Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
Your Employees Are Your Best Secret Weapon
When it comes to promoting or managing your brand, your most important asset is your employees. It doesn’t matter if you are a B2C or a B2B company – we are all in a B2P world – business to people. It’s your people who interact with every customer, prospect, donor, recruit, or media person. There are few other channels you have that can achieve the reach and personal touch as your employees.
Fundamental to marketing is knowing your audience, crafting the right message, and delivering it through the best medium. We all know that cutting through the clutter is increasingly difficult. Additionally, your target audience is also becoming increasingly wary of interacting with brands that are not authentic. Applying your brand so your employees understand it and deliver on its promise, not only alleviates both challenges, but is also your secret weapon to elevate your brand and build more loyalty. But how? Here are three things to begin with:
1. Make sure every employee understands your brand. They should be clear about your mission, vision, and values. Any employee will know how to make the ‘right’ decision when they are guided by your values. They shouldn’t have to go to an employee handbook or run to their manager every time a new situation arises to know what to do. Living your brand through your values is the foundation of your culture. If your values are just lofty words that no one pays any attention to, then it’s time to revisit them and work with your employees on how to bring them to life.
2. Give your employees the tools to be great brand ambassadors. One of the best ways to start is through social media. The combined reach of your employee’s social media presence probably surpasses that of your company social media channels; leverage that. Begin with developing a social media policy. Provide them with information on how to properly represent your company when they decide to do so through their various social media platforms. Give them examples of what is appropriate and what is not, and where to go if they have questions. If you are not comfortable enough to open this up for all your employees, then select a group as your dedicated social media brand ambassadors. Make sure they come from a wide variety of areas within your organization and represent a diversity of positions and tenure. Customers love to hear employee stories and see what goes on behind the scenes and it also adds an incredible amount of authenticity that no amount of advertising is going to get you.
3. Encourage employees to find ways to bring your brand to life. Although your brand platform is not something that changes often, how its expressed and activated can constantly evolve. Your employees will have the best ideas on how to do that. It can range from potential new products to how to provide better customer service or how to improve the recruiting process. As an added benefit, it’s also a way to increase employee engagement because it demonstrates that the company genuinely values employees’ opinions and contributions.
It doesn’t matter what type or what size organization you have; your brand is one of your most important assets, and your employees are your secret weapon. By empowering them, they can elevate and promote your brand. We know this from experience. Telling our stories and being present on social media has been a key to our growth over the years – it’s a good as time as any to help make it one of yours as well.
Originally thought to be a flight of fancy during the COVID-19 pandemic, podcasts have shocked the world by becoming a major part of content creation. Their ability to offer entertainment, information and education without distracting listeners from everyday tasks has skyrocketed their popularity. 64% of podcasters believe podcasts will be even more popular in two years.
67% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 30 listened to a podcast in the last year, and PR pros have pitched podcasts 20% more in Q1 of 2023 than in Q4 of 2022 and have gotten over five times the response rate.
A Closer Look at Podcasts Almost 50% of podcasters look to current events for inspiration for podcast content, meaning that podcasts are an easy way to stay up to date with the world around you. Podcasts have become increasingly popular due to the mobile lifestyles of listeners and the convenience of listening.
On average, a podcast episode will last from 20 to 40 minutes, and more than half of all podcasters release new episodes once a week or more. More than half of podcasters will also record videos of the show, offering a visual experience as well as the default auditory one.
In a drastic up tick from last year, 81% of podcasts feature guests. It has been found that the opmal podcast has one guest and one host, and podcasters will prioritize organic guests over paid ones. More and more podcasters offer premium content so their subscribers can access extra content that is exclusive to them.
70% of podcasters rely on social media to promote their podcasts, meaning that cross-posting clips across their platforms have become increasingly common. Most podcasters use three or more channels to cross-post on, the top four being Facebook, Instagram, their blog or website and Twitter. It is also the best practice for guests appearing on the show to promote it on their channels as well. Twitter is the best place to promote the show, as almost 30% of podcasts hosts have the largest following there.
