Not just another directory
Trust us to take you there: GoldPages vows to help local businesses promote their products. Picture: Syafie Nadi
Saturday, July 5, 2008
IF BY accident you walk into the offices of MediaPro Publications Sdn Bhd, you wouldn't guess that the firm is responsible for the publication of a business directory with a circulation of 100,000.
It's definitely a long way for the GoldPages publisher, which began with the publication of another product with a circulation of only 20,000 years ago. Yet management remains modest about its achievements over the years, preferring to work harder on promoting its products and making clients better understand the value of the services it offers.
"It is a business directory," Kenny Wong, chief operating officer of MediaPro Publications, says of GoldPages, noting the directory is totally concentrated on businesses and it eliminates the white pages that the conventional directory has. "The difference is that there is an advertorial section to help the local business highlight their products and services to let others know details about their products."
MediaPro Publications' first project was the Buyer's Guide three years ago. It was a free monthly lifestyle magazine to highlight clients' products and services. The Buyer's Guide ran for two years with a circulation of 20,000.
"It was a magazine of advertorials with information on cars, home, health and other general information. One day, a proposal for a business directory came and I thought that if it was going to be just like another Yellow Pages, then I didn't want it," recalls Wong.
He and his team then mulled over the idea, brainstormed on what they could do to differentiate themselves from the Yellow Pages, and how they could provide something better.
"GoldPages is a local brand and two years old, and Yellow Pages have got international standards and packages that people trust, so we were starting from zero. From there, we started to think about what added value we could provide to advertisers," says Wong.
While the physical difference is evident, the first edition came with a handful of hurdles, one of the biggest was trust. Wong says that people in Brunei had a hard time trusting their local brand and that they are still trying to overcome it.
"The relationship with clients is important ... One of our consultants (account executives) used to be an advertising salesman, so his previous customers still support him and trust him," says Wong.
It doesn't get easier with the second issue, he adds.
"People want to see who will come back, who is new? They are still testing to see what will happen and what is the difference."
Now with 100,000 copies in circulation in major avenues, the emphasis to differentiate GoldPages from Yellow pages is in the services they provide.
"GoldPages is just a tool that we use to help promote local businesses and their products. That is why we don't call our sales staff salesmen, we call them consultants because we take the initiative to promote and come up with proposals to promote your products," says Wong.
Now with their second edition, their business concept has proven to be effective, with the advertorial section of the directory now having 30 advertorials, as compared to the first edition's four.
"Our tagline is 'Taking you to the next level', and that's what we try to do. Just last month I asked the question that we should also be able to carry ourselves to the next level, because if we can't even reach the next level how can we bring our clients to the next level?" says Wong.
Wong's plans for GoldPages aim to promote Brunei brands as he sees one of the only ways to do so is to expand over to the neighbouring countries.
"Not only by advertising abroad but we want to do an expo where we can bring advertisers to other countries which will aim at business matching and that is how we go to the next level," says Wong.
Wong says it is hard to define whether his company is successful or not at the moment.
"(Whether) we are a successful company can only be evident after five years, people will only be able to see the difference after five years, as we are only in our second edition and in our third year."
The Brunei Times
It's definitely a long way for the GoldPages publisher, which began with the publication of another product with a circulation of only 20,000 years ago. Yet management remains modest about its achievements over the years, preferring to work harder on promoting its products and making clients better understand the value of the services it offers.
"It is a business directory," Kenny Wong, chief operating officer of MediaPro Publications, says of GoldPages, noting the directory is totally concentrated on businesses and it eliminates the white pages that the conventional directory has. "The difference is that there is an advertorial section to help the local business highlight their products and services to let others know details about their products."
MediaPro Publications' first project was the Buyer's Guide three years ago. It was a free monthly lifestyle magazine to highlight clients' products and services. The Buyer's Guide ran for two years with a circulation of 20,000.
"It was a magazine of advertorials with information on cars, home, health and other general information. One day, a proposal for a business directory came and I thought that if it was going to be just like another Yellow Pages, then I didn't want it," recalls Wong.
He and his team then mulled over the idea, brainstormed on what they could do to differentiate themselves from the Yellow Pages, and how they could provide something better.
"GoldPages is a local brand and two years old, and Yellow Pages have got international standards and packages that people trust, so we were starting from zero. From there, we started to think about what added value we could provide to advertisers," says Wong.
While the physical difference is evident, the first edition came with a handful of hurdles, one of the biggest was trust. Wong says that people in Brunei had a hard time trusting their local brand and that they are still trying to overcome it.
"The relationship with clients is important ... One of our consultants (account executives) used to be an advertising salesman, so his previous customers still support him and trust him," says Wong.
It doesn't get easier with the second issue, he adds.
"People want to see who will come back, who is new? They are still testing to see what will happen and what is the difference."
Now with 100,000 copies in circulation in major avenues, the emphasis to differentiate GoldPages from Yellow pages is in the services they provide.
"GoldPages is just a tool that we use to help promote local businesses and their products. That is why we don't call our sales staff salesmen, we call them consultants because we take the initiative to promote and come up with proposals to promote your products," says Wong.
Now with their second edition, their business concept has proven to be effective, with the advertorial section of the directory now having 30 advertorials, as compared to the first edition's four.
"Our tagline is 'Taking you to the next level', and that's what we try to do. Just last month I asked the question that we should also be able to carry ourselves to the next level, because if we can't even reach the next level how can we bring our clients to the next level?" says Wong.
Wong's plans for GoldPages aim to promote Brunei brands as he sees one of the only ways to do so is to expand over to the neighbouring countries.
"Not only by advertising abroad but we want to do an expo where we can bring advertisers to other countries which will aim at business matching and that is how we go to the next level," says Wong.
Wong says it is hard to define whether his company is successful or not at the moment.
"(Whether) we are a successful company can only be evident after five years, people will only be able to see the difference after five years, as we are only in our second edition and in our third year."
The Brunei Times
Business Besides Oil
