Archive for April, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
The “Lightning Round” session at our recent annual conference, “Search Starts Here,” generated very positive feedback. As an extension of the session, we’ve offered the opportunity for its participants to further showcase their companies and offerings here on Local Search Insider. Our first contributor is Ian S. Cruickshank, chief revenue officer of Wishpond Technologies.
You don’t need us to tell you that that consumer behavior has changed, and continues to change.
Local search businesses have two huge assets: established relationships, and active, talented sales forces. The easiest way for you to continue to provide value to your clients, and grow your revenue, is through an easy-to-use, simple-to-explain suite of digital solutions that are seamless additions to a client’s existing services.
Wishpond is a leading provider of product-based digital media solutions for merchants, brands and malls – with offerings covering mobile, social, and local search. Our mission is to build easy-to-use marketing tools that deliver engagement, insights and returns. With our roots in local product search, including a powerful search API, the marketing solutions we deliver for offline and online retailers provide tight integration with existing inventory systems and boast nimble cross-platform user interfaces.
You have the brand, the reach, and the sales force. We have the digital marketing product suite, self-serve applications, and local product data. Together we can continue to provide outstanding value to your clients.
We would love to talk to you further about working together. For more information, check out my full presentation at “Search Starts Here” or contact me directly at ian@wishpond.com.
April 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: annual conference, API, digital, Ian Cruickshank, Lightning Round, local product, Local Search, Local Search Association, marketing, retailers, Search Starts Here, self-serve, Wishpond
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Last week, AT&T Interactive released the first quarter 2012 edition of its Local Insights Report. The report, which analyzes data from 528 million searches and 10 billion impressions across the YP Local Ad Network’s online, mobile and IPTV platforms, offered an interesting look into the rapidly evolving local search space.
Among many highlights in this quarter’s report was a list of the top cities for local search. As expected, densely populated cities including New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago took the first four spots on the list. However, Atlanta – which is in a different category as the 40th most populous city in the U.S. – surprisingly came in at number five. The city also experienced year-over-year local mobile search growth of a whopping 108% – further demonstrating that it is quickly becoming a local hotspot.
The report also highlighted the unique behaviors of mobile and online local searchers. While Restaurants and Automotive were the top search topics on both platforms, Movie Theaters, Beauty Services and Hotels rounded out the top five for mobile while Finance, Real estate and Legal completed the top five for online. These findings seem to indicate that mobile searchers are more likely to look for products and services on the spot for immediate purchases, while online searchers are more prone to look for larger and less frequent purchases.
Click here to read more about these results as well as other insights on local search trends, including the top local search categories, top growing local search categories, notable holiday trends and more. As marketers, this data is invaluable in helping us understand our business and make valuable recommendations to our clients.
April 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: AT&T, AT&T Interactive, Data, Local Search, Local Search Association, research, top cities, YP Local Ad Network
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Our own Brad Carson, vice president of operations, moderated a relevant and insightful conversation yesterday morning with change management experts about the bold moves necessary to drive the transformation of global directory organizations into multi-platform local media agencies.
While the session highlighted numerous successful approaches and provided valuable recommendations on what our industry can do to ensure its continued leadership in local search, I wanted to highlight several topics that really caught my attention.
Peter Buxton, principal at Buxton Independent Consulting and a veteran of ITT World Directories, discussed the successful road taken by Pages Jaunes, to become an innovative and well-respected digital player.
Buxton explained how Pages Jaunes recognized in 2000 that consumers and advertisers would be increasingly turning to digital local search options. He noted that the company was able to successfully build out its online offerings: today, more than half its revenue is in digital and its website, Pagesjuanes.fr, is fifth most-visited in France.
Buxton described actions taken by the Pages Jaunes to reinvest in its print offerings – including re-scoping, redesigning, and updating pricing – that have helped mitigate revenue declines. He said the company is known in France as a “sexy” and “modern” multimedia company that is at the cutting edge of its field.
Buxton also said that any strategy undertaken by a company in our industry isn’t a good one unless it can be implemented through its sales force. He said that sales teams should be confident and excited when speaking with clients about the value of print Yellow Pages and constructive about how the platform can work in their marketing plans.
