Print Yellow Pages Used at MicroSoft + My Yellow Pages Interview Questions
Peter Krasilovsky gave me quite a lesson regarding the Yellow Pages industry, one that I, as a mostly-internet media consumer (no TV, college radio only) needed in order to understand the realities of the local business-locating landscape.

I wrote recently to the Yellow Pages Local Search Guide (a yapr custom media project for the Yellow Pages Association - looking *decent* so far guys, contact me for stronger critique :) recently when I found they'd linked to MarketerToday as a local search resource instead of Search Engine Lowdown.

Their yapr contact person agreed to set me up with an interview with a Yellow Pages Association exec.

After reading The Microsoft Lobby and the Yellow Pages by Greg Sterling I'm all the more excited to hear from them.

Senior Sterling sat killing a few moments in a MSFT waiting room and noticed people using the print Yellow Pages:

"I asked the woman seating behind the massive reception desk, "Why do you have this here?" "Oh people use it all the time," she said. "Really," I replied, "for what?" "For lots of things," she responded and proceeded to list six or seven different local business categories."

"It's somewhat ironic that even in the most high-powered corners of the computer and Internet world, the yellow pages is still seen at least by some as a desirable and reliable source of local business information."

Ironic is right. So anyways here are the questions I asked the Yellow Pages Association, which are supposedly going to be answered by next Thursday:

- explain to me who owns the Yellow Pages; is it one company or many? Do they compete with each other in some way, or do they stay in their zones? Please help me to understand the ecosystem.

- geograpically speaking, where are PRINT yellow pages the most used?

- does IYP compete with YP? Why or why not?

- is there more ROI in print YP ads than online IYP ads? Why?

- incenting the local YP sales force to sell IYP ads is hard because IYP ads are cheaper and therefore have lower commission. this has paved the way for YP partnerships with Google and Yahoo, but won't this ultimately cut the IYP out?

- traditionally, what is the difference for a local business in advertising in the Yellow Pages vs. the local newspaper vs. the print classifieds vs. local tv ads? How do these mediums differ?

- Are the IYPs as splintered as the YPs? Who's calling the shots in the IYPs?

- Will the IYP venture into more of a MerchantCircle model, where businesses have more direct control over their "presence" and can use the service as a platform for building stronger relationships with their local clients?

- How do copy-point experiments make their way into your databases? who makes these decisions? is it your info providers, the Axcioms, the Amacais?

- How would you characterize the IYPs relationship to Google/Yahoo?

- What is your competitive advantage over Google/Yahoo? Is it simply that you have more users? Is it coupons? Is it your relationships with the data providers? Is it your local sales forces?

- Ben Smith seems to think MerchantCircle, without a sales force to speak of, will undercut your print/online business. How would you characterize the MerchantCircle offering?

- What do you think Krasilovsky meant when he said: " MerchantCircle is a mediocre Yellow Pages offering"

(if you'd like to answer any of these questions write me or just answer them in the comments. be sure to reference which question you're answering - G)
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |