YELLOW PAGES & PLUMBING MARKETING

Contractor 20/20 Handles all your Marketing Needs to Deliver the Results that You need

Note: this was originally a post I made to the ServiceRoundTable.com.

You need to economically test different medias, track them properly and then invest prudently in a combination that builds both positive awareness and gives a call to action that can be measured for effectiveness.

I have surveyed over 250 plumbing companies. I have charted their new customer costs from yellow pages marketing, as low as $23 as high as $480. Most are around $100. All of the ones under $50 had ads that fell into four very similar looks. The ads usually feature one main point having to do with price or speed of service or trust. There are some wordy ads that work great in upscale areas and college towns but do terrible in average working class or ethnic areas.

Contractor 20/20 has seen companies change the design of their yellow pages ad and triple their results. We've also seen them lose 70% of the results by going from a good design to a bad one.

I remember teaching a marketing seminar in St. Louis where a contractor told how his results dropped when his YP introduced double trucks. He lost first position having not changed his ad at all.

I have also seen this great effect in Atlanta when we ran a TV campaign just prior to the need for heating. With just 30% of the households reached, it tripled the calls for that day. That is always the best day of the year when consumers discover problems with their heating system on the first day that  they turn it on for the year.

SUMMARY
1) Ad design affects your results.
2) Ad placement in your section affects results.
3) Positive name recognition affects results.