Do Yellow Page ads really work?

[John Ross]

Yellow pages just give you, a perceived legitimacy.

In my opinion they only work in an area that has a moving population. 
New people moving in and out, wanting to find a piano tuner.

Best advertising is word of mouth.

Catch 22 I suppose.

How do you get this word of mouth. Through, teachers, schools, churches, 
satisfied customers, and dealers. Use their noticeboards.
Offer a discount, for their help.
Contact other tuners, and take the ones they don't want. Eventually, you 
will get to a point, where there are ones, that you do not want to do 
either.
Always guarantee your work, even if you don't think you are at fault. If 
the customer thinks you are at fault, you are, to them and all your 
friends. I mean within reason, also don't be taken advantage of.

I stopped Yellow page advertising years ago, and just have the free one 
they give for a business phone.

With a saturation, of different telephone companies, each with their own 
book, and all in the same geographic area, how would you pick the 
'proper' one?
I don't know.
But to me that means the yellow page advertising, is not as it was, it 
is now greatly thinned out, as to how many people it reaches, from a 
given book. A lot of people, do not have a landline, just cell phones, 
so they are not in a book.
Like I say, Yellow pages, are not as useful, as they once were.
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada.
jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph Rosenberg" <josepharosenberg at yahoo.com>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 5:38 PM
Subject: Do Yellow Page ads really work?


> Hi,
>
> I'm in the process of building my piano tuning
> business.
>
> My local Yellow Pages situation is this:
>
> Verizon county big book
> Verizon local little book
> Yellow Book regional big book
> Yellow Book local little book
>
> There are approximately 20 piano tuners listed in both
> the big and little books.
>
> In my former business, I spent $400 a month in Yellow
> Pages but never got much business from it.
>
> Can anyone share their experiences with advertising in
> these books?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Joe Rosenberg
> PTG Associate Member
>