Industry analysts Greg Sterling and Neal Polachek delivered an “SMB State of the Union” address this morning. Their key message was that small businesses are facing heavy competition and need the industry’s help.
Neal compares the current situation with the rise of big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Staples, and Dominos years ago. He says now the same phenomenon is happening within the service sector in areas like dentistry, beauty, and auto maintenance.
Greg put the problem small businesses are facing simply: When making buying decisions consumers choose the “path of least resistance” and big brands have the resources to provide a more streamlined process.
With so many digital platforms available, small businesses are having trouble keeping up. Analysts are finding that businesses are investing in SEO, social, and other online marketing functions however they may not be developing comprehensive approaches. Owners often lack the knowledge to optimize their marketing strategy and don’t have the time to address inaccuracies on search engines and online directories.
Small business owners want and need a partner they can call to help manage their digital marketing presence so that they can focus on their core business. Neal predicts there is a $3.9 billion opportunity for the industry to help small businesses move from their current fragmented approach to best practice on digital platforms.
Last year, results from our “Local Media Tracking Study” conducted by Burke showed that consumers consider Yellow Pages listings the most accurate when compared to other local search media. Now a new listings accuracy test conducted by Denver-based Implied Intelligence confirms what consumers have said along.
According to an article by Greg Sterling on Search Engine Land, Implied Intelligence hand-checked 1,000 independent, U.S.-based local business websites and compared the information it captured to data on major local search websites including Bing Maps, Citysearch, DexKnows, Foursquare, SuperPages, YP.com and others. Each site was scored on whether it listed the business, contained duplicates, included accurate information, and the amount of additional content it incorporated (e.g., content beyond business name, phone number, etc.).
As the chart above indicates, Internet Yellow Pages websites YP.com and SuperPages beat out Google and other local sites when it came to listing duplicates and phone and address errors.
Additionally, YP.com beat out Google and other local sites when measuring the amount of additional information incorporated in a listing, including the business URL, hours of operation, and other helpful background.
When measured collectively, both SuperPages and YP.com bested Google Maps and other local sites on all accuracy measures.
Google Android: 43.7% in August, up 5.6% from 38.1% in May
Apple iPhone: 27.3% in August, up 0.7% from 26.6% in May
RIM BlackBerry: 19.7%, down 5% from 24.7% in May
Additionally, the report had some interesting stats on usage:
70% of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging (+1%)
Browsers are used by 42.1% of subscribers (+2.3%)
Applications used by 41.6% of subscribers (+3%)
Social networking + blogs accessed by 30.9% of subscribers (+2.3%)
Games played by 28.5% of subscribers (+1.6%)
Music listened to by 20.7% of subscribers (+2.1%)
As our industry continues to embrace new opportunities in mobile, it’s important for us to keep a close eye on these developments so that we can leverage areas of growth and recognize platforms in decline. For example, it’s increasingly clear that RIM’s BlackBerry is a fading leader in the mobile space.
In a widely-anticipated announcement this week, Apple unveiled its next generation iPhone. But the news was somewhat disappointing to consumers, who were expecting the launch of iPhone 5, not the debuted iPhone 4S. Nonetheless, Apple says the new phone, which carries the same external design of iPhone 4, has a faster dual-core A5 processer, a camera with double the resolution and sharpness for crisp photos and video, and faster load time for web pages and video. The device also features Siri, a voice-controlled personal assistant, which among other things allows users to speak online searches. It will surely be interesting to see how this change affects our industry’s ongoing work in the mobile space – Siri sounds like it will be a powerful tool in helping consumers find local businesses.
Apple, which said iPhone 4S will also be available for the first time on Sprint, also announced that the older version iPhone 3GS will be available free to consumers with a two year contract. Given all of these developments, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how iPhone’s market share fairs in the face of Android competition over the next few quarters.
As we frequently discuss on the blog, social media presents an opportunity for small businesses to interact and build loyalty among their existing customers, as well as attract new ones. It also gives small businesses the ability to help control their online reputation, especially when it comes to negative reviews.
