Think local
Many people wonder if Google and other online search engines will eventually make print Yellow Pages obsolete. TMP Directional Marketing decided to test the waters on that question, and found that a third of U.S. consumers still consider their print Yellow Pages to be the primary source for local business info, with 90% saying print directories are a valuable source. Countering that is evidence that people are starting to depend on Internet searches for local business information. TMP found that 60% of people go online first for local searches, and of that amount 30% use general search engines such as Google, 17% use Internet Yellow Pages and 13% use local search sites such as CitySearch. “Print directory advertising is a $15 billion market and fairly static,” said TMP Directional Marketing honcho Stuart McKelvey. “But online local search is a $9 billion market and growing. The consumer is already there and ahead of the advertisers.”
One interesting finding was that 82% of Local Searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call, or purchase, emphasizing the importance for marketers to integrate their on- and offline information. Of these, 61% made purchases.
Related reads:
Local Search Gaining, Driving Offline Transactions
Local Search Growing Faster Than General Search
Yahoo’s ROBO Study: Search Has Big Impact On Offline Purchases
TMP Study Finds Shoppers Research Online, Buy Locally
Filed under: Statistics
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