Google and Office Depot announced a partnership where Office Depot will offer advice and teach small businesses how to use Google AdWords. Any small business who registers and makes an AdWords purchase on the Office Depot site will receive a $50 advertising bonus. Office Depot will also likely receive a portion of all sales made through their web site. The partnership also promotes Google Apps and Maps as additional tools small businesses can use.

This is an interesting partnership for Google who has been innovative in its approach to attracting small business owners. Tapping into a retailer who has a close relationship with small business owners is a new move for Google and if successful could become part of a wider strategy.  
  

Since the social networking phenomena began I have been an advocate of the Yellow Pages developing a platform for niche social networks since directories covers such a broad array of topics and content that can be related to highly conversational topics such as travel, music, legal, weddings, new mothers, retirement, interior design, home improvement, etc. Social networking is certainly a topic The Kelsey Group has covered extensively over the years with a whole host of experiments and partnerships underway. In fact, eMarketer is forecasting that social media marketing will top $1.5 billion in 2008 which explains why this segment is receiving tremendous amount focus and innovation. 

Providing a forum and platform on Yellow Page owned sites for niche social networks has the upside of creating ongoing site traffic by offering a multitude of topics to cover given the more than 5,000 headings and sub-topics that could be created and discussed based on these headings. Social site owners would also have the ability to take advantage of both the rich local Yellow Pages advertising content and its online advertising network agreements to monetize each niche social site in a broader niche social media network. Having such a large base of local advertisers and enhanced local content, Yellow Page companies could reasonably deliver customized highly relevant ad content within each niche social network site. 

Catharine Taylor, in her Media Post article “What’s the Business Model for Niche Social Nets?, points out that individually niche social nets don’t generate high revenue amounts, but in aggregation there is tremendous potential. Social network site Ning clearly understands this business model and has even gone a step further by allowing niche sites to opt-out of carrying ads on their site for a fee meaning they earn revenue whether or not ads run or not. Jack Fairhall from Kwiqq, a social web site builder, added a comment to Catharine’s post saying “Niche social networks often won’t make revenue directly for their owners, but assuming their owners are businesses who have other revenue streams from the sale of their products/services, niche social networks can act as great traffic builders/reputation enhancers and lower customer acquisition costs.” 

This is yet another new business venture where forward thinking Yellow Pages publishers could lead rather than follow or act as sub-agents for the larger portals and major social network providers. With huge numbers of people that interact with Yellow Pages and the broad base of local advertiser content available to niche social site creators these would seem like major advantages. The real benefit to Yellow Page owners would come in the form of increased traffic, narrow targeting opportunities for advertisers, additional revenue opportunities and leadership in the fast emerging social marketing space. Ning is certainly proving if you offer the platform for free and provide the necessary help to niche social network creators they will find new ways to build traffic, create loyalty and ultimately generate revenue. 

Social media and particularly niche social networks are ideally suited for the local environment where Yellow Pages could play a major role. I’d love to hear what the rest of the local media community thinks of how they can own and leverage local social media and what business models might be the most effective.   

Elizabeth Gage of PCM International posted a well thought out blog on the challenges small and medium-sized businesses face when purchasing search engine marketing campaigns, either on their own or through Yellow Page publishers. After reading her thoughts on the subject, I couldn’t help but realize that the focus of current SEM efforts has been on getting the appointment and making the sale. Gage’s post, however, highlights the challenges after the sale is made.  

As more SMBs begin to experiment with online advertising, the problem of supporting and informing them of the progress of their online campaigns increases. Based on my own experience in the back-office side of supporting SEM sales, I can attest that new online advertisers simply require more communication on how their campaign is working, numbers of calls generated, how to effectively improve keyword performance, and how best to update their profile or Web site to generate more leads. New online advertisers are in the experimental mode and are not yet sold on the value of SEM, which requires constant reinforcement of the ongoing value delivered by online advertising.  

While gaining appointments and educating SMBs on the benefits of online advertising is important in selling SEM, continually communicating the value of what is being delivered is what will help maintain SMB online advertisers. Failing to reinforce the value to new SEM advertisers ultimately leads to higher advertiser turnover in the second or third year, meaning the sales force will have to continually replace advertisers with more new advertisers rather than work on developing existing advertiser campaigns. 

Two consumer advocacy groups plan to file an FTC complaint about mobile marketing and its emerging practices. The advocacy group Digital Democracy filed its complaint in conjunction with U.S. Public Interest Research Group.  

According to an article in MediaPost, Jeff Chester, founder of Digital Democracy, says, “We’re filing a complaint to force the FTC to take a proactive stance. Mobile ad companies incorporate the same problematic business practices that we witnessed with PC-based broadband marketing, including behavioral targeting and profiling techniques — except that this time they know your location.”  

