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Happy Birthday to the Telephone Directory
February 21, 1878: The first telephone directory is published. It is the birth of yellow pages.
It's published by New Haven District Telephone Company, just 2 years after telephone is actually invented; and just 1 month after the start of the first commercial telephone service.
The first telephone directory is one page long. It has 7 sections. And 50 entries. And - you won't believe this - it has no telephone numbers on it!
...Because in 1878, there were no telephone numbers. People just picked up their phones and told the operator to hook them up with some one else by name.
And most fascinating: people didn't look up the yellow pages for a service they wanted. Instead, they looked it up to see who actually had bought the telephone! Because, then they would know which business is doing really well.
Boy - haven't we come a long way since then!
I think yellow pages advertising is on the decline - and within 10-12 years, it'll be kept in the museum. I personally have not referred to it since the last 2 years. I just look a company's number up on online search engines now.
But I came across some recent statistics that said 99% of houses still have their yellow pages! And yellow pages help generate billions of dollars in sales every year - even today. So it might make you some money too, at least for the next couple of years.
Here are 2 yellow pages marketing resources that you might find helpful:
- Yellow Pages Commando (read Tip #15 and #16)
- Yellow Pages Profit ebook (not free)
Email Post to a friendPosted on 2/21/2005 | Permalink | |
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