More than half of podcasters believe there are too many podcasts, but the audience for them continues to grow. Find your niche because there are listeners waiting for you!
The first ever hashtag was used in 2007, almost 17 years ago and since then hashtags have become a crucial part of social media. But with hashtags being 17 years old, are they still relevant to use? In this blog post, we will discuss whether your company should use hashtags and their importance.
The short answer is yes, hashtags are still relevant to use, but it’s vital to understand the benefits they possess.
Reaching potential customers
Hashtags allow for your target audience to find your brand by searching for appropriate hashtags. Searching and following specific hashtags allow for users to find your posts, which can help to grow your following and get potential new business. When using hashtags, make sure you’re using hashtags that are specific to your brand. This means that the people searching for these hashtags will be a more interested and engaged audience.
Social listening
Custom hashtags help to create a more well-rounded marketing strategy. By making something unique and specific to you and your brand, you can generate user-generated content when your customers use that hashtag. Hashtags also can give insight to customer behavior and help brands understand your audience better. Social listening tools can help you track hashtags related to your brand or products to identify the positive and negative conversations from your customers.
By social listening, you can also track relevant influencers within your niche that you could send products to.
Increasing organic reach
Using hashtags can increase your organic reach on social media platforms. As previously mentioned, hashtags help your content be seen from potential customers. Social media algorithms can also work to your advantage when using hashtags. The algorithm looks at every piece of content posted to the platform in order to prioritize the content to its users based on if it’s appealing or interesting. This includes looking at hashtags, the engagement of the post, caption and if it’s a photo or video.
If you still are not using hashtags to your advantage, then now is the time! You don’t want to miss out on potential customers that are easy to reach. Using hashtags correctly can play a key role in your marketing strategy and social media content. We don’t see hashtags going anywhere anytime soon, so make sure to incorporate them into your plan.
Season’s greetings, from the Sonnhalter team! We are grateful for another successful year, and we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful clients, business partners and friends like you. The Sonnhalter team will be taking some time off over the holidays from December 25th to January 1st. We hope that you enjoy this holiday season and time with your family and friends! We’ll see you in 2024! Sonnhalter, your B2T partner – let’s build something together.
Each month, Alan Sipe, a contributing editor for Professional Distributor magazine, writes a sales skill article targeted to the independent business people who own and operate the various branded tool trucks you see parked at automotive repair shops everywhere.
A few weeks ago, my friend Rick sent me the following email which shocked the heck out of me.
Hi Alan,
I started using the new Microsoft Edge browser which has the ChatGPT AI built into it. It has a “compose” section where you put in what you are interested in and have it write a paragraph or two on the topic. So, I entered “teach people how to sell tools” and here is the output after about 10 seconds:
Do you want to learn how to sell tools like a pro? Do you want to boost your sales and earn more money? Do you want to impress your customers and make them loyal to your brand? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this is the guide for you!
Selling tools is not just about showing the features and benefits of your products. It’s also about understanding the needs and wants of your customers, building rapport and trust with them, and creating a memorable experience that makes them come back for more.
In this guide, you will learn how to:
Identify your target market and their pain points
Research and select the best tools for your niche
Craft a compelling sales pitch that highlights the value of your tools
Demonstrate your tools in action and overcome objections
Close the deal and follow up with your customers
By following these steps, you will be able to sell tools like a pro in no time. You will also enjoy your work more and have fun along the way. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your tools and start selling!
For those of you who read this column, this ChatGPT output sounds exactly like the point of all the columns I have written over the last 4-5 years. Let’s break down this guide step-by-step and really dive into how to make that sale because, at the end of the day, you can ask AI for as much help as you want, but if you’re not putting in the hard work with your customers, it won’t matter.
For example: “I am told that reaching the fasteners way down deep in a BMW steering column is difficult. I think our 24” Torx screwdriver will help you get down in there quickly and easily.”
