How can the industry collaborate?

Just got back from the Local Search Association annual conference, and once again I heard a lot suggesting/pleading/begging from various speakers that the industry really needs to think differently, act differently, and most importantly collaborate better.

In the 25+ years I have been in the industry, the one thing you can be guaranteed to hear at an industry conference is that the industry needs to work together.  Conceptually, everyone agrees that all boats will rise if the overall industry can grow.  But usually within 10 minutes of arriving back in the home office, the issues of the moment take over and that whole collaboration thing gets filed away for another year.  Perhaps now more so than in the past, we can’t let that happen.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that today the industry faces massive change both internally and from forces external to the industry.  It wasn’t very long ago that there were usually three, four, five or more print directories in a market and that was it.  Then about ten or so years ago, this “digital” thing started, and toss in a prolonged business slowdown (some would even call it a recession), and small business owners/marketers have had to change their attitudes and philosophies about promoting their businesses to often just keep their lights on, and maybe even pray they could grow a little.

Industry collaborations are possible, and can be very successful.  For example, remember the “got milk” campaign?  Often hailed as one of the most successful ad campaigns in marketing history, got milk? was launched in 1993 when fluid milk processors in California agreed to allocate $.03 of each gallon sold to fund an overall promotion effort. The campaign was licensed nationally in 1995 for use in print ads featuring celebrities with “milk mustaches.”

The program still continues to this day with an interactive website promoting various health benefits.  The campaign is managed by the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board, which has an approximate annual budget of $110 million.

Another example is the “Pork: The Other White Meat” effort from the National Pork Board.  This original campaign, which is often cited as one of the most memorable campaigns of all time, was intended to promoted pork as a healthy meat option.  Realistically, as the National Pork Board acknowledged it was really an effort to stem the steady decline in pork sales.

The original $7 million budget in 1987 contrasted to the $30 million spent primarily on network   television ads for the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” campaign from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the $112 million spent on ads for branded chickens.  Using this program promoting pork as a lean meat to more health-conscious consumers, pork sales in the United States rose 20%, reaching $30 billion annually by 1991

This year the Pork Board is launching its new $11 million Pork: Be Inspired campaign, which aims to increase sales by targeting customers who already eat pork.

So there are examples where industry players, competitors in effect, have banded together to promote their overall value, and as a result everyone in the industry saw higher sales.

Which brings us back to our beloved Yellow Pages industry, and to you the readers of this newsletter.  The topic for discussion is simply:

1. How can the industry work together?  Now, not a year from now, but right now, to show the outstanding value we bring to advertisers??
2.  What steps are needed?? 
3.  Who needs to get together in a room to start to make this happen??

We want you views and suggestions, and if you’re worried about your company not being pleased to see your name (or the company’s) in the comments, we’ll block them out and change names.  But the clock is ticking…

Send me your thoughts at ken@yptalk.com..

 

 

Say Hello to Local Market Launch

I recently ran an article that “Mom & Pop Are Still Not Advertising Online”, and I think I figured out why. Two reasons actually:

1) It’s not easy. The Internet is a big, wide open, complex, even formidable space with lots of moving parts. There’s search portals, social media, hyperlocal directories, niche sites, IYP’s and on and on. Even geeks really into this stuff have trouble keeping up. And then throw mobile on top and you have a real mess to navigate.

2) It can be very expensive. One SMB showed me a recent proposal he got that would cost him several thousand dollars for something he wasn’t sure he could even get a decent ROI on.

So naturally, many small business owners are reluctant and unsure on who to trust and how to proceed. We think we may have found just the solution for this dilemma, a new supplier for the Yellow Pages industry – Local Market Launch.

Background
The beginnings of this new industry entry are classical Yellow Pages start-up type stories. Brian Coryat, the company’s Founder & Chief Executive Officer, launched his first internet directory listing service back in 1995 — AAA Internet Promotions. After that he moved on to Web-Ignite, one of the first SEO companies, but is best known for founding and taking public the online advertising company ValueClick, for which he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2000 for eCommerce.

After moving on from ValueClick, Brian decided to try something different and acquired a small hotel in Wisconsin. When the economy sputtered he began looking at every nickel being spent and noticed a line entry for $700 per month which he later identify was yellow page advertising. Determined to grow his struggling hotel identity beyond just the local print directory, he began the process that every SMB goes through trying to establish a consistent identity across the Internet. It was during that period that he realized that if an experienced industry professional like himself was having such problems, imagine what the less knowledgeable SMB owners were going through. So about 18 months ago he started Local Market Launch headquartered in the heart of beautiful downtown Santa Barbara, California.