Kathy Geiger-Schwab, principal at Geiger-Schwab Consulting LLC, highlighted several “rules” that print publishers should live by in their transition efforts. Geiger-Schwab noted that CEOs must be executive champions of change, that leadership must be aligned and that companies must not just remodel their growth but reinvent it completely.
Geiger-Schwab also said that the industry must deliver on every promise it makes to customers in order to retain their trust. She added that sales teams must know the value proposition of each offering in their portfolio and not push options that don’t have value to particular customers. She suggests an honest, open approach will pay off significantly down the line.
Richard Selvaraj, senior program manager – Media & Information Services BPO at Tata Consultancy Services, discussed his company’s partnerships with directory publishers to optimize operational efficiency and reduce costs. Selvaraj said Tata can provide support around key data functions including account, ordering and listing management and creative areas like in-column ad production, pagination and display ad production. He suggested that publishers look to outsourcing these functions as a way to improve profitability.
April 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Buxton Independent Consulting, change management, directories, Geiger-Schwab Consulting LLC, ITT, Kathy Gieger-Schwab, Local Search, Local Search Association, Pages Jaunes, Peter Buxton, print Yellow Pages, Richard Selvaraj, Search Starts Here, Tata Consultancy Services, transformation, Yellow Pages
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Yesterday afternoon, Matt Booth of BIA/Kelsey interviewed Bill Dinan, president of call measurement company Telmetrics. While there’s no doubt that search engines drive a lot of economic activity, Bill explained how Yellow Pages search products are closer to the transaction and more aligned with the “find” in search and find. He went on to say that what our companies need to continue doing is communicating this opportunity with local businesses through a simplified, value-based sales approach.
Some managing advertising for local businesses understand the complexities of online options, but what’s most effective for the majority is an ROI-focused offering like “I’m going to get you 500 clicks through X program.” As the market further transitions to mobile, it will be interesting to see what metrics and characteristics best translate in this space.
April 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, businesses, Local Search, Local Search Association, search, small businesses, Telmetrics, Yellow Pages
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
In a jam-packed session this morning, BIA/Kelsey senior vice presidents Charles Laughlin and Matt Booth overviewed highlights from their latest “Global Yellow Pages” report, which analyzes and projects Yellow Pages revenues. Among their key findings: Yellow Pages revenues are projected to be increasingly digital in the coming years, while print revenues are anticipated to stabilize.
BIA/Kelsey’s research indicates that global Yellow Pages revenues will be about 60% digital by 2016. While the industry has and will continue to experience significant print revenue declines between 2006-2016, the industry has and will continue to make up a total of $9.4 billion in digital growth during the same period, the firm projects.
Laughlin noted that some revenue shifts are deliberate as publishers make proactive efforts to leverage new opportunities in the digital space. He said that digital growth will pick up as operators focus on higher volume digital products like websites, as opposed to Internet Yellow Pages. By 2016, BIA/Kelsey projects that global Yellow Pages revenues overall will begin to stabilize, with digital as a larger share of the total.
The share of digital Yellow Pages revenues varies by country. Today, 22% of U.S. revenues are digital, compared to 37% in the UK, 51% in France and 60% in Sweden. By 2016, BIA/Kelsey projects that digital revenues will be 53% of total in the U.S., 68% in France, 78% in the UK and 84% in Sweden. These notable differences can be attributed to the local media environment and consumer trends in each individual country. Laughlin noted that in Sweden for example, keyword search platforms and verticals are highly utilized by consumers.
Interestingly, Laughlin also said that directory publishers are making faster inroads into digital versus other local media like newspapers, radio and television.
What factors could improve the picture for Yellow Pages revenues in the coming years? Laughlin noted several:
- Stronger economic growth
- Improved sales execution – moving away from selling on product and price, to selling results for advertisers
- Execution of a product set with high lock-in with small business advertisers
- Seizing opportunities in mobile
- Breakthrough innovation
He also listed factors that could dampen the picture:
- Weaker economic growth
- Failure to fix sales force
- Failure to execute
- Failure to seize opportunities like mobile
- Failure to improve/change the culture
Laughlin said that the economy aside, future growth for Yellow Pages companies was attainable and completely within their hands.
April 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, Charles Laughlin, Local Search, Local Search Association, Matt Booth, prediction, revenue, Yellow Pages
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Use of social networking sites for local search has grown 67% since 2010. Will Scott, owner of Search Influence, and Mike Boland, a mobile-focused analyst from BIA/Kelsey, led a session on leveraging this rapidly expanding space. Some insights I learned this morning:
- Increased interaction through user reviews has contributed to the growth of social media for local search. As we blogged about yesterday, user reviews are a key component of business listings.
