Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

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Legal Battle Over Print Yellow Pages Placement Shows Continued Value

Friday, January 22, 2010

Recently on this blog, we’ve focused on the growing importance of online and mobile opportunities for Yellow Pages companies and their small business advertisers. Recently,  SuperMedia (formerly Idearc) emerged from bankruptcy with a commitment to developing those areas of its business.

But in Baltimore this month, the continued importance of print Yellow Pages as an marketing medium became clear after a legal battle emerged over which local law firm would be allowed to advertise on the back cover of this year’s directory.

The dispute, though unfortunate because it involved an error on the part of the local directory publisher, nonetheless emphasized the high regard small businesses still hold for print Yellow Pages.

Read more on the BIA Kelsey blog.

January 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
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Search Engine Land Gives Companies Tips to Manage Profile on Internet Yellow Pages

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I came across this article on Search Engine Land today from product marketing expert Lore Weimann, “Protecting Your Brand On The Online Yellow Pages” advising business owners to review their listings online and take a few steps to ensure they “get the best exposure on local yellow pages search” for their brands.

Weimann’s tips include:

  • Running a search of your top generic terms on the popular yellow page search pages and make note of the results including yellowbook.com, yellowpages.com, and superpages.com.
  • Being sure to advertise on your top terms.
  • Controlling your resellers and/or affiliates so that their advertising efforts, ad copy, and offers, are consistent with your own.

While I agree with this advice, I think it also highlights the need – more than ever – that yellow pages representatives provide informed marketing counsel to their customers.

As an industry, we’ve spent the last year transforming our approach to a more customer-centric consultancy model. Taking that extra half hour to walk through the what’s and why’s of a robust online search program really helps our customers achieve the maximum results online.

As Weimann notes – the local search space is growing every day. It is also changing by the minute, and the more guidance we can offer to deliver results in an integrated print, online and mobile world, the better.

November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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Yellow Pages Scores High in Trust in Independent Survey

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Forrester Research, Inc. recently completed its North American Technographics® Media, Marketing, Consumer Technology, And Healthcare Benchmark Survey, Q3 2009 (US, Canada).

To the question “What is your overall level of trust for each of the following sources of advertising,” Yellow Pages was cited as the top source they “trust a lot” among U.S. respondents compared to other sources of advertising.

In the survey, newspaper ads, in-store display ads, and online consumer opinions all tied for second. At the bottom of the list were ads on blogs, ads on social networking sites, and cell phone text ads.

We feel that it is an interesting finding that Yellow Pages substantially beats out requested e-mail, brand Web sites and search engine advertising.

Of course, Internet Yellow Pages, as well as a number of other online sites, have implemented opinion features to attract consumers.

Trust continues to be a critical consideration in advertising strategy. With many platforms available to today’s businesses, advertisers should think carefully about their target customer. Reach is critical to advertising, but advertisers shouldn’t ignore the importance of trust when determining the right mix for them.

What is your overall level of trust for each of the following sources of revenue?

(Click image to increase size)

What is your overall level of trust for each of the following sources of advertising?
Source: Forrester North American Technographics® Media, Marketing, Consumer Technology, And Healthcare Benchmark Survey, Q3 2009 (US, Canada), 4,711 U.S. consumers sampled; response given “Trust a lot”

Source: Forrester North American Technographics® Media, Marketing, Consumer Technology, And Healthcare Benchmark Survey, Q3 2009 (US, Canada), 4,711 U.S. consumers sampled; response given – “Trust a lot”

October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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Local Search Plays a Role in Healthcare

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

In my “Locals Only” piece on Search Engine Land this week, I take a look at the national healthcare debate and the continued importance of local search to connect individuals and families with the right medical professionals.

Regardless of where national health care is headed, all Americans share the same challenge: finding good healthcare providers. According to a recent study by Knowledge Networks, 14 percent of all Yellow Pages usage, or roughly one out of every seven, is related to healthcare. In 2008, there were 2.4 billion references to healthcare headings.  And in recent years, there has been a proliferation of vertical Web sites that offer local search tools, ranging from Angie’s List and City Search to webMD Physician Finder.

This means that local healthcare professionals or practices wanting to build a clientele of patients will need to take stock of all the tools available to you, from print yellow pages, internet yellow pages, city listings sites and local search verticals to determine which will reach your intended audience.

You can read my full piece at Search Engine Land here.

October 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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Americans Kick Off Fall With a Trip to Local Pharmacy

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Every month we take a look at interesting headings data.  Since cold and flu season begins as early as October, we thought it would be appropriate to look at the  ”Pharmacies” heading this month.

As it turns out, “Pharmacies” ranks 17th out of more than 4,000 headings and generates 129 million references annually, with the highest frequency coming in October and November. Yellow Pages are one of the primary resources for consumers, in fact, 90 percent of Yellow Pages users who refer to the Pharmacies heading followed up with a purchase with 19 percent of sales generated from new customers.

In addition to October being the highest usage for the Pharmacy heading, it is also American Pharmacist Month, as stated by the (APhA). The month-long observance is a time to recognize pharmacist’s significant contributions to health care and the commitment to patient care in all practice settings from around the country.

