Reps vs. Factory Direct: The Debate Continues…
The current economic conditions have Managers looking for marketing options that they may have not considered in the past. The decision whether to use a direct sales force or an independent rep so often is one based primarily on control and not necessarily effectiveness
Using Social Media to Market an Event
When doing an event ,from a press conference to an open house or a new product launch, are you using social media to capitalize on it? Social is an inexpensive and cost-effective way to enhance the buzz around what you’re doing. I’m not suggesting that social replace traditional methods, instead use social to enhance them.
Bolster Your Social Media Presence By Using Email Marketing
For those of you who follow me on a regular basis, you know that I don’t preach that social media will be the “holy grail” of marketing. It’s just one more marketing tool in your tool box. For those of you who are using social, hopefully you are combining it with traditional things like email marketing to drive people to your social sites.
New Product Launches: Don’t Overlook Your Distributor Partners
Many manufacturers are so focused on the features and benefits of their new product that they sometimes forget about educating and motivating their distributors to insure a successful launch. Distribution is a key link in the launch, and if your distribution isn’t on board or even understands what or where this product fits into your overall strategy, it’s going to be hard for them to sell.
How is Social Media Impacting Your Brand
I’m sure management has been asking the 64 million dollar question: How is social media helping our Business? As marketers, we need to define those base line objectives to get answers to these kinds of questions. More importantly, is Facebook getting us more action or is it YouTube? If we know where our successes are, then we can spend more time cultivating them.
Generate Qualified Leads Using LinkedIn Answers
I recently read a post by Jason Falls, How to Make LinkedIn Answers part of your Routine, that showed me yet another way to generate both thought leadership and leads. Under the “More” button at the top of your home page is where you’ll find the Answers tab. There are several industry categories you can choose to follow. Since I use Google Reader, I subscribed to the appropriate categories and had them sent to my reader via an RSS feed. I also created a folder called LinkedIn Answers.
Habitat for Humanity: Tool Drive
Since our major focus is on manufacturers who make things for contractors, we thought it would be a good idea to help support our local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, so we’re having a tool drive in the month of August to try to raise money, and more importantly, tools (both new and used) to help in their building efforts, as well as to support them through their retail stores.
Marketers: It’s Time To Get Off The Dime
It’s been a tough 18-plus months for everyone in this channel, contractors, distributors and manufacturers alike. But manufacturers who pulled back their advertising and promotion budgets back then and haven’t restarted them, may be in for some surprises.
I had the good fortune to catch up with Bob Miodonski, group publisher of Plumbing & Mechanical, PM Engineer and Supply House Times magazines. We talked about the biggest trend in his industry, which turns out to be “green technology,” and he discussed how it is affecting the market in general, as well as other trends that affect contractors and distributors.
Have You Got a Social Media Policy?
Since anyone can be a spokesperson on social media, your company should have established guidelines that outline rules for online engagement. If you’re in a larger company, that means getting everyone from the executive suite to HR, and of course, customer service and marketing. If you’re a smaller one, you still need guidelines but maybe not to the extreme of larger companies.