- Those users most likely to review a business are also most likely to be frequent social media users. What this means for advisors is an increased need to focus on frequent social media users, both for their high degree of influence in their respective social channels, and the higher likelihood they’ll rate a particular business.
- Twice as many SMBs 0-3 years old used social media as compared to those 11-plus, who are using social media primarily for retention (as opposed to acquisition).
- Overall social media use for SMBs is just over half at 54%.
According to Will, Facebook is taking the lead in terms of frequency of use and opportunities to reach consumers, but there are a number of opportunities on the variety of channels. The “Facebook Like Box” creates a touchpoint into social for SMB websites and sponsored stories have worked well for many of his clients. Will cautions, “fans are not the end game” – you need to create converts. Whether Facebook or another channel, people convert because of good and complete content.
April 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, local businesses, Local Search, Local Search Association, reviews, Search Influence, small businesses, social media
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Bob Sanders, president and COO of Axiom Sales Force Development, kicked the morning off with a breakout talk on the importance of coaching in our sales organizations.
Sanders says that, in today’s environment, customers can get more information about what we might be able to do for them then they ever have before.
“Unfortunately for us, our sales people are continuing to pitch to customers who actually already have access to product information.. They’re pitching to a customer that needs help figuring it out.”
According to Sanders, coaching is the single most important factor in transitioning sales staff from vendor/pitchman to trusted advisor.
“When we become a trusted advisor to the customers, not only do we learn a whole lot more about their business but we end up selling a whole lot more. Companies that are perceived as trusted advisors outsell companies that are perceived as vendors.”
Sanders recommends a process called GUIDE for coaches to achieve fundamental behaviors:
- Goals – All coaches set goals; they ask ”What is it that you want to accomplish?” and help create a plan to achieve it.
- Uncovering Gaps – Coaches evaluate performance gaps and behavioral gaps.
- Identifying root cause – Sanders says the root cause is always capacity, commitment, skill or knowledge.
- Defining corrective action – Sanders said to ask the sales person what developmental assignments they’ve been given, and you’ll often find that managers haven’t given any – that they’re trying to change the result without changing the meaning by which it’s been produced.
- Evaluating performance – The best coaches are constantly looking to see if what they are doing is adding value to the salesperson.
“You will find that there is precious little coaching going on,” Sanders said.
April 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Axiom Sales Force Development, Bob Sanders, Local Search, Local Search Association
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
I’m excited to announce a new coalition of local search companies, elected officials, consumer advocacy organizations, and small business owners who have committed to raising greater awareness outside the local search community of the value of print Yellow Pages and programs that allow consumers to control directory delivery.
Together, we are launching an information website at www.LocalPaysOffCoalition.org to educate Americans on the role print Yellow Pages play in offering an easy and free source of information for consumers who like buying locally. The site provides visitors with information on Yellow Pages usage and facts on our industry’s sustainability and consumer choice programs. The site also profiles our coalition members who support the delivery of print Yellow Pages.
Our efforts will also raise visibility for print Yellow Pages as a catalyst for encouraging consumers to buy locally, which adds to the economic prosperity, sustainability, diversity of trusted offerings, and availability of job opportunities in communities. We believe that our comprehensive message will resonate with local community leaders and their constituents, and demonstrate that legislation targeting print directories is harmful and unnecessary.
Visit www.LocalPaysOffCoalition.org and read our press release here for more information. And join us in spreading the word about our efforts.
April 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: coalition, consumer advocacy, elected officials, Local Pays Off, Local Search, Local Search Association, localpaysoffcoalition, print directories, print Yellow Pages
Monday, April 23, 2012
Three local mobile innovators participated in a great discussion this morning on their successes in the mobile space and offered valuable best practices recommendations for otherslooking to build opportunities in the area.
BIA/Kelsey analyst Mike Boland kicked off the session “The Local Mobile Ecosystem – Where are the dollars?” by highlighting the growing intersection of mobile and local. Boland noted Google data that 40% of searches conducted on mobile are local searches, compared to 20% of desktop searches. Clearly, this is key growth opportunity for our industry and our advertising clients.
