Speaking Sensis

Sensis’ Michelle Sherwood talks to small and medium sized businesses about how to get the most bang for their advertising buck.

Sensis’ General Manager of Marketing, Michelle Sherwood presented to a room of more than 900 small and medium sized businesses at the Small Business BIG Marketing event on Thursday 27 August.

Held at Central Pier in the Docklands, the event was a part of Small Business Victoria’s month long small business festival Energise Enterprise 09, of which Yellow Pages® is a platinum sponsor.

Michelle’s presentation, ‘Making your advertising work for you’ gave the businesses in the room practical insights and advice about effectively marketing and advertising.

Michelle Sherwood on the dais

“With consumer confidence on the increase, it’s more important than ever for your business to be seen by customers when they’re looking to buy.

“Our job at Yellow Pages® is to bring buyers and sellers together, whether that be through print, online or mobile directories, search and mapping websites or telephone information services,” she said.

The Yellow Pages® and White Pages® face to face sales representatives were also out in force, with small business owners flocking to the stands to find out how Yellow Pages and White Pages can help to grow their business.

Luke and Deepak at the Yellow Pages® stand

Visit www.yellowadvertising.com.au or www.whywhitepages.com.au for more information.

Some great commentary was generated by the recent Sensis® e-Business Report. As a small sample of the many discussions occurring in both main and social media, here’s a couple of articles published over the last day or so.

Peter Switzer… “Don’t get left behind online”

Claire Heaney of the Herald Sun… “Businesses flocking to technology“

This year Sensis is sponsoring a series of lunches for members of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce. After two of these lunches, it’s really pleasing to get feedback from this diverse audience that we’ve shared a few things about consumers, small businesses and advertising that they didn’t already know…and actually wanted to know!

I mean, let’s face it, how many times have you turned up to a seminar or lunch only to walk away thinking, I’ve just been robbed of two precious hours in my life and I should demand a refund! I’m not saying Sensis hasn’t been guilty of this in the past… we’ve had our moments like any large business given the opportunity to put someone on the soapbox. But we’re starting to use opportunities like this to – and don’t gag here – help people.  So we asked the Chamber what their members wanted to know to about digital marketing.

And as the chicken and beef mains made their way around the room, our head of Yellow Pages® Digital, Sandeep Baruah, explained that the future of digital marketing in business will see a range of new applications at the disposal of the marketer. The question is what opportunities do they really present to increase brand equity and a company’s bottom line?

For some business, just knowing where to start is daunting in itself.

Sandeep unlocked some of the mystery around digital marketing tools such as:

• Social networking sites
• Search engine marketing
• Search engine optimisation
• Content syndication
• Mobile internet and
• Mobile codes

And he gave the audience a realistic check-list to help them make decisions about their digital marketing strategies:

• Who are my customers and where are they looking?
• What media are they accessing that influences their buying decisions?
• Which of these channels can I use to engage my customers?
• How can I use new technology to integrate campaigns and content across different media?
• Finally, what return am I actually going to see from this investment and how will I measure it?

Answering these questions will help any business go a long way to ensuring that they’re not simply swallowing the hype around new ways of reaching consumers, or putting all of their eggs in one basket.

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The 14th annual Sensis® e-Business Report has hit the shelves. The report continues to track the technological journey of Australia’s small businesses, while providing some insight into consumer adoption of technology as well.

This year, we’ve extend our coverage of mobiles and, I have to say, the results are really interesting.

Check out these resources:

An overview of the latest report from report author, Christena Singh. Includes video if you’re a fan of the moving picture.

A look at the rapid growth of the mobile internet. Can you believe that half of Australia’s young adults have already used it?

For a free copy of the latest report, it will be live here during the day on 20 August.

Sensis has been releasing an annual e-Business Report since 1995 looking at how businesses and now consumers utilise technology.  With the 2009 report just released, report author Christena Singh tells us how things have changed …

I don’t know about you, but I find it pretty mind-boggling to go back to our 1995 report and see that 48 per cent of businesses had no intention of getting on to the internet, mostly because they saw no business use for it!

