Golf Yellow Pages is a business directory used by golf course personnel to find golf businesses. This case study looks at how Sellbox transformed Golf Yellow Pages over a five year period following its acquisition in 2005.

1. Business-to-Business
Publishing and the
Golf Yellow Pages
a Sellbox Case Study by David Wogahn

2. Golf Yellow Pages is a business directory used by golf course
personnel to find golf businesses. This case study looks at
how Sellbox transformed Golf Yellow Pages over a five year
period following its acquisition in 2005.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Strategy
3. Execution Highlights
a. Establishing industry partnerships
b. Refreshing the brand
c. Managing the data
d. Niche website development
e. Digital workflow replaces print workflow
f. Re-inventing the print directory
4. Conclusions
a. Publishers vs. Agencies
b. Three Trends
5. About Sellbox

3. The golf ecosystem consists of four stakeholders: golf courses,
trade organizations, golf businesses and the golfing public. Golf
courses use Golf Yellow Pages to find business resources.
• U.S. golf course managers spend $17.5 billion a year to operate their facilities and
golfers spend $25 billion annually on green fees and golf products.
• The golf boom that began in the mid 1990’s was on the mend after 9/11. Tiger Woods
was unbeatable. Industry research forecasted growing demand as baby boomers
began nearing retirement.
• Originally founded in 1994, the Golf Yellow Pages was acquired in 2005 by Sellbox
investors.
• Sellbox core strengths—data management & analytics, sales, business development
and Internet technology—ideal for executing the vision and strategy.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

4. Our vision was to expand into digital media while leveraging the
brand to create an industry-wide resource.
Strategy Execution Highlights
1. Establish industry partnerships 1. Establishing industry partnerships
2. Improve efficiency using technology 2. Refreshing the brand
3. Launch new digital services 3. Managing the data
4. Embracing the Internet
5. Digital workflow replaces print workflow
6. Re-inventing the print directory
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

5. PARTNERSHIPS: Over the course of three years we went from no
industry relationships to partnerships with seven respected trade
associations, three tradeshows and three golf media companies.
Partnership Criteria Benefits and Successes
1. Will our relationship with this group reinforce 1. Special ad packages provided value to both
our position as an industry resource? the partner and their member/customer.
2. Are the prospective partner’s members 2. Reduced cost of marketing.
potential advertisers? 3. Created goodwill within the industry.
3. Or if not a potential advertiser, will our 4. Provided access to new businesses for further
partnership increase circulation and directory marketing.
usage thereby benefiting our advertisers? 5. Barter arrangements reduced cash
4. Does this relationship provide us with access requirements.
to new golf businesses? 6. Favored status (as a partner) accelerated
awareness among new companies.
7. Media partnerships created additional visibility
for both partners and did not result in lost
advertising sales.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

6. BRANDING: Modernize the look and differentiate the brand from
local consumer yellow pages.
Considerations: Actions:
1. How to modernize the look without 1. Shortened the name.
abandoning our history. 2. Clearly communicated a national business focus.
2. Can we make it seem more Internet-friendly? 3. Replaced traditional yellow page colors of black
3. What about colors? and yellow with blue and green.
4. How do you position the name to reflect more 4. Refined design elements to reflect a more
than a print directory? updated look.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

7. DATA: How do you manage 8,000 business listings, 17,000 golf
course listings and 23,000 contacts from three offices using Excel?
Answer: You can’t.
• We implemented Salesforce.com’s cloud-based customer relationship management
system in 2006. We use it to:
– Manage sales and sales prospecting
– Maintain business and golf course listings
– Send mass emails targeted to specific audiences
• Implemented in 30 days without assistance from
Salesforce consulting personnel.
• We created workflows and specially-designed reports
to support print directory publishing.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

8. INTERNET: We develop websites that feature niche content;
support & educate business partners; use off-the-shelf technology
to control costs and simplify management and training.
GolfYellowPages.com GolfMediaLibrary.com
An online directory for A media products portal specific to golf
advertisers and key businesses and designed to monetize long-tail traffic
ContactGolfCourses.com TurfFinder.com
FAQs and articles about buying A Craig’s List-like classifieds website
mailing lists and direct mail services for buying and selling used turf
equipment [phased out]
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

9. WORKFLOW: The print-centric workflow had numerous variables and
manual steps. The new digital workflow leveraged our investments in
Salesforce and websites to create for a production time savings of ~ 40%.
Customers benefited by receiving lower prices and control over the
process.
Print-Centric Ad Design Process
Manual Final Layout
Order Review Edits Processing
Design Approval
New Internet-Centric Ad Design Process
Final Layout
Order
Approval
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

10. RE-INVENTING THE PRINT DIRECTORY: In 2010 we took
advantage of our new workflows to re-think the core print
directory—design, production, distribution and how it is sold.
Change 00-09 2011 Results/Benefits
Handbook size easier to handle. Less
Reduced Size 8” x 10.5” 6” x 9” expensive to manufacture. Smaller size
results in thicker book.
Accelerated Release Longer shelf-life.
Spring Early January
Date
Easier to sell, easier to understand, fewer
Reduced Ad Types 48 different ad units 6 ad units
decisions
Reduced Time for Indesign expert simplified import and
4 weeks 2 weeks
Production/Layout format process
Shortened Selling More efficient use of time. Reduces
10 months 3.5 months
Period customer procrastination.
Mailings timed to opening of courses
Timed Distribution created interest in new advertising
Single mailing Multiple mailing
to Golf Seasons opportunity. This new revenue reduced
postage costs by 95%.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

11. Business-to-business marketing has fundamentally changed the
past two years. Publishers now offer agency-like services while
agencies help businesses build & manage audiences. Why?
Three key reasons:
1. When the “great recession” of 2008 reduced marketing budgets publishers and
agencies began searching for new revenue.
2. New consumer technologies (i.e. devices, social media, high-speed wireless delivery)
are re-writing the rules of marketing and customer engagement.
3. The Internet continues to condition businesses to expect media measurement.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

12. Three Trends for Business-to-Business Publishers
1. Companies will become ‘brand publishers’ as they build and manage their own
audience using tools like email newsletters, social media, ebooks and mobile apps.
The B2B marketer’s role is to help them manage their audience: define and write new
content, apply best practices and find new audience members.
2. Publishers will open their internal systems to business partners. For example, a
publisher could manage an industry-wide database of contact information and allow
access based on certain conditions.
3. Consumers are replacing businesses as the driving force behind device adoption and
media consumption. They are educated about capabilities and their personal usage is
creating high levels of expectations. B2B marketers can help ‘brand publishers’
(businesses) secure the right content into the right formats for audience engagement.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About

13. About Sellbox
Sellbox works with businesses and publishers on epublishing strategies, ebook marketing
and ebook conversions. We were founded in 2002 by Internet veteran and media
entrepreneur David Wogahn, co-founder of the first university athletic department website
network (Fansonly.com, now part of CBS Sports) and Times Mirror Multimedia.
In addition to digital media consulting Sellbox is also the parent company of print and
online business publisher Golf Yellow Pages. Golf Yellow Pages was acquired by Sellbox
in 2005.
Sellbox.com is home to Wogahn’s blog about the latest in digital media tools, marketing
and commentary on industry developments. He is a community leader for Kindle
publishing and performs public speaking engagements on the topic of ebook publishing.
For more information visit www.sellbox.com.
Introduction Strategy Highlights Conclusions About