ASK THE MAM — Yellow Pages Advertising

DEAR MAM: Where do you stand on Yellow Pages advertising? My gut is that it is a waste. However, so many still spend so much on it. SINCERELY YOURS, SP, Minneapolis, MN

DEAR SP: You’ve struck a nerve. There is no entity that has less of a shot of getting a piece of marketing dollar from one of my firms than Verizon Yellow Pages or Super Book or whatever they call themselves. Dealing with Verizon is the worst vendor interaction experience that I have faced ANYWHERE on ANYTHING. I am in the process of looking for law firms that have had similar issues with Verizon sales personnel. Since I am not interested in getting into litigation with them, I’ll leave it at that. However, firms with such experiences should contact me privately. I’ve had much better experiences dealing with the folks at Yellow Book. But that does not really answer your question. In some undersaturated markets, there are still consumer-oriented firms that see and get value from Yellow Pages-style advertising. However, the impact in today’s market is far less than it once was. It has become an overpriced entity that is often too crowded to be effective. If you have a huge budget, I still put money aside for a Yellow Book, but if my dollars are tight, I go elsewhere first. Sincerely yours, THE MARKETING ATTORNEY