Research and select the best tools for your niche
This sounds like simple logic, but just because a tool is on promotion this month is no reason to show a bodywork dolly to an alignment specialist.
Craft a compelling sales pitch that highlights the value of your tools
A sales presentation that includes only the features and the advantages is only half a professional presentation and in reality, not the important half. The personal benefit to this individual is why they buy and the key to closing the deal.
An example of only feature and advantage presenting: “The protective steel in these work shoes not only protects your toes but unlike many other protective shoes on the market the steel in these shoes comes way up and protects most of your arch.”
An example of feature, advantage, and benefit presenting: “This means that when something very heavy falls on your foot these shoes protect your arch as well as your toes, so your chance of a serious foot injury disability is reduced significantly.”
The last bit is the benefit. This is what gets the prospect turned on about your shoes.
Demonstrate your tools in action and overcome objections
Give a complete demonstration showing the features, advantages, and benefits in logical order. A logical order helps you remember where you are in your demonstration when interruptions in your presentation occur. Also, if you present the most important features first you will run out of things to say pretty quickly.
Be prepared for all the likely objections which will probably come up. Build them into your presentation so you are in control.
For example: “There are grinders available with both slower and faster speeds than mine. Our world-famous engineering people researched these grinders and developed a product that will do your job and also give you excellent disk life which I’m sure is what you’re looking for, isn’t it?”
Close the deal and follow up with your customers
I recently was asked to give a “sales skills” seminar in Dallas for an automotive aftermarket distributor with a team of seasoned professional salespeople. Although this team doesn’t drive around in a mobile store like you, they are out there every day calling on customers. Here’s what I told them about my experience as a salesperson and closing the deal:
I was fortunate that my first real sales job was selling office copiers back when most companies didn’t own a copier. (Yea, yea, I’m old!) Every morning, five days a week, before we hit the road to make our 20 cold calls, we would give a training product demonstration to the entire local sales team. These guys were brutal. The slightest product mistake or, god forbid, a missed closing opportunity brought howls and boos from the others. Believe me, you learn to ask for the order in that environment.
Closing the deal should be the easiest part of your selling day. If you give a great demonstration — feature, advantage, benefit — with lots of trial closing, asking for the actual order should be soft, smooth, and effective.
Now, circling back to the title of this article. It comes from the 1964 Bob Dylan hit, “The Times They Are A-Changing.”
You better believe that your selling world is changing. If my accountant friend can produce this good sales presentation in a few seconds just think of what one of your online or local competitors can whip up with a little technical Chat GPT training.
You need to make your calls, demo greatly, sell hard, close hard, thank your customers for their business every day, and then do it again tomorrow!
Social media is an effective marketing tool for businesses to use to target their customers.
It’s not surprising that in a recent study from Wpromote in partnership with Ascend2, six in 10 respondents surveyed ranked social media as the most effective digital marketing channel at driving revenue. This is up from 50 percent last year and 57 percent the year before.
Social is the top revenue-driving channel and contributes the most to achieving top-of-funnel goals. Social is becoming a true full-funnel powerhouse for B2B marketers; in the past, marketers were more likely to use social platforms to drive brand awareness in the upper funnel, but this year, it topped the list of most effective bottom funnel channels for the first time. This is driven by the digital transformation that accelerated through the pandemic.
Brand awareness strategies are at the top of the funnel and are a critical focus for B2B brands. Next up was content marketing (49 percent), followed by email (45 percent), display advertising (36 percent) and paid search (32 percent).
Since the pandemic, social media has digitally transformed and continues to keep B2B buyers in mind by prioritizing their experience across different apps.
Social media is poised for budget growth: 56 percent say their social media budgets will increase this year, making this the area with the most consensus around budget growth. It’s followed by content marketing (52 percent), with fewer (34 percent) expecting to spend more on streaming TV.
To get the most out of budgets, whether you’re increasing by a lot, a little, or not at all, make sure to monitor your performance and move dollars between channels to follow demand.
