I received a very inspiring and impassioned letter from Dennis Fromholzer, President of CRM Associates, and someone who as an independent researcher has provided third party research to the yellow pages industry. Despite some negative forecasts, he believes the yellow pages has great potential and will continue to deliver products of great value.
He has every right to be optimistic. Throughout his career, Dennis has worked with Yellow Pages publishers and advertisers around the world, and has personally dealt with hundreds of advertisers directly to understand their perspectives and challenges.

The biggest challenge, he says, is overcoming the “myths and misperceptions held by many that the industry is in decline. To do so, we must truly believe in the VALUE the industry brings, communicate it, and have a sense of excitement with the advertisers about what we can do for their businesses.

In his letter, he wrote: Selling Yellow Pages is getting tougher. There is no way around this. The Internet is changing the rules of advertising and challenging the traditional advertising model. All media, including Yellow Pages, are affected. The traditional intrusive, impression-based media model may truly be on its death bed. Advertisers have a much wider choice of advertising alternatives than in the past.

Much greater emphasis is being put on being able to prove results than ever in the past.Many people have the perception that the paper Yellow Pages product is going away. They are wrong.

Indeed, there are many baseless predictions, as you may have gleaned from previous entries in my blog. Yet the Yellow Pages does, and always will, have a good story to tell.
Dennis raised some very valid points:

• At the same time consumers are complaining about increasing ad clutter in other media, there has been a sharp increase in the percentage of Yellow Pages users who believe there needs to be more ads in the directories and more information in those ads (2007 YPA Industry Usage Study).
• A recent study commissioned by AT&T found that small businesses ranked print Yellow Pages as the medium that generates the most calls from potential customers and the top reason small businesses cited for taking out any ads at all. Some 63% of small businesses advertise in a printed Yellow Pages directory, the most commonly named form of advertising among respondents by a two-to-one margin. (2007, Western Wats Data Collection Agency)
• Yellow Pages continue to be the dominant medium reported by consumers that influenced their purchase decisions (for top headings). (2007 Media Impact Study, TNS)
• The Yellow Pages industry has funded tracking of calls to approximately 130,000 ads over the past 10 years, giving a strong base for proving accountability and delivered ROI. The average ROI for Yellow Pages is about the same as for online and search advertising, and exceeds all other media, including direct marketing. (2007 Metered Ad Study, CRM Associates)
• Publishers are now offering the information in Yellow Pages directories in multiple media online, CD, mobile. This allows advertisers to reach consumers whenever and however the consumers want the information.
• Yellow Pages are the most trusted source of advertising rated by consumers in today’s market. (Forrester Research, 2007)

We are still relevent and we are still widely used. But that doesn’t change the fact that, in these changing times, we all must become a little “smarter” at understanding the value of our products and at being able to effectively communicate the value of the Yellow Pages.
Value is the catchphrase. Yellow Pages continue to provide high value to advertisers and users alike, Dennis wrote. The underlying dynamics of usage provides the potential for growth of usage and growth of the business. The underlying data suggest that a positive and vibrant future is possible. The opportunities exist for the industry. Future growth of Yellow Pages is a function of decisions made by publishers on whether or not to believe in and invest in the business. The potential is there, but it will only be realized if the publishers and the reps make it happen. It requires a belief in the product, it requires excitement, it requires knowledge and training, and it requires measurement and tracking of value.