One thing that has not changed in the 11 years that Carlos Cavazos has been office manager at Budget Storage and Truck Rental in Corpus Christi is the demand for phone books from his customers.
“I go through a lot of them,” Cavazos said of the Corpus Christi Area-Wide Telephone and Internet Directory, affectionately called the Blue Book. “People are still using them. They take them, so I keep them stocked.”
As for why, Cavazos said a lot of people moving into town find phone books easier to use and more dependable than computers or smartphones when they need specific services. It’s all right there at your fingertips, and you know the information is not outdated.
Cavazos’s anecdotal proof that phone books are still vital and effective forms of advertising can be found in research done by industry experts as well.
According to a study recently published by Association of Directory Publishers, 76 percent of adult Americans nationwide use printed phone books.
“A call in the yellow pages is worth fifteen to twenty-five times more to an advertiser than a click from a website,” said Cindy Aldrich, president of ADP.
According to a study by CRM Associates of Boulder, Colorado, telephone directory advertisers average $24.91 in sales for every $1 spent on advertising in a local phone book.
Advertisers in the Blue Book get the best of both worlds. They are both in print and online at 101CorpusChristi.com, a vibrant, constantly updated website rich in interesting editorial content that draws traffic to the stories as well as the ads.
The website includes a daily business news site, a vacation guide and subject-specific guide pages that host interactive versions of phone book ads. From a smartphone, potential customers can reach a business or service just by touching the phone number.
The site also boasts the most comprehensive, interactive events calendar in the region, which draws a significant amount of traffic to the rest of the content. Users can sign up for weekly news emails that constantly provide opportunities to click through to advertiser information or stories.
“It all adds up to more customers for our customers,” said Bob Hotchkin, sales manager at Texas Publishing, which produces the Blue Book. The company also publishes Corpus Christi Business News, Corpus Christi Living magazine and direct mail, the Legal Guide, Wedding Guide, Home Improvement Guide and many others.
“We know what works both online and in print,” Hotchkin said. “We can help make your business successful using either one or both. It’s affordable, and it works.”
Texas Publishing, the Corpus Christi Area-wide Telephone and Internet Directory, Corpus Christi Business News and other publications are located at 4455 South Padre Island Drive, #4, (361) 991-1306.