Online Marketing is now fundamental to doing Business
Roy Morgan Research Australia recently published some new statistics regarding the decline of the Yellow Pages in favour of Online Marketing particularly through Google. The statistics showed that between 2002 and 2009 heavy yellow pages useage declined by 46% in Brisbane, heavy useage being defined as people who use it weekly or more often. In Sydney the decline was 69% for the same period, in Melbourne it was 60%, in Perth it was 61%, in Adelaide it was 51% and in Hobart it was 46%. As with all independant market research it is retrospective and tells a picture that we have already lived through, it is fair to assume that the decline in YP useage during 2010 has accellerated as internet useage has grown dramatically and Google Local listings through their enhancement of Google Places has become a totally dominant player in the genre.
Based on these stats it is mystifying why any business would continue to spend their marketing budgets in this area. The Yellow pages sales team must be pretty good at their job, in fact if any read this and are looking for a job please get in touch.
On average clients who have a fully optimised website campaign tend to achieve short term(within 6 months) returns of between 500% AND 10,000%, longer term those numbers increase and sometimes exponentially. Into 2011 our Proposed Marketing mix will be based on SEO, backed up by adwords and Facebook PPC, email marketing through name capture optins as well as SMS marketing for the right industries. This mix would turn any company’s online presence into a lead generating machine and wean them from any lingering spend they may have with the Yellow Pages. 2011 will be a big year for the online world.
