I’ve made a practice of NEVER knocking our media competitors…..my stations have always sold on their strengths, not on their competitors’ weaknesses.
          My exception to this rule has been the yellow pages directory, so much so that in 2001 I copyrighted the phrase, “The Directory of Ineffective Marketers”, as one of my media sales training modules.  
          Before we get into why the yellow pages are a Directory of Ineffective Marketers, let’s discuss why they are the exception to my, “don’t knock the competition” rule.
            First, I have yet to meet a marketer who had positive feelings about their yellow pages expense. You won’t risk offending any sensitivities when you point out yellow pages short-comings. In fact most business people will tell you they are only in the yellow pages “because I have to be”.
            They hate the high-pressure “blackmail sell” employed by yellow pages sales people, and the multiple geographic and category headings they create to force more ad sales.
            Secondly, the yellow pages directory really is not intrusive advertising, but rather it is merely a directory consumers will go to for two reasons and two reasons only: One, because no one has been an effective marketer in the category so shoppers have to go to the directory to find someone to do business with, or:  Two, to look up the phone number of an effective marketer they already have in mind…..in which case, a listing will do, not an ad.  
          When TOMA Research ask, “when you go to the yellow pages, are you more likely to call on a large ad for someone you’ve never heard of or, the small ad for someone you have heard of”, the majority consistently answers they have a propensity to call the small ad for some one they have heard of before they would call the large ad of someone they have not heard of.
          One final point….How do I justify calling the yellow pages, “The Directory of Ineffective Marketers”? It’s easy. You won’t find a business with high mind-share that spends a significant portion of their budget in the directory.
          Try this test. Invite your prospects to tell you who they think the most effective fast-food burger marketer is, then challenge them to find that company’s ad in the yellow directory (they’ll usually say “McDonalds” and McDonalds only has a listing in the directory….NOT an ad)
            Then ask them to name an effective marketer in the home improvement or building supplies category. They’ll usually name Home Depot or Lowes, and again these effective marketers will have no large yellow pages ad. 
            You have my permission to use my “Directory of Ineffective Marketers” brand to help you switch dollars from the yellow directory into a broadcast campaign which can make a business the one people have heard of when they go to the directory of all of their competitors.