My uncle, a retired lawyer, told me to stick with the Yellow Pages for my new firm back in 2010

He said a listing there was the only thing people in Edmonton would ever use to find a lawyer. I listened for about a year and got maybe two calls. Finally switched to a basic Google Ads campaign focused on 'Edmonton family lawyer' and my phone started ringing the next week. Anyone else have family give them marketing advice that was stuck in a different decade?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_jackson275d ago

Remember when everyone thought you had to be in the phone book to be a real business? My grandpa ran a small hardware store and refused to get a website until like 2015. He was convinced people just drove around looking for his sign. Meanwhile, the new place across town that sold the same stuff online was killing it. He just could not see that the way people shopped had totally changed.

oliverhernandez5d ago

Wait, he held out until 2015? That's honestly amazing. I remember trying to convince my own uncle to get a simple listing online around 2010 and he acted like I was speaking another language. By that point, if you weren't on a map app, you were basically invisible. It's tough watching good businesses fade because they won't adapt.

the_jennifer5d ago

Sometimes being invisible online kept a place special for locals who already knew about it. @oliverhernandez, my favorite record shop was like that and it felt like a real find. Not every good business needs to chase every new thing.