YellowPages.com Inc., an online directory of business and product listings, has named G.S. Schwartz & Co., New York, as its public relations agency.
The San Francisco company looked at a few Silicon Valley agencies last year but was not satisfied. G.S. Schwartz is YellowPages.com's first public relations shop, handling a task that was previously inhouse.
“Our company is a dot-com,” said Dane Madsen, CEO of YellowPages.com. “The average person on the street thinks dot-coms are dead. Whether that's the reality or not, it is the perception. And we all know that perception is reality. One of the things we've not done well is tell people who we are.
“Schwartz's mission,” Madsen said, “is that YellowPages.com is part of the landscape, and they're working with us to cement our position … in the small-business directories [online segment].”
G.S. Schwartz's services include media and industry analyst relations, special events and speaking engagements at trade shows. The agency will bank on YellowPages.com's name, which explains its line of business. Online since 1997, YellowPages.com has more than 14 million U.S. business listings.
“YellowPages.com doesn't have to fight to say it's different,” said Jerry Schwartz, CEO of G.S. Schwartz. “It just has to explain how it's different from the other directories but also offline directories. It's really an offline portal.”
