by tradesmeninsights | Jan 14, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
For those of you who want to get a great overview of ways to build relationships, both off-line as well as on-line, I’d suggest you read Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. What you learn are common sense ways to let people get to know, like, and trust you, and hopefully do business with you.
Most of the things you should already be doing in one form or another, but they show you how, by tying them all together, you have a better result. It’s an easy read, and they don’t bore you with the how to get the best out of Twitter or other social tools. They are concerned about the basic processes of building trust which will never change.
Gentlemen, good job.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 12, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
We’re all used to doing surveys after the fact to make sure the customers are satisfied and to see if you could be of additional service. Not many of us, though, think of surveys as a way to identify where the prospect is in the buying cycle and what the best way to communicate with them is.
I recently read a post by Stephan Dietrich of Neolane Inc. where he outlined ways to use surveys for this purpose. He suggests that e-mails and surveys can work well together.
One example he gives is that of a user downloading a white paper from your web site. If a few days later you can send him a survey, you can not only find out what their thoughts are on the paper, but also determine where they are in the buying process and maybe give them a limited time discount offer. While most results won’t end this quickly with a sale, it does give an opportunity to continue the conversation with the prospect and nurture them through the sales process.
Social media can be used to both identify and start conversations with potential buyers.
How are you using surveys to help generate leads and sales?
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 7, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
As social media continues to grow, B-to-B marketers better be on board or the train will leave them at the station. In a recent Social Media Marketing Industry Report, it interviewed nearly 900 marketers. 88% were already using social media and 64% were using it 5 or more hours a week.
Their top 3 reasons for using social were exposure, increasing traffic and building new business relationships.
Does this sound like something you’d like to do? The professional tradesman is no different than any other consumer. Their time is limited and they choose the way they receive info both on a personal and professional level. The key for us marketers is to integrate social into our existing CRM programs. Steve Nielsen of Partner Up recently wrote a post on ways this could be accomplished. Here are some of the highlights:
- Online communities are more than networks; they’re end-to-end marketing engines that allow you to address customers’ concerns in real time.
- Online communities have the capacity to yield instant insight into brand awareness and reputation.
- Social media is a disruptive force turning traditional marketing and CRM on their heads. Those that can harness this disruption stand to gain the most ground.
According to Nielsen, companies seeking to re-energize their marketing should integrate online data into their existing CRM programs. Companies that follow this will become more relevant by transforming customer relationships and generating measurable business results.
So what are you doing to use social to reach those professional tradesmen? I’d like to hear from you.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 30, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
We all want to do our best when it comes to social media, and I find I’m always looking for suggestions and processes that can help me improve my end product. One of the ways I stay in touch and hopefully ahead of the curve is to follow industry leaders. Their insight and expertise is very valuable to me.
One such leader is Jason Falls who has a blog called Social Media Explorer. Jason recently posted The Four Spheres of Social Media Strategy, which focuses on the key areas we need to keep our focus on.
While each of these four areas are important by themselves, the impact to a social program comes when they overlap. Here are some highlights of the circle:
- Brand Intelligence – This is pretty straightforward. You need to know and understand what your brand is and stands for.
- Consumer Insights – This revolves around the customer, profiling and audience research are two examples.
- Community Behavior – You need to know and understand how people interact. Is Twitter a better way to communicate to them or is Facebook?
- Tools & Platforms – You need to have an understanding of the tools and options out there to best promote your brand.
The key is to keep your eye on the ball and focus on elements such as Jason has outlined. Jason, thanks for your insights.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 23, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
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.
They use the trade publications to catch up on what’s happening in the industry, who bought who, and to read articles to help them run their business. They use the Internet to do research on various things from troubleshooting to new product demos and online training. Some participate in online forums with their peer groups to talk about issues/problems they are having in their day-to-day operations. Most of the Internet activities are done either before or after the normal business day. One example is Contracting Business magazine who sponsors a forum – HVAC-Talk – that’s the leading forum for HVAC professionals to talk to each other. They average over 50,000 page views a month.
Contractors as a whole are lagging behind when it comes to social media. The reasons given range from, “I don’t have the time” to “I don’t understand it,” and with the economy the way it is, my first priority is to stay in business. The ones that get it and are using it have found that it’s another marketing tool to generate new business and stay connected with their customers. Most trade associations haven’t done a good job explaining to their members the possible usages and benefits for social.
Manufacturers shouldn’t be discouraged. Those that have embraced social are reaping the benefits. It’s just another way you can get customers to interact with you. Here’s a great example of a hand tool company, Snap-on Tools, that on Facebook has over 25,000 fans. Every time Snap-on updates their events section or uploads new video or photos, all their fans are automatically updated.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 22, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
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.
For those who don’t embrace or understand social media, I’d recommend you get your head out of the sand. Social isn’t going away and you’re better off understanding it and begin using it sooner than later.
For those that do embrace it and think the world will revolve around it, you should wake up and smell the coffee. When in the history of marketing and advertising have we had only one media source to get our message out?
Here’s a reality check. What are we trying to do here? Unless you work for the Government, I believe we’re ultimately trying to sell something. Let’s face it, no sales, no job! As marketers today, we’re faced with so many challenges to identify potentials and move them along the sales cycle. We need all the help we can get and we should know and understand the tools that are available and use them appropriately.
I try to use this blog to inform my audience of Manufacturers who are trying to reach the professional tradesman that they should start using social as one more tool in their marketing plans. I certainly haven’t told them to blow away the traditional ways of reaching their audience like print ads, PR and trade shows. We all can’t lose site of what our ultimate goal is…to sell something. Social can help identify potentials, but there are other tools that can nurture them through the sales process and we need to use them all!
What are your feelings on social and how it plays a role in your plans?
For those of you who want to get a great overview of ways to build relationships, both off-line as well as on-line, I’d suggest you read Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. What you learn are common sense ways to let people get to know, like, and trust you, and hopefully do business with you.
