Yes, the Yellow Pages industry has weathered all sorts of business climates in the past, but it has always managed not only to survive, but also evolve to meet current and future needs.

That is not a biased statement, by any account. Recent research data from the 2008 Yellow Pages Association Industry Usage Study conducted by Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research, Inc. (KN/SRI) actually confirms this.

According to the Usage Study, overall Yellow Pages usage is on the rise the combination of print and online references rose to 17.2 billion in 2007, up from 16.7 billion in 2006.

The breakdown demonstrates the power of our multiplatform medium. Internet Yellow Pages usage has experienced double-digit growth, climbing to 3.8 billion references in 2007 (comScore 2007), and print directory usage remains stable with 13.4 billion annual references.

The KN/SRI study also revealed that the Yellow Pages reach consumers who are ready and able to make purchases. 86% of those surveyed made a purchase or were likely to do so after referencing the print Yellow Pages. Among those making a purchase after referencing the Internet Yellow Pages, 51% were new customers to the business they chose. For print Yellow Pages, 39% were new customers to the business they selected.

Regarding the demographic profile of Internet Yellow Pages users, the study found that 80% have some level of college education and 62% earn a household income of $60,000 or more annually. The results also showed that 75% live in counties with a population of 150,000 or more and 70% are married. This sophisticated demographic profile is, in fact, one that many businesses target.

The study also found that many of the top U.S. DMA markets have a very large population of print Yellow Pages users. In fact, more people in cities including Charlotte, N.C., Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, and Seattle reference the print Yellow Pages per week than the national average.

It is evident from the just-released KN/SRI Yellow Pages usage study results that our medium is one that has successfully evolved to consistently provide the directory products and services that meet and exceed the needs of users and advertisers alike, shared Larry Small, Director of Research for the Yellow Pages Association. The proof is in the numbers no spin necessary.

By Elizabeth Gage | Comments Off

When deciding whether to spend advertising dollars on the Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) or on Search Engine Marketing you might want to consider the pros and cons along with these four main factors:

1. Ease of Use
Some of the challenges of SEM is the learning curve. This factor is especially relevant for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Many SMEs find SEM confusing, but are too busy running their businesses to spend valuable resources trying to learn about it.
The Yellow Pages have a huge local sales force that can work personally with advertisers, who often find it easier to buy a full Yellow Pages online/print package than to invest time and money in learning search marketing.

For those who do venture into SEM, the upkeep can be overwhelming. You have to continue to monitor keywords to ensure good placement among paid listings and this can be a lot of work. Again, it is small to medium businesses that suffer most in this area – they generally do not often have the resources to manage an SEM campaign, especially if it has a pay per click (PPC) component.

2. Cost
Arguments about cost can be made for and against both methods. Without careful planning and vigilance, a PPC campaign can become quite expensive. Costs are generally static in IYP but can fluctuate with PPC, depending on the number of clicks.
The flip side of this argument is that PPC is more appealing because businesses only pay when their ad is clicked, unlike a flat-rate (and often expensive) Yellow Pages ad, which an advertiser pays for regardless of how many people actually see it.

3. Ad Content and Local Search
SEM is weak in the area of local search. For this reason businesses tend to choose the Yellow Pages because it has brand recognition among consumers looking for local companies. Also Yellow Pages online sites are destination sites for business searches and this also enhances their appeal to business owners.

Another advantage of the Internet Yellow Pages is the content of the listing itself. IYP listings contain more information from the advertiser than a search engine listing, and that information is presented in a way that is familiar to users. These copy points include hours of operation, location, brands carried and payment methods accepted.
On the downside, the online Yellow Pages are often behind the search engines in the area of innovation and in what marketers call non-advertisercopy points. I mean including things like integrated maps, user reviews, and ratings with their business listings.

4. Search Options
IYP is limited in the search options they offer compared to search engines which allow for broad keyword searches. While there has been improvement from the very first online directory models many IYP directories only allow for a category and business name search. The better IYP directories have added keyword searching but still, the results are not always relevant. Look for the IYP to improve in this area so they can compete with search engines. Also, several Yellow Pages publishers have included the packaging of Google Ad Words in their enhanced service listings.

Search is measurable and an integrated approach that recognizes that both a strong IYP and SEMM program delivers sales leads means this is the optimal way to go.

The Yellow Pages are definitely not dead in Egypt and the same goes for Portugal, apparently. According to Armando Alves of the A Source of Inspiration blog (www.asourceofinspiration.com), they better not be.

Craigslist has just opened their Portuguese version and Google is starting to take local search and location based services more seriously in Portugal.

PAI (Portuguese Internet Yellow Pages) visit www.yellowpages.pai.pt released a new set of features that are so Web 2.0 that they even have round corners and gradients. Here’s what you can do with PAI at the moment, according to Alves:

1. Comments
Now users can leave their ratings and comments, supposedly to improve the service quality. I wonder how long will it take until spammers and ruthless SEOs start flooding the system.