Chris Folmar, director of Mobile Development at SuperMedia, made clear that “mobile is the medium of the immediate” and one that our industry needs to engage in or face failure. He discussed how mobile content is successful when it’s timely, relevant and actionable.
Folmer talked about monetizing mobile offerings in ways that don’t result in advertising that hinders the user experience. He stressed the importance of focusing on the end of the user experience – specifically, the phone call to a local business – to ensure that mobile is successful: he said the call wait time needs to be as short is possible or businesses will lose customers. He also highlighted how mobile is the first search platform that consumers use that they take with them to the cash register – creating an entirely new way for us to demonstrate the bridge from search to sale.
Folmar also referenced transformation of SuperMedia’s mobile offerings from a relatively outdated WAP mobile site to a comprehensive portfolio of mobile apps optimized for every major mobile platform. He showed how with each iteration of the company’s mobile innovation, SuperMedia drove more page views, unique visitors and calls. As we blogged here on Local Search Insider, Folmar’s efforts resulted in the prestigious MediaPost 2012 Appy Award.
David Kurtz, Vice President, Publisher Products, AT&T Interactive noted that with the dramatic shift of consumers to mobile, it is inevitable that ad dollars will follow. Kurtzsaid that the time spent on mobile versus the number of advertisements in the space is “completely out of whack.” As far as he is concerned, mobile will be the “first screen strategy” for advertisers in the near future.
Kurtz said it’s necessary not to simply repurpose web advertising models into mobile, since it’s a completely unique experience. He said that mobile is its own space in that it is always with the consumer, is highly personalized and is used in different contexts. He stressed that mobile content needs to be developed with a clear goal in mind, do one thing really well, and reflect a “less is more” approach. He said that companies need to better understand the effectiveness of mobile and how quickly purchases are made through the platform.
Krishna Pillai, COO and Founder, Convergent Mobile categorized our industry’s opportunities in mobile under three themes:
- App Monetization: Create a great user experience from both business and publisher sides that has an efficient call to action and relevant search results.
- Mobile Web: Determine a monetization model – subscription, ad-supported, pay per call or mobile commerce – that successfully targets people on the move and is fully integrated with online, social and SMS efforts.
- SMS Marketing: Leverage either a subscription model based on keyword/message or call to action/pay per call that is bundled with online, social, as well as print, TV and radio.
Pillai made clear that mobile programs require a minimum 12-month contract since it takes time to build an opt-in database and must continue to support long-form advertising such as print. He said that pricing models, consumer awareness and mobile ad spending levels continue to be the key challenges facing companies building advertising opportunities in mobile.
April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: app, apps, AT&T Interactive, Chris Folmar, Convergent Mobile, David Kurtz, Krishna Pillai, Local Search, Local Search Assocition, mobile, mobile web, SMS, SuperMedia
Monday, April 23, 2012
The following post is from Val Onyski, director of operations at the Local Search Association.
I know that many sales reps are aware of co-op, but they may not be familiar with the products available to help them through the Local Search Association. Or, they may know the Association has these products, but are not familiar with how to use them.
Traditionally, the Local Search Association produced a Co-Op Advertising Programs Handbook twice a year that contained co-op programs for about 800 brands.
Today, the Association still offers the printed handbook – some reps just love keeping the book in their car! – but also offers the data via Co-Op Online and a corresponding mobile/iPad application. And both the online and mobile/iPad app have over 1,800 product brands listed!
While some in our industry may think that usage of co-op programs is diminishing – it’s actually growing. The Association is now gathering data for co-op programs that offer Internet Yellow Pages advertising, mobile advertising, and direct mail, among other offerings.
The Association also offers members free classes about how to best utilize our online and mobile co-op products so that they can find what they want, when they want it – fast! Contact Judy Tepel today to find out more about our co-op products and to learn how to use them at 248-244-6208 or judy.tepel@localsearchassociation.org.
April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: co-op, co-op advertising, co-op online, iPad, Local Search, Local Search Association, mobile
Monday, April 23, 2012
Charles Laughlin presented Matt Booth from BIA/Kelsey and Matt Stover from SuperMedia predictions for 2017 and debated their potential reality.
In 2017, there is only one print directory per major market; in the five largest cities, there are only emergency services guides.
- Booth: “There will still be at least two in most major markets … some markets that have four or five will go to two.”
