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Make the Most of Your Advertising Budget
Yellow Pages vs Vehicle Graphics
by Mark Grusing
May/June 2008

How much do you spend on your yellow page ad?  In some cases, especially in the case of  a small business, it may take up the majority of the advertising budget.  Is this the wisest use of your ad budget?  Let’s do a little comparison shall we.  Let’s start with vehicle graphics...let’s say just for our comparison today that your vehicle graphics cost $2000.  Seem like a lot?  Before you answer let’s break it down.  You plan on keeping your vehicle for 4 years.  That would be $500 a year.  That’s about $42 bucks a month.  How many people see your vehicle a day?  Think about this one before you answer.  You drive to your place of business on a well traveled road or a highway or maybe even a freeway.  People see your vehicle.  You park at your place of business where dozens of cars pass every hour.  People see your vehicle.  You go to lunch at a popular eating establishment.  People see your vehicle.  You drive home that evening and you are stuck in traffic on 169 and naturally you are in the slow lane as dozens of cars pass you at the break neck speed of 30 miles per hour.  They see your vehicle.  You finally get home and go to pull into the garage and remember that you can’t get into the garage because you have so much stuff in there that it looks like a Moroccan flea market so you park in the driveway.  People see your vehicle.  After eating dinner and watching CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI LA, and the previews to the soon to come CSI Shakopee MN, you decide to turn in.  Meanwhile people see your vehicle.  Now how many people have seen your vehicle throughout the day?  Every day?  How many people have seen your half page ad in the Yellow Pages today?  You know, that thick book that you use as a chock block for your boat trailer.  That stack of thick books you use to prop up your teen-agers 1992 Ford Tempo until he can afford new wheels and tires on a Dairy Queen salary.  I don’t know what you paid for that ad, whatever it was it was too much.  I do know it was more than $42 bucks a month.  Vehicle graphics win in a knock-out.  Stay tuned for the re-match.

Archived Articles:
March/April 2008 - Has Your Business Gone Flat?
January/February 2008 - Recipe for Success