As the economy continues to sputter, many marketers are dealing with shrinking advertising budgets by leveraging performance-based advertising initiatives to help generate qualified sales leads. Pay-For-Call (PFC) is a performance-based advertising medium that delivers customer inquiries to advertisers via the telephone. PFC programs also help marketers reduce risk through greater accountability and measurement since advertisers only pay for leads that meet a minimum call duration.

Local service based businesses, including; automotive repair, plumbing, roofing and pest control are just a few that are most likely to benefit from PFC programs. The trick, in the above examples, is to match the service category with the prospect's shopping research behavior. You want prospects to consider your company as a possible choice when they're experiencing an event that requires the immediate use of your service category. Because print yellow page users tend to align their searches around life-events ...

My sink is leaking … I need a plumber now!

the phone directory is remarkably well suited for pay-for-call. Of course, other advertising distribution channels, such as Internet yellow pages, search engines and mobile marketing can be used to launch PFC initiatives.

PFC marketing initiatives are not necessarily silver bullets for shrinking marketing budgets. You’ll still need to work closely with your PFC provider to agree on the metrics that qualify an incoming call as a lead, as well as the cost for that lead. However; given the current economic climate it’s a marketing program worth exploring.