Recently the company has announced another important hire in bringing on 20+ year Yellow Pages industry veteran Jeff Hoyer.  Jeff brings background as the former VP, National Sales for R.H. Donnelley/Dex Media, (managed a national team of 30, with P&L responsibility of $420 million in print, online and PPC products), and he was also Group VP at TMP Worldwide where he managed four VP/GMs and a portfolio of national clients.

Value Proposition:
Hoyer was able to give us some insight as to the value Local Market Launch can bring to both Yellow Page publishers and CMR’s. Basically the company performs three critical functions:

1. Business Listings Management (BLM): They work with SMB’s to develop a business profile, highly customized to their local market, validate and enhance the client data to ensure a standard, quality listing. That profile is then optimized across top 30 search, social & directory sites, sites such as FaceBook, Yelp, Foursquare, Google+, Bing Local, City Search, and Merchant Circle. Once the business profile has been established they then push that information across the net syndicating it to over 150 search portals building the SMB’s brand presence consistently, uniformly.
2. Local Search Optimization (LSO): After the initial stages of BLM, they come back every month, analyze the business’s top competitors and build citations based on where those competitors have business profiles.
3. Ongoing Reputation Monitoring (RM): Here they provide interactive agencies, publishers, CMR, national brands, and even those mom & pop SMB’s a dashboard which allows them to break down usage and viewing results of their business’s reputation and social web presence in any number of sorts such as division, zone, etc, and receive daily report cards

When I questioned Hoyer about what a typical average cost that an SMB would expect to see for this type service, he indicated that they are targeting a $600 first year price point. But it doesn’t end there.

Given the swift growth of mobile Local Market Launch is not limited to just working on solutions for the Internet. To provide a similar, consistent profile on mobile platforms, the company helps develop individual business landing pages which are completely mobile optimized, and then spreads that profile across the internet.

What I think will make this company very different from other providers is its agency friendly business model. The dashboards discussed above are customized for each agency. The company also has no plans to establish a direct relationship with SMB’s. They expect that publishers and CMR’s will be able to take their core product and white label it with their own brands. Under Hoyer’s guidance the company has already begun testing with a “large-scale” publisher.

The company currently has about 20 people and is beginning to rapidly hire in the Santa Barbara area. Of note is that none of the work they do is being done by offshore workers. Everything is being done right here in the good old USA.

LML Will Be at LSA:
Hoyer revealed that the company will be making a big splash at the upcoming Local Search Association conference in Las Vegas April 13-16. The company is planning a wine tasting event in their private suite and he hinted at a drawing for a weekend on the company in Santa Barbara, possibly in a private yacht. Companies interested in meeting with Local Market Launch (or to do the wine tasting) should contact Jeff at mailto:Jeff@localmarketlaunch.com or via his office line of 805-960-5572.

 

Partner With Local Market Launch
If you are an agency, marketing firm, media publisher, Internet directory or an organization that reaches local businesses, consider partnering with us today.

• White-glove, dedicated specialists for each client account
• Single point of contact for each partner project
• Scalable and effective
• Easy to integrate tools for resellers
• Revenue sharing for the life of the client
• Custom campaign capabilities

Need more information? Give us a call at (800) 720-3291 or email partners@localmarketlaunch.com.

Judgment Day for City of Seattle Opt-out Folly

Since the start of its October, 2010 efforts to implement a required opt-out program, despite the industry’s already established program, we have criticized the elected leaders of the city of Seattle –

• November, 2010:  “ …this really isn’t an environmental move by the City of Seattle. Instead, it has become a clear attempt at cost shift and a political stepping stone for some Council members…”
• July, 2011: “ …Lost in Seattle: Hello. Print Yellow Pages Aren’t Your Problem..”
• August, 2011:  “Seattle Green Efforts Come Up Way Short”
• October, 2012:  “..Take that Seattle. In a decision, which has been expected for some time, the 9^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals released a unanimous decision today which holds that under the First Amendment, Yellow Pages directories are “fully protected speech” and not “commercial speech.” The appeals court determined that print directories are entitled to the same standards under the First Amendment as newspapers, magazines, etc. Needless to say, this is a major win for the industry..”

Despite the obvious stupidity of this effort, the leaders keep on pushing this needless waste of taxpayer funds.  We’ll now The Seattle Times reports that the city has tentatively agreed to pay $500,000 to yellow-pages phone directory publishers in a settlement, rather than continuing the fight to appeal a ruling that the city violated the publishers’ free-speech rights,

Initially, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of the city’s position.  But a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit, generally a very left-leaning court, sided with the yellow-pages publishers, ruling that the phone books are protected, like other publications, by the First Amendment.

The Local Search Association has repeatedly fought that the city opt-out registry wasn’t necessary because the publishers and Association had their own fully functional opt-out systems. But, city leaders lead by City Councilmember Mike O’Brien insisted on forging ahead with an opt-out registry for “unwanted phone books” and charged a $100 fee on each of the three companies that distribute phone books in the city. It also charged the companies for every book delivered, levied a fine of $125 for deliveries to households that had opted out.  And, to add insult to injury, the law required the publishers to advertise the city’s opt-out service on the cover of the yellow pages.

