By definition, a directory is an approach to organizing information, the most familiar example being a telephone directory. And while there is no getting around the fact that online advertising is essential to your contracting business, if you want the full scope of advertising to work in your favor, you need to go offline as well. Some people even call this “old fashioned” advertising. People may spend a lot of time online looking for contracting services, but not all their time. The print media is still very large and still a good resource to use for advertising your contracting business. It’s not something we think a lot about, so every now and then we need a refresher course as to what the best outlets, or directories, are.

  
The Yellow Pages directory generates on average more leads than all of its main print competitors combined. Leads, of course, are what turn into sales, so the potential here is great. Unlike other advertising media, Yellow Page directory usage is driven by major life events instead of entertainment or location. It seems as though the more important an event is, the more that the Yellow Pages usage goes up. For instance, if someone is looking into a first time financial investment, Yellow Page usage increases up to 165%. Finding a home remodeling contactor, up to a 75% increase. A Yellow Pages directory is a lot more than merely a window shopping medium, it is a shopping and buying guide for a larger number of users than ever before.. So you see, the lead potential is definitely there, all you have to do is take it.

The Yellow Pages have always been known as ready to buy, trust advertising. Long before the Internet came around, there were the Yellow Pages to help guide people in the right direction. So if you can get a lot of leads and customers through a “trust” medium such as this, you’ll be doing very well for yourself. Another trust based media is the Newspaper. People will turn to these mediums before they go anywhere else because, well, they trust the information they find in them. Why? Because illegitimate or “scam” businesses aren’t going to pay money to advertise. You’ll typically only find the businesses that are on the up and up here.

The advertising rates for a newspaper, much like the Yellow Pages, are going to cost, but it is money well spent when you consider the amount of leads you can generate, especially in the Sunday editions, and the typical quality of those leads. And while it’s true that the readership of newspapers have gone down over the years, the quality of the readership has not. Generally, people that look for trustworthy businesses are trustworthy themselves. There are many different formats that you can put your ads in, and you can advertise in the areas that suit your business the best. So as far as lead generation, and demographic specific advertising goes, these two directories are best routes you can take to for your contracting business.