Pharmacies know that Yellow Pages advertising will reach the local consumer at the precise moment they are ready to make a purchase, thus generating qualified leads. These purchases, based on local Yellow Pages display ads, result in more than 175 sales per year and over $38,000 in sales revenue for pharmacies. In addition, the average return on investment received from these local display ads at the pharmacies heading is $11 of sales revenue for every $1 spent.

October 13, 2009 | 2 Comments
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Simmons Findings Show Value in Print and Internet Yellow Pages Ads

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Some advertisers believe that advertising in both print and Internet Yellow Pages is redundant. The thinking is that they will reach their target audience by advertising in either one or the other. But according to the Simmons, Spring, 2009 data, that is not the case. Print and Internet Yellow Pages are in fact complementary products. Therefore, advertising in both products expands the reach for advertisers.

According to Simmons data, only about 7 percent of those that sought out a heading in the print directory also looked at that same heading on the Internet Yellow Pages. The data show that advertisers reach different sets of customers through print than through Internet Yellow Pages. Consequently, the benefits of being in each product are additive – there is virtually no overlap.

On the other hand, 21 percent of those that sought out a heading in the Internet Yellow Pages also looked at that same heading in the print directory. This suggests that advertisers that place ads only in the Internet Yellow Pages may lose potential customers by not being in both print and Internet.

The bottom line is that these results suggest that businesses can generate more leads by advertising in both and could miss out on sales opportunities if they choose not to.  Print remains the “dominant” medium of the two products based on user behaviors, but Internet Yellow Pages usage is growing quickly.  Businesses should consider how they can best leverage both into their marketing mix.

September 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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Back-to-School Puts ‘Child/Day Care’ Heading to the Test

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

More than 12 million children under the age of six in the United States are in some type of child care arrangement every week while their parents work, according to The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). The organization reports that, on average, children of working mothers spend 36 hours every week in child care.

As the nation heads back to school, parents of newborns, toddlers and younger siblings are learning a valuable lesson: The expense of full-time child care can cost twice the national average for in-state college tuition at a public university, estimated at $6,585 per year by Trends in College Pricing, 2008. And finding the right child care can be well worth the effort, not just the expense.

YPA data indicates, the “Child/Day Care” heading, receives 51 million annual references. The heading receives the most usage in September by 18-to-34 year-old women who have lived at their current address for less than five years and the majority of heading users (71 percent) are “first time purchasers” or new to the facility that they choose.

Sixty-seven percent of parents are in a search mode when they utilize the heading, meaning that they have not yet made up their mind on a child care facility. YPA research also tells us that 92 percent of users with a decision to make, and no name in mind, consider 6.6 ads on average.

September 2, 2009 | 1 Comment
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Telmetrics: Pay for Performance Advertising Shows Dramatic Growth

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I invited Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics Inc., to author a guest blog today about the growth of pay for performance advertising:

This year we have seen explosive growth in the number of pay per call programs we are tracking and noted three driving trends in a press release last week. While the increase is from both print and online worlds, the most dramatic growth is with Yellow Pages.

Yellow Pages embraced call tracking and the importance of performance early on. But in today’s economic environment, advertisers are demanding even greater performance visibility. Enter pay per call. The growth we are seeing echoes what AT&T’s Frank Jules and The Berry Company’s Scott Pomeroy shared in the recent Simba webinar on the state of the yellow pages – pay per call is on the rise.

Yellow Pages usage is not dead, as many would like to report, and pay per call growth, especially among heading strongholds like “Attorneys” and “Dentists” is proof. These advertisers value the high-quality leads that Yellow Pages deliver and are happy to pay for calls.

To help publishers more easily monetize this growing trend, we have added new pay per call features – a billing ceiling rollover which can cap advertising spend and bank unused funds to ensure the full cost of the ad.

Stay tuned – we expect pay per call to continue as a high-growth revenue reality.

August 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment
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comScore Presents on Internet Yellow Pages

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Last week, Elizabeth Emmart at comScore conducted a webinar on the state of internet Yellow Pages (IYP) and local search.

There were two graphs in the presentation that particularly piqued my interest: the percent increase in web searchers and the number of result pages viewed.

Although the absolute number of General Web Searchers (167 million) and Local Web Searchers (160 million) was larger than the number of IYP/Local Web Searchers (88 million) in December 2008, the actual percent increase year over year for IYP searchers was 21%. This exceeded both the increase for general web searchers (16%) and local web searchers (20%).

This is a strong indication that IYPs are not just holding their own in the local search space, but actually growing their user base at a faster rate than its more-hyped competitors.

The second graph that I found interesting showed total result pages for the various types of search engines. comScore referred to this as a measure of “engagement.”

For the period December 2007 to December 2008, General Search increased 52%, local portal search increased 60% and IYP increased 30%. So on the face of it, IYP looks to be far behind the other search alternatives. However, the question is whether this is a measure of “engagement” or really a measure of “frustration”?

Is it better to have a bigger number or a smaller number? A bigger number means that people are spending more time on the site because they are looking at more pages, but does this mean they are truly engaged or they simply cannot find what they are looking for and therefore continue to look at more pages.

One can make the case that that people going to an IYP site are motivated buyers and already know what they are looking for. Therefore, they don’t look at as many pages because they are able to make their decision more quickly. So, in this instance, a lower number of page views are preferable.

We’ll continue to watch Internet Yellow Pages data closely, as represents such a fast-growing segment of our business.

August 4, 2009 | 3 Comments
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