Does Anyone Still Use a Phone Book?
By Dave Maloney
Walking through the main lobby of our office building the past few days I've been passing the latest dropped-off stack of unwanted phone books. Following the same destiny as last year's delivery, they will probably wind up in the dumpster after someone finally gets tired of seeing the pile there.
I can't remember the last time I needed to use a phone book. If I need a phone number (which is rare because I don't call anyone when I can email them) I just Google the person/company's name and there is it, in a tenth of the time it used to take my fingers to do the walking. (That's an old phone book slogan, you kids wouldn't know about)
I haven't had to use the Yellow Pages either, and I haven't talked to anyone else who has. A few years back, using the phone book was my primary resource for finding a business, a service or a solution that I needed at that time. Now I just type what I'm in need of in the search bar and instantly have more responses to my question that I could ever need.
This is where your company's blog finds its purpose, and here's a real life example:
We just bought a used pop-up camper, and as anyone who has ever had any experience with an old camper knows, they have "issues." The pop-up roof will only crank open on one side, it's getting dark and the manual doesn't have any troubleshooting advice to offer. My daughter grabs the Ipad, types in "Jayco camper top wont go up" and a whole lot of other people have had the same problem (maybe that's not a good thing for us). After reading through a few search engine results, I had the information I needed and fixed the problem.
How this applies to your company's blog: The page I found was in a series of quick how-to-fix-yourself articles from a company that deals camper parts and service. I looked around and saw they were a great potential resource for more info and solutions in my future, so I bookmarked their site.
Hopefully my next issue will be just as easy to fix, and I'll go to this site first to look for an answer. If I need to order a part, and they have it I'll probably get it there. And when I'm at the campground and someone asks "how'd I fix that?" I'll recommend that company.
In conclusion, your blog can be much more effective (and a ton less expensive) than a yellow pages ad. And unlike when we used to use a phone book, I don't have to wait until next day's business hours!