Our blog will be taking a little holiday until after the first of the year. 2009 was an exciting and sometimes turbulent year for our industry. We’ve tried to keep you “in the know” about industry changes, new products, social media, environmental progress and more.
So enjoy the holidays and come back to see us in 2010 – we’ll be here and hope you’ll join the discussion!
Happy Holidays and a healthy, prosperous New Year!
From the Staff at the Yellow Pages Association
Reuters ran a piece this weekend looking at the high-tech futures of two major Yellow Pages companies, Idearc and R.H. Donnelley.
Reuters reports that both companies are likely to emerge from bankruptcy protection very soon and that their revitalized futures lie in developing new opportunities for small businesses on online and mobile platforms. Already, these companies have established viable online businesses: including creating new online directories such as SuperPages.com and dexknows.com, providing content to YellowPages.com and major search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and offering advertising support to services such as Google Maps and Microsoft Map Point.
Idearc and R.H. Donnelley also expressed confidence that their print directories will continue to serve as important tool for small businesses for years to come. Idearc’s research indicates that consumers still conduct billions of searches in print directories each year.
Read the full Reuters article here.
This week BIA/Kelsey put together another compelling meeting and more than 500 attendees from all over the world were in LA for a packed agenda.
There was so much going on it was difficult to choose sessions to comment on, but some of my favorites included:
Making Money With/For SMBs with Court Cunningham, CEO –Yodle, Kirsten Mangers, found and CEO – WebVisible and Andy Vogel, senior director of sales, Los Angeles Times Media Group. Facilitated by Steve Marshall, director of research and consulting, BIA/Kelsey, the group discussed their strategies for partnering with their clients. All have seen gains in customers in 2009 and feel that as their product lines produce measureable results for clients, that growth will continue in 2010.
Some of the discussion centered on how much more sophisticated small businesses are becoming and the need for a well-trained sales force to sell across multiple platforms and create the right customized product suite for the customer.
This group was followed by A Special Conversation with Yelp with Greg Donaker, COO – Yelp and Matt Booth, senior VP and program director for BIA/Kelsey. Donaker spoke at length about how Yelp’s pioneering efforts in customer reviews (quality vs. quantity) have bolstered their product and helped them to pull ahead in 2009.
On Friday morning, after a brief recap of the past few days, Bobbi Loy-Luster, VP, senior analyst and director of client inquiry, facilitated Personalization and Local, with Neil Budde, president and chief Product Officer, DailyMe and Mike Orren, founder and president, Pegasus News.
Both are working in the area of customizing content, by analyzing users viewing habits, applying algorithms to develop personalized pages without losing the “serendipity” that is so much a part of the content experience. The analysis is then used to ensure that advertising is finely targeted and reaches the user at the right time.
Buzz in the hallways indicated that Reputation Management is on everyone’s mind and Chris LaSala’s , (director, small business reseller partnerships) presentation Google Local ’09 generated high interest. Overall the past few days were well worth the trip.
For more information about the BIA/Kelsey ILM09 Conference or other upcoming events, go to www.kelseygroup.com.
The memberships of YPA and ADM have unanimously approved the merger of the two associations, effective on January 1, 2010. With the approved merger the new association is now the largest local search trade organization in the world, representing 90 percent of the United States and Canadian Yellow Pages industry, as well as key players in 29 countries worldwide.
The two associations have a history of working together and a shared objective of serving their members who provide search solutions to local and national businesses. Chris Cummings, CEO Marquette Group, who currently serves as the chairman of both associations, will continue to head the Board of YPA.
For additional information on merger benefits and other changes, please click here.
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