Back in 1995 Sensis released its first “Special Report into Technology” which looked at how Australia’s small and medium businesses were using computers and the like.  Actually, it was pretty much just computers, and a bit of internet.  There was no talk of e-business in those days.  “The Internet” had a capital “I”, because it was kind of special, and maybe a bit intimidating!

Move forward to 2009… the internet doesn’t get a capital these days!  Now we see 97 per cent of Australia’s SMEs with computers, and despite what they might have thought back in 1995, 95 per cent of them are on the internet.  Of those, 96 per cent have a broadband connection.

And businesses certainly have found a use for it – many in fact!  While e-mail remains the number one use for businesses at 97 per cent, other top uses include looking for information on products and services (92 per cent), getting reference information and research data (91 per cent), internet banking (86 per cent) and access online directories, such as our beloved Yellow Pages® Online (83 per cent).

Now we see some 74 per cent of SMEs using the internet to buy goods and services, and 56 per cent using it to sell their products and services – with both of these applications growing further over the past year.

But for me the most interesting finding this year for businesses is that 26 per cent of Australian consumers are now accessing the internet on their mobile phones.  If you look at the top three mobile internet uses – looking for information on products and services, using social networking sites and looking for suppliers of products and services – it is interesting to note that two of these top three are commercial-based activities.  Definitely something for businesses to be thinking about when planning their business strategies for 2009 – and beyond!

According to the Sensis® e-Business Report – one of Australia’s longest running and most respected digital media surveys – the mobile generation has arrived.

For years there’ve been promises. Now the proof is well and truly in the pudding. According to the 14th Sensis e-Business Report, Australians and their mobiles have really clicked.

Almost half of all 20 – 29 year old Australians have now accessed the mobile internet. And teenagers aren’t far behind them, with 47% of 14-17 year olds and 34% of 18 – 19 year olds also surfing the web from the comfort of their phones.

In fact, all up, over a quarter of all Australians over the age of 14 have now accessed the mobile internet.

But the size and growth of the mobile generation is only part of the story. The other exciting bit is how Australians are using the mobile internet.

Unlike their dot.com boom predecessors, today’s mobile generation know exactly what the internet is about. And they’re getting straight down to business – in a big way.

41% of mobile internet users are looking for information on products and services, making it the number one mobile activity. And number three, at 36%, is looking for suppliers of products or services.

According to Mark Shaw, GM of Sensis’ digital advertising business MediaSmart, “this interest in product and service information is well and truly hitting the mobile usage numbers. Usage of Yellow Pages® Mobile has almost tripled in just one year¹”.

But the mobile generation isn’t just searching. They’re buying as well. 25% have purchased a ringtone, 25% have undertaken mobile banking, 19% have made a credit card purchase, 12% have ordered goods and services, and 10% have bought or sold through an auction site.

Clearly, this is an audience with a penchant for buying. And that’s gotta bring a smile to any advertiser’s face.

Of course, people aren’t just using their mobiles for business. They’re getting social as well.

40% of the mobile generation have used their mobile to access a social networking site. 27% have read a blog (while 12% have written one) and 7% have used Twitter from their mobiles.

And, not surprisingly, the mobile generation is tech-savvy to boot; getting stuck right into the most cutting edge rich media and applications.

Like the 27% who’ve downloaded video, the 25% who’ve downloaded games, the 17% who’ve watched mobile TV and the 12% who’ve scanned a mobile or QR code.

It’s now beyond doubt. A new revolution has begun. And it’s all happening right there in your pocket.

Speaking Sensis digs a bit deeper into Sensis’ FY09 results.

Usually, December 31 is the time we all say goodbye to the year gone by and make all our resolutions for the one ahead. But, for a reason that’s always escaped me, Australian business has shifted the year 180 degrees and set 30 June as the end of its financial year.

In accordance with that time-honoured tradition, Telstra announced its 2009 financial year results on 13 August, which means Sensis’ results are out as well.

So here’s a bit more detail on how FY09 has gone for Sensis. Not so much the financials, but the stories behind them.

And we’re doing that through a series of interviews with some of Sensis’ senior executives:

Gerry Sutton, Sensis Chief Operating Officer, talks about how Yellow Pages® is winning for buyers, sellers, investors and the community.

