Thomas Register – will we or won’t we?

We’ve been delaying a decision on renewing our advertising with the “Green Books” for 2003. I need to kowtow to management on this, which essentially takes the decision out of my hands. Today we are meet with the TR reps. No idea what is going to happen.

Let me tell you that last time I met with them, I learned about their new keyword promotion on Google and Yahoo. They are essentially buying the top listing for all the business categories in their books. “Click here for 102 industrial boiler vendors – free” or similar come-on. This program alters the way I should target advertising in TR. We need to look at the most popular categories we are listed in (which the rep had a list of), to make sure we come to the top by adjusting our print advertising program.

Then I discussed this program with Mr. IndustrialQuickSearch about how that compares to his program, which is strictly keyword-optimization driven. As he and his staff are former TR reps, he has plenty of bad news to tell about TR. He told me (which the TR rep did, too) that the Thomas Register is being combined with the Thomas Regional in 2004. He also told me that he heard that the Regional reps will be taking over the sales program. There is additional rumors/information which he has posted on the web, if you are interested.

I think we probably have benefited from waiting this long, as the situation has continued to evolve. What happens next? Stay tuned.