Seattle to Yellow Pages – Drop Dead

Perhaps my headline is overly dramatic but I couldn’t resist the play on the famous New York Post Headline that read, “Ford to New York: Drop Dead” when the then President refused to bailout the Big Apple.

However, according to this article, Seattle appears to be the first city in the nation to pass a law allowing residents to drop out of Yellow Pages distribution.  This prompted the publisher’s lawsuit claiming the law violated its First Amendment rights.   The Judge has denied the publisher a preliminary injunction but has yet to rule on the underlying lawsuit.

Bye Bye Yellow Pages?

However, in less than a week, 14,000 Seattle residences have registered on the website to opt out of receiving the Yellow Pages. Should this trend take flight, how relevant will the Yellow pages remain to lawyers spending thousands to get a listing?  Hopefully, at the very least this will give attorneys some ammunition to negotiate on price.

Facebook for Lawyers – New Yellow Pages

Last week I was on a client site and the topic of Facebook came up. The attorneys wanted to know if they should create a Facebook profile.  The pros are visibility – everyone is on it.  The cons are that its a leaky ship – privacy isn’t Facebook’s number one priority – rather its how much privacy it must provide to keep advertisers and third parties who pay them – happy.

Yellow pages

One approach is to create a fan page and lock down security so that you have a presence but don’t have to worry about people posting inappropriate content.  This is like having your company name, address and phone number listed in the yellow pages but nothing more.  Then of course you could create a very active Facebook page, inviting friends, posting photos and company announcements.  That is the equivalent of purchasing a quarter page advertising in the yellow pages.

Money vs. Time

Of course for the yellow pages, the more you do the more in costs – in money whereas you can go crazy on Facebook and pay nothing at least for now.  However, you will have to stay on top of your Facebook profile, making sure people aren’t saying negative or embarrassing things, you will need to monitor activity and add content regularly.  The more you set up initially the more you will have to spend in human resources to keep it current.

Bottom Line?

Plan on doing something on Facebook this year.  Realize that it has an upside and downside.   Plan your approach – both from a marketing but also human resources and compliance perspective.

Still Advertising in the Yellow Pages? Ouch!

This article suggests that attorneys are beginning to wake up to the fact that Yellow page advertising is a losing proposition.  Give the costs – often thousands a month – there is a diminishing return on advertising in the phonebook.

• Law firm states that yellow pages which a few years ago made up 50% of business is now down to 10%
• Another firm spending 10k a month is seeing a decrease the quantity and quality of business generated from phone book ads
• One firm is still getting bang for its buck but admits one factor is not wanting to give up its space in the phone book to a competitor

Yellow pages still going strong

A recent study shows that when looking for a local business, consumers turn to print Yellow pages first, 48% of the time while search engines are used by 21%.  Only in the 18-34 demographic is the search engine most frequently used and then its only by about 7%.  In the 35 and older (my demographic) the Yellow pages are used by 54% versus 17% for search engines.

I haven’t looked at a Yellow pages in years.  Makes me feel so hip.