Thomas Arthur, Sensis GM Digital Marketing Services, shares his thoughts about the looming mobile revolution.

CEO of Sensis China, Robert Rath, takes a closer look at the online information needs of Chinese consumers.

And then Gerry and Robert return to talk about a major milestone for Sensis – the achievement of half a billion dollars in Internet advertising revenue.

UPDATE

If you’re looking for a bit more detail on how Sensis grew the value we offer to buyers, sellers and investors, check out this presentation.

According to Gerry Sutton, Sensis’ Chief Operating Officer, the Yellow Pages® and White Pages® directories are winning for buyers, sellers, investors and the Australian community.

WA:    Gerry, thanks for your time. You must have been busy since taking over the Yellow Pages® and White Pages® in May.

GS:    You bet. We’re right in the middle of the Yellow Pages® metro sales campaign, and the White Pages® has just kicked off its new campaign. So I’ve been all over Australia… meeting our people and our customers.

WA:    What are your initial observations about the Yellow Pages® and White Pages®?

GS:    Well, as you know, I’ve been very close to these businesses for a long time now. So I can’t give you a true ‘outsiders’ view. But I would say there are three things that have always struck me about our directories.

First up, this is a significant business. Yellow Pages® and White Pages® earns about $1.75bn in revenue and meets the needs of millions of buyers and almost 600,000 advertisers. The bulk of those advertiser customers are Australian small and medium businesses.

Secondly, it’s a real people business. Most advertising connects brands and markets. We’re bringing real people – buyers and sellers – together. Two people at a time. We’re about generating phone calls and store visits from people who are ready to buy right now.

And the way we work with our customers. It’s all person to person. Managing this business is about working with thousands of people to meet the very specific needs of millions… every day.

Thirdly, it’s a very sophisticated business. Yellow Pages® advertisers now reach out to potential buyers not only through the print directories, but an extensive online, voice and mobile network that includes brands like Yellow Pages® Online, Yellow Pages® Mobile, 1234 and Whereis®. And, now, Yellow Pages® listings can also be searched for through third party sites like Bing Maps, Google Maps and Yahoo! OneSearch, which is Yahoo!’s mobile search application.

There are few other media businesses that have broken down the barriers in the way Yellow Pages® has.

WA:    Gerry, you’ve talked about a back to basics approach. What do you mean?

GS:    As I’ve said, this is a real people business. We’ll grow by constantly getting better at meeting our customers’ needs. For us that means more information more easily for buyers and more customers for our advertisers. Do that well and we’ll grow satisfaction, usage, advertiser uptake and, ultimately revenue. It’s that simple.

I’m a big fan of customer satisfaction metrics. They’re no-holds-barred feedback on whether you’re doing the right thing by the customer. And it’s been gratifying to see both buyer and seller satisfaction rise strongly in recent times.

We’ve achieved that by really focussing our attention on customer needs. From the info-rich ad program, which helps advertisers produce more effective advertising, to metered ads, which help them understand ad performance. We’ve launched new services like Yellow™ in the car in nine markets as well as White Pages® Mobile. We’ve added new content products to Yellow Pages® Online and White Pages® Online. These content products help buyers by giving them more information and advertisers by giving them a stronger presence.

And, you know what? These content products have taken off. Take the White Pages® Online Package product for advertisers. Advertiser uptake has gone way beyond our expectations. This one product is almost solely responsible for White Pages® Online revenue tripling in two years.

That’s what I mean by back to basics. Deliver what the customer wants. Do that well and everything else will pretty much look after itself.

WA:    What about usage – particularly print? It’s a pretty hotly debated topic in the industry.

GS:     The Yellow Pages® print directories are valued highly by many Australians. According to Roy Morgan, almost 7m Australians use them every month¹. About 4m of these print directory users are also daily Internet users². These are people who use the Internet all the time, and yet they still see value in using the print directory. After all, it can often be quicker to find and compare businesses in print. At the other end of the scale, about a third of Australian households don’t have Internet access, according to the ABS³. For them, print directories could be their only access to information on local people and businesses.

