Need support for the value of utilizing a multi-platform advertising model including Print Yellow Pages, Internet Yellow Pages, Search Engine Marketing, and Social Media?

As part of a unique marketing campaign to prove the value of Print Yellow Pages advertising, Australian Yellow Pages provider Sensis opened a new pizzeria, the Hidden Restaurant, in Melbourne Australia with the goal of tracking business leads. Utilizing flyers, a Facebook page and website, they prompted consumers to find the business by “just looking us up the way you would any other business” from April 12th to the 25th 2010 and the pizzas would be free.

Results of the campaign revealed that of the 8,000 consumers who located the restaurant, 70% of them found the restaurant through Internet Yellow Pages, Paid Search Engine, or Print Yellow Pages listings (directories were delivered shortly before the campaign began). The remaining 30% of consumers found the restaurant through blogs, social media and word of mouth.

While results might vary for different businesses and situations, the overall message remains the same: when conducting a local business search, consumers use a variety of sources; therefore, advertising in multiple channels will help maximize leads.

Sound familiar? It should to those that reviewed the results of the 2009 TMPDM/comScore Local Search Usage Study. The annual study has continually found that consumers not only utilize multiple resources when conducting a local search, they also utilize sources differently according to where they are in the purchase cycle.  

The key to reaching these consumers and increasing business leads is by utilizing a multi-platform strategy that integrates both on and offline media sources. By diversifying their media mix to include these components, businesses increase their visibility and allow consumers to find and interact with them no matter where they are searching.