TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here are some highlights from the TKG blog this week, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

Microsoft’s SMB Suite Tackles ‘Webification’
The New York Times‘ David Pogue writes this morning about some of the outcroppings of new innovation at Microsoft, apparent through the newest version of Office Live for Small Business. The product takes the “Webification” issue to heart by allowing tech illiterate SMBs to get up and running with a suite of tools for developing and hosting a Web site. (read more…)

The Innovators’ Dilemma Redux
Not so many years ago, major Yellow Pages publishers in developed countries reported revenue and earnings growth (or occasionally declines) that were generally very consistent. The advent of serious competition in several markets has had somewhat of an impact on that consistency, and the increasing diversity of marketing and sales plans has also led to earnings diversity. (read more…)

AOL Taps Citysearch in Content Distribution Deal
AOL and Citysearch announced a deal today wherein Citysearch content will be distributed throughout the AOL network. Essentially, Citysearch gets extra distribution to the tune of 57 million monthly uniques (a plus for its advertisers). AOL gets additional content to boost its user experience and extra revenue (rev share) from Citysearch’s PFP ads. (read more…)

NADA Notes: AutoTrader, EBay Motors Local Market and Life Stage Marketing
This year’s National Automobile Dealers Association convention in San Francisco, Feb. 9-12, reflected the tough times that have hit the industry. Themes at the show didn’t go much beyond the convention’s official title: “Focus on Profitability.” (read more…)

Newspapers, Search, the Consortium and Yahoo!/Microsoft
Newspapers increasingly see an opportunity to sell SEO/SEM solutions to local advertisers. Such efforts probably began in earnest last year with members of the Yahoo! consortium using Yahoo!’s platforms. Others have been working with WebVisible and other resellers on a custom basis. But things seem to have been heating up, prior to the NAA Marketing conference in Orlando at the end of the month. (read more…)

YPG Cool on U.S. Acquisitions
On the Yellow Pages Group (Canada) fourth-quarter earnings call today, CEO Marc Tellier was asked whether YPG had any interest in making acquisitions in the United States. The question was prompted by the steep sell-offs last week of Idearc Media, R.H. Donnelley and to a lesser degree Yell Group, which owns Yellow Book USA. Tellier responded that he would “never say never.” However, he was clearly cool to the idea of swooping in to buy up U.S. properties. (read more…)

Postmortem on PMA 08: Photography as a Search Vertical
I recently attended the Photo Marketers Association annual convention in Las Vegas. The PMA has been around since 1924 and has extended its reach to address an international mix of sub-verticals including photo retailers, professional photographers, mass merchandisers, professional labs, custom picture framers, scrapbook retailers and event videographers. (read more…)

The Rise of ‘How-To’ Videos
Lately there has been a noticeable rise in the amount of attention and investment paid to online video sites that specialize in generating “how-to” videos. Each is a variation on a model that involves providing thousands of how-to video — some amateur and some professional — in a number of categories. (read more…)

Office Depot Advertises GE’s Goog-411 Phones
“Free one touch directory assistance” from Google’s free directory assistance service, Goog-411, is being advertised in Office Depot’s newspaper circulars as a main feature on GE Dect 6.0 Digital Cordless Phones. (read more…)