Yellow Pages Seek Relevance

"Strategies to Deliver High-Quality Leads to Advertisers"

August 06, 2007: 09:00 AM EST http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0286211.htm

The $65 billion US Yellow Page market is at risk. (I mean, seriously, when was the last time you used the Yellow Pages to make a purchase?) Yellow Page publishers, like Verizon’ s Idearc suffered lower 2006 revenues as consumers turn to online sources for local information.

Idearc ($3.2 billion in sales) is looking for a solution. They are teaming with the Kelsey Group (Yellow Page industry consultants) and eStara (sales contact technology) to hold a public Webinar. Excerpt:

“Advertisers have learned a valuable lesson from search engine advertising: it's not about the quantity of leads received -- it's the quality of them. As the local search landscape continues to explode, advertisers are now searching for ways to capitalize through a profitable marketing channel. This leads marketers and media companies to search for effective tools and methodologies to execute successful online advertising campaigns in a relatively new marketing channel.

In the ROI-focused local search space, marketers and media companies are increasingly tasked with finding the best marketing channels for their small- to medium-sized business advertisers, track results across channels and deliver maximum return on investment. Local search publishers are evaluating every option for lead generation for their advertisers to combat the risk of losing business to a growing list of local and national competitors.

Please join host John Federman, CEO of eStara, and industry thought leaders Robyn Rose of Idearc Media and Matt Booth of the Kelsey Group for a free Webinar on Aug. 16 at 1:00 p.m. EDT titled "Delivering Quality Leads to Platform Neutral Advertisers" to learn more about local search trends and best practices for delivering high-quality leads to local advertisers. https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/924308456

My Take:

Sometimes when you step back and look at a problem from a different perspective a whole new approach becomes be evident. Facing falling ad revenues, Yellow Page publishers might try doing this.

From our point of view it seems clear. Turn the traditional model inside out and upside down.

That’s what we’re doing. Feel free to contact me to discuss in greater detail.

Tuesday August 7, 2007 - 04:49pm (EDT)