At the recent YPA (Yellow Pages Assocation) conference Malcolm Gladwell set the stage from some productive industry discussion by urging participants to re-frame the Yellow Pages. Neg Norton has a great summary on the YPA blog.
So, in the spirit of continuing the conversation, I humbly submit the following five suggestions:
1. Proof is even better than research
Yellow Page advertising has always been (rightly) sold on the basis of a proven ROI. Why not build on this position by making EVERY print, online and mobile ad track-able using tracking numbers. Then you can definitively prove the ROI to EVERY one of your advertisers. Do it for all your advertisers – even, perhaps especially for – subscription products.
2. Be the mobile maven
Mobile audiences are exploding. But mobile advertising is slow to catch up. They really need local advertisers but don’t have access to them. You do – why not get together? (And of course, continue to develop your own branded mobile experiences, but also look at how you can reach the mobile audience in other ways.)
3. Be the social connector
People are talking about your advertisers on twitter and Facebook. What are you doing to help them join the conversation?
4. Recommendations rather than results
Be the matchmaker by helping consumers figure out which business is the right one for them. Utilize tools like ratings and recommendations but also leverage your reputation. Make it really easy to use.
5. Yellow pages connect
Unleash innovation by providing software developers with access to your data — and a share of the revenue from the leads they generate. Wouldn’t you rather be sharing some revenue with an innovator using your data rather than buying your leads from Google? You’ll make more money and be further ahead strategically.
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What would you add to the list? What would you delete or change?
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