In saying all this, however, there’s two really important points I need to make.

Firstly, I think the advertising community needs to get beyond this print vs online discussion. We live in a multi-channel world now and the whole print vs online debate is pretty dated.

So we’re really focussed on the usage the combined network delivers our customers. As I’ve said, unique usage of Yellow Pages® print is almost 7m a month⁴. At the same time, usage of our digital network is about 4.8m a month⁵. And unique usage of the third party sites we have arrangements with is about 4.5m a month⁶.

And Yellow Pages® advertiser listings can be searched for through all these services.

Secondly, usage maybe the word on the industry’s lips, but it isn’t, on its own, the main game.

Our customers are interested in winning business – emails, phone calls, store visits and so on. So conversion becomes really important. How many of those users contacted me and how many of them buy? How many leads is my advertising generating for me?

We know from years of research that about 90% of buyers using the Yellow Pages® directory go on to contact a business and about 72% of them buy⁷.

There’s few, if any advertising businesses that can deliver the volume of users and high conversion – in short, the numbers of leads – that Yellow Pages® can.

But now we’re getting more granular with this. As I said, we’ve introduced the info rich advertising program to help our customers create more effective ads. This helps them convert more users into callers.

And we’ve introduced metered ads so our customers can get a really strong sense of not just usage but of the actual calls they’re receiving.

In the end, these numbers – unique usage across all the directories, sites and services, conversion, number of calls – all matter to our customers. Not how’s print doing against online.

WA:    So, Gerry, where do you see the future for directories?

GS:    That’s a good question. I couldn’t begin to answer it completely in a short interview. But here’s a few thoughts.

Directories advertising is traditionally about significant events in a person’s life… weddings, buying a house or car and so on, or unplanned events such as a breakdown of some sort.

And that’s still the major driver of usage. But I think that with the integration of directories content, maps and mobiles into local search, we’ve been able to create a more day to day whenever, wherever you are proposition. Something you use to find your way around every day.

That’s why I think local search and directories is such an exploding market. If you look at usage across all local search sites, it’s grown massively over the last few years.

And I think we can get much better at using our directories to make life easier every day. We can make the whole cross-channel experience much more seamless, with print, online, voice and mobile all talking to each other in different ways.

And we can add sat nav, point of sale scanning and so on.

It won’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, you’ll only ever be a few clicks away from whatever you need.

I guess the other thing I’d add is a comment about digital TV. As you know, I’ve been involved in the digital TV industry for many years. And I’m really interested in seeing how local search and digital TV come together.

But that’s a few years away yet.

WA:    Thanks a lot Gerry.

1: Roy Morgan, Single Source Australia. Average monthly unique users, Yellow Pages® print. April 2008 to March 2009. Base: Austalians 14+
2: ibid
3: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2007-08
4: Roy Morgan, Single Source Australia. Average monthly unique users, Yellow Pages® print. April 2008 to March 2009. Base: Austalians 14+
5: ibid.
6: ibid.
7: Percentage of serches conducted using the Yellow Pages® Directory that resulted in a business or supplier being contacted. Independent research of people aged 18-64, conducted by TNS in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaeide and Perth, January – March 2007 and July – December 2007.

Thomas Arthur, Sensis GM, Digital Marketing Services talks about the changing face of digital display advertising and how mobile advertising is now making its presence felt.

WA:    Hi Thomas. Before we talk mobiles, I wanted to focus on the digital display market if I could. Where do you think it’s headed?

TA:    Thanks Wayne. The digital display ad market continues to grow strongly, despite the downturn. Just as importantly, the fundamentals that underpin that financial growth are really healthy. Usage of our online network grew by 13% to 9.6m unique users¹. It’s the largest online display advertising network in Australia and it includes Sensis sites, Telstra sites and a growing portfolio of third party sites like Village, Weatherzone, IGA Worldwide, Swellnet and Bub Hub.

And customer growth has been strong. Marketers really see the importance of digital media now. Growth has been particularly strong in the new areas: in-game, video and, of course mobile, which has really hit the mainstream.

So I think digital display has got a really strong future. I personally think there is a lot of headroom for growth over the coming few years.