A suit then filed by Local Search Association, the Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in October that phone directories are protected by the First Amendment and that Seattle’s law regulating distribution of the yellow-pages directories was unconstitutional.

Now judgment day has arrived for the city as they will now need to pay $500,000 of taxpayer money to the industry.  City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, still refuses to admit the futility of this effort and said he couldn’t comment on negotiations to settle the lawsuit because they were still ongoing. He said the settlement agreement could also decide “the future of Seattle’s yellow-pages opt-out system.”  Gee, you think so?

As you would expect some of the city’s finest are reacting online.  Here is one of the few blog comments I could print:  “..let’s SUE and FINE Yellow Pages for LITTERING. Shoot them on site for trespassing…”.  So much for the civility these same people preach to us about.

As we noted in October, 2010:

“…What a shame. It didn’t have to be this way. A working process was already up and running. But that wasn’t enough for the greenies. Someone in big business had to be punished no matter the costs or the impact to taxpayers…”

My only question is whether City Councilmember Mike O’Brien and the other 7 elected officials who voted for this effort (only one Councilmember voted against the ordinance) will now be held responsible for reaping the taxpayers.  Somehow, I doubt it.

Search Starts Here – A Preview of the Upcoming Local Search Association Conference

It only comes once a year, and it’s about to happen again. The Local Search Association annual event – Search Starts Here: A Blueprint for Making Local Pay Off will be kicking off April 13-16 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

This year’s event has a diverse agenda and speakers from across the pond and the search space to discuss current industry trends, lessons learned,  success stories, new technology applications, and useful innovations in the local search industry.

To get a better understanding of what to expect at this conference we sat down with Association president Neg Norton find out more.  The conversation occurred just after the Associations major legal victory against the City of Seattle’s distribution ordinance.

YPT:  With the court victory in Seattle, will we see you doing a couple of big victory laps at the conference?

Norton:  I would but I don’t want to pull a hammy! There is no doubt that a lot of our efforts have been focused on legislative activities over the past year. Clearly, this was a big win for the industry. However, we need to keep doing what we’re doing, promoting the Opt-Out site, honoring consumer choice and ultimately getting the industry back on a path to growing again.  We plan to get into all of that at our upcoming conference. We’ve got a great agenda and some really top-notch speakers.

YPT:  We noticed your recent announcement about your keynote speaker. Tell us more.

Norton:  We were excited to announce that Jean-Pierre Remy, CEO and President of PagesJaunes Groupe will be our keynote speaker on opening day.  What’s exciting about this is that PagesJaunes is one of the greatest transformation stories across any media; newspaper, magazine, YP as they moved from print to digital media.

For those that may not know, PagesJaunes is the Yellow Pages publisher in France. Approximately 59% of their $1.5 billion in annual revenue comes from its digital offerings.  They also enjoy 45% margins. So Jean-Pierre Remy gets credit for having led this remarkable transformation from France’s traditional print publisher into one of the world’s most progressive local search companies.

For publishers in North America, Jean-Pierre can provide some insights on how to use their “cash cow” print products to help fund their digital development as the transformation continues. Generally, many companies are still trying to find the most effective and efficient way to market an array of products and services to local businesses with limited budgets.

Right before Jean-Pierre we have Paul Plant, Founder & Principal, of Radicle Consulting who has worked a lot with John Pierre’s team. Paul will comment on his work with PagesJaunes as well as a recent report published by the MIT Sloan School of Business/Cap Gemini Consulting titled “The Digital Advantage” that featured PagesJaunes.

 YPT:  Tell us more about the overall agenda

Norton:  The agenda has a good mix of strategic and tactical topics including discussions about transformation, sales effectiveness, what’s working in mobile, how print directories fit in the product mix, the Hispanic market and a lot more.

On Day 2, we just added Jason Finger, CEO of CityGrid and Dan Levy, Director, Small Business, at Facebook where he is responsible for sales, marketing, and service for the millions of small businesses who use Facebook to connect with their customers and grow their businesses.   He’s going to talk about the new Facebook’s “Nearby” feature that has captured a lot of press recently.  We expect he will share insight into some of the recent updates to Nearby as well as plans for future updates such as the addition of information from third-party services.

Facebook’s Nearby combines the social elements of Facebook with its geo-location services by allowing users to find local spots that friends have checked into or “liked” such as restaurants or other local stores and businesses. In addition to social information, users are provided with addresses, contact info and hours of operation for these local businesses. Facebook also goes a step further by tapping into the hugely successful online reviews space with features that allow users to rate and review local businesses and recommend them to friends.

