It’s the marketing version of a moral dilemma for me – Should the White Pages carry overt advertising ?
I thought I understood the service boundaries which define the telephone directory services brands Yellow Pages and White Pages. Fundamentally I know which book to reach for in a given information scenario. Well I thought I did…
Time for a bit on honesty. I don’t think I could put my hands on either telephone directory just now; I always use the internet and actually I have no idea where the books are, but I know the website addresses.
Time for even more honesty; I use Yellow Pages (online of course) less and less and I hear the same from most people I speak to. Why ? The quality of results is just not there.
I tell the YP search interface what I’m looking for and where, but the results I get are based on advertising spend not on my search criteria.
I’m not interested in who advertises with you Mr. Yellow pages, like most people I’m only interested in what I want to know right now.
The longer it takes’ you to get it; the less popular you will continue to become!
Take a lesson from Google’s success.
Are they successful just because of AdWords ? No!
Their success comes from being able to deliver the most relevant search results.
Their advertising revenue then flows from that success, not the other way around.
Anyway I note with some concern that White Pages are slowly ramping up their advertising offerings; premium listings; and even contextual advertising.
Deep inside, I’m not comfortable with this traditionally pure (white ?) information source using blatant advertising. I suspect neither will many others of White Pages clients.
I’m not denying White Pages should try to diversify its revenues; its just about how blatant they are about it.
Hopefully the White Pages folk will see how the Yellow Pages has diluted its brand and based on what I’m hearing, its revenues as well through inappropriate advertising.
Mr White Pages, don’t abuse your brand’s creditability. It has consequences.
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