In an interesting post on Search Engine Land, Greg Sterling discusses the results of a new study by Palore which found that nearly six in 10 small businesses (58%) have a presence on either Facebook or Twitter, but that only 22% had a presence on both social networks. The study also indicated that the percentage of small businesses with Facebook pages is nearly double the share of those using Twitter.
Palore’s analysis looked at more than 1,110 small businesses in two categories – restaurants and spas – in Philadelphia and San Diego in conducting its review. It focused only on small businesses with websites.
However, the good news about the high percentage of small businesses participating on social media is dampened by additional results of the study, which found that the level of consumer engagement on these social media pages is generally low. According to Palore, approximately 38% of Facebook pages had fewer than 100 likes, while nearly 45% of Twitter pages had fewer than 100 followers. Only a handful of small businesses’ Facebook pages had more than 1,000 likes (16%) and more than 1,000 followers (19%).
As Greg notes, while small businesses are doing a good job getting on social media, they seem to be having difficultly figuring out how to engage consumers once they’re there. As an industry, we have a lot of work ahead of us in helping to educate small businesses about various ways to use social media to promote their businesses and build their online reputations.
With the integration complete, Yell today announced plans to promote its new offering by launching a major online initiative to drive consumer reviews and ratings of local businesses and services on its website, while at the sime time generating donations for national and local UK charities.
According to today’s release, Yell.com users will now have the opportunity to write reviews for local businesses such as restaurants, hairdressers and beauty salons, with the service soon to be extended to plumbers and accountants. Under the program, users can select a charity they wish to support, with every review they write resulting in a 25p (approximately $0.40) donation from Yell to that charity. Yell said is is developing a network of national and local charities that consumers can choose from.
I think Yell’s program is a great idea because it builds interest and visibility for Yell.com’s local listings and business reviews, while simulanously allowing consumers to do a good deed for the charities they care about most. I look forward to seeing how much money is raised as a result of this initiative!
In yet another example of a Yellow Pages company expanding its footprint in the popular online local review space, Yell Group announced today that is has acquired TrustedPlaces, one of the leading neighborhood review sites in the UK.
According to Yell’s press release, the addition of TrustedPlaces’ user recommendations, combined with Yell’s database of more than two million local businesses, represents “a major shake-up of the fast-growing local reviews market.” Yell believes its purchase will strongly benefit its small business advertisers by generating additional leads and creating an environment for valuable interaction between existing and potential customers.
While the initial integration will take place under the Yell.com domain in the UK, the company said it will share TrustedPlaces’ technology with other Yell companies in the US, Spain, and Latin America.
AT&T, Yellow Pages Group, SuperMedia and others have also recently introduced new offerings that take advantage of online consumer reviews and social media—adding additional value to the company’s Internet Yellow Pages directories.
Sterling said that he believes Yell’s maps offering poses “the first real challenge to Google Maps in the UK” and “adds huge value to Yell.” I agree that the technology and quality of the images are first-rate – check them out by clicking here.
Additionally, Sterling notes that Yell introduced a new video channel that features clips from local businesses, and a “shortlists” tool, which allows consumers to create a list of their top 10 favorite businesses that can be shared via e-mail and social networks.
Yell.com launched the offerings with new branding and a fresh design on its website, including clearer layouts that improve the search experience.
In my column this week on Search Engine Land, I talk about the need for local business advertisers to separate perception and reality about how people are searching for business information.
The marketplace is full of misleading commentary about whether print Yellow Pages is dead, without regard for the research that shows healthy usage, especially among certain age groups and in certain geographies.
In order to make an informed decision, however, local businesses need to be up-to-speed with current usage patterns as they relate to both traditional and new digital advertising options. They also should be aware of how Yellow Pages companies are integrating new platforms into their portfolios in order to deliver a hybrid model that maximizes consumer reach and drives business results.
In a release, the company said its mobile users can now sign up for SuperGuarantee, find qualified businesses, register service appointments, and file claims straight from their wireless device. Currently, SuperPages mobile apps are available on iPhone or iPod touch, BlackBerry, and Google Android platforms—with Palm Pre and Windows Mobile apps coming soon, according to the company’s Web site.