Prior to Facebook, Dan started his own marketing business – Justarrive, and spent seven years at PayPal.

 YPT:  You really are pulling in some big digital players for speakers.

Norton:   It’s a good mix of key players across the local search space.  Greg Sterling is working with us on the agenda and he’s helped tremendously with the content and is also participating as a speaker.

YPT:  What are you expecting in the way of attendance at the event?

Norton:  Our internal goal is 500. We’re cautiously optimistic as we are actually ahead of pace in registrations from where we were in prior conferences, and we’re also doing well on sponsorships, but there are still several sponsorship positions available. It’s a great way for people to have their businesses featured at the event. People can call Terri Stabnick at 248.244.0743 or email her at terri.stabnick@localsearchassociation.org to find out more.

 YPT:  In a time of tight corporate travel budgets, why should people want to attend this event?

Norton:  We try to present an event that has strong content so people can come learn from others who are doing interesting, creative things. We also have a lot of opportunities for people to network, to get to know others in the industry better. And of course, it’s Vegas so there’s always an opportunity to have a little bit of fun.

 YPT:  Is there any discounted pricing for the conference still being offered?

Norton:  Yes.  If people register by February 13th they can receive the Early Bird rate, which is $200 off the full registration price.

 YPT:  Are you still planning to do the Strategic Exchange Sessions?

Norton:   Most definitely.  And if people sign up today for a Strategic Exchange Session (SES) sponsorship, they also get one full registration to the conference on the house! But they have to hurry. The sessions are where attendees can meet and discuss strategic opportunities with the industry’s key partners and suppliers.  We have sold out sponsorships for the sessions at our last couple of conferences.

Sunday’s agenda starts with our annual golf tournament, the Strategic Exchange Sessions, and in the evening the Industry Excellence Awards ceremony.  Just a reminder for your readers that the Industry Excellence Awards, which showcase the industry’s most creative marketing ideas, plans and communication tools, creativity, know-how and implementation compare to the competition are still open for submissions until February 8.   (For past winners, categories and more, click here!)

YPT:  What can we expect to be different this year?

Norton:  This year you might expect to see a lot of new faces in the crowd, people from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yelp, and other heavy hitters from the online space.  In addition, we plan to feature start-ups with new products/services during the Lightning Round session.  We started this last year and people really liked it!

YPT:  What can we expect to hear in your presentation?

Norton:  Good question. I’ll have to start thinking about this! Obviously, I am going to talk about the marketplace changes and how the LSA is evolving to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our members. We had a lot of success this year and we want to make sure we keep the momentum going we earned this year.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas at the Planet Hollywood Casino & Resort!

 

How to confront a critic of the industry’s environmental efforts

One of the most effective ways I have found to deal with industry critics regarding our environmental position is to simply to engage them in a conversation.  As simple as that concept seems, many are disarmed immediately when you present the simple facts of how the industry has been proactive in the makeup of the materials we use in our print products, the voluntary opt-out programs implemented, and what the real statistics are on the impact of directories to the local waste stream.

Local Search Association President Neg Norton recently demonstrated that on a panel run by the Product Stewardship Institute, a group that has made it their self-appointed duty to confront industries they feel are anti-environment.

Here is the full content of Neg’s response as posted on the Association’s “Insiders” blog.  Good job Neg and the entire LSA team:

 Product Stewardship and the Yellow Pages Industry

Contributed by: Neg Norton

What is the role of government in product stewardship? This question was posed to me as one of five panelists on yesterday’s Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) webinar. Many government officials and recycling professionals listened in, and other panelists included:

• Alison Keane of the American Coatings Association, which      represents both companies and professionals working in the paint and      coatings industry
• Reid Lifset of Yale University
• Russ Martin, president, Global Product      Stewardship Council
• Fenton Rood of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality

According to PSI’s invitation, the purpose of the webinar discussion was to discern, “…whether key [product stewardship] program principles, such as transparency and accountability, are best attained through voluntary, mandatory, or hybrid programs that encompass elements from both approaches.”

During the webinar, I stressed that it is important to not lump all of private industry together when considering how to regulate the environmental impact of products in the marketplace. Government leaders and other key stakeholders should look at what each individual industry is doing and not take a one-size-fits-all approach.

As we know, many states and cities are feeling the budget pinch, and taxpayer money has to be carefully prioritized to protect public health and safety. The bigger the threat, the greater need for government.

Certainly, hazardous products require government oversight in order to protect consumers from injury. As the ACA’s Alison Keane noted, paint is the top household hazardous waste product. That is why the ACA founded “PaintCare,” a non-profit program to manage the reuse, recycling and proposal disposal of unused paint. This industry-support effort is in conjunction with government oversight initiatives that include a per-can assessment fee, convenient paint collection and a management system run by manufacturers.

