Depending on whom you ask, the search industry is either reaching a tipping point, or it has already passed it. Online search is an unstoppable force, and there is no doubt that the platform for delivering results has changed and will continue to evolve as local search improves.

The author who helped make the phrase “tipping point” a common catchphrase, New York Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell, will speak at next month’s Yellow Pages Association Conference, and I’ve spent time lately brushing up on his books.

His unique insights on social sciences can be applied to any number of areas, but I obviously think about them in terms of their application to the local search industry. Each of Gladwell’s three books has a takeaway lesson for those of us in search.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Gladwell’s first book looks at understanding trends and how they can grow into social epidemics. Every influential trend has three keys: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few states that a few key players in unique positions must champion the trend. Stickiness is what leads people to pay attention to something and remember it, and context is the environment in which the idea is launched and spread.

Certainly, his thoughts on this point can help us better understand the hows and whys behind the explosion of social media sites and tools such as Facebook and Twitter. It also can provide a means to measure future innovations and their potential to become widely used game-changers in our industry. For example, look at the multitude of mobile search services seeking to position themselves as the go-to source for on-the-go answers. Will any have that sticky factor to help it break away from the pack?

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

This book analyzes how people make everyday, split-second decisions. In an age when it’s easy to suffer from paralysis by analysis or information overload, Gladwell argues that it’s important to focus on the most significant information to help make what are often unconscious or intuitive choices. The key to making these snap judgments—blinking—is the ability to “thin-slice,” taking limited information and using that to reach a conclusion.

In many ways, “thin-slicing” occurs every time users receive their initial search results. What leads them to pick one option over another? As local search experts, we know the key is for advertisers to make their content relevant to the potential customer.

Outliers: The Story of Success

Gladwell’s latest book looks at highly successful people and the factors that breed their extraordinary success. In the nature vs. nurture debate, hel clearly comes down on the nurture side, arguing that outside factors tend to trump innate ability. One thing Gladwell emphasized is the 10,000-hour rule—that the key to success in nearly anything is practicing that task for 10,000 hours, the equivalent of 20 hours a week for a period of 10 years.

A few words pop to mind to describe those who meet that rule: dedication, hard work, tenacity. Who is positioned to be the next search industry success story? I’m sure Gladwell would argue it could be anyone, as long as that person or group of people has put in the time. Given the Yellow Pages’ 130-year history in search and two decades in online search, I like our chances to remain among the leaders.

Gladwell will speak at the 2009 Yellow Pages Association Conference and Exhibition, which will be held April 26-28 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina.

Challenges are certain, but we’ll prosper by focusing on strengths and available opportunities

The one thing that’s certain about 2009 is that it’s loaded with uncertainty. For local search providers, radical changes in the global marketplace present a whole new wave of issues, compounding the challenges already impacting a sector in transition. But, as the old saying goes: from change comes opportunity.

The Yellow Pages sector, perhaps more than any other local search player, is keenly aware of the enormous hurdles presented by changing global economic and social dynamics. Search is fragmenting, consumer habits are changing, and the platforms through which Yellow Pages publishers interact with advertisers and consumers are rapidly evolving. And everyone is touting themselves as a local search expert.

The Yellow Pages industry has great opportunity to win. We have core strengths and fundamental values that will continue to be relevant in this new environment including deep roots in the local marketplace, an expansive reach with advertisers and consumers, and 125+ years of insight into the psyche of local search.

I say opportunity to win, because despite these assets, success will not happen easily. In these times, every business in every industry will have to innovate to survive. Without exception. Here is a roadmap to leveraging our assets for new opportunities:

Be transparent about measurement

In business, results matter, and companies need to be able to demonstrate those results. Over the past 10 years, Yellow Pages publishers have invested more than $150 million in metered advertising testing to provide that hard data. This work enhances advertisers’ ROI and demonstrates the true value of our medium. In the days ahead be transparent about the importance of measurement by encouraging advertisers to keep an eye on your product and, ultimately, on their results.

Build and mine relationships with local businesses

More than three million local and national businesses relied on Yellow Pages last year. The challenge is to expand and increase those existing relationships. As segmentation and micro marketing techniques continue to evolve, deep relationships with local businesses and consumers will become a goldmine for years to come.

Find new ways of packaging and licensing data

Nothing delivers ready-to-buy customers like the Yellow Pages. We have information that people seek when they’re prepared to make a purchase. An area for growth is in the ability to harness the demand for user-generated, personalized content. For companies across the board, whether you are developing your own technologies, or building new alliances – offering data in more places at more times in more ways is the only way to stay on top of the market. Interactive features such as personalized maps and customer ratings and comments are some of the possible user-experience add-ons.

Let consumers voice their choice

Over the years, the Yellow Pages has grown its presence through a focus on accessibility – first at every doorstep, then by migrating online. Our focus has been on making sure content is delivered in ways it will reach users’ fingertips. Moving forward, the opportunity will be in giving consumers options: letting them choose whether they receive print directories, which ones, and how many.

Offer a new dimension to attract new buyers

Internet Yellow Pages have positioned us for the future with the ability to truly interact with consumers. As YouTube has shown, online video and audio are having greater influence on consumers. Video advertising and voice recognition-based search engines are rivaling traditional services. Appeal to the senses, and you will soon find yourself appealing to the masses.

Today’s environment provides plenty of challenges, from emerging technologies to budding competitors. The Yellow Pages Association feels its members are well-positioned in the search market, and we think it’s a good industry to be in. The need to search for goods and services at the local level is never going to disappear. Those who focus on their strengths and leverage them with an eye on new prospects will find the glass half full in 2009.