- Stover: “Theme over next four or five years is personalization … we’ll be delivering the content in whatever form they want.”
In 2017, AT&T, SuperMedia, Berry, and Dex One have combined; Yellowbook remains independent but sold to a private equity firm and renamed “Yellow.”
- Stover: “All of these companies today are much more in the business today of helping small and medium businesses being successful … This [prediction] is a pretty limited or inside our industry view. I would think much more creatively on where assets might wind up over the next five years.”
In 2017, Google will have built out a national sales channel.
- Booth: “This without a doubt is going to happen, but whether it happens by 2017, I don’t know … But it’s absolutely this is going to happen.
- Stover: “I suspect it’s not going to be a Google-owned channel, but it’s going to be the people who are best at connecting with local businesses.”
In 2017, publishers are the largest sellers of websites to SMBs by a wide margin
- Booth: “People that have the largest deployed sales forces in the country have the opportunity to take a large share of this type of business.”
In 2017, the proliferation of non-crawlable data has made search engines less dominant
- Booth: “There’s already examples of this happening … Instagram, Pinterest … Search engines will still be important, but there’s going to be a whole ecosystem that exists outside the reach of web crawlers.”
April 23, 2012 | 2 Comments
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, Google, Instagram, Local Search, Local Search Association, Pinterest, prediction, SuperMedia, Yellowbook
Monday, April 23, 2012
At last year’s annual conference, we unveiled our new Local Search Association brand to better reflect the direction our member companies were heading. Christian Dwyer, senior vice president and general manager of MapQuest, spoke this afternoon about their own transformation and rebranding to address similar realities.
After about 15 years online and as a historically preferred site for directions, in 2010 MapQuest was no longer the go-to site for all consumers. They needed to commit to a transformation in order to grow. As we did at Local Search, they unveiled a new logo and website to better represent their character and what they hoped to achieve. But this was just the beginning of their larger reinvention.
As we’ve been hearing in nearly every session, mobile is where search growth is headed. MapQuest had been in the mobile space since 2004, but rebuilt their apps and offered them to users for free. Consumers today are searching on the go and could easily go elsewhere if the app cost or was difficult to navigate. MapQuest found news ways to monetize this platform and invested in voice guided turn-by-turn capabilities to differentiate themselves from their immediate competitors. Now, MapQuest is among the top 20 mobile brands according to comScore, changing how influencers and users think about the company.
In addition to expanding their mobile offerings, MapQuest started thinking about how they could help users figure out where to go (as opposed to just how they can get there). They launched MapQuest Vibe for cities and neighborhoods, allowing search for categories or subcategories in specific areas. And as more users are participating, the content is continuing to improve.
What struck me when Christian was talking about components to optimize MapQuest detailed pages is how much it echoes some of the best IYP listings:
- Hours
- Pricing
- Contacts
- Directions
- User feedback
- Neighborhood context
- Merchant messages
Mapquest has certainly been busy reinventing themselves: new logo, new website with an improved user experience, a free mobile app with 14 million users each month, even growing into social media with Pinterest integration to share trips – as opposed to destinations. I look forward to seeing what else they have in store.
April 23, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tags: Christian Dwyer, Local Search, Local Search Asscoiation, Mapquest, MapQuestion Vibe, transformation
Monday, April 23, 2012
This morning Rick Ducey, managing director at BIA/Kelsey, moderated a discussion with Ursula Worth and Nick Boos of Google. Ursula, head of directories and web hosting partnerships, reiterated with Google data what we already know: “the time is now for local, mobile and social.” As BIA/Kelsey recently forecast, mobile searches are expected to overtake desktop searches by 2015. Since first arriving to Boca Raton for Search Starts Here, I’ve been searching on my mobile device every day, whether finding our hotel address and directions, restaurant recommendations, or downloading the LSA conference app.
According to a Google mobile study, mobile search has grown five times over the past two years, with 92% of smartphone users seeking local information via mobile. More than 4 million businesses are running Google apps, generating $64 billion of economic activity. This exponential growth isn’t limited to the U.S. market; Google is investing in growing their offerings internationally with AdWords products being made available in 190 countries and 42 languages.
