael Inner circle Southern, NJ 5821 Posts |
I ride around my neighboor hood and see them laying on the ground, weeks after they were dropped off. I rarely use it.
Dennis Michael
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Lyndel Inner circle wrote the theme to the TV show COPS! 1623 Posts |
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???
OK, I guess I'm going to have to be the one to defend the phone book as being VERY useful. I don't understand what the rest of you guys are talking about! They are great as a door stop, a paper weight, and for standing on to get stuff out of the top cupboards! Lyndel |
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Ken Northridge Inner circle Atlantic City, NJ 2392 Posts |
I made my decision to stop advertising in the YP about 9 months ago. In retrospect, I probably waited a couple of years too long. It really hit me when I saw that stack of Yellow Pages books that no one wants. It’s amazing, what was once a staple in life has been relegated to nothing more than junk mail.
"Love is the real magic." -Doug Henning
www.KenNorthridge.com |
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rossmacrae Inner circle Arlington, Virginia 2475 Posts |
One of my (still extremely useful and clever - IMO) DVDs references "Yellow Pages advertising" as one of the best media for marketing your show as a family performer. And, of course, the minute I finished it, the whole paradigm changed.
I still contend that the average (non-business) customer still wants to find you in a DIRECTORY of some sort, but certain factors make it hard to settle on one type of directory. 1 - Not every area has customers who prefer to look online 2 - All online directories are not equal 3 - We don't even know enough to sort out which online directory will be better ... tomorrow. What we DO know is that the traditional paper yellow pages are not what they used to be. I have no easy answers - here's what I tell people now: Consumers are buying online more and more, and to a rapidly-increasing degree they are searching online for products they will later buy in person. That means that the customers with money to spend may well be looking online (instead of in the yellow pages) for a magician or clown. But, as with every "wave of change" to crash on the shore of commerce, it takes time before the market sorts out which reaction to innovation will be accepted, and which will prove to be a waste of the marketer's time and money (bye bye, Betamax, and by the way, did you buy an HDDVD player?). You shouldn't sink advertising money into every "online yellow pages" or similar scheme that comes along. But you might want to consider affordable online advertising, and you might want to sound out non-magician friends to find out where they turn to find local goods and services that are not linked to a particular merchant's website. In other words, when Mrs. Housewife wants to find a plumber, a music store or a lawn service, where does she look (these days)? As with the print yellow pages, whoever the market blesses will ultimately charge every penny they can squeeze out of you - but until the market's blessing is bestowed, there will be a lot of expensive ways to waste your ad dollar. Problem is, the client is already out there using the 'net (some services more than others) - until there is a definitive winner in the online advertising battle, and until someone like me can point with experience and authority to the best places to advertise, you need to do your own research and do it carefully. One thing more: Since I retired, I'm finding that several online "yellow pages" (I can't figure out which ones) have thoughtfully provided me with a free listing. Why? Probably so their directory will have some appearance of completeness - nobody's going to try looking things up in a directory that has very few listings of any sort. BUT… the darned things never die! I'm still getting calls from people who think I still deliver balloons, and I canceled those print-yellow-page ads 5 years ago! I'll never object to free advertising … but it seems you have no control over the content of such listings, and they may not reflect your current services or recent changes in your business. |
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