Neg Norton, president, Local Search Association, says " Local media trends give small businesses a good sense of where they should invest their limited advertising budgets... we recommend an integrated approach that incorporates print and Internet... "
84% of people used either print or Internet Yellow Pages to find a local business in the last year and 76% used a search engine. The study found that 74% of U.S. adults used a print Yellow Pages directory to find a local business in the past year. Search engines reached 76% of consumer through the year, and 67% monthly.
Local Media Search Habits | ||
Local Media Source | Used in the past year | Used in the past month |
Yellow Pages (print & Internet) | 84% | 62% |
Search Engines | 76% | 67% |
Print Directories (print Yellow Pages & white pages) | 78% | 55% |
Print Yellow Pages | 74% | 49% |
Internet Yellow Pages | 57% | 36% |
Store Circulars, Email Promotions, or Coupons | 68% | 47% |
Print White Pages | 63% | 36% |
Newspapers | 58% | 36% |
Internet Social Networks | 32% | 23% |
Magazines | 33% | 17% |
Source: Burke, June 2011 |
Dr. Marc Rysman, Boston University, concludes that "...consumers are relying on a growing spectrum of platforms to search for local civic and business information... "
Consumers say Yellow Pages are the most trusted, most accurate source they choose first when searching for local business information. Consumers also rate Yellow Pages as the first chosen, easiest and most convenient to access, and the source they find "best in class" for finding information on local businesses.
Local Media Attributes (% of U.S.Consumers) | ||||
Local Business Info Source | Yellow Pages (Print & Internet) | PrintDirectors (Yellow & White Pgs) | Search Engines | Social Networks |
Most trusted | 51% | 45% | 41% | 1% |
Most accurate | 53 | 45 | 39 | 2 |
First selected | 49 | 45 | 42 | 2 |
Easy & convenient | 52 | 46 | 39 | 2 |
Best in Class | 50 | 44 | 42 | 2 |
Source: Burke, June 2011 |
Norton says this about social networks vs. the Yellow Pages: "... many believe that social networks have a built-in trust factor because... (of) referrals from people they know, but consumers... say that they trust most the local information provided by Yellow Pages and search engines..."
While usage of print Yellow Pages has declined as local media information has become available in more places, says the report, the number of times U.S. consumers look up information in a print directory continues to be in the billions. 2010, consumers generated 11 billion references to print Yellow pages. comScore found that Internet Yellow Pages generated 5.6 billion searches in 2010.
For additional information, please visit here.