However, a telephone directory does not present the safety hazards that paint can. And when it comes to the print Yellow Pages, we know that voluntary self-regulation through industry-led efforts works best for consumers, small businesses, and most importantly, taxpayers.

Our industry has been proactive in reducing the carbon footprint of our products and has generated significant results. Last year, we re-launched our successful, industry-funded consumer website, www.YellowPagesOptOut.com. The site, which is provided at no cost to consumers or cities, enables residents and local businesses to choose which directories they receive or stop delivery altogether. The recycling rate for print directories is high and the impact of phone books on the municipal waste stream is miniscule. Moreover, over the past five years, our industry has undergone a 50% reduction of paper use for directory production.

Another factor is whether government and an industry are aligned in their goals. For our industry, we have a common desire with government to reduce the number of unwanted directories. Publishers do not want to incur the cost of printing and delivering a product to a household that does not intend to use it. Local government wants to reduce unwanted directory deliveries but often have competing budgetary demands. So, the industry offers a free solution: a website where consumers can opt-out of phone directory delivery.

Mr. Lifset included in one of his presentation slides that there is, “No sound science to support effectiveness of voluntary approaches to environmental policy,” and that the, “Majority of voluntary schemes collect little or no data… no data, no evidence!” I disagree. For one, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) provides us with credible data on the success of our efforts. Back in 2009, the EPA determined that directories made up three-tenths of one percent of the of discarded paper & paperboard products in the municipal waste stream. Now, however, the EPA has determined that phone directories are such a small part of the municipal waste stream that they no longer see a need to track the product separately.

Mr. Martin noted that Australia had a 77.7% recovery rate for newsprint in 2011. That is very common to the recycling rate for newsprint in the U.S. – which includes telephone directories – of 71.6%. Whether or not the Australian rate includes telephone directories is secondary to the larger point of the commonness and success in paper recycling globally.

While our industry continues to responsibly self-regulate the production, distribution and disposal of our products, we believe that government can play an important role in communicating solutions and options to the public. I shared with the webinar listeners an overview of the collaborative press releases that our industry has issued with state and local lawmakers across the country, several of whom are noted as strong advocates of the environment.

I’m glad that our industry had this opportunity to share our positive story with interested parties on the PSI webinar, and I look forward to continued dialogue.

 

9th Circuit Strikes Down Seattle Yellow Page Opt-Out Ordinance

Take that Seattle.  In a decision, which has been expected for some time, the 9^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals released a unanimous decision today which holds that under the First Amendment, Yellow Pages directories are “fully protected speech” and not “commercial speech.”  The appeals court determined that print directories are entitled to the same standards under the First Amendment as newspapers, magazines, etc. Needless to say, this is a major win for the industry.

We noted back in August 2011 that Seattle’s effort to force a city run opt-out program and recycling fees on yellow page publishers was both legally questionable and irresponsible especially since the industry had already initiated an opt-out program and website.  To compound matters, the city then sent out 280,000 post cards (or 4 TONS OF PAPER) to inform residents of this effort, none of which is believed to have been recycled.

The Local Search Association, which has fought a long, hard, expensive battle on behalf of its members is “extremely pleased to announce that a full victory has been achieved by our Industry”, and will now move quickly to bring this appeals court decision to the attention of the San Francisco U.S. District Court (which is also within the jurisdiction of the 9^th Circuit) to vacate their opt-out program.

The Association believes the City of Seattle now has only two options:

• The  City could seek a rehearing before the 9^th Circuit U.S. Court      of Appeals.  However, in cases such as this where there is a unanimous decision, a rehearing is rare.

• The City of Seattle could seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

I think a third option would be for the city to apologize to the industry and all of their tax-paying residents for all of this nonsense and start working with the industry on ways to improve recycling rates.  But that probably won’t happen as several of the city leaders that championed this effort clearly have higher political office in mind.

Congratulations to the Local Search Association staff, and especially, Dex One and SuperMedia for fighting the war that needed to be fought….

 

People – October

It has been a while since we updated our regular blog sponsored by Hawthorne Executive Search.   It is all about people in the Yellow Pages industry. If you have news you want to share about someone that is involved in the Yellow Pages industry (including retirees) that we should all know about, drop us a line and tell us how they are doing. Send your submissions to ken@yptalk.com.

Amy Healy & Wesley Young:

Amy Healy has left the Local Search Association to join YP Holdings, LLC as its Vice President, Public Policy & External Affairs.