While these stats are impressive, we’re seeing small- and medium-sized businesses have been slower to adopt. While the vast majority of consumers are going online to research products, Google data shows that nearly two-thirds of SMB’s (63%) do not have a website. In addition to overviewing specific Google offerings like AdWords Express and Google+, the experts at Google shared some helpful tips for things SMBs can do now to capitalize on these trends and attract new ready-to-buy customers:
1. Create a mobile-specific website;
2. Think local and immediate as consumers are typically nearby the business;
3. Use mobile ad formats, like quick to call;
4. Separate mobile campaigns to give you flexibility over ad creative, budgets, etc., and
5. Iterate.
Some great information for our attendees and savvy advise from a company we all know as experts in search.
April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: directories, Google, Local Search, Local Search Association, mobile, mobile website, Nick Boos, partnerships, Search Starts Here, SMB, Ursula Worth
Monday, April 23, 2012
In a fireside chat this morning at our “Search Starts Here” conference, Neg Norton talked with David Sharman, chief strategy officer at Dex One, about his company’s fast-paced digital transformation.
Sharman, who has been with Dex for a year and a half, said his company is going through an “amazing transition” to leverage better position itself to participate in the local digital advertising space.
Sharman said that Dex looked carefully at its strategy and determined that creating a truly digital savvy sales force that also knew how to make local businesses successful was its most important priority. He said that Dex realized that while it had a great existing sales force in place, the company really needed an even more sophisticated sales force that was as compelling in digital as it was in print.
To that end, over the past 18 months, Dex has completely reconfigured its sales force into a digital products sales team, a move that required a significant changeover of about two-thirds of its employees. Sharman said that Dex salespeople today can explain key digital advertising options like SEO and geotargeted mobile offerings in addition to traditional print ads, and carry around iPads to explain new digital options to customers. Sharman also talked about the company’s new online sales academy that continuously trains and provides accreditations to its sales team in digital.
Sharman said that Dex’s culture has embraced digital – from the “top-down” to the “bottom-up.” He said that the company is benefiting from customer’s long-term trust in the brand in testing and debuting new digital products.
As a result of these efforts, Dex is seeing great results in its digital growth rate, which was a remarkable 32% in the first quarter. Additionally, Sharman noted that 30% of new sales at Dex are digital.
April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: David Sharman, Dex One, digital transformation, iPads, Local Search, Local Search Association, sales force
Monday, April 23, 2012
Mary Boysman, vice president of brand marketing and advertising at Aspen Dental, gave an insightful talk this morning that had the audience buzzing about measurement, mobile and the local search industry’s role in the marketing mix.
Boysman outlined the role that marketing and communications play in supporting growth at one of the largest and fastest-growing network of dental providers in the country. Mary opened by connecting the company’s mission with her challenge as a marketer.
“I have to overcome people’s fear of going to the dentist. … Their biggest fear is embarrassment. So everything we do through our marketing efforts and media channels reinforces that we not only provide the functional care but also the emotional care they need.”
Boysman spoke of the importance that measurement plays in Aspen Dental’s marketing efforts. “I’m really big into measurement because in other places I’ve worked, I’ve lost budget in the past because I couldn’t prove that it worked.”
For Aspen Dental, this level of measurement includes tracking call volume and understanding the revenue impact. “We have tracking lines for about a third of our directories and will have it in place for all lines this year.”
Aspen Dental has diversified its marketing mix since she assumed the role in 2004, but the company’s investment in local search hasn’t decreased as new media have emerged. Boysman said print Yellow Pages play a critical role.
“Traditional Yellow Pages still drive solid local volume. We’ll shift when it shifts, but it hasn’t shifted yet.”
In addition to print, Boysman said that paid search is growing exponentially and that mobile is growing very fast. Aspen Dental’s mobile programs have helped double online appointments in one year, and net revenue from online leads is up 52%. Aspen Dental also invests in broadcast, direct mail, sponsorships, social, and public relations – among other things.
“When they’re ready to purchase, we want to be found … All these media work together. They are not mutually exclusive.”
Boysman said that the local search industry can do a number of things to stay help advertisers
- Bring new partners to the table
- Provide insights on new and emerging media – but make the business case for new media
- Be channel neutral when possible
- Reward loyal and growing clients
- Keep in mind that online reviews are growing
April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: advertising, Aspen Dental, broadcast, Local Search, Local Search Association, Mary Boysman, mobile, online, print Yellow Pages, Search Starts Here
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