Key Data Behind the Strength of a Phone Book Listing

Free phone directory listings, are the unsung heroes of your law firm’s advertising strategy.

Patrick recently wrote about The Power of the Separate Phone Book Listing. He made a lot of claims to how Kirkpatrick’s methods can help pinpoint the efficiency of not only a particular phone book, but a specific ad in that phone book. Not only a specific television commercial, but the exact time slot that commercial best performs in.

The Purpose of this post:
To provide real-­world data supporting the efficiency
of Kirkpatrick’s methods, using separate phone numbers to
analyze the effectiveness of individual ads.

First things first, if you separate the listings under two different numbers what are you going to find?

1. The Types of Customers Calling Each Number:
   If a prospective client has gone to the phone book looking for an attorney they have already made the decision to buy. You don’t have to sell your services to them, just your unique brand (but that is a different blog for a different day). Depending on which number they call, your customers are at two different points in the buying process:
   1. If They Call the Number on the Advertisement –
      ­These are new customers who need an attorney. They don’t know you from any of the other attorneys in the book. Something in your ad convinced them to dial you above all others.How these prospects are treated on the phone should reflect the unique decision process that brought them to you.
   2. If they Call the Number in the Listings ­-
      These customers went to the phone book, knowing your name and sought you out of the alphabet. They are committed to finding an attorney, but aren’t “shopping” any longer. They are one step more committed to working with you specifically.These prospects are probably return customers. Or they heard your name from a television or radio spot or through word of mouth. Again, they should be treated according to their unique buying perspective.
2. How Well Each Number is Performing to Bring You New Clients:
   On average we find our law firm clients are generating 64% of their phone book leads from their directory listing numbers, while only 36% come from paid advertising. That means two out of three phone calls they’re getting are coming in for free.However, it also means that massive phone book advertising rate is only bringing in one-third of your calls. These aren’t even clients, they are leads! This should completely change your perspective on what you’re spending on that ad!

The truth is, phone book publishers and phone service providers don’t have the time or man­ power to track all of this data efficiently. They are dealing with thousands of phone lines at once. However, the only way for you to get an honest depiction of your advertising effectiveness is to measure the data from every ad you run.

You must take the time to create your own workflow with separate numbers, along with data collection and analysis.

If you need any tips on developing a workflow, or have any other questions about the data behind your firm’s phone book advertising strategy, contact Kirkpatrick Creative, today!