The Association then announced that Wesley Young has been appointed their new Vice President of Public Policy. From 2007-2012, Young was General Counsel for two financial services companies and served on the Executive Board of AFCC (The American Fair Credit Council) as its Legislative Director, managing all federal and state government affairs for six years. Prior to that, Wesley was with the law firm Baron & Budd, P.C. for 10 years. Wesley received the 2008 Outstanding Minority Attorney Award from the Dallas Bar Association and was named by D Magazine in its list of Best Lawyers Under 40 in 2006. He served as the 2010 Secretary-Treasurer for the Dallas Bar Association and as a Director on the Board from 2007-2008. Wesley was recognized with the TASC President’s Award in 2009 and 2010 and served as President of the Dallas Asian American Bar Association in 2008. Wesley was a member of Panel B2 of the District 6A Grievance Committee of the State Bar of Texas from 2001-2007 and became chair during his last two years of service. He is a past-Chair of the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar of Texas. He is admitted to practice law by the State Bar of Texas and is a member of the Dallas Bar Association and a fellow of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers. Wesley received his B.B.A., cum laude, from Baylor University in 1992 and his J.D. from Baylor Law School in 1995.

Michael Dunn 

SuperMedia’s CIO, Michael Dunn received the Top 10 Breakaway Leaders award from the CIO Leadership Network.   This year’s awards focused on the theme of Business Acceleration and Leadership in the Evolving Global Economy – Predict. Transform. Deliver.

“Michael’s vision, leadership and overall business acumen led the transformation of our architecture from a print centric company to a digital-focused one. His passion has earned the respect of his colleagues, peers and staff,” said Frank Gatto, EVP Operations at SuperMedia. “Michael and his team are always delivering excellence and exceeding expectations in a fast-paced, results-driven environment.”

Each year, a panel of elite CIOs chooses a list of 10 Breakaway Leaders who exemplify leadership, dedication and influence as a CIO. This is the only CIO awards program where winners are determined by the CIO peer community alongside an elite judging panel. Dunn was selected to join elite CIOs from companies such as Alcoa, Lockheed Martin, PepsiCo, and Sysco Corporation.

Jonathan Miller

YP recently announced the appointment of Jonathan Miller to the company’s Board of Directors.  Mr. Miller most recently served as Chief Digital Officer of News Corporation as well as Chairman and CEO of the company’s Digital Media Group. He continues to serve as an advisor to News Corporation.  In those roles, Mr. Miller successfully transformed News Corporation’s digital strategy by integrating the company’s content onto emerging, third-party internet platforms. In addition to leading News Corporation’s overall online strategy, Mr. Miller also oversaw the company’s standalone digital businesses globally and represented the company on Hulu’s Board of Directors.

Dorab Patel & Alex Dionysian

MatchCraft, a leading global provider of local search marketing solutions, announced the promotions of two key members of its leadership team. Cofounder Dorab Patel, PhD, has been appointed Chief Science Officer and Alex Dionysian has been promoted to the role of Chief Technology Officer.

Patel, who cofounded MatchCraft in 1998, has more than 20 years of technology and management experience in the software industry. Dionysian, who joined MatchCraft in 2008 as VP of Engineering, is also a 20-year veteran of the software industry, and is responsible for technology, product design and client deployments at MatchCraft.

“MatchCraft has a staff of highly skilled and dedicated people with a terrific track record of client success,” said Sean Greene, CEO. “We are fortunate to be able to leverage the unmatched experience and technological expertise of Dorab and Alex. Under their direction, we are well positioned to continue to deliver unparalleled products and services to our clients, while advancing our mission in key regions around the world.”

The management moves round out the company’s leadership team, which is led by Greene, who was appointed in September 2011. Since becoming CEO, Greene has been driving the company’s growth strategy and has been instrumental in expanding its presence in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

Scott Pomeroy & Chris Armistead:

Yellow’s (NZ) CEO Scott Pomeroy, who led a restructuring of the company around a reseller partnership with Google, was recently replaced by Chris Armistead, who comes to Yellow from AT&T.

James Tanner:

Earlier this summer James was promoted from Research Specialist to Senior Research Director at Ver-A-Fast Corporation.

 

 

Dex One and SuperMedia to Merge

Well, the long rumored merger of Dex One and SuperMedia is now real as plans to merge were formally released this morning.  The combined entity will be called “Dex Media” and will have approximately $3.1 billion in revenue (based on 2011 results).

Peter McDonald, the current CEO of SuperMedia will lead the merged operation.  Dex One CEO Alfred Mockett will step down at the completion of the merger, which is expected in the fourth quarter.

For the industry, this is the type of merger which had been expected for some time.  It really was only a matter of which companies, and who would finance the move.  As a result the U.S. Yellow Pages market will have three big players, YP Holdings (the old AT&T), the new combined Dex Media, and Yellowbook/now Hibu. Beyond these leaders, industry analysts such as BIA/Kelsey believe that further merger activity will coming from companies such as No. 4 sized Berry, as publishers look for the most efficient, sustainable platform in the rush to move from an all traditional print to a blended print/digital business.  It is a little like speed dating – better find your partner before the music stops.  Logic tells you that the pace of mergers should pick up now as others rush to find those partners.  The band is getting a little weary.

