Over the years I’ve been to several South East Asian countries and have noticed some things about the older back-street sales offerings. If you were looking for motorcycle tyres, there always seemed to be a whole street dedicated to motorcycle bits and pieces. Or, there were usually 3 battery shops all within close proximity to the other, sometimes directly next door! So why on earth would they do this?
Well, they obviously understood that customers would prefer to come to one area to get all their bits and pieces.
Maybe it’s where AltaVista, Yahoo and Google got their ideas from?
The Yellow Pages was the database.
In its earliest form, the Yellow Pages has been that kind of tool. Before the internet, there were sections of the Yellow Pages telephone book that I was fully familiar with due to my work.
As an advertiser, if you paid more bucks you got a bigger ad closer to the alphabetical letter you were listed under.
Local Search
The Yellow Pages now have an online search facility called ‘local search’. It’s like a smaller version of the Yellow Pages, released to a smaller community.
Nothing has really changed.
Recently, we’ve been working with a large online marketing agency to improve a client’s position in a busy space online. Local search is vitally important for people getting their presence known.
Personal Thoughts
We came across an article by Isabella Anderson from Social Media Today (link below). She explores whether you’re wasting money advertising in the Yellow Pages or whether you should sink it into the digital realm. She provides some stats, which are based on American findings, but I believe that the information is still relevant to Australia.
In my opinion, I wouldn’t write the Yellow Pages off. Even though my business is in the digital world, I wouldn’t disregard the Yellow Pages while it continues to be distributed throughout Australia. It’s a valid channel where people connect. Also, now that they have branched into local search it can be a game changer for smaller communities and people in those communities to connect with your business.
What’s your experience with or thoughts on the Yellow Pages for marketing?
Chris
Original Article: “Yellow Pages vs. Digital Marketing: Is the Phone Book Really Dead?“
In this post, contributor Isabella Andersen explores the numbers behind phone book advertising, and how it stacks up against digital marketing for local businesses.
Source: Yellow Pages vs. Digital Marketing: Is the Phone Book Really Dead?