How are People Finding Your Business?

Posted by Katie Noonan

More and more people are turning to the Internet to find information on businesses and services, which is great news for small businesses and companies with small advertising budgets. While in the past people relied solely on phone books or recommendations from their network, now, they’re utilizing Internet search engine results, according to an article on Small Business Trends online.

According to a comScore survey sited by the article, 31% of people are now using search engine results to find local businesses, while 30% are still using Yellow pages and White pages.

What this means from a PR standpoint is that businesses hoping to garner additional exposure should allocate monies to building a user-friendly, search engine optimized Web site that will rank high in search engine results.

This is also good news for YellowBook and other Yellow Page publishers. Yellow Pages are still among the top ways people find businesses they're looking for. And since YellowBook has such a solid Internet program, they come up in the search engine rankings too.

To mail or e-mail holiday cards: Continued

My husband sent me a link to the Yellowbook holiday e-card today at http://www.yellowbook.com/seasonsgreetings. Here is another example of an electronic holiday greeting that is very well done: very professional, extremely creative, well branded and a good use of technology.

So like I said in my Dec. 2 blog, if you’re not going to do a great job on your e-card, please think twice about sending one. A well thought out, clever holiday card is always more effective.

I also received an adorable and original photo of a yellow lab with a Santa toy in his mouth wearing reindeer antlers from a photographer. The only problem is, the card isn't branded so I don't know who the photographer is or how to reach him/her. Lesson: don't forget the details.

Happy holidays.

Yellowbook's New Ad Campaign Grabs National Attention

Posted by Amanda Walsh

The recent Yellowbook campaign launched by Gotham New York shows TV advertising at its best with a witty spot, titled "The Breakup." It features an attractive young woman who is video chatting with her boyfriend in her futuristic living room. All of a sudden, he drops the bad news, "This isn't working. I just want to be alone." as a scantily clad model appears behind him on the screen! Revenge is bittersweet and the young woman immediately hangs up and, of course, goes to yellowbook.com. She quickly scans the pages for an answer, "Couple’s therapy? Chainsaw? Pawn shop? Personal trainer?"

The best twist of the ad is the fact that the ending is up to the viewer. The ad drives traffic to yellowbook.com where there are three options to choose for the ending. While at the Web site, they are able to see the variety of features Yellowbook has to offer, including peer reviews; which plumber is the best in your neighborhood or what drycleaner is the closest to your house.

The good news for me is that there is paginasamerillas.es here in Spain so I am able to have the convenience of Yellowbook overseas as well! To read more about the review on Adage.com by Bob Garfield, please follow this link, Open-Ended Spots Make It Hard to Break Up With Yellowbook.

Yellowbook Launches New Marketing Campaign

This just in . . . Yellowbook announced the launch of their new integrated marketing campaign today.

Here’s the full press release:

YELLOWBOOK LAUNCHES NEW MULTI-MEDIA CAMPAIGN
THAT REDEFINES THE FUTURE OF LOCAL SEARCH

‘Say Yellow to the Future’ Escalates Yellowbook Brand

UNIONDALE, NY, May 5, 2008 -- Yellowbook, the leading independent publisher of print and online yellow pages directories nationwide, announced today the launch of a new integrated marketing campaign entitled “Say Yellow to the Future.” The campaign includes a full branding makeover with a new streamlined logo and a name conversion to one word (formerly Yellow Book), new television commercials by Oscar-nominated Hollywood director Vadim Perelman, and newly designed print directories that present the company as a forward-thinking, innovative digital force of the future.

The newly condensed name and fresh typeface give Yellowbook a sleeker, more digitally-focused feel. Part of the new logo depicts an evolution of the traditional industry-wide walking fingers icon. The book is removed and the fingers could now pass for walking or running through pages, pointing or clicking – an adaption to reflect the growing versatility of Yellowbook’s search options.

