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Nothing's Sweeter
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"A ship is safe in harbor -- but
that's not what ships are for."
~ John A. Shedd
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INDUSTRY
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8 OUT OF 10 STILL READY TO BUY
WHEN USING YELLOW PAGES
Last quarter the Yellow Pages Association
(YPA)
released the results of their first Local
Media Tracking Survey.
To no great surprise to anyone in the industry, Yellow Pages have
continued to be an invaluable source for local search buyers (and
advertisers) in 2009. This article looks at some of the findings in
that survey.
READ FULL ARTICLE
YPA LAUNCHES INAUGURAL
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
YPA launched the
industry's first
report on sustainability on Earth
Day, offering a look at the progress Yellow Pages companies have
made in producing smarter, more ecologically friendly local search
products that help connect local businesses and customers.
"Many consumers
don't know that it is not necessary to use new trees to make Yellow
Pages paper," said Neg Norton, president, YPA. "We've made so much
quiet progress since we set environmental guidelines for the
industry in 2007 in the areas of resource reduction, manufacturing,
and recycling. There's no better time than now to report to
communities and consumers about the actionable steps we've taken,
and to outline where our industry needs to go."
READ FULL ARTICLE
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INTERNAL
INFORMATION
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PINNACLE PUBLISHING NAMED BUSINESS OF
THE YEAR
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Don Dehart,
Gini Holler, Rosie Berg, Tom Vanasse, Shelly Geerdes, Mandy Burk,LeeAnn
Shogren, Elizabeth Upgren, Betsy Bignall & Tracy Williams
Pinnacle Publishing was named the 2010 Bemidji Area Chamber of
Commerce Business of the Year at their Awards of Excellence program
on Thursday, May 20, 2010.
Pinnacle was
nominated and selected due to its growth, benefits, and community
support. The venture of directory sales and production began in 1992
and has expanded to a total publications count of 242. Pinnacle has
grown from seven employees to over 100 -- most notably hiring 35
employees so far in 2010. The recent expansion to 33 states, the
benefits offered (medical, 401k, department lunches and flex
schedule), excellent customer service, dedication and support of
community, and organizations were noteworthy remarks.
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DIRECTORY CONTACTS MEETING: MAY 18 - MAY 20, 2011
After a successful Directory Contacts Meeting (DCM) in 2009, we will
be hosting another meeting in 2011. If you are involved in any
aspect of the directory process, then this meeting is for you! This
event is a great opportunity to learn about directory procedures,
find out what’s new in the directory publishing industry, and
network with colleagues in the Telecom industry. The DCM is
scheduled to be held in Bemidji, Minnesota in the Spring of 2011.
Topics, speakers, registration details, and awards will be
announced soon.
Mark your calendars for May 18th -
May 20th!
Registration is FREE!
CLICK HERE to view pictures from DCM 2009.
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PINNACLE PUBLISHING GOLF DAY - AUGUST 9TH
Our annual Golf Day fundraiser will be held on
Bobby's Legacy Course at Cragun's Resort in Brainerd, Minnesota. Come join us
on August 9th for a fun day of golfing! Many prizes will be given as
well as awards for individual accomplishments on the course (low
score, long putt, etc.) All proceeds from the event will benefit the
Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) Foundation Scholarship fund.
CLICK HERE
for more information on the event
VIEW photos
from last years event
NEW CLIENTS
Welcome! We've recently signed two new
telephone directory publishing agreements. We are excited to be
given these opportunities.
TDS Telecom, Madison, WI has signed a multi-year
agreement to publish 109 of their directories starting in January
2011.
Full press release.
Salina - Spavinaw Telephone Company, Salina, OK
has signed an agreement for us to publish their upcoming directory.
This directory publishes in May.
PINNACLE CONTACTS
Please
CLICK HERE for our
company contact list which will assist you in reaching Pinnacle
Publishing employees. |
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We publish 242 publications in 33 states.
If you would like a copy of our
current client list, please
CONTACT US.
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WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEARCH ENGINE
LIKE GOOGLE AND LOCALSOLUTION.COM?
A search engine such as Google, Yahoo,
or Bing is a website that gathers information from the Internet and
provides a list of web pages that are relevant to your search
criteria. Localsolution.com is a local search platform. A local
search platform allows a user to perform a more refined search
within a customized database, based on a product or service within a
specific geographical region. Ex. Restaurants in Bemidji, MN.
IS GOOGLE A COMPETITOR TO
LOCALSOLUTION.COM?
