Field of Vision
from the editor

Surprising Stats
by Penny Stacey

We recently did something new here at AGRR magazine—and, I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about it, and hope you will be, too. We have conducted a survey of our readers about how they’re working to gain new customers—whether they’re utilizing the yellow pages, the web, Facebook, Twitter or the many other areas that businesses can be promoted today.

What surprised me most about this was how many companies still maintain a yellow pages ad. I actually expected those numbers to fall at the bottom, but, instead, 54 percent of those surveyed advised they still purchase yellow page ads.

This may not seem surprising to you, but I actually expected there to be more of a tendency toward Internet advertising. But, I also reminded myself that, even though I often turn to the web for a needed service, if I’m in my car, where I can’t access the Internet, I actually carry a local phonebook so everything is always at my fingertips.

What also was unexpected—though again, it shouldn’t have been—is how many companies are using Facebook to market. Stars like Ashton Kutcher may be working hard to build their Twitter followings, but here in the auto glass business, Facebook seems to be king. Approximately 78 percent of those surveyed use Facebook to market, while only 22 percent use Twitter. (But, I might add, if you’re interested in delving into the latter—and sometimes lesser known—of these, I hope you’ll check out our story on page 29.)

“What surprised me most about this was how many companies
still maintain a Yellow Pages ad.”

Many also are relying on their own company websites for business—and industry web expert Scott Orth, I think, would be proud to see that those who are relying on their own sites are tracking data like crazy. Everything from search engine optimization (SEO) results, to customer conversions, to number of hits and even sales is being watched by auto glass businesses across the nation.

But, while our survey provided good, solid numbers, I’d like to hear from more of you on how you choose your methods of marketing, how you went about developing your websites and more.

Please e-mail me at pstacey@glass.com.

Our staff has actually been delving into this area as well, more and more over the last several months, and, if you’re on Twitter and aren’t already following us, please do so at www.twitter.com/agrrmagazine. You’ll not only receive the latest headlines from glassBYTEs.com™ there, but also links to future surveys, fun and useful information we find on the web that might not fit into an official publication and more.

If you’re on Facebook, please be sure to visit our AGRR magazine page and click “like” so you can receive our updates there as well, see exclusive photos from industry events and more.



Penny Stacey is the editor of AGRR magazine. 

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