“Local businesses have relied on Yellowbook for more than 75 years to drive and support their client base,” said Gordon Henry, Yellowbook’s chief marketing officer. “While 87 percent of Americans use traditional yellow pages, there’s been exceptional growth online. Yellowbook.com has seen explosive growth in unique visitors, and our search engine advertising product, WebReach, has gained tremendous momentum. This campaign is part of our commitment to continued innovation and, importantly, to helping consumers find what they’re really looking for—wherever they search.”

‘Say Yellow to the Future’ Multi-Media Campaign

The new “Say Yellow to the Future” campaign represents a natural evolution of Yellowbook’s brand and its goal to help local business remain visible and accessible in an e-commerce society.

In one of the new television spots, set in the future, a bullied boy with an extreme wedgie returns from school. He turns to Yellowbook on his touch-screen and a holographic sensei leaps from the screen into his living room – transforming the boy into a martial arts whiz, brimming with self-confidence. A second TV spot, also set in the future, features Blanca Soto, former Miss Mexico World, as a bride-to-be who needs an embarrassing tattoo removed before her wedding. Her interactive Yellowbook guide helps her on her quest for a clean slate.

“The TV executions are fairly simple storylines, but the subtext of the spots is that Yellowbook will not only help you find a local business, but a higher order emotional benefit like self-confidence or a fresh start,” said Michael Jordan, creative director for Gotham, Inc.

The last scene in each ad showcases and directs viewers to visit yellowbook.com. The site’s consumer interface was recently redesigned, offering an enhanced overall user experience and greater relevancy in search results as well as advanced interactive mapping. The new campaign follows on the heels of the Yellowbook Network being named the top-gaining web property in the United States in March of this year, according to comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world.

Yellowbook’s multi-media advertising campaign will launch on national TV and cable networks and national print publications. In addition, Yellowbook is expanding its marketing campaign to include online digital display.

Yellowbook developed the campaign in partnership with the New York City-based ad agency Gotham Inc. The television spots were shot by Vadim Perelman, acclaimed director of “The House of Sand and Fog” and the newly released “The Life Before Her Eyes.”

About Yellowbook
Yellowbook is the #1 independent publisher of print and online yellow pages directories nationwide. Founded in 1930, Yellowbook published nearly 1,000 printed directory editions in its 2007 fiscal year with a circulation of approximately 123 million. The company's online directory, yellowbook.com, reaches millions of users via computers and mobile phones through organic web searches and through Yellowbook's network of partner sites. The company's humorous advertising campaigns have made Yellowbook one of the nation's most recognized brands. Yellowbook has a sales force of approximately 5,000 - one of the largest media sales forces in the U.S. Over the past decade Yellowbook has made over 50 acquisitions and now operates in 48 states, plus the District of Columbia. Visit the company’s website at http://www.yellowbook.com/.


Release on BusinessWire at: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080505005416&newsLang=en

Yellow Book Scores Big on Web Ranking Reports

comScore Media Metrix recently released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for March 2008. The analysis named Yellow Book Network as the top-gaining site position for the month with a 54% gain to 13.5 million visitors. Again, stating that Yellow Book is strong and substantial company growing in leaps and bounds. See the complete comScore Media Metrix analysis below.

_______________________________

comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for March

(Yellow Book Network and MLB.com Lead Top-Gaining Properties)

RESTON, VA (April 14, 2008) – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for March 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. March saw traffic increase to online radio, gambling and retail-health care sites.

“American sports factored in prominently for the top gaining categories and properties in March,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “The NCAA tournament drove substantial traffic to online gambling sites during the month, while the start of spring training made MLB.com one of the top gaining properties. Both events also contributed to ESPN.com’s surge in the top properties rankings.”

Top-Gaining Sites for March: Yellow Book Network secured the top-gaining site position for the month, with a 54-percent gain to 13.5 million visitors due, at least in part, to a new partnership with addresses.com. Baseball spring training and fantasy team drafts prompted a flood of earnest fans to MLB.com, which jumped 50 percent to 9.8 million visitors. Bankrate.com Sites witnessed a 46-percent increase to 5 million visitors with the addition of the InsureMe.com entity in March.

