By Newt Barrett | On January 21, 2008

My looming dermatologist visit resurrected the directory issue. Since I had written so critically about the Yellow Pages in a recent post, I thought it only fair that I try a real-world experiment to test their usefulness. Checking out a doctor’s info was a great test. I am sorry to say that both the print and the online Yellow Pages did poorly.

Here’s what hit home after the experiment: For almost all of us, the Internet has changed our fundamental search processes so dramatically that most of us have moved away from the print Yellow Pages–and probably away from online Yellow Pages as well.

Their old slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking,” was all about how easy it was to use the print directory compared to wandering around downtown looking for a store, a lawyer or a doctor. Unfortunately, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and all the rest of the search engines are letting our fingers do the walking today.

What also seems obvious is that an effective content marketing strategy will almost certainly produce better results dollar for dollar than a traditional Yellow Pages advertising campaign.

 

The experiment: Get phone and location details for the doctor since I have neither.

Since I knew the name of the dermatology practice but knew neither their phone number nor their location, my first inclination was to Google the name of the practice and go to their website. I was able to accomplish this in about five seconds. The search pulled up a hyperlink to their website, with a map to the left and a button enabling me to get precise directions. Because this was so easy, I was also inclined to do a quick visit to their website.

On their home page you are offered an introduction to the practice, contact information for each of the towns in which they are located, and helpful maps showing exactly how to get to them. Since this is my first visit with the particular dermatologist, I was curious about the doctor I will be visiting and was able to look up her biography on the website. Since it was impressive, I felt pretty good about putting my skin into her hands.

It’s worth noting that the information I was able to pull up on Google was part of the local search mechanism and is provided to me and to the doctor at no charge.

Giving the print directory a last chance to produce results quickly

Out of curiosity, I tried to replicate this experience in the print Yellow Pages. Here’s the process (and I’ll admit I’m rusty since I haven’t used the Yellow Pages in years):

• 1. I first flipped through the pages to the letter D and looked for ‘dermatologists.’ No luck. Although I found plenty of dentists under D.
• 2. I next decided that going through the index would be useful to search for’ dermatologist.’ Guess what? You can’t find a dermatologist that way either.
• 3. Then I got a little smarter and decided to look for physicians. (By the way, if you don’t know that there’s a red tab on the index pages it will take you a while to find them.) I figured foolishly that if you look at physicians and surgeons, underneath that broad category you would find dermatology in alphabetical order. Well, it doesn’t work that quite that way. You see the listing begins with physicians and surgeons D.O.–not M.D..
• 3.5. I found ‘physicians and surgeons M.D. dermatology pages 850 to 855.’
• 4. I flipped to page 850 and started looking. I found their ad inside the the dermatology section. Actually, it’s a good ad and does a nice job of describing what they do. Of course, it also has a phone number. But it has no map showing directions. That’s important for this particular physician because the street on which they are located is not one that most people would know.
• 5. I then have a choice. I can call and ask for directions, but know that I would probably be dropped into voicemail. Or I can then google the name of the practice, knowing that I’ll find the address, phone number, and a map.
• 6. My final step would be to get really frustrated (that is, if this was for real rather than as a test of the woefully inefficient print Yellow Pages). By this final step, I realize that by going to Google in the first place I could’ve found absolutely everything I needed without using the Yellow Pages.

I will admit that the whole process took only about five minutes, but that was after I finally found were my wife had hidden the Yellow Pages. So let’s call it 10 minutes. Compare that to Google:

The Google versus print Yellow Pages scorecard

• Google = 5 seconds
• Yellow Pages directory = 300 seconds
• Conclusion: it takes 60 times longer to find information in the Yellow Pages than it did with Google. Not only that, but I wound up having to use Google at the end of the process anyway.

I know what you may be thinking about me and the Yellow Pages!

If I had remembered more about the relatively complicated procedures for finding physicians in the Yellow Pages, I would’ve found my doctor faster. Of course, you’re right. And, I’m sure that many search Luddites will continue to use the traditional Yellow Pages for some period of time. But, think for a moment about the younger generation of buyers. Why would they bother to learn how to navigate through the thicket of different kinds of doctors when they could simply go to the web, type in dermatologists, and pull up a page full of listings? Moreover, if they knew the name of a practice or of an individual doctor and their approximate location, they would simply use a search tool like Google to pull up the information in a few seconds. Perhaps, the online Yellow Pages will serve us better. Let’s see.

To be fair, let’s give the online Yellow Pages a chance.

Once again Google beat their brains out.

If life were simpler, you would know that your Yellow Pages directory would be replicated online at YellowPages.com, but, because this is an Embarq directory, it has the clever but cryptic URL: www.bestredyp.com. Unfortunately, while I was researching this article, I could never remember the URL. But I’ll chalk that up to being an aging baby boomer rather than blaming it on them.

Here are the steps needed to find my dermatologist via the online Yellow Pages:

• 1. I typed in the URL,www.bestredyp.com.
• 2. I typed in the name of business, the city, and the state.
• 3. I’ve found myself on a pointless page which required to me to select from either a list view or a phone book view.
• 4. I chose the phone book view, thinking that I would find more information in that view rather than on the simple list. But this was just a guess.
• 5. Oddly, I landed on another page that offered up four possible matches that use the name of the medical practice — one of which somehow involves tattooing.
• 6. I took an educated guess and typed in ‘dermatology’ which took me to a replica of the actual Yellow Pages listing–but not their ad. That listing referenced another doctor rather than the one I will be seeing. Because there is no address attached to this listing, I have two choices: I can either click on a hyperlink to their website or (and I have no idea why I would bother at this point) I could click to see their ad.
• 7. I clicked the hyperlink to their website, but this actually took me to a framed version of their website while keeping me inside the Yellow Pages directory. Nonetheless , I was pretty much at the promised land at long last.

The Google versus online Yellow Pages scorecard

• Google: 5 seconds
• Online Yellow Pages: 45 seconds
• Conclusion: even the online version of the Yellow Pages takes nine times longer to get the information I was searching for.

Yellow Pages Efficacy Pales in Comparison to Online Search and Content Marketing Solutions.

Our search patterns have changed dramatically. The Yellow Pages are as out of place as buggy whips were shortly after automobile horsepower had displaced the four-legged variety. Just like buggy whips, the Yellow Pages will have a role to play for a short transitional period, but you will benefit from focusing your customer outreach efforts on content marketing–especially on the Internet.

My doctor has a great website that made me comfortable about my very first visit. That’s something the Yellow Pages couldn’t do. And, unlike days of old, a website–not the Yellow Pages–is the last stop prior to purchase. In fact, if you get your content and your search marketing just right, it will be your customers’ first stop, too.