Well, I have just topped up our usual four grand annual YP spend with a one grand in Thomson. I know that YP works well, but Thomson can be patchy... good some years, not so good other years ... but I have never worked out why.

As for the local papers, I used to get good response from them, but the effectiveness dropped off to almost nothing, and I have never worked out why.

I even bought a local paper in mid Cornwall so I could use it for advertising and control content, Etc.... but even that didn't work. I had 20,000 copies printed every month and delivered by Royal Mail but I couldn't get the response to match my expectations.

Advertising is great when it works, but when it doesn't...

I even bought a local paper in mid Cornwall so I could use it for advertising and control content, Etc.... but even that didn't work. I had 20,000 copies printed every month and delivered by Royal Mail but I couldn't get the response to match my expectations.

WTF? the "alarm guard times"??? as for content tastey looking alarm panle on page 3?

lol media mogul. That is taking advertising to the extreme!

WTF? the "alarm guard times"??? as for content tastey looking alarm panle on page 3?

No, not quite. Camborne & Redruth News & Trader. I wanted to get Rupert Murdoch worried

But it was sooo hard work. The advertisers wouldn't get anything in until just before the deadline, and then looked at every letter and punctuation mark to try to find an excuse to not pay. It was a real PITA and didn't achieve my primary intention of providing leads for alarm installs....... so I offloaded it.

and then looked at every letter and punctuation mark to try to find an excuse to not pay. It was a real PITA

just like the alarm trade.....

just like the alarm trade.....

No! Believe me, this job is a dream in comparison.

If I did advertise in a directory it would be Thompson not YP in our area.

Problem with YP is the area is too large. This means our area is Bristol and we therefore get included along with the loads of Bristol installers and there are loads of them!

Thomsons area is much smaller and is Weston-Super-Mare and surrounding areas, and we did get quite a few leads eventually. I say eventually as for some reason we got nothing for most of the year, we declined to renew and after that we started getting leads!

Still not the quantity which would justify advertising.

We tried BT Phone Book - Don't bother. Tried Yell (YP online) - nothing.

When we first started we did radio advertising, this was reasonably successful but didn't justify the outlay. It achieved it's purpose in getting us known. I would meet quite a few people and they would sing our adverts to us

Dave

Very interesting chaps!! A real spread of mixed opinion!

In the YP Every man is advertising...BUT as DP said the Thompson is local and seems to be preferred...In my area it seems Thompson is used first.....

My main concern is that we did not even get a copy of the 2006 edition....Now what does that tell you

For a 3" x 1" they are asking a tenner a month which I will test the water with......Also There is only one other CCTV co advertsing in block so hopefully mine should stand out!

Thx for your input....Iam listening ....BUT I also have to use any type of "affordable" promo! Ive set myself a budget for 2007 so hopefully I can get some run rate..

On a slightly different note I advertised in a local newspaper /trade section and in the last four weeks I got 2 installs so that really paid for itself! BUT it seems the CCTV is of key interest right now!

On a slightly different note I advertised in a local newspaper /trade section and in the last four weeks I got 2 installs so that really paid for itself! BUT it seems the CCTV is of key interest right now!

It obviously depends on what you do and how big an area you cover.

I'm in computers, not alarms but it's often a panic response to a nasty situation that triggers business so some parallels I guess. I try to cover quite a small geographic area which rules out some options. For what it's worth my best sources are:

1. Word of mouth/recommendation - 90%+

2. Newsagent/supermarkets windows/boards (free to max