The Best Way To Reach The Professional Tradesman: Social or Traditional Media?
The answer is both. Contractors are busy folks and they get their info from various sources and sometimes it’s on the fly. I’ve done several interviews of contractors from HVAC/R, electrical, plumbing to general contractors that have said that they get info about how to run their business from both the traditional trade publications as well as various sources on the Internet.
Social Media Isn’t A Silver Bullet
Social media is obviously the hottest topic in most marketing circles today. You have people on both sides of the fence (some who will never use it and some who say it’s the savior of marketing as we know it). Unfortunately both of these opinions are wrong. Too much or too little of anything isn’t good.
E-Mail And Social Media Are Tools B-to-B Marketers Plan On Using More Of In 2010
As we all look forward to 2010 in our planning processes, we’re all looking for ways to generate exposure and ultimately leads that turn to into sales. Most marketing budgets will still be tight in 2010, and marketers are looking for ways to get the best bang for the buck.
Why Online Videos Help Attract Professional Tradesman
Manufacturers should not lose site that videos are a powerful informational tool when it comes to building credibility with contractors. Consider if you will that next to Google Search, the next highest searche is YouTube. That alone should tell you something.
LinkedIn: 5 Ways It Can Be A Powerful New Business Tool
I tell everyone if they only could use one social media tool to generate new business, I’d use LinkedIn. While my blog is important (long term), and Twitter is very useful once you get your followers, LinkedIn offers you a way to be more proactive. Before you start utilizing it, you first have to make sure that your page is updated and as near to the 100% mark as you can get it. Once that’s done, dig in and have some fun.
2010 Outlook: B-to-B Marketers Plan On Increasing Social Media Budgets
According to a recent survey by emarketer.com, B-to-B clients are going to increase their spending in the social media arena in 2010. It certainly makes sense that the ones who have tried various aspects of social must be getting some traction or they wouldn't be...
Businesses are Moving From Adoption to Utilization of Social Media
I think it’s safe to say that social media is here to stay. For those of us who have accepted that fact, we are moving on from adoption to trying to understand how businesses can take advantage of social in a work context today. A recent 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking study (download a copy) was compiled from approx. 2900 responses and is an excellent overview of how businesses are trying to utilize this media. The report covers both how businesses are using social media to find relevant information and how they judge its success.
Social Media: Integrate Into Your Core Marketing Plan to Maximize Effectiveness
When we talk with clients about social, they are so focused on the “how” instead of the ” why.” “How” isn’t relevant if you don’t have plan on “why” you’re going to integrate social. Marketers need to realize that by integrating social into existing programs, the net result will be better because social lets potentials identify you!
B-to-B Marketers: Analytics Key To Your Internet Success
With more marketers jumping on the social media bandwagon, they are so focused on the content that they sometime ignore the metrics to see if what they are writing is being read, and more importantly, acted upon. Analytics are a crucial component to successfully generating traffic to your blog, Web site and inbound new business leads. But for many manufacturers, best practices for using analytics isn’t understood at all.
Your Most Valuable Asset When Reaching the Professional Tradesman: Thought Leadership
As a B-to-B marketer, Thought Leadership is one of the most valuable assets of your brand. When reaching out to the professional tradesman, you have several audiences that you need to build relationships with – Distribution, Buying Groups, Associations and ultimately, the Contractor or End User. Messaging to each of these markets while sharing common traits can and will be different. The sooner you begin building relationships in the buying cycle, the better off you’re going to be. Thought leadership and brand building should be an ongoing process.