Adman
August 27, 2008, 11:53 AM
Ya...I first did Phone Book Covers with a Co out of Green Bay WI. I charged $555 per ad. $185dep, $185 on proof & $185 on delivery (which the company got) for 5,000 mailed
These were "Soft" covers with 10 ads on each side (20 ads x $555) I then went with a Hard cover with a metal spine and put 60, 2 line ads on each side in Alphabetical Order for $245 ea (120 ads x $245) for 5,000
And haven't done anything with them for years AND...last year I was in a realtor buddies office and he showed me the Soft Cover he bought and ad on for $245. (10 ads on each side)
I was then in my insurance rep's office and whala, another cover he bought an ad on for $297 (Totally different cover)
Then I was in my auto repair guy's office and....another Different Cover.
This got my interest up, so I did some checking.
I found a Cover maker in Cincy with a good price for covers. I then looked at the 3 covers I had collected and all 3 cos were from the Cincy area.
Apparently...there are 5 different cos soliciting ads for phone book covers from the Cincy area. It seems one co started doing these a few yrs ago, hired some salespeople and trained them and...these salespeople decided they could make phone calls themselves and get the covers from the cheap maker.
Now...why 3 of them chose my dorky town of 25,000 to solicit ads for their covers within about a month of each other, is interesting. I know they are separate operations...actually competitors....so why they chose my town, I'll never know.
One thing I do know....NO ONE EVER RENEWS A PHONE BOOK COVER AD!
That should tell you how "effective" they aren't.
Don Alm
P.S. One thing I also know for sure;
The same 3 cos who solicited and sold ads on phone book covers in my area, last year....WILL be soliciting and selling ads to DIFFERENT advertisers in my area THIS year.
These were "Soft" covers with 10 ads on each side (20 ads x $555) I then went with a Hard cover with a metal spine and put 60, 2 line ads on each side in Alphabetical Order for $245 ea (120 ads x $245) for 5,000
And haven't done anything with them for years AND...last year I was in a realtor buddies office and he showed me the Soft Cover he bought and ad on for $245. (10 ads on each side)
I was then in my insurance rep's office and whala, another cover he bought an ad on for $297 (Totally different cover)
Then I was in my auto repair guy's office and....another Different Cover.
This got my interest up, so I did some checking.
I found a Cover maker in Cincy with a good price for covers. I then looked at the 3 covers I had collected and all 3 cos were from the Cincy area.
Apparently...there are 5 different cos soliciting ads for phone book covers from the Cincy area. It seems one co started doing these a few yrs ago, hired some salespeople and trained them and...these salespeople decided they could make phone calls themselves and get the covers from the cheap maker.
Now...why 3 of them chose my dorky town of 25,000 to solicit ads for their covers within about a month of each other, is interesting. I know they are separate operations...actually competitors....so why they chose my town, I'll never know.
One thing I do know....NO ONE EVER RENEWS A PHONE BOOK COVER AD!
That should tell you how "effective" they aren't.
Don Alm
P.S. One thing I also know for sure;
The same 3 cos who solicited and sold ads on phone book covers in my area, last year....WILL be soliciting and selling ads to DIFFERENT advertisers in my area THIS year.
