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Local Search Study Points Out Value of Integrated Marketing Strategies

Despite the significant growth of social media, search engines and other channels, new research has found Yellow Pages - both print and internet - to be the most commonly used sources for finding local businesses and services, suggesting direct mail and web-to-print strategies shoul be top priorities for businesses.

However, the study, conducted by Burke and the Local Search Association, points more so to the value of integrated marketing channels for the purpose of business advertising and promotion, finding consumers cull two to three sources for their own business research purposes.

More importantly, Yellow Pages outpaced search engines, with 84 percent of respondents claiming to use the service within the past year, compared to 76 percent for search engines.

Store circulars (68 percent), white pages (63 percent) and even newspapers (58 percent) were cited more often than social media (32 percent), providing further evidence that print media is adapting well to innovations in the digital community, especially with help of direct mailing software.

"Local media trends give small businesses a good sense of where they should invest their limited advertising budgets," said Neg Norton, president, Local Search Association. "We recommend an integrated approach that incorporates print and internet solutions to reach local consumers."