Search engines
and local search platforms are not competitors. In fact, they
actually work hand in hand with each other. Search engines want to
provide a user with a website that contains the most relevant and
up-to-date information. A local search platform, like
localsolution.com, contains this data. In return, local search
platforms compete to get to the top of the search engine results
where a majority of users are looking for the one great site that
can provide them with the answers.
ARE THERE WAYS TO HELP LOCALSOLUTION.COM GET TO THE TOP OF
GOOGLE?
Absolutely! Getting to the top of Google takes time, but here are 3
easy ways to help:
1.
To build great content, encourage your local businesses to go online
and update their
listing by clicking on the
Add or
Update my Free Listing link on the localsolution.com
homepage.
2.
Link building is a key element to getting recognized by Google. Add
a
localsolution.com link to the homepage of your website or better
yet, place our
search widget on your site. Available at
www.localsolutionwidget.com. Encourage
others, such as your Chamber of Commerce or Tourism Bureau to add
the link as well.
3. Grow
awareness and usage by promoting localsolution.com in as many places
as
possible. Need ideas or templates to get started?
Visit
www.localsolutionmarketingkit.com.
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STAFF
SPOTLIGHT |
Pictured from left to right: Karen Rengel, Sarah
Andree, Jen Medicraft, Cindy Cowan, Mary LeFaive, Tom Vanasse
(Supervisor). Not pictured: Sandy Jones
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INSIDE SALES
DEPARTMENT
The Inside Sales Department, located in Pinnacle’s
headquarters in Bemidji, MN,
is comprised of six Sales Executives and one
Supervisor. The Sales Executives contact local and
foreign businesses regarding print and on-line
advertising options.
In addition, all customers with free
listings are contacted to confirm that their
information is correct while attempting to upgrade
them to paid advertising.
“New Business Customer Installs” are
mainly contacted by the Inside Sales Dept.
Yellow page classifications are selected for
each new business to ensure they receive the best
possible representation in the directory.
Paid and unpaid advertising options are
discussed with each new business.
In 2009, the Inside Sales Dept. worked over 19,000
sales contracts. This number will be shattered in
2010 with the addition of staff to our team and the
growth of our company.
The goal of the Inside
Sales Dept. is to provide the best customer
experience possible, to maintain and create loyalty
with existing and new customers, and to assist the
customers in making wise investments of their
advertising dollars via print and on-line directory
advertising.
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FEATURED
TOPIC |
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BUSINESS PROFILE INFORMATION -
GREAT CONTENT IS ONLY A CLICK AWAY
Want to
know an easy way to promote localsolution.com while
building great content, creating user interaction,
and helping your businesses take full advantage of
what your local search site has to offer?
Encourage your local businesses to submit their
profile information by using the
Add or Update my Free Listing
link on localsolution.com.
By following a
few simple steps, businesses can submit updates to
their contact information as well as provide a brief
description about themselves, their products and
services, hours of operation, and links to their
website or email address. Best of all – it's FREE!
Just like the print directory,
users of local search sites -- such as
localsolution.com -- predominantly consist of people
who are looking for a local business because they
are in need of a product and are ready to buy. With
business profile information, what better way is
there for your local businesses to market to an
audience that is begging to know more!
CLICK HERE to download a handout that you can give to
customers when they inquire about all the great
services you have to offer.
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INDUSTRY
EVENTS |
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Representatives from Pinnacle Publishing have
attended or will
be attending the following industry events this quarter.
MTA - Minnesota Telecom Alliance, Golf Day;
Hutchinson, Minnesota: July 12
OPASTCO
– Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of
Small Telephone Companies, Annual Conference and
Tradeshow;
Seattle, Washington: July 24-28
MTA – Minnesota Telecom Alliance, Telco Marketing
Group; Onamia, Minnesota: August 11-13
MTA - Minnesota Telecom Alliance, Office Managers
Peer Group Fall Meeting;
Brainerd, Minnesota: September 22-24
MTA - Minnesota Telecom Alliance, Customer Service
Peer Group Fall Conference;
Alexandria, Minnesota: September 30
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QUOTE OF THE
QUARTER
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"The fishing was good; it was
the catching that was bad"
~
A.K. Best
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ARTICLE SUBMISSION |
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Do you have
information you would like us to publish in our newsletter; such as,
updates on a company project, volunteer stories, contributions made,
industry information, fun articles, employee promotions, etc.?
If so, please submit it to
news@pinnaclepub.com.
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The goal of this newsletter is to
inform our telephone company clients about the “happenings” at
Pinnacle Publishing. We would appreciate any feedback you may have
about this newsletter and invite your suggestions on the content.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, please reply to this e-mail
message stating either “Subscribe” or “Remove” in the subject field.
news@pinnaclepub.com
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