When was the last time you picked up the yellow pages?
If you are like most people in the shipping and transport business,
then it has probably been years since you consulted the yellow pages to look for the
number of a particular custom clearance agent or a warehouse operator.
With the Internet making searching for contact details much easier and
today's smart cellular phones allowing people to store their acquaintances' or business
partners' numbers and bring them with him/her everywhere he/she goes, there seems to be
little need for the printed directory.
With extinction seemingly beckoning, directory publishers like the
Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC) are working hard to keep the printed directory
relevant in this digital age.
In a recently held conference in Tagaytay, DPC and other members of the
Association of Directory Publishers Corporation conferred on what they can do to ensure
that the directories industry and their products do not go the way of the once popular
pagers and beepers.
DPC and ADPAI president Ricardo Bautista revealed that one of his
company's strategies to cope up with the changing world is to further enhance the utility
of their existing products and services and generate "a demand for the yellow pages."
The newly released 2006-2007 DPC Yellow Pages for example, will also feature 35 colored
Metro Manila maps, alphabetical listings by location and icons that will aide users find
what they want faster.
The executive further adds that their company is taking advantage of the
fact that the Yellow Pages is still the one of the most effective advertising mediums around.
Citing how 64% of people who look for a particular product or service using the Yellow Pages
end up acquiring that service/product within 24 hours, Mr. Bautista stated that the DPC's
marketing plans are now further aimed towards helping their advertisers maximize the return
of their investments in the DPC Yellow Pages.
Another strategy used by the DPC and their respective foreign counterparts
is to utilize technology and take full advantage of their potential. Instead of viewing the
Internet and mobile phones as "the enemy", directory publishers are now using them to provide
consumers with new services that will complement their existing product. In the recent
years, the DPC and other ADPAI members have invested heavily on hardware and software to
create online and mobile versions of their more traditional directories. The DPC's
electronic yellow pages (www.eyp.ph) allows online users to search through DPC's thousands
of business listings while its Luk4 service delivers information like the contact numbers
of a particular business, movie schedules and events directly to the consumers' mobile
phones.
Will these new efforts keep the directory industry from completely
vanishing? It is still far too early to tell, but Mr. Bautista and his co-publishers are
feeling optimistic.
Directory Philippines Corporation can be contacted at DPC Place 2322
Chino Roces Avenue Makati City, Metro Manila 1231 Philippines. Their website address
is www.dpc.com.ph.