WA:    What do you mean by mobiles hitting the mainstream?

TA:    Let me give you a couple of stats. Usage of Sensis’ mobile sites – like Yellow Pages® Mobile, Whereis® Mobile, Sensis® Mobile and Citysearch® Mobile doubled in the last 12 months². And the number of campaigns we executed for mobile advertisers also doubled. Clearly, both mobile usage and advertising are growing at a rate of knots.

Later this week, we’ll be releasing the 14th Sensis® eBusiness Report. Based on some of the preliminary numbers I’ve seen, it looks like there’ll be an exciting mobile story in there.

WA:    So what’s the attraction of mobile marketing?

TA:    It’s an entirely new proposition for both the audience and marketers.

Network speed is now fast enough to view video and other forms of rich media, and the simple charging mechanisms mean that even paid content can be accessed easily.

And, through their mobiles, consumers can access the Internet from just about anywhere. If usage growth is anything to go by, consumers really value that.

Proximity is a powerful advantage for advertisers as well. Mobiles are the first personal medium we’ve ever had. You don’t need to be in front of a TV or a billboard. Mobile advertising reaches people wherever they are.

This gets really powerful when you start to consider the possibilities of location-based advertising. You can stream ads that are contextual to where a person is located at that moment. You might send a coupon for a store when an opted-in buyer is just around the corner. Or a video of a house for sale when they’re nearby during inspection times.

As a result, the mobile audience is really active. People who view display advertising on mobiles are ten to twenty times more likely to take further action, like contacting you or downloading content, than online. So that makes mobiles a real conversion engine for marketers – far more so than just about any other channel.

But there’s more to mobile advertising than display. Mobiles are also proving a boon for local search users – people searching for nearby businesses and places. It’s easy for them to track what’s around them and navigate their way there.

WA:    What about targeting? Are you able to target consumers more effectively through mobiles?

TA:    Absolutely. In fact, one of the real benefits of being a Telstra subsidiary is that we can utilise Telstra mobile segmentation data to really personalise the content we stream. This is a real plus for both users and advertisers, because it ensures more relevant advertising.

WA:    How has the emergence of smart phones impacted mobile marketing?

TA:    Oh, it’s been huge. Smart phone users have already shown themselves to be heavy adopters of online content. Already, well over 10% of all Sensis’ mobile traffic is coming from iPhones.

WA:    So what will be the big things in mobile advertising in the coming year?

TA:    A few things spring to mind. We expect consumer usage and advertiser activity to continue growing strongly. Location-based advertising, which I’ve already mentioned, will really grow, as will video advertising now that we have the bandwidth to enable it.

We’ll see a lot more integration between online and mobile. This will be an important step because mobiles can deliver acquisition capabilities much better than online. So mobile adds acquisition to the brand building strengths of online.

Mobile payments will become more widespread.

And, underpinning all of this, we should see real progress on common mobile advertising standards through the work Sensis and others in the industry are doing together.

WA:    That’s great Thomas. Thanks a lot.

1: Roy Morgan, Single Source Australia. Average monthly unique users, MediaSmart network. March qtr 2009 vs 2008
2: Omniture: Average monthly visits, May to June 2009 vs 2008.

Sensis China CEO, Robert Rath, talks about China’s online consumers and offers some tips for Australian businesses looking to do business in the world’s fastest growing economy.

WA:    G’day Robert. How’s the weather in Beijing?

RR:    A lot warmer than Melbourne I suspect. As normal for this time of the year, it’s in the mid-30s today.

WA:    I wish I hadn’t asked. Robert, it’s been another strong year for Sensis in China. What are the things you remember most about the year?

RR:    I’d have to say our investment in PCPop and Norstar was the most notable event. These companies are associated with sites that are number one in Chinese online auto (Autohome.com.cn and CHE168.com) and number two in Chinese online IT and consumer electronics (PCPop.com and IT168.com). This is a great addition to Soufun, which is the world’s largest real estate site.

What’s really exciting is that all these sites are still in the early growth stage of their life cycles. It feels like a start-up over here… albeit one with proven success and a lot of strength behind it.

