Yellow-Pages Publishers Teetering On The Brink
from the didn't-see-this-coming,-not-at-all dept
A few times a year, I find a copy or two of Yellow Pages directories sitting on my doorstep. Never mind that I haven't used one in several years, they just keep on coming, from multiple publishers. Personally, it's far easier -- and better -- to just search online for whatever I'm looking for. There's the easy access to maps, or the ability to go to a site like Yelp and get other people's feedback and opinions on various businesses. While I imagine there's still a fair amount of people that use their Yellow Pages books, it's hardly surprising to read that several of the different publishers are close to going out of business. Shares in two of the bigger companies, Idearc and R.H. Donnelley, have dropped 99 percent in the last year, reflecting their deteriorating business and the lack of faith investors have in their ability to survive. In some way, this is pretty interesting: the publishers for so long had valuable businesses with more extensive relationships with local business owners than anybody. But perhaps they took that for granted, assuming that those relationships would carry them through the rise of the internet. But their web sites have generally been miserable, especially when compared to the business directories created by internet companies. While some of the publishers are trying to beef up their online efforts, it's unlikely they'll be able to make up for their shriveling print revenues, meaning the Yellow Pages will soon be little more than memory.
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Filed Under: yellow pages
Companies: idearc, r.h. donnelley
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I wonder...
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yellow book
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Re: yellow book
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They could owned this space
They had:
1. the sales force
2. the database
3. the brand
What they lacked was the foresight to look ahead more than an hour-and-a-half.
They deserve to die.
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You said it!
We were recently discussing our advertising budget and we talked about what a waste that money was. We've been tracking our results for a while now and we've found that the newspaper and the Internet are our two biggest draws, with the radio being a close third.
Our television ads were horrendously expensive and useless, and the only phone book related business we get is people calling us on the notion that we're a different local business with an alphabetically similar name.
We've decided not to renew out contracts with them. This is a very old, established company owned by people who are not computer or Internet savvy. One of them can answer their cell phone and the other can sort of check their e-mail. So even the people who I most thought would not like change recognize the uselessness of the tangible phone book.
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Re: You said it!
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Won't miss it
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Yup
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Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
It's baffling to think that relatively smart people running these companies would be so blind as to not see the Internet train coming. Perhaps the companies do deserve to die but I feel bad for all the employees.
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Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
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Re: Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
The internet early days had already past by the time Verizon entered the market and made a bad name for themselves.
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Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
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Re: Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
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Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
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Re: Re: Followin in the footsteps of Western Union!
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Yelllow Pages
There's no magic bullet, media across the board is suffering and small businesses need all the help they can get right now. Many are doing very well with the YP, print and online, the ROI proves out.
SMEs need to be able to track, adjust, make updates and use combination of marketing tools. It isn't really just about online or print. It's about both and more.
I'd suggest that some of the YP companies will come through this just fine and others won't. Success will belong to the companies who can best utilize their sales force, technology (in this case online, search, distribution deals, video, voice, etc.) and serve their advertisers. With over 17 billion references to YP (print and online) last year, there is still a huge marketplace for advertisers to reach buyers.
Full disclosure, I work for the Yellow Pages Association.
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You mis-linked.
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Sounds like traveling Dictionary salesmen to me
Remember when the Dictionary salespeople would go door to door? Alright, that is before my time too, but I've heard the stories :D
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In NZ yellow pages are awesome
The reason it's making money in NZ though is they still do the dead tree version, but the primary version is the website.
www.yellowpages.co.nz is actually very useful.
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Cutting the wrong costs.
In their effort to cut costs, the companies haven't chosen the right target. How about send me only one, but make sure it arrives dry?
Or how about the JC Penney model of sending a card one can use to pick them up or a card to mail in to request delivery?
Or how about placing them in stacks at the front of stores along with the real estate brochures?
I suspect the delivery waste is because they get their revenues based on how many they distribute (number of eyes), rather than on effectiveness.
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Slate says Yellow Pages are bailing out the Telecoms
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