Looking For Ways To Waste Your Law Firm Budget Money? Print Yellow Pages Companies Are Still Signing Lawyers.
Many lawyers would question why we would write an article about the ineffectiveness of yellow pages advertising. After all, most legal marketers know that the return on investment is poor for yellow pages advertising. It’s no surprise that numerous law firms have stopped or substantially reduced their yellow pages advertising. However, if you look at current yellow page books, you see more lawyers advertising than virtually any other profession. You still see single and double truck lawyer ads.
Not too long ago, the major advertising outlay for any law firm was the yellow pages. Every home in America had a copy of the yellow pages, and it was generally the main or even the only source for discovering and contacting businesses. Many law firms spent up to 70% of their marketing budget on these directories, which might refer as many as 50% of their clients. Questions about ad text, size and placement there were paramount.
Now, of course, the Internet has changed everything. Numerous studies have shown that fewer and fewer Americans use the yellow pages. According to a report by Borrell Associates, the yellow pages industry is expected to lose nearly $5 billion in revenue over the next few years. Leading yellow page publishers Idearc (formerly Verizon Yellow Pages) and R.H. Donnelley filed bankruptcy in 2009. Less than 13% of consumers ages 25-34 consider the yellow pages their primary source for finding businesses, along with less than a quarter of consumers ages 35-44. Some law firms now receive less than 10 percent of their referrals from the yellow pages. Even people who continue to use this resource tend to use it primarily to look up the phone number of businesses they already know, not to comparison shop or to find information about new businesses. As Don Benton, founder and CEO of the sales and consulting firm the Benton Group notes, “Yellow pages are not a branding tool. They’re dependent on a brand that is already established and recognized.”
Why Law Firms Refuse To Let Go
Why do so many law firms continue to advertise in the yellow pages? Yellow pages sales people are extremely well trained and many suffer significant cuts in pay if they do not increase a law firm’s expenditures or if a law firm cuts or drops its advertising. Many prey on the lawyers’ fear of losing a potential case or losing their yellow pages’ positioning to a competitor. Many lawyers simply have difficulty letting go of the past.
Law firm marketing expert Ken Hardison, JD, tells his PILMMA marketing members that yellow pages advertising is a waste of money and that the quality of Internet leads is higher. Legal marketing consultant Larry Bodine, JD, states, “I’ve long held the view that the Yellow Pages are a waste of money for lawyers — it just attracts bottom-feeders, illiterates and shoppers. One of our clients, Frank Jenkins of Frank Jenkins Law Office, Lexington, Kentucky, agrees. He recently stated, “Based on Ken Hardison’s of PILMMA.org’s advice, I made a HUGE leap of faith two years ago and cut my Yellow Page buys by 90%. I took that money and put it toward Internet SEO with Consultwebs and monthly hard-copy newsletter marketing to my database, as well as marketing with consumer books that Ken advised me to write. I now have four books that I give out free through many different channels. And two years later, I’m getting TONS more cases from the website and the newsletter than I ever got from Yellow Pages.“
No Future for Yellow Pages?
The very future of the yellow pages may be in doubt. Many consumers are simply irritated that unwanted yellow books are dropped off on their doorsteps, and they seek to recycle them as soon as possible. One website, yellowpagesgogreen.com, offers consumers the opportunity to request that companies stop delivering to them. In at least half a dozen states, phone companies have requested – and received – permission to stop delivering white pages, because they’re so seldom used now. While phone customers may “opt-in” to receive the books, anecdotal information suggests that they very seldom do. If the white pages are so seldom wanted, can the yellow pages continue to support themselves? Joe Walsh, the CEO of Yellow Books, admitted that the yellow pages will probably no longer exist in some markets in the next five years.
Meantime, Google searches for “yellow pages” have declined sharply in the last few years. This could mean simply that consumers have found it more useful to search for what they’re looking for directly, or that yellow pages simply don’t resonate with as many people when trying to find businesses.
Advertising in the yellow pages is not cheap. Depending on the size, amount of text, color and placement, they can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Is your law firm getting enough client referrals from the yellow pages to justify this extensive outlay of marketing resources? Or, would it be a better investment to develop a quality website and a strong presence in social media, along with active blogs and frequent press releases? Every firm has to make this decision for itself. But it seems clear that for many law firms advertising in the yellow pages may be nothing more than a habit – and an expensive one at that.
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If you would like additional information or to learn how we can help you improve your law firm marketing budget ROI, please feel free to contact us at marketing@consultwebs.com or call us at 800-872-6590.
Steve Graham says:
August 1, 2011 at 3:04amWhen the local yellow pages called me this Spring, I told them to take a hike. But then I discovered when it came out that they did not even list my business in the white pages. So customers were a little irked that they can’t find me anywhere in the directory. Is this typical? Do you figure there is any sense at all in just buying a small ad that would then refer to my webpage? That is what I think I will do next time. After all, some one must still be reading those yellow pages, otherwise the companies would fold.