I suffered a 55% loss in 2008 on my AT&T Yellow Page print ad. I'm trying to decide between getting out now, and going with a bigger, professionally designed ad, in a pathetic attempt to gain a 120% improvement.
I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.
I've been advertising with them for over 3 years and have never gotten my money's worth.
They've told me to go bigger to get more calls, which I did. They told me to go full process color to get more calls, which I did. They told me for 10% more, I can go in the companion book to get more calls, which I did. They told me advertise on yellowpages.com to get more calls, which I did. None of these changes gave me more calls.
The yellowpages.com by AT&T was the worst with a whopping 0% return on investment, and I was on the first page!
I'm told that since I'm a drain cleaning company I have to be in the yellow pages. Most people go to the yellow pages when they need a plumber, and to the plumbing section if they need a drain cleaned. The at&t YP in New Orleans has over 900 plumbers listed. The customer has so much choice their heads must spin. The ad they designed for me is not working and/or AT&T's prices are way out of whack.
They would need to drop their price 500.00 per month for me to break even. I would be completely happy with breaking even.
By comparison I have an ad in the newspaper that I pay $177.00 per month for and make between 200.00 and 600.00 per month from.
I'm thinking about getting out of the YP and buying more newspaper advertising.
Even going door to door may be more effective than AT&T advertising and publishing, The Berry Company.
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