Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

Should you drop the Yellow Pages?

yellow-pagesToday’s Australian reports Sensis’ Yellow Pages revenue is up 5% and White Pages over 11%. That’s an interesting result as it bucks the evidence that online advertising is hurting them.

At business events I’m finding many owners and managers are telling me they are dropping their Yellow Pages ads as they find they aren’t getting the returns they were hoping for and think online offers more return for their advertising dollar.

There’s a lot of people who agree with that idea and even Sensis’ e-business report showed 89% of consumers are using the net to research purchases.

So there is a pretty good argument for businesses to move their advertising online, but before doing so you need to look at what channels your market is using to find you.

For some businesses the Yellow Pages is still an important channel. For instance, the local plumber cannot afford to be without a Yellow listing.

But other businesses, say an online auction site, don’t need to worry about an expensive Yellow Pages display ad although a listing in the White Pages would probably help their credibility with some customers.

In the end, it depends upon your business and the customers you want to reach. If your business is a service business that generates work from emergency calls, such as the plumber, dentist, vet or a computer technician, then you will need some presence. 

Even if your business doesn’t cater to those markets, the online Sensis listings are still useful as this plugs your business into the directory enquiries, 1234 and web based services, although these may not be as useful as Google or Yahoo!.

Marketing’s all about telling your story to the right people. While many of those people are now surfing the web, it may suit your business to still spend something for those people who insist on using the Yellow Pages.

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Focus as a survival strategy

Why Apple shouldn’t bother with low margin netbooks

compassThis article originally appeared in Smart Company on December 9, 2008

Speculation is mounting about Apple releasing a cheap netbook. The idea is Apple needs to compete in the ultra cheap sector and their existing range is too expensive in the current market.

While there’s no doubt Apple will have to respond to the difficulties in the market and give up some margins and profits, there’s danger in simply chasing other people’s price points.

Apple’s success is built upon high margin products, not the stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap models other manufacturers follow with varying degrees of success. Those high margins allow Apple to offer value added services like free help in their Apple Stores.

While it’s important to meet consumer price points in the current market, pitching a product to meet someone else’s price point is madness. Apple’s market couldn’t be different to that of the Asus EeePC for example.

That people are suggesting companies in Apple’s market and financial positions should be doing these things illustrates just how tough times are in the tech industries. This was flagged in yesterday’s SmartCompany New Years Resolutions article where Amanda Gome specifically clearly flagged IT as an area to cut.

As we learnt in the tech wreck, IT spending is the first to be slashed, and from what I’m hearing there’s a bloodbath looming in the technical services industry.

Others are hearing this too. The website GigaOm and Gartner Research both published tips on surviving the downturn last week.

Gartner’s paper was firmly aimed at tech service businesses, but there‘s plenty of good ideas there for other businesses as well. Their key point is you have to lead the market as followers will struggle.

The GigOm article starts from the same premise as Gartner – businesses need to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market – for GigaOm focus and simplicity are the keywords.

Focus and simplicity are how Apple has achieved its position in its market. Right now is the worst possible time to lose this focus.

All of us need to focus on the areas where we have advantages and how we can simplify things for our customers. We need to be talking to our clients now and understanding where their pain points are and how we can help.

Once we’ve done that, we can start getting new ideas and products out there that will help our businesses through the tough period ahead.

Image by Kriss Szkurlatowski.

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Another AVG false alarm

AVG Free appears to be falsely detecting soundcard drivers, sysaudio.sys, as being infected with the Trojan Dowloader.Delf.BUY

avg-false-alarm-2

If you delete or move these files to the virus vault, you will disable the sound on your system.

This is the third time in two months Grisoft have done this and they are losing credibility. There are plenty of free and paid for alternatives such as Avast! and AntiVir and it’s difficult to continue recommending AVG.

If you are receiving the message sysaudio.sys is infected with Dowloader.Delf and are concerned then download and run Malwarebytes or follow the Removing a Trojan instructions on the IT Queries webpage to check you aren’t infected with anything nasty.

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Closing early

shop-closedI’ve been a customer of my local Mail Boxes Etc branch since shortly after it opened 13 years ago.

While generally happy, one frustration I’ve had with them is they have a habit of closing early. Today they were closed 15 minutes earlier than their normal closing time.

In the last two working days before Christmas, this is madness as small business owners rush to get things done and pick up courier deliveries.

But what’s worse is they lost at least four customers. I saw two disappointed customers outside the firmly locked doors and while browsing in the newsagents next door, two customers came in wanting to use the photocopier as they couldn’t use the ones in MBE.

In these tough times, it’s crazy to be turning away customers and upsetting existing loyal customers.

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Apple and the recession

A couple of weeks ago I gave my opinions why Apple shouldn’t chase the Windows market down the cheap netbook path. Philip Elmer-DeWitt’s makes a similar comment on his Fortune blog quoting Turley Muller’s analysis of Apple’s prospects.

The big challenge for all businesses in this downturn is to focus on core values and products. For a company in Apple’s position, to be distracted by a venture into low margin, cheap products would be a terrible waste of management time and resources.

There’s no doubt Apple will be affected by this storm, they are going to lose sales and profits will suffer. The key to survival is to limit that damage and come through the other end with loyal customers and good products.

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Control freakery

Further to my earlier post about Apple pulling out of Macworld, CNBC opines they are doing it so they can control the messages, to quote;

The fact is, Apple hosting its own events gives the company complete and total control over its own message. More and more companies are leaving traditional trade shows in favor of enjoying the total spotlight at their own events. I’ve reported recently that some big names are either dramatically reducing, or exiting all together, the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.

If this is true then it’s a shortsighted policy by Apple and anyone else that thinks this way. The days of total control has passed, if it ever existed.

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Apple leaving Macworld

Apple’s decision to leave Macworld is strange and disappointing.

Macworld gives Apple a captive audience of dedicated fans. Any other business would kill for the same opportunity to roll out their new products to such an enraptured audience.

While there’s not doubt the Internet and the Apple Store channels have diluted the importance of the trade show, the Macworld event is still an important part of the tech industry’s calendar.

I’m a bit baffled why Apple would be doing this, I think it’s an asset they should treasure.

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