The Gold Book Tropical Breezes Anniversary Contest, which can be entered by visiting www.goldbook.ca, will award one amazing vacation to a lucky winner for each year the directory has continued to grow. The contest is designed to pay tribute to the thousands of local consumers who have helped make Gold Book number one over the years.
"We want to give back to the communities that support us," said Ron Lenyk, Publisher of The Mississauga News. "It’s our way of saying thank you."
Each May, 190,000 copies of The Mississauga News' Gold Book are distributed to homes and businesses.
Lenyk said he's also pleased to announce the online version of the business directory has added the new Virtual Consumer multimedia facet to www.goldbook.ca. The initiative will allow small business owners and operators to converse with potential clients even before they call, familiarizing customers with their companies and products while showing how accommodating, friendly and competent they are.
The interactive tool will allow users to ask questions about the business, which the owners and operators can respond to via the Virtual Consumer.
"Innovation has blazed the trail for Gold Book over the past decade," said Lenyk. "From humble beginnings in 1998 when its first local directory rolled off the press in Halton, it has grown to be the leader in the directory industry, with many of North America's largest directory publishers now imitating Gold Book's products and business model."
Virtual Consumer joins a fleet of other low-cost multimedia marketing offerings for small business, including animated talking characters, 30-second video commercials and photo galleries.
Last year, Gold Book underwent its largest growth spurt to date by expanding into 42 markets across southern Ontario with a directory distribution of more than 2.4 million. Gold Book was the first in North America to integrate phone book and website companies, offering each print advertiser a web address and website at no additional cost and bridging print and online by including websites and online icons in its print product.
As a result, www.goldbook.ca now hosts detailed multimedia profiles of more than 10,000 local businesses and draws more than 600,000 unique visitors each month.
