The Difference Between PR, Marketing and Advertising—And Why It Matters

The words public relations (PR), advertising and marketing are often grouped together—used synonymously by individuals both inside and outside of the broader communications industry. However, PR, marketing and advertising refer to vastly different practices, each of...

What’s your Unique Selling Proposition to the Professional Tradesman?

I recently read an article by Mark Buckshon from Construction Marketing Ideas where he was talking about how contractors need to identify what makes them different from all the rest .It got me to thinking about farther up the food chain ( manufacturers) and how they all have hard time differentiating themselves.How many times have you heard the following:

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Why Interactive Content Matters when Reaching the Professional Tradesman

Interactive content will help you accomplish these goals. Contractors love to watch videos (both instructional and entertaining), they are always available to give you their opinions (polls) and they want to show you how smart they are (quizzes). Now not all your content has to be interactive, but I think you’ll find that the content that will get the best play (read and shared) will revolve around interactive content.

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Manufacturers: Have you Considered a Contractor Council?

May I suggest a contractor council? You all have brand advocates out there, why not get them together a few times a year and get a better sense of what’s happening in their world and what keeps them up at night. You could even pass by new product ideas before putting them into production. If you make the meetings about them and not you, the outcome will be more positive.

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Creativity is the Key

By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter It took creativity to start your business, and it takes creativity to keep it running every day. So why not apply that same creativity to the greatest challenge facing the manufacturing industry: the lack of skilled...

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Are You Using Brand Advocacy in Reaching Contractors ?

Let’s face it, in an ideal world we’d all want our customers to love us! We all know that’s not going to happen, but I’ll bet you might have more advocates for your brand than you think. Why are brand advocates important? Studies show that people rely on peer recommendations and reviews before purchasing goods. Contractors are no different, especially if you’re introducing a new product or application they haven’t used or seen before. They certainly don’t want to be the first to try something.

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5 Key Metrics for Measuring Trade Shows

Most of you participate in various trade shows from time to time. If you do, you know that they can be very expensive and management is always looking for a ROI. That’s why it’s important for sales and marketing to work together to make sure they get the best bang for the buck.

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Challenges Facing the Industrial Distributor Today

While the economy is their biggest concern,it’s one they have little control over it. Truth be know I don’t believe the industrial segment of the market ever got back to levels pre-2008. Sales and margins are down(Show me a business that doesn’t have similar issues) and that’s a natural reaction when sales drop you try to protect existing business and the easiest way of doing that is lowering prices.Distributors can sometimes be their own worst enemies, Sell value not price.

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