Over the course of the past decade the effectiveness of yellow page marketing has decreased dramatically while costs continue to increase. Ask your vendor about this rationale and they will provide big fat reports telling you all about how consumers still use yellow pages and trust them to provide relevant resources.

The trouble with this is these reports will never be focused around those individuals you should be targeting (demographically and psycho-graphically) – in fact the studies were likely not even done anywhere near your city / province / country.

Here are 3 key reasons to reconsider your yellow page advertising:

1. You are not a follower
   Just because many or all of your competitors are spending thousands of dollars each year on yellow pages doesn’t mean you should too. You should be striving to stand out from the competition, not blend in.
   
   
2. Difficult to stand out
   It is very difficult to standout at all in the yellow pages. Of course you could always consider buying a larger ad, or adding a white background, or full colour (oooh, fancy) all at an additional cost. Don’t bother your returns won’t vary that much.
   
   
3. Hard to track
   Most likely you do receive some leads and sales from yellow pages and each year when it comes time to renew you think twice, but then some doubt enters your mind and you think “I did get that call last week so I guess it’s working”. That’s not enough.

What should you be doing instead?

1. Understand your target market – Do a little research to understand your clients, their needs, their problems and challenges and what messages connect with them.
   
   
2. Experiment online – Search Engine Optimization and Google Adwords allow you to focus on individuals looking for your specific service and measure and manage your results on a monthly (or even daily) basis. Yellow Pages commits your spend for the entire year, even if it’s not working.
   
   
3. Measure your success - Each time you get a lead you need to understand to some degree:

• The lead source
• Whether it converts into a sale
• Revenue from the sale
• Profit from the sale

Start tracking and find out how your marketing efforts are rewarding you. Yellow pages should be paying you and not vice-versa.

Shifting away from advertising in the yellow pages will improve and focus your marketing efforts and it’s better for your bottom line (and the environment too!).

This title, first shared with me by a friend and mentor and often attributed to Peter Drucker, encompasses the power of setting expectations. Measurement is not always fun and sexy, but it is powerful. It allows you to build a real understanding (rather than rely on a gut feeling), make informed decisions, and ensure accountability.

Below are a few quick thoughts about measurement.

Get A System (And Use It!)

Leads, conversions, client interactions, and the success of specific channels, promotions, or individuals are all relatively easy things to measure. If you’re doing this now, then you’re already off to a great start. If you’re not, there are many systems available to help you and your team track this information. Pick one and start collecting.

It never ceases to amaze me how many times I speak with successful business people and find out that they have no system or rigour for tracking their success. What they are failing to understand is how much more successful they could be if they just gathered and evaluated some basic business intelligence.

Figure Out What’s Important

Not everything you measure is of equal value. Some of what’s important may change over time or depend on circumstance, but there are a couple of key indicators that really drive your business and that you need to pay attention to. Here’s a hint—it’s not revenue or profitability. Yes, these are important, but what’s more important is understanding what causes improvements to revenue and profitability. If you’re thinking customer retention, repeat purchases, referrals, results by channel or segment, or client and employee satisfaction, you’re getting closer.

Figure out what’s important and focus your team around these key indicators.

What Gets Measured Gets Done

After you’ve figured out your key indicators, the next step is to have a plan. Developing a plan with measurable objectives for each area of your business sets the expectation and allows you to have informed discussions about what is and isn’t working.

A traditional example would be when your salespeople need to generate X leads with a conversion ratio of Y and an average sales Z to meet your basic sales expectations. If you set the expectation and measure the results, you can manage against it. This goes for all areas of your business, not just sales and marketing. HR, IT, Finance, and Operations should all have specific key measurements with regards to how they contribute to your business.

Measure it, understand it, and get it done.