A 2006 study by Highpoint Associates shows that by 2010 internet advertising spend is expected to grow 25% from 8 billion in 2005 to over 25 billion. Internet ad spend is expected to overtake several traditional advertising outlets taking its share in large part from newspapers and print yellow pages.
What explains this shift in spend? The National Association of Realtors study on the profile of homebuyers and sellers found that in 2006 80% of those shopping for a home used the internet to search for a home. This is up from 65% only three years ago.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." For those still spending hundreds and in many cases thousands every year on their yellow pages ad the harsh reality is most likely already setting in with declining ROI year over year.
When considering your print yellow page spend, here are a few points to keep in mind. Other than the extremely high cost of a yellow page ad, another downside is that you must commit to the same ad all year, there is no flexibility. Your ad will also appear amongst and surrounded by all your competitors. Compared to online advertising, with a print yellow page ad it is difficult to measure ROI due to lack of reporting. Environmentalists also bring up the point that the yellow book is a waste of paper especially when so few people refer to the book anymore.
There, of course, is still a group of consumers who do use the yellow pages because they do not have web access at home. The truth is that some will continue to use the print yellow pages however this is a highly segmented group (income, age, and education) whose numbers are fewer and fewer every year. The trick is to find the right balance. Keep a simple or bold listing in the yellow pages and shift the larger percentage of your spend over to the internet where you can reach more consumers.
Choosing the right type of internet advertising for your needs
So if fewer and fewer people are letting their "fingers do the walking" and instead are letting their mouse do the clicking, this leaves the question where and how to advertise your specific services online to reach those consumers you want to reach. There are four major types of internet advertising: Internet Classifieds, which include the internet yellow pages, Banner Ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), and Lead Generation. Search represents the largest percentage in spend at $3.2 million in 2006, according to GP Bullhound, Ltd. Lead Generation however, is the fastest growing segment of online advertising growing 71% from 2005 to 2006.
Each of these types has their pros and cons and deciding on the right type for your business depends on your advertising budget and your internal resources. Here is a breakdown of each type to help you decide:
| Ad Type |
Pro's |
Con's |
| Online Classifieds |
Fairly affordable, high traffic, ability to geo-target, ease of set-up, requires little to no invested time |
Leads not customized, listed amongst competitors, flat-rate pricing means you pay whether the ad is seen or not |
| Banner Advertising |
Ability to geo-target depending on site |
Expensive CPM* pricing structure, leads not customized, requires graphical resources |
| SEO |
Effective if able to appear in first page of search results |
Requires technical knowledge when building the site |
| SEM |
Sponsored search results have high click through rates |
CPC** pricing can be expensive, managing keyword bidding is time consuming |
| Leads |
Pre-qualified; Targeted by geography, weight, origination, destination; Pay-per-lead pricing |
Quality varies by lead source and consumer experience; requires internal resources for quick follow-up |
* Cost per One Thousand Impressions
** Cost per Click
Again, consider your budget and your resources. Weigh the pros and cons of each of these types of advertising and consider the cost involved and the resources required. Think about where your customers are looking. If you have the ability, it is always a good idea to test different methods and most importantly track the results and measure your ROI.
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