Folks, Flyline Search Marketing would like to get your honest opinion on something. We believe that in order for advertising you purchase to be effective and used, the company you bought it from must do an effective job of delivery of that advertising product. Do you feel this form of delivery is effective? Do you feel this form of delivery will ensure the product produces great results for the advertisers who spent money to be in this publication? Do you feel like the books will be useable for the residents of this home by the time they get home from work today? Clue, it rained on these books.
I grew up in the Yellow Pages Industry. Fact is I spent over 31 years dedicating myself to helping that Industry grow and serve local business owners in communities all over the Southeastern United States. Over the vast majority of those 31 years the Yellow Pages performed very well. In fact, they performed so well they often exceeded advertiser’s expectations in many cases. I personally know many small to medium size business owners who built and supported entire businesses around just their Yellow Pages advertising. We believe that was then and this in now.
If you are looking to Flyline Search Marketing for advice here is what we think. In our humble opinion we feel strongly that the photo tells a story. The advertisers who bought ads in the books lying on the driveway paid top dollar to be in that publication. If a company who owns that publication allows their product to be delivered in this manner, shame on them. They have both a financial and an ethical resposibility to effectively distribute their product for their advertisers and for the people who may actually still depend upon those books for information and service providers. You have to ask yourself though, how serious can they possibly be about making sure the product is performing for their advertisers when they allow it to be delivered in such a manner?
We believe that many Yellow Pages Publishers are actually in big trouble due to the proliferation of the Internet. Fact, recent bankruptcy filings by Idearc (Verizon) and Rueben H. Donnelley provide proof positive that Yellow Pages revenues and profit margins are under extreme stress. Fact, the Yellow Pages companies are significantly downsizing their work forces. They blame it on the economy, but I spent 31 years in that Industry and don't buy that argument for one minute. Fact, almost all of the big Yellow Pages Publishers have created online Yellow Pages offerings to help supplement their revenues.
How Many of You Remember the speech that Mr. Bill Gates made near the end of 2007? That was the speech in which he predicted the End of Yellow Pages! Ladies and Gentlemen, like him or not, Mr. Gates is one of America's best and brightest minds. Truth is, Mr. Gates is an absolute Genius. After his speech, the Internet blogs lit up like Christmas Trees with nasty grams from all the Yellow Pages pundits. Yellow Pages bloggers worldwide screamed and shouted and bounced off of walls over his comments. Take away the emotion for a moment and look at the facts he presented and you quickly realize there is a strong element of truth in what he is saying. He talked about PDA devices and how the delivery of advertising media and information would ultimately be changed forever by technology. You may not have liked or agreed with his comments, but I'll bet you are using his products?
Flyline Search Marketing is advising our clients who use print Yellow Pages on the following: 1) Do not place another single ad in any print Yellow Pages directory that doesn't include a tracking phone number 2) Analyze your return on investment from your print Yellow Pages ads. If the ads are not producing a positive return on investment eliminate them and move the budget to better performing media. 3) Create an overall Internet Marketing Strategy that will help ensure the long term health of your business. That strategy must contain a plan for achieving both Organic and Paid Search Placement.
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