The day, Apple introduced the I-Phone to the market, they revolutionized the whole mobile experience and enabled consumers the opportunity to taste the fruits of advanced and unprecedented mobile internet search for the first time. One of the most dynamic applications provided via I-Phone is that of Local Based Searches. The I-Phone allows users to install a whole range of different local search applications such as InfoSpace Find It!, Schmap, etc to obtain access to a whole range of services, products and businesses that are foremost in one’s locality.

Local Search applications are uniquely optimized and designed for the I-Phone touch screen. Businesses with websites on the Internet can release their web interface for the I-Phone and take advantage of the growing mobile marketing opportunity.

Local Search has moved beyond Geo-Location and guarantees instant information regarding various products, services, and business options provided by local companies and outlets. Business information such as name, address, phone number, website, business description and business hours can appear on Apple’s I-Phone through Electronic Yellow Pages aggregators, direct contact or direct contact with local search engines such as Google Base or search-engine optimization service providers. This geo-tagging can also be accessed via Web Pages.

With the success of the I-Phone, many applications have already been introduced to suit the raised level of Mobile Internet Usage and Local Mobile Search. Out of 1000 applications offered by Apple, 30 are location based. The I-Phone scores over traditional GPS as it has dual functionality allowing the I-Phone user to tap wi-fi positioning using the SkyHook Technology when GPS is not available. In rural areas where wi-fi is sometimes difficult they can use GPS. So the likelihood of getting lost or not finding a place to eat is less likely.

According to the recently released Local Search Usage study done by Comscore and TMP Directional Marketing one out of five local business searches were conducted via the mobile web last year. As mobile phone usage continues to grow and become an integral part of our lives, many businesses either product based or service based will benefit by being available to consumers where locally relevant information is only a tap away.

In a very short time local search via mobile has evolved into a huge enterprise both for consumers and merchants as it makes access to locally relevant information so convenient and easy. It has also given momentum to Mobile Marketing.

The Yellow Pages Industry, long ruled by an elite class, used to regular golf and 65% plus profit margins, needs to come to a new reality. The viability of the product is very much part of the new age but only if they listen to the needs of their customers, rather than driving them out of business in a recession. I mean if you are a carpet cleaner seeing a reduction in business, how well do you bond with your local yellow pages sales rep expounding the virtues of ROI under your heading?

While the facts cannot be ignored they can be addressed. The Yellow Pages Industry saw a reduction of 3% percent in usage this year. Next to other media that is not too bad. Newspapers saw a reduction of 5% last year and they are still available in the marketplace.

Search Engines by-passed the Yellow Pages this year as the #1 source in terms of local search when people are ready to buy. (33%) vs. (30%). This is a huge change for the industry. Let’s look at why.

According to the 2008 Local Search Usage Study conducted by Comscore and TMP Directional Marketing the online yellow pages is only consulted (19%) of the time. This industry does not translate well to the online environment as their hierarchal internal structures get in the way of the constant innovation required to sustain these properties.  

Too many businesses fail trying to be all things to all people. Yellow Pages will thrive when they go back to their roots and embrace the print environment in innovative ways that create customer value and drive sales.

In the meantime the opinions of bloggers will proliferate as I believe the decline in usage will continue until, from the ashes, an innovative (maybe independent directory  company) will appear who provides a value that will simply remove the yellow pages from its self-imposed extinction list.

Ok, so you had better not get caught working from home in pjs because now there’s video chat brought to you by no other than Google. Gmail allows you to switch from email to chat, to chat to video. Imagine all in one application. It works on MAC and PC and all you need is a simple web cam.

This cool application could be the next videoconferencing facility. Failing this it would certainly be cool to connect in this way to our communities for a multi-chat experience. By the way, if you don’t like what the other person is saying you do have the option to put on “small screen”.

I guess its time to keep a hairbrush next to the computer since you never know who might be wanting to chat. I wonder if Google will come up with the option for avatars for those of us of a delicate age who sometimes have bad hair days?

Perhaps there is a marketing opportunity for sponsored pjs? That’s got to be a better advertising investment than the “head rests” rumored to exist in some men’s rooms. Though maybe we should put this question out to jury.

“The beatings will continue until morale improves”

Is your organization run by an autocratic individual impressed with their own genius who adheres to such beliefs that to perform employees need to be directed, controlled, coerced and yes, flogged?  Regardless of the “Company’s Top 100” best managed sign on the office wall its time to take a hasty exit.

Douglas McGregor a MIT Sloan School of Management professor and author of the book “The Human Side of Enterprise” examined theories on the behavior of individuals at work and came up with two assumptions which were called Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X was based on the assumption that people did not like to work so they needed to be controlled and threatened. Theory Y held the view that work was as natural as play and that given the right conditions a human being will actually seek out responsibility and add value to the organization.

Unfortunately Theory X describes too many organizations today.

It has been an interesting time for individual initiative, technology and innovation. We have seen the emergence of a newer more efficient business model where power is non-existent and real value is being created from the bottom up. It is about groups coming together in a desire to cooperate and to create.

Wikipedia sees thousands of people a day contribute information, people are uploading video on YouTube, Digg readers choose the top news stories, and Yelp users review products and services. There is incredible innovation in the area of Open Source Software. People are choosing to participate without necessarily gaining anything; and often anonymously.

So why are not enough companies tapping into peoples’ desires to cooperate and to create value?  Well there are those who have shed the old ways of the ego and are generating serious marketing advantage through crowd sourcing. Proctor and Gamble, Amazon and check out www.ryzwear.com  run by a former Adidas president. He put 4 million into this shoe start-up and people design the shoes. They have over 10,000 designs. Revenues are also approaching 40 million. Not bad.

In his book “Wisdom of Crowds” James Surowiecki explores the idea that large groups of people are actually smarter than an Elite few. They are especially better at decision making and innovation.

So whether you are designing an ad campaign or a new product, improving productivity, or solving a complex management issue, I am happy to introduce you to your new future CEO – global collective intelligence.

“Mums!” my 6 year old son exclaims as he punts open the door to my office and I brace for his less than graceful landing on my lap. He sucks back his milk eyeing the yellow pages directory on my desk. “What are the yellow pages?” he asks. I explain that it is a book that people use when they want to go shopping. Is there something you would like to buy? I ask him. “A fishing boat” he says in a rather matter-a-fact way. Surveying the ads under “Boats Retail” I ask him which place he would like to buy his boat from. His response is interesting.

“None of them” he tells me rather disgusted. (He doesn’t like the look of any of the ads). “Well, what if you had to choose one of these, which would you pick?” Interestingly enough he does not pick the place with the biggest most colorful ad but one that has a rather obscure looking ad. I ask him why he picked the ad he did and he explains:

“Because Mums, this one has a fish finder in it and I want to catch a Sturgeon. Do the yellow pages have Sturgeons?”

Searching for Sturgeons does not include the yellow pages as we discovered. That afternoon I took my son on a multi-media search experience on the web that he has not forgotten. He watched videos of huge sturgeons, caught and dragged into boats by exhausted fishermen, and experienced the thrill first hand of Sturgeon fishing. My son was ecstatic.

In the infinite search environment that the internet provides it is doubtful my son will ever go searching in the yellow pages again. He wants his information served up fast and in an appealing way that engages all his senses.

“Gotta go Mums” and he is off in a flash to search for his sister.

As marketers there is much we can learn from the young. But there are some constant themes that are recurrent. Products will always be sold in a simple way and in a way that puts the consumers needs first.

By Elizabeth Gage | Comments (0)