subject: Yellow Page Ad Advice For Phoenix Businesses [print this page] Yellow Page Ad Advice For Phoenix Businesses
This city has a unique set of challenges that many other large cities don't face. For instance, the climate is the most severe in the country. Summers can average 110 degrees for an entire month. Therefore, air conditioning businesses thrive while tourist-related companies don't. Yet mild winters also bring in Major league spring training, golfers, visitors to resorts, and conventioneers. Anyone wishing to see the Grand Canyon usually does so via Phoenix. This desert city, the nation's fifth largest, also is the gateway to Mexico to the south, Los Angeles and Las Vegas to the west, New Mexico eastward and Utah northward.
Snowbirds flock here from the colder Midwest from November to April. Restaurants and hotels swell along with gift shops in the malls. The warm winter means more outdoor activities and low heating bills. The tourists fill the airports and limousines. Also, each August, Arizona State University brings in 60,000 students from around the world. So, what does all this mean to the average year-round business trying to make a living? It means that you must be aware of the unique circumstances that they face as they place their ad in a directory that only comes out once a year.
During my 25 years, I spent many hours discussing the problem of seasonality. Let me describe one typical example. One of the largest accounts I consulted with was an air conditioning company that lived and died with the seasons. Late May began the hotter temperatures, ending about mid-October. Although they offered heating service, 75% of their business occurred during the summer months. Yet their Yellow Page ads were mostly for cooling. They always complained how unfair it was to be forced to have an ad running that did them virtually no good in the winter. Still, the ad stated "heating and cooling" and they got some business for furnaces, but not much. I was sympathetic but could do little to alter their situation.
Any business that has a seasonal loss of customers is in the same boat. But consider other cities. If you offered snowplow service in St. Paul, wouldn't that ad be wasted in June or August? Restaurants loved the snowbirds to help fill their places but moaned that the locals already knew them and wouldn't look in the Yellow Pages to find them. I always explained that the directory is delivered to the newcomers year round and that would help them with new customers who didn't know them. It's a tricky subject with which to cope. I worked every month and each change of temperature brought a new set of dilemmas. Auto repair folks loved the summer because it meant overheated radiators, blown tires, and broken air conditioners. Winters caused more flu activity for doctors, along with the older snowbirds that needed medication and care.
Sometimes I wished there were six-month books, but then it would depend on when they were delivered. A mid-July or January distribution wouldn't make anyone happier. I always just attempted to design the best ad that could work in any season that was affordable in good or bad times. I still do private consulting and offer any Phoenix business the best in personal care. My advice to any area company is to plan an annual budget for their seasonal
ad program and realize that income will be erratic, but the year's total is what's important. Design an advertisement that draws both residents and tourists alike. Concentrate on any goods or services that might work well year-round and hope for the best. For more information, go to my website and send an email. I am a year-round resident and understand the frustration, but have loved living here for over 33 years. And yes, I still used the Yellow Pages.
Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and runs a consulting and design firm, Advertising Business Consultants for Yellow Page advertisers in Phoenix, AZ. His latest book is, "Inside the Yellow Pages." is available on amazon.com. He can be reached by email at jph948@yahoo.com.
