The Directory of Ineffective Advertising

Several years ago, before Facebook, a friend of mine used the term, the directory of ineffective advertising to describe the phone book.

What was true then is truer today.

Bob Killian wrote about this:

Why are the Yellow Pages like Nursing Homes?

They’re shockingly expensive, few people under 70 use them, and many who do are a little out of it.

Moral of the story? When you invest in Yellow Pages ads, you’re setting fire to money.

Are we being a little harsh on this venerable (read: antique) information source? Hell no. This obsolete technology sucks millions of dollars away from more cost-effective marketing tools, while delivering less every year. There are better uses for your budget, especially if you market goods and services to people who don’t remember the Truman Administration.

Way back in the 20th Century…

The answer to Where can I buy a refrigerator? used to be let your fingers do the walking. But the only people who continue to walk those fingers in this millennium are the ones who got into that habit decades ago. Google and Yahoo, to cite two sites, offer vastly more information, from more sources, more quickly. Fresher info, too. Phone book accuracy begins to decay the moment it comes off the printing press.

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