For the employees of the two merged companies, you would have to expect more layoffs in operations and staff positions after the merger is completed.

For the Local Search Association, this provides more challenges as they have lost a major dues paying member.

This merger should add some more excitement to the upcoming BIA/Kelsey – SMB Digital Marketing 2012 Conference which will be held 9/17-9/19 in Chicago (link to conference information).  Dex’s Mockett was scheduled to be one of the conferences keynote speakers.  Won’t that be an interesting presentation…..

On a lighter note, does this mean the new marketing campaign will have the Dex Knows nerd wearing a cape????

Exploding Common Employee Myths in the Yellow Page Industry

At the recent Local Search Association conference, one of the most informative sessions came from a team of presenters – Robert Hawthorne from Hawthorne Executive Search, and Michael Taylor from BIA/Kelsey.

The two covered results of a recent survey of media sales reps and shared their observations from the field.  Hawthorne’s presentation was particular insightful because he covered six common employment myths in the marketplace.

Robert Hawthorne is an excellent speaker for this topic.  In 2011, Hawthorne Search’s team of 6 full time sales recruiters placed over 150 local market sales reps.  In 2012 YTD, the company has placed over 50 sales reps in 22 cities.  Their client list spans local search, technology, media companies focused on SMB’s.

Here are the marketplace myth’s he covered

Myth #1: overall unemployment rate parallel with local market sales reps

• Reality: Even in the depths of recession, sales reps were still in demand

Myth #2: Reps are happy since my turnover is down

• Reality: Strong pent up demand as many reps chose to “ride out recession” and are now active interviewing

Myth #3: Base salaries haven’t increased due to economic conditions

• Reality: In Tier 1 markets, $60-65k base salaries common, Tier 2 $50k minimum, small markets $40-45k average

Myth #4: Local search companies need only worry about other Yellow Page industry companies poaching

• Reality: Yellow Pages/Local Search companies have been known for great training, coaching, sales development, many other factors which make your people VERY attractive to other industries.

Myth #5: If I lose sales staff, it will be easy to find a replacement

• Reality: In many markets, even large base salaries no guarantee of robust candidate supply.  Simply put, there are only so many “top performers” available in any given market

Myth #6: Job ads on the boards will get me a replacement

• Reality: strong decrease in our posting results across all active job boards in past 2 years

In talking about the sales survey conducted, Hawthorne also covered “What Your Sales People Want”:

• Stability.  Many reps will eschew the start up in social media if they think their company is stable
• Resume Builder.  Does your company allow your rep to keep their resume “hot”  Selling new technology a way to keep reps from leaving
• Flexibility. Work from home, flex hours, flex vacation, etc. particularly with young set very important
• What They Want to Earn — $80k minimum by year 2 with no less than 50% of that in base salary

On finding sales talent, Hawthorne had a couple of simple, basic fundamental suggestions:

• Jobs that don’t have minimum $40k base virtually impossible to recruit for
• Cell phone, laptop, paid expenses, etc. all very important to today’s rep.  Sell the package, not just the base salary.
• Benefits important, be specific

 

To find out more about Hawthorne Executive Search, go to their website at www.hawthornesearch.com, or contact Robert directly at robert@hawthornesearch.com, 910-798-1800.

 

10 Reasons Why The Yellow Pages Still Work (well)

Lest you think I was being supremely creative with this title, I have to give credit for the concept to Steve Averill who writes the OCBizblog blog which he claims is “…an award-winning (?) small business marketing blog boasting more than 5,000 followers most of whom are located in Orange County, California….” Boo-ya for him.  His most recent missive was 10 Reasons Why The Yellow Pages is the Drunk Uncle of Advertising.

Now normally I would chalk commentary like this up to someone who really doesn’t understand how small business advertising works and just move on.  But his comments were far too tempting to ignore.  So let’s have some fun and test his 10 Reasons to see how if maybe, just maybe he has things a little backwards:

1. He just shows up one day on your doorstep unannounced.  Yes, the print Yellow Pages is free, doesn’t require any power, any special connections, any technical expertise to operate, doesn’t attract spam email or viruses, and when the newest version arrives, the old version can be fully recycled.  Should I keep going on this one, as it isn’t even a fair fight?  I guess in Orange County they don’t get email spam or bogus text messages like those that I do now.  Steve:  you’re missing the excitement of all of the neat things inside that book.

2. He talks a big game.  True. By why?  Distributed free to every home and business, vs. at best 80% penetration of broadband in US (note: key word is “adoption”, not exclusive use of Internet and nothing else). For advertisers, Yellow Pages has an ROI for advertisers of at least 10 to 1 (CRM Associates research).  If 70+% of businesses in the print directory are at least renewing each year, but 50+% of online advertisers are churning year to year, which one really works better for SMB’s??  As our esteemed Vice President would say, yes, Yellow Pages is a big ___ deal.  Really big.