Beyond that, I’d say achieving our Soufun 100 cities target, and just the growth in our team over here. We’re really operating as a tight-knit team now and we’re working very closely with Telstra and Sensis in Australia.

WA:    Any down sides?

RR:    The world is going through an economic downturn. Chinese commerce has been impacted like everyone else. But you need to put the Chinese experience into perspective. While the rest of the world has experienced flat or negative GDP growth, China’s ‘low point’ was about 6%. Nevertheless, the government has invested aggressively – and very wisely, I think – in key infrastructure right across the country. As a result, China definitely seems to be turning the corner. It was great to see that some of our key markets, like auto and real estate, were specific targets for government consumer incentives and investment.

WA:    Robert, you recently delivered a speech about the Chinese online consumer. Can you share some thoughts about how Chinese and Australian online consumers differ?

RR:    The first and most obvious difference is scale. It’s amazing to think that every one of Soufun’s 100 cities has more than a million residents. Beijing, where I live, has almost as many residents as the whole of Australia.

China is now the largest online audience in the world with 338m users as of June this year¹. The amazing thing is that only 25%  of the Chinese population are online². Even in the developed cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, the penetration is still only 60% or so. So that’s a big difference. At the same time, Chinese consumers spend over 40% of their leisure time online³. That’s ahead of even of Korea and Japan and more than any other country.

WA:    Why is that?

RR:    Part and parcel of China’s economic growth is an enormous amount of social change. One change that’s relevant to us is that millions of people – particularly young adults – are moving to the major urban centres. In the cities, they’re finding huge opportunity. The end result is we’re seeing a rapidly growing, young middle class emerging in China.

But moving to a new city has its challenges too. Young people need to connect with each other, find new friends, find products and services, find their way around and so on. And they need to do all this in a city that’s unfamiliar to them.

So they’re turning to digital media for just about everything – instant messaging, chat, news, games, shopping and even things like translation. In preparing for the speech you mentioned, I spoke to one of our employees who recently moved to Beijing from Hunan province. Between work and home, he uses the web about five hours a day. He watches TV for only an hour.

WA:    Are you finding that Chinese consumers use the web in different ways to Australian consumers?

RR:    Definitely. One of the really big things I’ve noticed is the enormous amount of social activity on our partner sites. And, remember, these aren’t social networks. They’re sites that help people wanting to buy good and services. On the auto sites, for example, over 20% of visitors spend time on discussion forums. They use these forums to talk about their favourite cars, compare deals and specs and even to organise social events like driving days. Now, the major manufacturers are working to build clubs on our sites as well. This interaction makes for a really vibrant experience – like special interest social networks. It’s an exciting dynamic to be a part of.

WA:    What about mobile, Robert? Are people surfing their phones?

RR:    It’s astonishing to think that there are about 700 million mobile phone users in China. To put that into perspective, the number of mobile phone users in China today is roughly the same as the entire population of Western Europe. And of those using their mobiles, over 150 million use them to connect with the internet⁴. They connect online to chat to friends and download music and games. Although, unlike Australia, where 3G has been in place for three years now, it has just launched in China and is still not used by the majority of consumers.

WA:    Thanks Robert. Just one more question, if I could. You’ve been working in China for almost two years now. What advice would you have for Australian businesses looking to trade with China?

RR:    To me, four things really matter. Firstly, invest to be number one or two. More than most other markets, it’s hard to really make an impact and drive growth without that. Secondly, go local. Sensis and Telstra have a lot of expertise to contribute to our Chinese colleagues. But it’s vital we let our local people get on with the job. They know the markets, the people and the culture. The management within our partner companies are the ones who built and are running these businesses.

Thirdly, connect at all levels of the organisation. Build strong relationships and intimate knowledge at all levels. It’s vital in this market. And, finally, you’ve got to enter China with the right attitude. Ask yourself “how can I support China’s growth”, not “how can China support my growth.”

WA:    Thanks a lot Robert.

1: CNNIC, 24th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China

2: Sensis analysis of CNNIC, 24th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China

3: TNS “Digital World, Digital Life” as cited in press release, December 19, 2008

4: CNNIC, 24th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China