The economic downturn is a reality, but the specific ways that it affects businesses run the gamut based on the size and type of business. During these times, small, local businesses often feel the pinch more quickly and sharply, causing some to take evasive maneuvers to keep afloat. Based on the Yellow Pages industry’s experience, those who stick with proven advertising programs—-rather than cutting them out of their budgets-—continue to find success with generating new customers and retaining current ones.

Keeping a strong pulse on the local business marketplace, the Yellow Pages industry’s feet-on-the-street sales teams talk with small businesses everyday. They hear their concerns about a variety of increasing operating costs and customers’ shrinking amount of disposable income. Buff Walker, south region vice president, R.H. Donnelley, also points out that some businesses have decided to only advertise in their immediate areas. They express concern about including surrounding areas because they cannot compete with “the locals” due to expensive fuel costs.

There is also an issue of service-based versus product-based businesses. For example, in the home improvement industry, some consumers are trying to tackle projects on their own rather than hiring a contractor, or they are simply putting off projects longer than before unless they are emergencies. And, local product-based businesses are facing pricing wars with nationwide chains, competing for consumers’ smaller pocketbooks. Vincent Lombardo, vice president of sales for Ambassador Yellow Pages, said, “We’ve noticed that the value of a job may be higher for some service-related businesses—the contractor who puts up fencing may currently generate higher-priced business than the company that sells the fencing materials.”

Despite these types of challenges, small businesses are still making savvy decisions with their budgets—-even though they may have less money to spend. Many of them are cutting out some advertising, but they recognize the need to stay with the types of media that continue to produce leads and diversify with both print and online ads. Walker reports that, “The Yellow Pages is typically the last cut made,” and notes that current Internet Yellow Pages areas of interest include hyperlink compatibility, ratings and reviews, tracking capabilities, and the ability to change company information easily. Another observation is that the volume of Yellow Pages leads continues to be high. Once these qualified leads are delivered to the business, it is up to the advertisers to seal the deal.

Choosing to stay the course with regard to advertising can be difficult, especially with widespread media reporting and speculating on the economic woes of the nation. However, advertising in media with proven and measurable ROI, such as the print and online Yellow Pages, eliminates the “How do I know this is working?” question and allows businesses to track where their leads are actually coming from. Lombardo adds, “Smart business owners are continuing to advertise-—they see it as an investment to capture the dollars that are waiting to be spent rather than as a questionable operating expense.”

Over the past few weeks, and for many more to come, there will be a lot of debate about search engine consolidation. Today, the talk du jour is a Yahoo and News Corp. deal, a potential integration with MySpace, and whether the talk is a real option or an attempt to force Microsoft to increase its offer for Yahoo. No matter, the consolidation discussion will continue.

One sure thing is that Yahoo is in play, and I don’t see the merry-go-round stopping until they link up with a solid partner. At the end of the day, it’s doubtful that Yahoo will be an independent player in 2009, and my bets are on Micro-hoo. While there are obvious challenges to a Microsoft-Yahoo deal, including cultural, technological, and timing issues, Microsoft has the cash and the most vested interest in seeking a partner to increase their search scale and make inroads in the fight to give Google a real challenger.

No matter who wins the Yahoo prize, however, success in local search will continue to be driven by three key elements: content, traffic, and technology.

Search engine consolidation could certainly create gaps in the market as the companies involved are likely to take their eyes off the local search ball while dealing with integration issues. This would create an Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) market opportunity to continue to capitalize on their strength—content gathered from large feet-on-the-street sales forces, proprietary databases of local business information, and long standing relationships with millions of small businesses. Search engine players still have not cracked the code on these select IYP strengths.

While the latest data indicates that IYPs are gaining in their share of local commercial searches, traffic remains a challenge in comparison to search engines. Each IYP is tackling it by increasing the destination appeal of its site with new and improved content and tools—user reviews, maps, comparison shopping, video content, and more.

One area IYPs will likely be affected by search engine consolidation is distribution deals, in which IYP advertisers’ listings and content are placed on AOL, Google, MSN, and/or Microsoft and other search engines. For example, Superpages.com has relationships with Google, MSN, and Yahoo. YellowPages.com has relationships with Yahoo and AOL, and R.H. Donnelley, owner of DexKnows.com, has relationships with both Yahoo and Google. How will these deals be affected by consolidation? Presumably, the contracts will be renegotiated as many of the deals are based on traffic and the ultimate goal for a consolidated search player such as Microsoft and Yahoo is increased traffic.

For local online advertisers there are both pros and cons to search engine consolidation. The downside is potentially higher prices, but on the flip side, there is the prospect of increased traffic. Fewer options and less fragmentation typically results in higher pricing for more eyeballs. It could also mean a local search campaign that is easier to administer.

Today’s small, local businesses, which provide the greatest untapped opportunity for all local search players, are still challenged with their online media buys. Yellow Pages publishers have taken on the role of trusted media consultant to help small businesses navigate the fragmented online media landscape by delivering a large volume of high quality local business leads through a variety of media—print and Internet Yellow Pages and search engine marketing—through the convenience of one organization.

It is hard to say who will be the ultimate winners in the overall local search market, but the bottom line is that Yahoo’s days as an independent are likely numbered. IYPs have an opportunity to capitalize on market consolidation by leveraging their strong local content and business databases, long-standing relationships with small businesses, and technology resources to deliver the most relevant local search results.

Neg Norton leads the Yellow Pages Association (YPA), its member publishers, national marketing agencies (”CMRs”) and supplier organizations to promote, grow and advocate on behalf of a print and electronic Yellow Pages industry. The Yellow Pages Association manages the Local Search Guide, a who’s who of Local Search players and perspectives. The Locals Only column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.