Radio Sites See Surge in Visitation: Radio sites experienced a sharp increase in traffic in March with the category growing 27 percent to 61.8 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month. AOL Music led the category with 21.9 million visitors (up 5 percent), following by Yahoo! Music with nearly 20.8 million visitors (up 4 percent) and Clear Channel Online with 11 million visitors (up 2 percent). Other significant increases were experienced by Pandora.com (up 9 percent), Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (up 11 percent), and Disney Music (up 17 percent).

Online Gambling Traffic Propelled by March Madness: The NCAA basketball tournament, also known as “March Madness,” attracted a flurry of online bettors, prompting a 14-percent gain to the online gambling category. Sportingbet PLC increased 35 percent to 975,000 visitors, UPICKEM.net jumped 174 percent to 396,000 visitors and SportsBetting.com rose 114 percent to 145,000 visitors.

Walgreen Co. Leads Retail – Health Care Category: Retail – Health Care sites experienced a 12-percent increase in March to 26.3 million visitors, as Walgreen Co. led the category with 5.4 million visitors (up 10 percent). Drugstore.com, Inc. captured the second position with 3.7 million visitors, followed by CVS with nearly 3 million visitors.

Top 50 Properties: The top 10 properties maintained their positions from February with Yahoo! Sites continuing to lead as the top property with 139.5 million visitors, followed by Google Sites with 137.5 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 121 million visitors. ESPN jumped 12 spots on the popularity of March Madness and anticipation of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. Gains were also experienced by AT&T (up 8 spots to #18 with 31.3 million visitors), Target Corporation (up 5 spots to #20 with nearly 30 million visitors), and CBS Corporation (up 6 spots to #24 with 28.6 million visitors).

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking: The top 10 Ad Focus properties also maintained their February rankings with Platform-A, the ad network combining Advertising.com, Tacoda, AOL, and Quigo, leading the ranking in March, reaching 91 percent of Americans online. interCLICK gained 9 spots in the ranking to position 14, reaching 58 percent of the 188 million Americans online. Real Cities Network and YuMe Video Network both entered this month’s rankings in positions 38 and 43, respectively.

About comScore Media Metrix: comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe. comScore Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

Advertising or Public Relations Per Tom Kane

Tom Kane's post, Which is Better: Advertising or Public Relations?, on LegalMarketingBlog.com hits the nail on the head.

I couldn't agree with Tom more when he says, "until a firm has done the basics involving strategic marketing planning, [advertising, public relations,] or both could be a total waste of money."

He is so right.

I regularly encourter law firms who still take an ad hoc approach to their marketing efforts. They advertise in the XYZ magazine supplement because they're getting a "discount" or at least a perceived discount. They hire a consultant or service to "issue a press release" and then don't leverage the value of the news or coverage. They purchase a directory listing upgrade because the sales person said they should. And the list goes on.

The bottom line is that law firms need to approach their communications the same way big businesses have for decades. It's about strategic planning. They need to identify what their trying to accomplish, who they're trying to reach, the messages they want to deliver, the time-frame within which they need to act, the best vehicles for success (advertising, marketing, interactive technologies or public relations) and how they will measure the success of their efforts.

Don't Start Digging Graves for Yellow Pages Just Yet

Fast Money declared Yellow Pages dead last week. In the interview, the Fast Money Traders appear to argue a good case without seeing the upside of what’s happening in the industry. Yes, stock prices are down – but that doesn’t mean we should pick up our shovels and start digging graves just yet.

David Swanson, CEO of R.H. Donnelley Corp had something to say on CNBC in response to the Yellow Page attack. Swanson focused on the misperception of usage and the diversity of offerings by the Yellow Page companies. He said, “This year 13.4 billion people referenced the print Yellow Pages. Last year it was the same. Now add to that the fact we’re diversified online. Internet yellow pages received up to 17.2 billion references.”

It can’t be that bad if companies like Yellow Book continue to expand amidst a volatile market. As recent as March 16, 2008, Yellow Book announced an expansion into South Carolina and Yellowpages.com entered into a large deal with Microsoft.

- CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200803171309DOWJONESDJONLINE000658_FORTUNE5.htm

- Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1757648920080317

As long as the leading Yellow Page companies continue to expand and enhance their online offerings, they aren’t going anywhere. I do presume, however, that we will continue to see changes during the coming months.

New Research Shows Overall Yellow Pages Usage is Growing -- 17.2 Billion Searches in 2007

People ask us all the time about Yellow Pages and the long-term outlook. According to the Yellow Pages Association, “Yellow Pages -- in print and online -- remains a go-to resource for ready-to-buy consumers.”

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ--(Marketwire - February 26, 2008) - The Yellow Pages Association™ (YPA™) today announced that industry research shows 2007 Yellow Pages usage grew to 17.2 billion searches in 2007, up from 16.7 billion in 2006.

Print usage remained stable with 13.4 billion print Yellow Pages references, unchanged from 2006, according to the 2007 Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI) Industry Usage Study, while comScore reports Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) searches increased 15 percent in 2007 to 3.8 billion, up from 2006's 3.3 billion IYP searches.

"The Yellow Pages medium is still a go-to resource for ready-to-buy consumers. Overall Yellow Pages usage increased in 2007 as Internet use continues to grow and print usage stabilizes," said Neg Norton, president of YPA.

Some of the other important statistics from the Association include:
- Approximately 87 percent of the U.S. population used the print Yellow Pages in 2007. (KN/SRI)

- Average number of monthly IYP searchers up 16 percent: 73 million IYP searchers per month in 2007, compared to 63.1 million IYP searchers per month in 2006. (comScore)

- Of the 144 million people performing local searches online in December 2007, over half (51 percent) used IYPs. (comScore)

To read the full story, go to http://new.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=825649.

Ad Age Reports Growth for Yellow Book USA

So many plaintiffs’ attorneys ask me if they should invest in Yellow Page advertising. My answer always depends on what the firm is trying to accomplish and what books are available in their market.

Ad Age recently reported on 2006 net U.S. revenue and growth for the top four Yellow Page companies. Check out the growth of Yellow Book USA. 11.1% growth in net revenue as compared to a loss for the other three. Nice work in a market where naysayers believe it’s the end of the printed directory. Just like the Internet didn’t do away with print newspapers (not yet anyway), printed directories aren’t going away any time soon.

The bottom line: Yellow Pages need to continue to diversify into the digital markets, capitalize on Web 2.0, and keep the medium affordable for advertisers.

Law Firms Get Video Online With Yellow Page Ads

Dionne Searcey of The Wall Street Journal reported in her article Bulky Yellow Phone Books Turn the Page to Online Video that yellow page companies across the country are offering video advertisement as editions to Web listings.

My colleague, Kevin O’Keefe, commented that he believes this is a “gimmick meant to serve outmoded yellow pages business models” and that yellow page sales reps “don’t give a darn” how their customers’ ads look.

I disagree.

Studies indicate that consumers still turn to yellow pages ads first for their local buying needs.


My husband was a sales rep with Yellow Book USA and although he’s since moved into a management role, I’ve witnessed the depth and breadth of his commitment along with that of the countless other sales reps I’ve worked with and become acquainted with over the years. It’s their job to care – if an ad doesn’t produce a solid ROI and the advertiser cancels, it’s money out of their pockets.

According to eMarketer, August 2007, “Video's high engagement factor combined with the Internet's tracking and targeting capabilities, potentially offers (advertisers) a highly accountable method to sway the hearts and minds of their target audience.”

I love the idea of Plaintiffs’ firms adding video ads to their yellow page listings online. For firms that already produce commercials, this is a no-brainer. The cost of the Internet ad is going to be exponentially less than reaching their target audiences on television.

I’m not crazy about the idea of having any ads produced by directory-owned production. It’s not that the sales reps or their production assistants “don’t care.” Rather, I believe law firms would be better served by spending the money it takes to produce top-notch branded video ads that fit within their brand strategy, are targeted to the most important audiences, set them apart from their competition, and comply with the rules of ethics that are mandatory for all law firms in the U.S.

Bottom line: these ads are valuable tools to increase a firms business if done right.