For years the two most-common ways to reach buyers of pavement maintenance services were ads in local newspapers and ads in the Yellow Pages. This was especially true for contractors pursuing residential driveway work, but Yellow Pages were also an important link between property managers and contractors -- after all, where else could property managers turn?
Well, those days are long gone, and a look at the Yellow Pages business itself shows just how far they've fallen. According to the Wall Street Journal there were four publishers pursuing the Yellow Pages market 10 years ago -- today there are only two impact firms and those two (Dex One Corp. and SuperMedia Inc.) recently decided to merge. Their stocks, of course, rose on the news but the Yellow Pages market doesn't look that strong. The Journal reports spending on Yellow Pages ads in the United States has declined to $8.6 billion in 2011 from a 2005 peak of $14.2 billion (with digital sales accounting for about 25% of total sales).
So where does our industry stand? Are paving & pavement maintenance contractors part of the declining trend or are they some of the last hold outs, supporting this marketing approach that for the longest time was key to marketing?
Let us know where you fit in. Do you use Yellow Pages? If not, why not? If you do, let us know how effective they've been for you.
