For The Past 50 years, Yellow Pages Singapore Has Been Helping SMEs With Successful Lead Generation For Their Businesses

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Below is our recent interview with Ng Tiong Gee, Chairman at Yellow Pages Singapore:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Yellow Pages?

A: Yellow Pages Singapore has been in the industry for 50 years. For the past 50 years, YP has been helping SMEs with successful lead generation for their businesses. Many people remember collecting the print Yellow Pages from collection points. Businesses would queue to get their businesses listed on the directory. We have managed to stay relevant by constantly reinventing ourselves. Today, Yellow Pages 2.0 has gone completely digital. We have in our team veterans of Technology, Marketing, Product Management and Sales. Together, we are creating a new space in Digital Marketing by helping SMEs in the digital transformation of their businesses.

Q: What kinds of solutions do you provide to your clients?

A: In the course of doing businesses with SMEs we have discovered 3 things that are very important to SMEs. They are 1. Lead generation. Helping to grow the top line by exposing their business to as many potential customers as possible. 2. Cash Flow. SMEs constantly struggle with cash flow, especially fast growing ones. Banks and financial institutions are very hard to work with and they want established track records which many young SMEs have yet to accomplish. 3. Ability to streamline their internal operations and reduce cost.

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Yellow Pages provides solution to all three problems that SMEs face.

1. We provide an end to end Digital Marketing solution for SMEs that are engaging in B2B as well as B2C businesses. 90 % of all online searches are done via Google. We help businesses with paid searches, local searches as well as organic searches. Given that content is a central element in Google searches, we have a content team that can provide quality content including advertorials, videos, social media content as well as content to help in SEO.

2. We have a subsidiary called TrYPe that is reinventing digital communities for SMEs. Communities are grouped by similar businesses that can transact products and services to each other. As one of the selected participants in the Singapore government-led initiative called BSB (Business Sans Borders), SMEs through our TrYPe platform can transact in the global network of companies and through AI-enabled search engines, find relevant products. However, the most important element of TrYPe is helping SMEs in their financing needs. Through the transaction and inventory data, financing companies can — through the help of AI algorithms — grant instant loans. This will help SMEs in their financing needs.

3. YP’s network of technology professionals can help SMEs in their digital transformation. We have the ability to provide end-to-end technology solutions. There are many advance technologies that can help SMEs improve their operations. A business that we spoke to used technology to improve their inventory systems. Another used Robotic Process Automation improve the productivity of their workers by taking out the mundane repetitive tasks. Yet another used data analytics to predict inventory levels and prepare for the correct stocking.

Q: How has business landscape changed over the past few years?

A: Digitalization has disrupted many businesses. The original Yellow Pages directory has helped consumers search for services and products across many categories for many decades. Businesses particularly SMEs advertise on Yellow Pages to get leads from those searches. The advent of online search engines, in particular Google, has disrupted the business model of Yellow Pages. The need for businesses to generate leads has not gone away, but most searches have now gone online, and with it lead generation as well. Besides search engines, review sites also play a big role in moving consumers searches on line. Companies like Yelp thrive on consumer reviews and that has enabled them to grow.

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Q: What are the benefits of advertising with Yellow Pages?

A: Yellow Pages has gone fully digital. Its mission in helping SMEs generate leads remains relevant. Where Yellow Pages Singapore has innovated to stay relevant is in remaining local and community centric. SMEs need for Digital Marketing is not a one size fits all. Yellow Pages offers the full gamut of digital marketing services and products that is customised to fit the budget and size of SMEs. Agencies that offer similar services tend to only cater to larger companies and budgets. Yellow Pages is able to help SMEs from the micro SMEs to larger SMEs fulfil their marketing needs.

Q: What are the company’s plans and goals for the future?

A: We are putting a lot of effort to boost the effectiveness of our directories. The present search engines are all built on the foundation of directories. Yellow Pages differentiation is being focused on SMEs and the local communities. We are adding a lot more value added services for customers that advertise on our directories including reviews, contents, e-commerce services and integration to the larger global community eventually.