Yellow Pages turning Green?
Are the Yellow Pages turning green? And no, I don’t mean green from the amount of money that comes into their hands every month as business’ look to advertise their products in the grand-daddy of all print directories. I mean green in the regards that they are not feeling quite so healthy right now. Kind of the same feeling you get when that new Burger King Chicken Bacon Ranch w/ Onion Rings looked really good when you first ordered it, but then you regretted the decision for the next three hours of your life.
When meeting with clients, who are trying to break free of the grips that traditional marketing practices have placed on their strategies, I find it necessary to use stories and examples to establish the importance of having a sound internet marketing plan. While there are so many directions a business can take in their internet marketing–online advertising investments, establishing calls to actions (looking to convert on-line or off-line), implementing a strong keyword campaign–the simple fact as an individual educating others about the power of online marketing is this–it works!
One of my favorite stories, written in an article by Fredrick Marckini, illustrates the ROI (return on investment) differentiations that can be successfully accomplished in the online world [versus the print counterparts]. This story is geared toward local search marketing.
My dad now spends about $130 per month. That’s it. The campaign runs on Google’s and Yahoo!’s local search products. It’s limited as closely as possible to searchers within Massachusetts Zip Codes or queries that include a local town’s name. The campaign’s average CPC is around $0.65 and generates about 200 clicks a month. The CTR is solid for a search ad campaign at 5 to 6 percent.