The main focus of the complaint is behavioral targeting in general since this type of data is often captured without first obtaining consent. The Federal Communications Commission already prohibits marketers from sending text message ads to consumers without their opt-in consent, but some other types of mobile ads — such as wireless application protocol banners or search ads — are not similarly restricted.  

The Kelsey Group forecasts the mobile marketing segment to grow from a current $33.2 million to $1.4 billion by 2012. Our forecast also predicts the mobile Internet population will grow to 91 million by 2012, making the mobile advertising market too attractive to ignore.  

The goal of the FTC complaint is to place restrictions on mobile advertising while the category is still developing. The downside is that these types of restrictions are the very things that have kept the mobile advertising industry from developing in the U.S. With search growth slowing, mobile advertising is the next logical platform for growth and investment particularly by the major portals, meaning it will be a hard-fought battle to maintain the freedom to experiment with advertising formats and data gathering techniques to determine what consumers will and will not accept on their mobile handsets.   

Alibaba, is China’s answer to Google and Yahoo!. The online site is 39 percent owned by Yahoo and recently entered a strategic partnership with Infomedia, the second-largest Yellow Pages publisher in India.

The agreement with Infomedia provides Alibaba access to the second-largest population in Asia. The deal with Infomedia opens the opportunity to sell online advertising to its more than 750,000 advertisers and leverages Infomedia’s sales force of 650 that can immediately begin to access a wider array of India’s SMB base.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “[Alibaba’s] move into India is part of its strategy to grow globally, as a large chunk of its revenue comes from domestic trade listings within China.”

As Google, Yahoo! and MSN continue to struggle in Asia and China in particular, homegrown Alibaba and Baidu continue to prosper in Asia. By tapping into population-dense countries, both Alibaba and Baidu have set themselves up for tremendous growth as both China and India’s middle class grows at exponential rates followed closely by the rapid adoption of broadband, mobile Web access and more stable business environments.  

The Yellow Pages Today April workshop featured a divergent view of how best to sell the White Page product line. While some differences exist, due in part to the products offered in the core White Pages product such as those published in Germany, most companies agreed that White Pages needs its own unique sales approach and marketing focus.  The real difference lies in the publisher’s view of White Pages as a major revenue component, a supplemental revenue component or a complement to the core Yellow Pages product. For those with a view of White Pages as a revenue driver, major product development and sales training have focused specifically on the unique aspects of what White Pages offers advertisers and the product sets that are particularly attractive.  

Vincent Thibaut, print product manager for Truvo Belgium, pointed out that White Pages is often overlooked as a vehicle for attracting new business. As consumers are given recommendations of businesses or products or are exposed to them on other media, they often turn to White Pages online or in print to get the contact information. Thibaut also supported the idea that salespeople need to outline the unique benefits of White Pages to ensure advertisers clearly understand what they are buying.  

Sensis has taken a renewed interest in building its White Pages product that has centered on retraining and refocusing White Pages salespeople on the value of the product, since it is a different sales proposition that is less reliant upon size and position. The renewed approach seems to be paying off, delivering 10 percent growth in the first half of 2008.   

The focus of the Yellow Pages Today April workshop was on White Pages with the underlying theme of how the product can survive and the regulatory environment that will either help or hinder its growth or decline.

The opening session with Stephanie Verilhac, EADP EU affairs officer, covered the current state of the EU privacy directives as well as the upcoming 2007 Telecom Review. The core message is that several of the EU states have fulfilled the goal of opening up competition and have been omitted from the 2002 regulations while seven countries will remain under regulation until competition advances to an acceptable level. The privacy regulations continue to affect the major online portals, which must turn to partners like Yellow Pages publishers to gain access to local databases or build their own.

Following Verilhac was Claude Merchand from PagesJaunes who spoke from a publisher perspective on how the EU directives and regulations are affecting his organization. One of the key challenges is the relationship PagesJaunes has with France Telecom in what content to include in the book and how to structure the revenue agreements. Merchand sees a day when it might be possible to operate separately from the telecom in delivering a Universal White Pages.

Up next was Dolf Weiler, marketing director for De Telefoongids, who pointed out that White Pages is no longer just print and that his organization is actively investing in broadening the White Pages portfolio. Weiler said as long as publishers are willing to invest in and experiment with White Pages, it can continue to be successful. One key sales point he made was that 25 percent of the population in the Netherlands does not use online to look up local business information, which means WP is better suited to reach the majority of the buying audience since it has print, online and mobile products that reach nearly 100 percent of the population.

