National yellow page campaigns don't just happen, they evolve - with or without a plan. But even the best laid plans for a national campaign face three major obstacles: multiple publishers, irrational pricing, and complex ad units. Yellow Page Publishers
The problem of advertising nationally begins with the multiplicity of publishers.
Historically, the yellow pages were a monopoly of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) better known as MaBell. In the 1980's, with the breakup of AT&T, the yellow page directories were divided among the so called regional Bells (the Baby Bells), including:
Bell South
NYNEX
Southwestern Bell
Bell Atlantic
Ameritech
Pacific Bell
US WestIn addition, there were (and continue to be) a number of independent publishers, many of whom have existed for decades.
For example, independent publishers the yellow book, GTE and SNET.
Today numerous entities publish yellow pages. The major directories are currently owned by at least half a dozen different publishing companies.
Dealing with 5 or 6 companies, let alone the smaller secondary publishers, can be an administrative nightmare.
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yellow page publishers
Yellow Page Pricing The second major obstacle facing the national yellow page advertiser is the complex, sometimes irrational pricing of yellow page placements.
Many of the yellow pages that heve been around for decades now carry extremely high prices per square inch of space. An example of complexity which leads to irrational pricing occurs in some of the older yellow pages that have been around for decades. Because publishers have tended to make automatic increases year after year after year, prices in older books bear little or no relation to value. A good example of this would be the Chicago yellow pages.
Then too, unit pricing in the yellow pages is very idiosyncratic. Each book - sometimes even books with the same publisher - can have different prices for the same ad unit.
Finally, consider the fact that discount programs proliferate. Publishers sometimes offer incredible incentives to sell a particular ad unit or book, but it requires a sophisticated analysis to ensure that these introductory offers don't lead you to dysfunctional long term decisions.
Because of the ever changing complex price structure of the yellow pages, a successful national ad campaign requires constant monitoring.
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Yellow Page Ad Units Ad units are enormously varied. Again, like pricing, different books - even those with the same publisher - can have different dimensions and/or a different look.
This complexity of unit size makes it hard to compare the efficacy of the different yellow page books, let alone rationalize the artwork and copy when you place ads in multiple directories.
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Solutions
To deal with these multiple overlapping variables, most national yellow page advertisers need professional guidance.
In the last 50 years, a group of professionals came into existence to fill this need.
These professionals call themselves Certified Marketing Representatives (CMRs). They have made national ad campaigns feasible, if not simple. However, the CMRs themselves have now become captives of the system.
yellowpageblues is a new type of yellow page consultant that helps manage a national yellow page campaign from a client's point of view.
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