Dentons Directories has been supporting small and medium-sized businesses in south west England since 1967 by means of publishing print advertising directories for dozens of areas across the region, that are delivered free to households.
Those directories are still pulling in sales for local businesses, despite the proliferation of the digital age and the fact that Dentons now offers a popular and premium website design service for small businesses. Not even social media advertising or our top-rated SEO (search engine optimisation) have managed to knock print directories off of their pedestal!
What has become apparent, however, since we have offered our digital marketing services concurrently with print advertising, is that neither one is superior to the other. For really stellar results when it comes to bringing in more business and profits, you need to cover both bases.
If you have a limited budget for ad spend, you may be confused as to how best to spend it – online or on a printed page? Ideally you should go for both.
The Value of a Traditional Print Advert
If you’re a sole trader or small business that lists an advertisement in a print directory that you know is going to be put through everyone’s letterbox in your local target area, you can feel pretty confident you’re going to get some sales leads.
Even if you’re not wanted immediately, then hopefully that householder or business who receives that handy directory of goods and services will hang on to it, and consult it when they DO need you.
A print advert in a local services directory has a lot going for it:
- It’s a tangible presence that consumers can touch and feel – proven to aid brand recall.
- It’s very visible to a captive, engaged audience in your local area, and remains so for a relatively long term.
- Print has always been a highly trusted medium. It’s likely a print ad is more credible than one appearing online.
- Even in this day and age there are hundreds of potential customers who do not have internet access, or even if they do, don’t use it for sourcing products or services. Those people still refer to print directories for what they need.
- The categorisation of adverts in print directories makes it easy for consumers to find you quickly in a crowded marketplace, particularly if you choose to place a large, prominent and well-designed advertisement.
Yes, whether you’re a local electrician, podiatrist, gift shop, dance teacher or in any other type of business, adverts in a local directory are a cost-effective way of getting your message across to those who may require your services.
Add a Website to Get More Mileage from your Directory Listing
When you advertise your business in a print directory it gives you the bare minimum of space to convince (and therefore convert) those who spot it that they should call and hire you. There’s little more to the average directory listing than your business name and contact details – usually just a phone number.
In the digital age most of us like to be able to find out as much as possible about a company before we decide to deal with them. If you have a website and include the URL (web address) in your directory advert or listing, that will be the logical first port of call for those who want to check your background and credentials.
The directory listing may be the hook, but your website – if properly crafted – will be the bait that potential customers are primed to swallow.
That’s why we highly recommend to our clients that to maximise the potential of your business you invest in both. A directory listing can work in tandem with a professionally built website that is optimised for conversions.
By optimised we mean a website that is:
- Responsive – showing up well on a mobile phone, which is the device most likely to be used by your potential customers.
- Packed with concise content detailing, at the very least, who you are (an About page), what you do (Services page/s), and genuine reviews from other customers.
- Flush with clear, carefully placed CTAs (calls to action).
- Conveying the message that you are professional, trustworthy, reliable, reputable and all those other positive markers that potential clients are keen to see.
When a directory listing points to such a website, it is extremely likely that the site will clinch the deal and you’ll gain a customer.
Dentons of Westbury, Wiltshire, are uniquely placed to offer you the best of both these worlds. As long-established and respected publishers of local area directories (25 different books produced annually for specific areas across south west England at the last count), along with an online national directory – dentons.net – we can offer you a premium vehicle for your business listing. The other arm of our business, since the advent of the internet in the mid-1990s – is Dentons Digital, a highly successful digital marketing and web design agency. We’d love to put it all to work for you.