One dilemma pointed out in the presentation is that people want to be able to find any person or business but are reluctant to provide their own personal or business data, which makes the completeness of the database a continual challenge. When talking about the notion of sharing data with mojor portals such as Google and MSN, Weiler warned, “Be wary of handing the crown jewels to your greatest competitor.”

Via video conference, John Hillrich of Idearc shared his company’s strategy of expanding the WP concept to include direct mail and a new mover product called Solutions on the Move. While not a major revenue driver for Idearc at 4 percent of revenue, it remains a valuable product to leverage additional AVO to lift overall spend.

The final presentation of the morning was from Sensis’ Melissa Reynolds and Geoff Hoffmann, who outlined the publisher’s energized strategy toward White Pages that led to an unprecedented 10.3 percent gain in the first half of 2008. One of their key points was the new focus Sensis has had on developing a sales process and differentiating the White Pages product from the major portals. The publisher has zeroed in on the consumers need for information in the White Page products and how that can lead to product innovation and increased usage and sales.

The current distribution of the AT&T’s Real Yellow Pages produced by Dex (R.H. Donnelley) will no longer include the Chicago Metro Residential White Pages.

According to the release:

“Local residential listings are already included in the Chicago Neighborhood directories that we deliver in August, on DexKnows.com(TM) and on YELLOWPAGES.COM, so we felt it was better for consumers if we discontinued delivery of a standalone Chicago Metro Residential White Pages directory,” said David Kelly, director of marketing, Dex. “However, people who still wish to receive the Chicago Metro Residential White Pages can contact us and we will happily supply them with a complimentary copy.”

While this strategy has been in practice with Canada’s Yellow Pages Group in select major cities, this is the first such instance where a major U.S. publisher has opted not to deliver a residential White Pages edition while offering consumers and businesses the option of requesting a copy. With a high focus on the environmental impact of directories, this is an interesting move given no formal opt-in movement has been instituted in the Chicago market. It will be interesting to see if this is a leading trend with publishers as a self-imposed means of addressing public concern.

Update: It’s worth clarifying that R.H. Donnelley has not eliminated residential White Pages. It is eliminating (except by request) the stand-alone metro-wide residential White Pages book, while continuing to deliver business and residential listings via community directories. R.H. Donnelley publishes 13 such community books in the Chicago metro area and their combined coverage exactly matches the metro book, according to a company spokesperson. So while this approach seems like an opt-in plan, technically it is not, since an opt-in plan would give consumers the clear choice between receiving or not receiving residential listings.

Lawrence, Massachusetts-based Yellow Pages publisher LocalTel has partnered with Google’s AdWords program to sell keywords on Google and Google Maps, and for ads to appear on partner sites within Google’s AdSense network. According to the press release, “ Through a new strategic relationship with Google, LocalTel has become a Google Adwords authorized re-seller allowing businesses of all types and sizes to easily and effectively advertise on the largest search engine on the web.” 

As independent publishers struggle to build their own online revenues, partnerships with major ad serving networks are key alliances. Using strong local brands combined with the brand appeal of Google allows smaller publishers to build online revenues without relying solely on their IYP properties.   

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the Easter holiday talking with friends and family about the economy and how they are dealing with the budget crunch we are all experiencing. One of the common threads of all these conversations has been the need to stay close to home, combine shopping trips and call ahead so you don’t waste time and fuel going to multiple stores. 

More and more people are scaling back vacations and long car rides to try to save money. The next logical question is how people are adapting to this need to stay close to home and make every trip more efficient. Many of my friends and family admitted to using the print and online Yellow Pages more frequently as well as local search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Citysearch because of the mapping features and more detailed information about the stores they were searching for. One friend admitted that if the ad or online profile page content was not specific enough, they moved on, which shows how valuable content is in driving leads. 

Almost everyone I spoke with was calling stores more often to check on availability, price and specific location before they left the house so they had a better plan of where to shop and how best to combine trips. One family member was even reserving merchandise on the phone so they could just pick it up to save even more time. Mapping, it turns out, is becoming a key advantage for online sites as was location specific information and maps in print. 

What does all this mean to Yellow Pages? If the trend is toward more local shopping and the need for directions, local business information and local contact information, then directional media such as Yellow Pages and local search are best suited to address these changing consumer behaviors. These suspicions were confirmed by a more scientific study conducted by Vertis Communications that focused on changing buying habits of grocery shoppers. The study echoes my less than scientific conclusions.

“Economic factors, such as gas prices and the housing market, are changing shoppers’ habits drastically,” says Scott Marden, director of marketing research at the Baltimore-based Vertis. “More than 90% are affected, and many are shopping closer to home, stocking up more and combining shopping trips.” 

Perhaps there is a silver lining for Yellow Pages and other local media in this new economic environment if they can get their reps tuned into this new phenomenon and effectively communicate the opportunity to local business owners.