Winter chill

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a
friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
~Edith Sitwell

Estimating 2011 Global Yellow Pages Revenues at $23.4 Billion

CHANTILLY, Va., Dec. 6, 2011 -- PRNewswire -- Yellow Pages publishers worldwide are gaining traction with new digital products according to the newly released sixth edition of BIA/Kelsey's "Global Yellow Pages™" report. BIA/Kelsey expects revenues from print and online directories to decline globally from $23.4 billion in 2011 to $22.0 billion in 2015, representing a compound annual growth rate of -1.5 percent.

Print revenues will continue a steady decline for the forecast period however; a growing number of global Yellow Pages operators are approaching an inflection point where digital growth can offset declines in the traditional product set. BIA/Kelsey believes newer services (websites, video, social, mobile, SEM) rather than established Internet Yellow Pages platforms will be the primary digital growth drivers for directory publishers in the coming years.
READ FULL ARTICLE

Local + Mobile Is the Next Big Thing for SMBs

Michael Neubarth – Business 2 Community points out survey findings and key indicators illustrating how the local mobile advertising and search market is exploding. Analysts and experts are advising SMBs to gear up for mobile local search—including mobile advertising networks and mobile search engine optimization (SEO).
READ FULL ARTICLE

Traditional Media Winning Local Online Ad War

Borrell released its 2012 outlook report. The report states how local online ads (including mobile) will be worth $18.5 billion next year. Of that projection, $4.3 billion is mobile. Borrell argues traditional media sales channels are winning the war for local ad dollars, including digital ads:
READ FULL ARTICLE

YEAR END 2011

During 2011, we published 244 telephone directories, 2 university student/staff directories, 2 state association membership directories and 1 area visitor guide. We had 116 new publications in 2011.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

One promise we make to each client is that their directory will be published on time. In order to achieve this, Pinnacle employees join together and work diligently throughout the year on each directory. We are pleased to announce that again in 2011 we shipped every directory to the printer on time. Our employees are proud of the work they do and will do whatever it takes to get the job done - and done right.

REACHING OUT

We take great pride in giving back to the community. With many opportunities available to raise money for local organizations, approximately 90 office employees were able to raise over $7,700 in 2011. With events such as bake sales, casual day stickers and silent auctions, we were able to help out the United Way Bemidji and Central Minnesota, Radio-thon to End Child Abuse, Beltrami Humane Society, March of Dimes, Susan G. Koman for the Cure and the Kidney Foundation.

DIRECTORY CONTACTS MEETING

Just around the corner! The next Directory Contacts Meeting will be held Fall 2012.

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. Keep an eye out for more information.

Questions? Please email Gini Holler or call 218.444.1805
CLICK HERE to view pictures from the 2011 DCM.

NEW CLIENTS

Welcome! We've recently signed two new telephone directory publishing agreements. We're excited to be given this opportunity!

Beaver Creek Cooperative Telephone Co., Oregon City, OR, has signed an agreement for us to publish their upcoming directory which publishes in April.

Rainier Connect, Eatonville, WA, has signed an agreement for us to publish their upcoming directory which publishes in August.

PINNACLE CONTACTS

Please CLICK HERE for our company contact list which will assist you in reaching Pinnacle Publishing employees.

We publish 249 publications in 35 states.
If you would like a copy of our current client list, please CONTACT US.

LOCALSOLUTION.COM - RECOMMENDATIONS

On the localsolution.com homepage, you will notice the Recent Recommendations column. This column is a live feed of recommendations posted on various business listings. Recommendations can play a critical role when a consumer is actively looking for a business and is ready to buy. In order to leave feedback, consumers may choose to either log in using their Facebook account, or create a personal localsolution.com account. To support your local businesses, we encourage you to create an account and begin leaving your comments. Who knows, they may return the favor someday!

90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2009)

NEW! PINNACLE TO OFFER WEBSITE DESIGN & HOSTING SERVICES

At Pinnacle Publishing, our goal is to provide products that help local businesses promote and market themselves amidst the changing trends and technology. While websites are not a new item in the marketing world, we still find many businesses that don’t have a website or are unsatisfied with the website they currently have. Therefore, we have put together a website product that we feel offers flexibility in design and updates, provides a mobile marketing feature, is reasonably priced, and meets the needs of businesses who want to strengthen their online presence.

Our website package includes:

Up to 5 page website - $59.95/month

Includes design, hosting and domain registration

A mobile site for friendly viewing on a smartphone

Up to 5 email accounts

Monthly traffic reports emailed to the business

Up to 1/2 hour of updates per month

Personal customer service by our Digital Products team to answer questions and handle monthly updates

Website is built SEO friendly

Examples:

Asset Water in Alton, NH

Sample Sites:

Construction Company
Beauty Salon

At this time, there are only a few markets where we are selling websites, however we hope to expand it out to most, if not all markets in 2012. If you have questions or would like more information about this product, please contact Caralee Nowak, Digital Products Coordinator.

NEW! TAGS NOW OFFERED IN DISPLAY ADS

With the growing adoption of smartphones, consumers are using their mobile devices more and more to find information and learn about local businesses. 2D barcodes such as QR Codes or Microsoft Tags are becoming increasingly popular as they provide easy access to information from a smartphone. For this reason, Pinnacle Publishing recently announced that upon request, we will create and insert a Microsoft Tag into the advertiser’s print directory display ad. Currently, we are only providing the creation of the Tag, not the QR Code; however, we still accept QR Codes for display ads if the advertiser supplies the artwork for the barcode. To learn more about Tags and the benefits for using them, click here to view our sales flyer.

Pictured from left to right: Kim Cave, Matt Ewert, Jen (Rocky) Rockensock, Stacey Sundvall, Christine Petersen, Joe Hensel, Myra Johnson, Leann Birt, Kyja Parson, Jeanna Razink, and Brenda Reddick

YELLOW PAGES & HS AD

The Yellow Pages Department consists of 7 graphic designers and 4 HS (in-column) ad team members. The graphic designers are responsible for the creation of all display ads in the yellow pages as well as any ads appearing on the directory cover, the creation of the rotating ads appearing on localsolution.com, and the final pagination and proof reading of the yellow pages for publication.

The responsibilities of the HS Ad Department include creating and proofreading the in-column ads for the yellow pages, sending ad proofs for customer approval, maintaining the filing system, electronic scanning of documents, and assisting with proofing the yellow pages and information pages of the directories.

Although separate, the departments work as a team and enjoy moments of silliness and creative expression.

Representatives from Pinnacle Publishing have attended or will be attending the following industry events this quarter:

OPASTCO - Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telephone Companies, Annual Winter Convention; Lake Buena Vista, FL: January 14-18

NTCA - National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Annual Meeting & Expo; San Diego, CA: February 12-15

MTA - Minnesota Telecom Alliance, Annual Convention; Minneapolis, MN: March 25-27

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. ~Victor Hugo

ARTICLE SUBMISSION

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 pinnaclenews@pinnaclepub.com.

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. pinnaclenews@pinnaclepub.com