Yahoo’s targeting of telcos comes after a few months of aiming its local ad services at fast food franchises (in a sign of Yahoo’s attempts to woo these companies, it uses the preferred marketing jargon of “quick serve restaurants.”)

SEE ALSO: @ Local Online: Yahoo Aims For More Ad Dollars From Quick Service Restaurants

“All media companies are putting a focus on local ad spend, which still remains largely untapped,” Lloyd said. “Local represents half of all the $250 billion marketing spend in the U.S., but only a fraction is online. There are a lot of reasons these companies aren’t spending online. For one thing, many local ad buys are bought on a regional basis, as opposed to the more audience-targeted online ad sales structure. But mostly, it’s because companies haven’t put the time in to talk to all the various franchisee groups.”

As it seeks to reach out local marketers, Yahoo is partnering with companies like Valassis, which provides direct mail services to many telco companies. Yahoo believes it will open the door to moving more of that money online.

The partnership with a direct mail company also represents an evolution of the model behind the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium. As newspapers opened a lot of doors to Yahoo across local ad markets, the same is true of direct mail providers like Valassis. Also, in much the same way that Yahoo has provided ad sales training to newspapers through the Consortium, the company will also work with direct marketers to expand the digital possibilities there as well.