Local Search - Past, Present, and Future

For those of you still not convinced of the power and reach of Internet local search, Greg Sterling from the Kelsey Group has posted a new article at Search Engine Guide.  In this article he compares the results from a September 2003 survey to one completed earlier this year.  Among his findings:

• The first study found that traditional yellow pages, white pages and newspapers were the dominant sources of local information. The Internet was then in fourth position. The follow-up survey found that, remarkably, the Internet had moved into a tie for first position.
• Most of the Internet’s growth as a local shopping resource has taken place via major search engines, the usage of which increased from 47 percent to 55 percent.
• The reach of the Internet as a source of local information has increased from 60 percent of total households to 70 percent (equal to traditional newspapers).

Greg also has a couple of caveats:

• Traditional yellow pages and newspapers remain powerful local shopping resources but have lost some of their reach. The Internet has emerged as a potent source for local business information. However, “the Internet” is itself a universe of numerous types of Web sites, including Internet yellow pages, online newspapers and search engines.
• One should resist the temptation to see Internet adoption as a zero-sum game vis-à-vis print media. Use of the Internet does not mean that consumers have abandoned traditional media. But it does mean that their local influence has diminished somewhat.

I couldn't agree more with the last bullet point.  The Internet as a medium for marketing should considered a compliment to the many other methods of marketing such as: yellow pages, direct mail, networking, referrals, and speaking engagements.