Pros and Cons of Yellow Pages Advertising

Filed in archive marketing on April 26, 2007

This is the continuation of the Use of Yellow Pages in Marketing a Home Business.

The Pros for Yellows

The mere fact that your name, contact address, email, and contact numbers are online and visible should be cause enough for celebration. Your home business, moreover, is not in any simple, randomly-generated list. It is in the yellow pages, where it is placed under a specific category, and arranged in alphabetical order along with other companies and businesses with offerings similar to yours.

Web users are attracted by organization, and the online yellow pages offer this advantage. A business is there where it can be found: nothing annoys web users more than search engines turning up search results that have nothing whatsoever to do with the original search string. The online yellow pages, moreover, cater to urgent needs: if a web user needs goods or services pronto, he or she can easily find the company or business engaged in providing them.

The online yellow pages can also work for you. Listed along with your company are other companies that are in competition with yours. You can study their business structure, look at their product and service offerings, and know how to innovate your own offerings by looking at what niche markets they have not yet tapped. You can also do this easily because you do not have to search extensively for the companies: you have them listed next to yours, and all you need to do is click, read, and research.

The Cons for the Pages

Could there possible be disadvantages to the online yellow pages? With the rising number of companies establishing their websites and strengthening their presence online, more and more companies are finding themselves listed in online yellow pages. Your name might be lost amongst the thousands or so companies that have the same product and service offerings as yours.

You may also need to pay for your listing, which can tax on your savings if you have little marketing clout to begin with. If you are thinking of marketing your company through the online yellow pages, be prepared to invest in the listing - but be prepared to invest in other marketing strategies. The online yellow pages should be only one step on your road to marketing savvy online.