The "Business of Yellow Pages" - What's Really Happening and Who is Contributing

02/01/2005 - by Noëlle M. Mullin, President & Founder of YP\Assistants

OK - I'll admit it. I am a Yellow Pages geek. I have worked with the media selling and servicing it for several years on the CMR side. At present, I have my own consulting firm that assists Yellow Pages advertisers in their agency selection and marketing needs. This change in position provides me a new "client's perspective" of the media, CMRs and publishers. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to examine the media from multiple vantage points and I am continually amazed at the advertising prowess of those little yellow books.

Print and online directories are conducive to ROI test - unlike many other media sources such as television and radio. Print directories are updated and refreshed once a year - not necessarily so with Internet content. Yellow Pages ads are freely researched by potential customers - vastly different in delivery to web pop-up ads and email spam. Moreover, unlike most media sources, almost everyone in America has immediate and at-their-discretion access to Yellow Pages with a copy kept in most people's junk drawer.

With an advertising vehicle that is so measurable, current and universally found, why is it that the "business" of Yellow Pages has become so difficult to manage for those of us in this industry? Why do clients have so many misconceptions? Are competing CMRs being pennywise and pound-foolish? Why are publishers seemingly biting the very hands that feed them? The "business" of Yellow Pages has become a bit of a different animal than it was just a few years ago. So who can we blame?

The Advertiser?

First off, let's look at the cli ......