Directory advertising - Locksmith and other trades

saphydog

I am a self employed locksmith that has always advertised in the thomson local and yellow pages.

This year saw yellow pages drop all the free adverts from its directory and iv just heard thomson will be following suit next year.

I had a conversation with sales rep and she says its to encourage more people to do paid advertsing as its unfair to have their paying customers compete with free ads.

This suggests to me that the paid advertisers arent doing very well.
I am certainly only breaking even with the work from thomson local/ad price.

I only did it this year just to keep my number out there.

I know these companies offer paid online advertising but i find that i can achieve similar results using free online directories and my own site at a fraction of the cost: Locksmith Wolverhampton

Im just interested to hear from other tradesmen to see how they fare with directory advertising in the digital age.

Have Thomson and Yellow Pages reached the end of the line?

steve1980

Thomsom & YP reached the end of the line years ago. Digital advertising is the way to go.

Do you have a website (not the "free" Yellow Pages one)? Have you posted your business cards on supermarket notice boards? Have you leaflet dropped? Or are you waiting for things to come in?

My free ad is still in the YP for your information.

saphydog

yes my digital advertising is good, i have good ranking websites but its a constant battle.
interesting you still have a free ad, i wasnt able to list one and told they dont publish them anymore.

EDIT/
Just been on yell.com and added a free listing, whether this appears in the directory i dont know

Horace

Try advertising in your local parish magazine, there are also some local magazines that come out that are full of trades, they usually have a magnet down one side of them so that you can stick them on your fridge door.

Try speaking to your local constabulary too - they sometimes have a need for a locksmith especially after they have broken someone's door down.

tco03

Im pretty sure they know how to advertise, i think the question is aimed more at others experiences.

I noticed the thomson local has halved in size this year, cant comment on yellow pages i never got one.

Its been years since i advertised and thats all there was back then.

heretolearn_2

I think it depends a lot on your target market.

Presumably a lot of your work is emergencies. People locked out. In which case they can't go and look through directories :rotfl:

It might be worth just keeping the online ads with them, as people usually have their phones. But generally look to move to website/online promotion wherever you choose to do that.

Even for jobs that are not emergencies, I would think most people look on-line these days.

I'd only really think about the phone directories if I were selling something mostly older people buy...

paulwf

Our edition of the Thomson has just arrived and is so small its a joke. I doubt anyone will use it as it just doesn't have any impact any more, I expect it is only a year or two before it disappears.

Anyway...ask every customer how they heard about you and keep a tally so you can see what works for you. Try and give every customer a pile of your business cards so they can hand them out if any of their friends want a recommendation. Make sure your van is signwritten. I despair when I ask trades people for business cards and they don't have any on them, such a wasted opportunity for them when cards cost pennies.

lincroft1710

From a member of the public looking for tradesmen: Thomson directory delivered, put on shelf where it remains unopened until it is recycled when the next one is delivered. I still use hardcopy Yellow Pages though.

Savvy_Sue

FWIW as someone looking for trades, I only use YP or Thomson online if I know the company I'm looking for. If I want a particular trade but don't know which company it's as easy to google 'locksmith + area', at least for starters. YP and Thomson don't always give very helpful results in any case.

And again, as someone looking for trades, repeating ads in parish and other free mags is definitely the way to get me to register your presence and try to find you when I need you.

Also in particular for a locksmith, if you offer a mobile service it's worth making sure that any non-mobile locksmiths know you're there, IYSWIM. It might seem a bit odd to even want to use a non-mobile locksmith, I know, but I use a 'proper' locksmith for my fairly regular key cutting needs at work, because I very very rarely get a duff key from him and he gives excellent customer service, whereas the key cutting service at the local hardware store is a bit hit and miss!