Yellow Pages mobile apps are increasingly in the news. Last week, UK’s Yell Group announced an Augmented Reality iPhone App that allows users to see business information for more than two million local shops, offices, restaurants and other useful services through the iPhone’s camera viewer.
According to Greg Sterling’s blog Screenwerk, SuperMedia CEO Scott Klein credited the SuperGuarantee program in January with helping drive “meaningful spikes in registrations and healthy improvement in possession and usage.” Klein told Sterling that in “90% of measured markets; possession and usage are up in double digits” as a result of the program.
I think we can expect the mobile version of SuperGuarantee to only expand the program’s popularity and benefit to SuperMedia’s local business customers.
The WhitePages.com survey prompted some people to ask if the same applied to Yellow Pages. WhitePages.com CEO Alex Algard responded quickly with a guest post on Greg Sterling’s blog that clarifies his thinking on the issue.
In his opinion, Algard does not believe Yellow Pages “will or should” embrace opt-in for the following reasons:
Yellow Pages are a proven means of local advertising for small businesses across the country.
Without access to Yellow Pages, a small business’ ability to attract new customers suffers, thus greatly impacting their ability to generate revenue.
Yellow Pages play a useful role for consumers, as there is rich content (sometimes richer than what is available online), the listings are generally up-to-date, and the coverage of listings is generally comprehensive.
There is a viable financial model for Yellow Pages that supports an entire industry.
I applaud Algard for clarifying this position on Greg’s blog. Residential white pages and Yellow Pages are fundamentally different tools that serve different purposes. And the reasons for falling usage of residential white pages – namely, the increase in unlisted cell phone numbers and the information storage capabilities of mobile phones and handsets – don’t necessarily translate to Yellow Pages.
That said, we recognize consumer behaviors are changing and the challenges small businesses face are getting tougher.
For our advertisers, we continue to generate one of the best return on investments of any advertising medium and have tools in place to help measure that, such as our metered ad program. Yellow Pages advertising offers businesses more for their money by generating an average sales ROI of 27:1 for national display advertisers and nearly 13:1 for local display advertisers. No other advertising medium can offer this unmatched ROI for display advertising.
To address changing local search preferences, we offer digital and mobile search platforms, in addition to print. We also have launched www.yellowpagesoptout.com to make it easy and effective for consumers to manage the delivery of Yellow Pages to their doorsteps. But even as we’re focusing more than ever on consumer choice, we think it’s important to recognize that the value of print Yellow Pages directories to both businesses and consumers is still very, very high.
Greg Sterling (Screeenwerks), Sebastien Provencher (Praized) and Peter Krasilovsky (The Kelsey Group), joined me on stage this morning to talk about the power and influence of blogs. Commenting on Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation – “he made important ideas simpler” – they moved on to discuss where they get their ideas, from conversations, news articles and information provided by companies.
Each appreciates being asked into the “conversation” about new products, services and ideas and having an opportunity to share the story with their readers.
Commenting about the future of blogging, Provencher said, “I believe local media and social media are merging together – converging. Eventually we will only be talking about one thing. This idea is broadening my audience.”
Sterling added, “The reality is that social media is here to stay and so you have to get engaged.”
Krasilovsky jumped in to say, “I like to see other bloggers help others to understand new ideas – the idea-sharing part of this experience is very important.”
When asked who they read they listed the following:
I would be interested to see how this varied by size of business among the 800 respondents.
I can understand where large companies might want to use search engine marketing to build brand awareness, but it almost seems counterintuitive that small businesses would rank branding more important than sales.
Branding is accomplished most effectively through mass media, not targeted media. And it’s something that’s usually of greater interest to larger size companies.
For small businesses, advertising strategy is generally centered on expanding sales and reaching motivated buyers. And in online advertising, the buzz is all about targeting based on location, demographics, or perceived interests of the user. That’s why our industry performs so well with small businesses, because we can reach highly targeted consumers online – consumers who are usually ready to buy.
Greg Sterling (
RSS Feed