So-called Expert Claims Internet Yellow Pages “Overrated”
In the title of a transparently self-serving press release, Barry Maher claims that “online yellow pages advertising (is) often overrated”. Maher says in the release, “It may be the wave of the future, but the dull, old-fashioned, low-tech print directories are still the wave of the present. Businesses do need to be online. Just not at the expense of what’s driving in the dollars today.”
He goes on to say that “For most local companies, there’s still far, far more potential business in the print directories than in anything they might do online.”
(Before I go further, I should disclose that I work for arguably the biggest combined print and online yellow pages company in the US. My comments on this matter are merely my own opinion, though, and not any sort of official stance from my company.)
It seems to me that the headline title of the PR was intended to be controversy-provoking in order to attract more attention than an announcement about the publication of a book on how to advertise in yellow pages would otherwise be (yawn!). The intention was to promote Maher’s book on optimizing print YP ads, So, I really hesitated about rewarding this sort of thing with yet more attention than it merits. Yet, I believe that this claim is pretty irresponsible, so I’m going to address it. I don’t think that Maher can possibly understand IYP nor general internet advertising or he could not have said that “there’s… more potential business in the print directories… than… online” (paraphrased).
Read on and I’ll explain why I think this was not reasonable.
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 11/17/2006
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Filed under: Advertising, Yellow Pages barry-maher, directories, iyp, Yellow Pages
Verizon to Spin-Off Verizon Information Services & Superpages.com
Verizon’s official announcement regarding the spin-off plans came out just a short while ago. Verizon Communications Corp. is spinning off the business unit that I work for, Verizon Information Services, and its local information website, Superpages.com.
The new company’s name is “Idearc Inc.”, and it will operate under marks of “Idearc” and “Idearc Media“:
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I’m not allowed to make any sort of forward-sounding business statements in relation to this until the spin-off is completed, due to the usual SEC rules. This is one of the common-sense limits one must place on one’s self, if one is an employee who happens to blog in one’s personal time! 🙂 (Wow! That sounded inhuman and recursive, didn’t it!) While I am an employee of VIS, I’m not speaking here in any sort of official capacity for my company, and any interpretations I place here are completely my own viewpoint. Obviously, nothing I say should be used in making stock purchase/sale decisions!
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Posted by Chris of Silvery on 10/18/2006
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Filed under: Design, Marketing, Yellow Pages idearc, Idearc-Media, Local Search, Online-Yellow-Pages, Verizon-Information-Services, Yellow Pages
