By Sharon Hill

Today’s SuperMedia revenue report couldn’t find much to spin, as advertising sales figures continue their 15 plus percent YOY incline each quarter. Fourth quarter revenue in 2009 was $570 million, in 2010 $483 million. Today’s release indicated a Q411 ad revenue figure of $405, for a drop of more than 16 percent year over year.

 

It’s a shame, as SuperMedia has been aggressively growing its digital products. There’s  SuperGuarantee Autos , SuperGuarantee Gold Shield,  AskLearnHire social media lead generation, and the new Contact-at-Once-enabled dealer chat on EveryCarListed.com. But all but one of these innovations took place over a year ago, and perhaps consumers’ on-going “What have you done for me lately?” questions are going unanswered. Or perhaps the successes are simply going unmarketed. Whichever is the case, SuperMedia needs to continue its innovation, and more aggressively market itself to consumers. There are some nice products here – this isn’t your father’s Yellow Pages. It would seem that too few consumers are aware of that, or at least too few businesses know that consumers know.

 

We just discovered, for example, that Superpages.com recently launched an IPad app.  Its new gas station feature is timely indeed. Rather than driving around looking for a deal on fuel, a consumer can search Superpages for a cheap refill based on distance, price, grade, brand and even services. There’s even color-coded pricing and a savings calculator.  Its augmented reality feature allows consumers to visualize results. With a Foursquare integration tips could go beyond gas station to great movies from nearby theaters and other entertainment and services. There’s a “Spin it, Say it, Search it” app. The feature sits on the app’s home page, where the user can spin through more than 175 of the most popular Yellow Pages categories.  Most Superpages apps are available for all Apple smartphones and tablets as well as Android. Kindle Fire is due soon.

 

It might behoove the folks at SuperMedia to assign college student or other ambassadors or interns, rewarding them with new IPads or smart phones, to spend time in gathering places such as student unions,  coffee houses and so forth, pointedly doing their gas station or other search on their IPad or smartphone. “Hey, friends, look – Gas station X three blocks away has regular for 7 cents less than anywhere else.” or “Did you see the concert ticket discount from X?  I found it on Superpages.com. And look at this cool AR view of the apartment community across the street. I bet that’s a great place to live.”

 

The future of the Yellow Page directory business looks bleak indeed, and has so for awhile. But if anyone can turn that around SuperMedia is looking like the company that can do it. They just need to get the word out more aggressively. And, of course, the more consumers use SuperMedia services, the more advertisers will see the need to be there.

Here’s the complete earnings release.