2. Maps
Nice one. Not Google maps, but at least they know the local market, so a tailored experience might be enough to convince portuguese users. The service is provided by Local Matters.

3. Search Widget
You can take the search service and embed it in your site as a widget. Unlike Google custom search, no revenue is distributed to publishers.

Things are definitely heating up with this European IYP version, and after Web 1.5, it seems that some Portuguese services are entering the 2.0 bandgwagon. Better late than never, I suppose.

While Sensis is based in Australia you can no longer say they are down-under. Their brilliant turn around had over 650 Yellow Pages industry executives gathered in LasVegas April 6-9 for the YPA Association Annual Conference, captivated. How did Sensis revitalize the print yellow pages and see up to 10% usage growth in urban centres?

Sensis publishes over 88 yellow pages and 55 white pages directories in Australia. They are the 6^th largest publisher in the world and part of Telstra. They also operate the primary online directory in Australia www.yellowpages.com.au

With so much negative press circulating against the yellow pages, Sensis had bought in to the myth that the yellow pages print was dead and that the world was moving online. This resulted in cut backs in areas that hurt their customers, employees, distribution, and the brand. The information pages were removed and the product reduced. They set up discounting programs. The more their sales people talked about price, the more the customer became price conscious. 14% of their revenue was discounted. Everyone throughout their organization had lost belief in the product.

Then one day, this all female management team, said: Wait a minute! Look at the usage research and the ROI. It is strong. They gathered to scrutinize the data further. Australia, they discovered was similar to the US in that the larger markets  in this case Sydney and Melbourne – were the biggest challenges. But the research showed quite distinctly that life events result in heavy usage of the print yellow pages and the users don’t even think of the yellow pages as advertising. They are looking for information rich ads and lots of choices. From these great moments great opportunity was born.

The Sensis management team became agents of change and they were vigilant. They identified the key things that would make the biggest difference. They recognized that their front line was their bottom line and that their sales people were heroes. This meant revamping the sales compensation plan and implementing one that had buy-in from sales staff. Flawless execution was also very important and made all the difference. They eliminated discounts in one-year and focused on training and selling the value story. In essence they grew customer and employee satisfaction proving the adage that its not just about revenue but about people. They achieved 10% growth in the metro areas and overall growth of 2.5%. They are positioned for 4.8% growth for 2008.

Print is not dead. There is great opportunity to extend the directory category and for continued growth in the yellow pages print product. As Carol Johnson , COO of Sensis said:  We owe it to our consumers, communities, advertisers, and to the 60,000 people who work in this global industry to embrace these opportunities”.

Will other publishers follow Sensis  example? It is not everyone who can let go of ego and shed their skin in public for the greater good. Innovation, while invigorating is also painful. Hats off to Sensis for sharing their story and proving that Believing is Succeeding.

Last March 17, Yellowpages.com announced a multiyear distribution deal with Microsoft. This month, Yellowpages.com’s local listings and advertisers will begin appearing across Microsoft properties, including, MSN Yellowpages, MSN Search, Live Search and Maps.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, according to a Kelsey Group report. Typically, however, these distribution deals involve a minimum guaranteed payment in exchange for traffic guarantees, Matt Booth of Kelsey wrote. The top payment on traffic referrals is usually capped. The Idearc deal, which this deal replaces, was rumored to be worth more than $20 million per year to Microsoft. We would therefore expect the AT&T deal to be within that range.

Booth also believes that the Yellowpages.com announcement is more bad news for Idearc, Microsofts current local provider. On top of the distribution loss, Idearc recently had a string of high-profile executive departures that include: two CEOs, the CFO, the chief legal officer and the president of the Internet group. The company also reported lower than expected earnings weighed down by heavy debt service. Finally, it also means that Idearc reps will face off against Yellowpages.com reps touting valuable logos in their sales kits.

The Microsoft deal means AT&T has now closed exclusive distribution agreements with all the major portals (AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo!). The company also has a reseller agreement with Google.

Yellowpages.com CEO Charles Stubbs expects the MS deal to add an incremental 35 million monthly searches on top of 125 million currently reported. Stubbs was pleased that this deal brings the company even more reach across all 50 states.

What’s the point of specifically mentioning all 50 states? Yellowpages.com has been aggressively adding white space sales reps, Booth wrote. We estimate the company has added more than 1,000 Internet sales personnel over the past year. These reps predominately sell in locales where Idearc operates print and online. From AT&Ts perspective, this means that all sales are truly incremental dollars with little fear of print cannibalization.

Watch out for a more detailed analysis of the deal in the Kelsey Group Advisory.