Superpages.com Tries on Agency Hat

A new program to offer local advertisers distribution on Yahoo! and Google's PPC networks suggest local search marketing may be scaling up.

Verizon SuperPages.com’s local PPC advertisers have increased their local budgets to levels beyond what can be spent in its own network. Rather than turn them away, the company places their campaigns on rival PPC networks.

SuperPages.com hopes by placing search campaigns on Yahoo and Google on behalf of its local advertisers, it will simultaneously open a new revenue stream and encourage even larger budget allocations. The company’s VP of E-Commerce Marketing, Eric Chandler, said it would start testing the “pay-per-click plus” initiative in August, and will roll it out to its local sales force after Labor Day.

“Our biggest challenge is these people are giving us more money than we can spend in our network,” he said. “We’ve secured $65 million in budgets, but we’re not able to spend that in our own network. There’s a lot more money in that existing pool of advertisers. If we could spend all of what they gave us, they would increase their budgets even more.”

Search marketing experts have long predicted the rise of local SEM, and the operators of PPC networks are working to provide the infrastructure to support small- to mid-sized companies who wish to dive in. So far, it’s been unclear how the market will scale up. Many regional business owners lacking the time and expertise to manage a self-service search marketing campaign.

SuperPages.com, with its national yellow pages business and a regionally integrated sales network, appears ready to help the business grow. By revising its operation to function as a search agency, the company stands to grow its own network while becoming the gateway through which many small businesses try search marketing for the first time.

The campaigns will initially be sold on a flat fee basis, but that’s likely to change.

“We’ll be adjusting our… fee structures, ” said Chandler. “We’re going to be moving more to a percentage of spend going forward. That lines up more with how existing SEMs charge.”

Earlier this month, Verizon SuperPages.com revamped its Web site, and the company recently partnered with Martindale Hubble and Psychology Today to offer users searchable listings on lawyers and psychologists by region.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource