By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
Content marketing should be a vital part of your strategy to reach and engage contractors and professional tradesmen and move them through the sales funnel. Manufacturers are always focused on leads and will use things like traditional e-books and white papers. Not all activity will result in conversions. We should consider building brand awareness.
Here are five tactics to consider:
- Blog posts.You may already be doing a blog and if you’re not you should consider it. It helps set you up as an industry expert and helps move prospects through the know, like and trust phase of the journey. Include a strong call to action that will hopefully engage the reader to go somewhere or do something.
- Video. We are a visual society and like to watch stuff. Make sure your stuff is available. Manufacturers can introduce new products, do product demos and show best practices from other trade professionals. Keep the videos short and to the point and make sure you grab their attention in the first 10 seconds. Why should you do this? Conversion rates are seven times higher for visual content. Place them in optimal areas on your blog, Facebook, LinkedIn or your website.
- Surveys. Surveys are a great way to engage future contractors to find out more about issues that might be concerning them. Contractors don’t shy away from letting you know how they feel about a topic. It’s a great way to start a conversation.
- Infographics. Visual content gets more attention and leads to better conversion rates. You have a better chance of getting contractors to look at visuals as opposed to reading words. There’s tons of info on industries like plumbing and electrical that can be converted to images.
- Contests. What contractor doesn’t want to have their picture in print? Run a contest for the best use of a tool or the most unique way of doing a job. Ask them to answer a question. Get the contractors to opt in by giving you their contact info.
These are a few ways to get the most out of your content marketing. Check your analytics to see what’s working for you and do more of it.