3. He’s always asking for money.  I’m a little puzzled with this one.  Is he suggesting that buying Google Adwords is free for advertisers?  How about getting that Internet connection to begin with?   The average household pays about $150 for a first time connection fee for broadband services and then monthly fees ranging from $50 to $130 depending on how much data you need/use.  And all of these hi-tech gizmo’s cost:  ____.  Fill in the blank based depending on which device(s) you get.  All I know is my cell bill, with my new iPhone hasn’t been under $100 a month since I got it..For users, it seems to me that it’s the other way around.

For advertises, they know right up front how much a print Yellow Pages ad is going to cost.  When they start spending money in the online world, they really don’t know how far they will need to go to bring in the level of business leads they need.

4. He’s completely unreliable.  Huumm.  Also not sure what the point is here.  Where does he think most of those listings you find on the Internet come from?  Perhaps if he looked at the Yellow Pages he would know.  And how do those listings get to a printed telephone book?  Each publisher reviews and scrubs them for accuracy.  Most books are then scanned/rekeyed to create those databases you encounter online.  So help me.  Define “unreliable”.

5. He’s old.  So’s my wife, but that doesn’t mean I have ditched her for the flavor dejour.  If he’s complaining that Yellow Pages has a 150 or so year track record working with a very diverse range of small/midsized businesses to help them bring more leads to their doors, well, go ahead and complain.  New is not always better.

6. He thinks it’s 1982 and yellow is a fashionable color.  Ok let’s compare: a Yellow Pages rep walks in the door of a local business and identifies that are from an established provider of local print and online Yellow Pages, a recognized product that businesses have been spending money in year in and year out.  The rep and publisher contribute to local community efforts like the  Little League, his kids probably babysit for some of the business owners kids, and the rep buys products because he lives in that same community as that small business.

The other option is a rep from XYZ Local Search Daily, who’s been in business for maybe 10 minutes, only sells products for which he can’t guarantee anything such as consistent first page Google results, has to explain an alphabet soup of acronyms so the business owner understands what he is buying, and in reality, has the same services that could be bought from the next guy through the door.  Which one do you think has a higher  trust level beginning their conversation??  I think Yellow is a beautiful color, combined with some black it is a powerful combination.

7. He thinks all the information he spews out is meaningful.  I have to agree with Mr. Averill on this one.  I don’t need a fencing company each year.  But I did need one last month.  Where did I look for local company?  In the print Yellow Pages.  I’ve never had a problem with my garage door opener.  Ever.  Until two weeks ago.  Where did I look for local company?  In the print Yellow Pages.   In the past two weeks, I haven’t used the print Yellow Pages.  Not once.  Tomorrow?   Not sure what the next need for a local product or service is going to look like.  And while that phonebook is sitting idely by for two weeks – it hasn’t used any power, attracted no viruses or spam, and is still ready to go a moments notice.

If there are upwards of 4000 potential headings in a print Yellow Pages, I’ll bet most people wouldn’t need more than a handful of them in a normal year.  But do you know when you’ll need the info in the other 3995 headings next??

8. He thinks television is technology.  From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey — 2010 Results:  Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), accounting for about half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over.  So if you watch TV is this guy implying I’m stupid?  Or I guess if I don’t have the latest hi-tech device I must be 90 years old.

9. He thinks shouting is advertising.  A print Yellow Pages has no audio button, so…??  However, I have visited a number of websites recently that feel compelled to blast me with a video the second I reach the site, a video I didn’t ask for, that I can’t stop until it runs fully, and with an audio level that seems to be at about 100 decibels.  I think that would classify as worse than shouting.

10. He’s a big fat waste of space.  At the recent Local Search Association conference (the Yellow Pages Association for you old timers like me), research showed that the results on the call tracking lines in the print Yellow Pages were up at least 20% year over year.  Seems like someone is using those books and turning those walking fingers into phone dialing so they can buy local products and services..

 

Sorry Uncle Yellow, but that’s the way it is.  Sorry, Steve Averill, you don’t get it.  There are more information sources these days, no argument there.  Heck, I sit in front of two compueters all day long.  But I’m not using those to shop locally.  Surf for info, a little social networking (but don’t tell my boss please), email (far too much of it), and a whole bunch of other things.  But not buying locally for a product or service I don’t know a lot about.

Steve, my friend,  there is still time for you to retrieve that book from the recycle bin (kudos for at least doing that).  Check it out. You will find some pretty amazing stuff, even things like coupons that can help you save money.  We understand your ignorance, but we won’t hold it against you….