by tradesmeninsights | Aug 12, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
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. Let’s face it, especially in today’s economy, a distributor needs to understand why he should invest in inventory of this new widget.
Here are some tips to help make sure your distribution is on board:
- Give them plenty of notice – They need to know 45-60 days in advance so they can get the new SKUs into the system, onto the promotion calendar and most importantly, get you that initial stocking order.
- Incentivize the initial stocking order – Give them an additional discount on that first order or give them extended dating or waive your minimum order requirements. The key here is to make sure they have your product on the shelf so when the contractor comes in and asks for it, they have it.
- Train/educate distributor sales force – It’s an important step in the process that’s often overlooked. Many manufacturers assume they understand the big picture, and most of the time, it’s not the case. With time and travel expenses being what they are, traditional things like lunch-and-learns may not be the best way to introduce the new product. You might want to use an online training tool like BlueVolt that can both train, verify and motivate the sales team.
- SPIF sales – For at least the first 3 months, put some sort of incentive on the product to get the sales folks excited. Put yourself in their shoes. Most distributors carry anywhere from 15,000-25,000 different items. Which ones do you think they will be talking about? And oh by the way, don’t overlook those inside and CSRs. They have 5-7 times the number of contacts with customers everyday and can talk up new products and create add-on sales (do you want fries with that?)
- Make key end user calls – This seems like a no-brainer, and while you the manufacturer might be making those calls, you don’t always include the distributor in them. Chances are that key potential for you is already a key customer for the distributor. He can make sure you get in front of the right people and brings a relationship to the table.
These are some simple ways to insure your new product launch is successful.
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by tradesmeninsights | Aug 11, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
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.
I recently read a great article from Nichole Kelly in Social Media Examiner, 4 Ways to Measure Social Media and its Impact on Your Brand. I’d like to share some highlights:
You need to build a strategy to measure your goals. We need to agree on terms like brand awareness is a measure of how recognizable your brand is to your target audiences.
Three key areas to evaluate are exposure, influence and engagement. Nichole points out in her article there are many tools (some free, some you have to pay for) that can help you sort out the numbers.
- Exposure – track growth rate as a percentage of the aggregate totals (eliminate duplicates)
- Engagement – how many people took some kind of action based on your message (most important)
- Influence – what was the outcome of the engagement (was it positive, negative or neutral)?
Those are my thoughts. What tools are you using to measure social?
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 14, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Twitter
If you don’t talk up your brand on Twitter and other social sites, you’re missing the boat.
This according to a recent post on eMarketer.com from ROI Research. A study in April of 2010 found that at least once a week, 33% of active Twitter users shared opinions about companies or products, while 32% make recommendations and 30% ask for them.
According to Daina Middleton, CEO of Performics who commissioned the study “Social networking has greatly contributed to the shift from strict consumerism to more lively, two-way participation between Brands and everyday customers.”
If you like this, you should like:
How to Engage the Professional Tradesmen on Twitter
Awareness of Twitter has Exploded: Great Way to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
Want to Find out if Professional Tradesmen are Active on Twitter?
If you like these, please pass it on to a friend.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 13, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
What’s one of the most important tools a contractor has with him? If you said his phone, you win the prize!
With the advent of smart phones like the iPhone and now the Android, there are opportunities to reach your customer on a job site. Are you planning that far ahead?
According to the Yankee Group, US mobile application revenues will jump from 1.6 billion this year to 11 billion by 2014. Nearly 1/3 of these apps are purchased.
Caterpiller announce in January of 2011 an application for mobile phones that will allow a user from a smart phone to access a dealer close to them for status on what kind of equipment is available for rent.
Now I’m not suggesting that you charge for an app or even try to sell something through the phone, but what I am suggesting is you might want to have an app that contractors can have on their phone where you can tell them about the newest widget and give them instant access to you.
What are your thoughts on mobile apps?
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 7, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Twitter
Twitter is one of the most useful social media tools we use to drive traffic. For it to be effective, you first need to determine key words and phrases that fit into your space.
Twitter has tools as well as third parties that can help. I recently read an article by Adam Holden-Bache in Social Media B2B where he outlines some tips on fine-tuning your audience searches. Here are some highlights:
- Determine key words and phrases – Go to Google AdWords Keyword Tool and enter some key words. For example, air conditioning heating gets an average 550,000 monthly hits and 450,000 are local searches
- Search Twitter by key words – Twitter Advance Search, take what you find on Google and plug into Twitter
- Optimize tweets for inbound opportunities – Use Google Reader and select Twitter Search Feed. When you click on “show details,” it tells you when most activities are taking place so you know when to Tweet
- Use Buzzom.com to search Twitter Bios – Search key words that would describe the people that buy your products, such as remodeling contractors
- Use Twellow.com to search business categories – This is a directory of Twitter accounts and you can search broad categories to identify people who are in the energy market, aerospace or green
These are some great tips. Do you have any to share?
If you like this article, you may like:
How to Engage the Professional Tradesmen on Twitter
Awareness of Twitter has Exploded: Great Way to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 6, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
We all use e-mails as part of our marketing strategy, but have you considered adding social sharing options? If you haven’t, you should and here’s why:
A recent study by GetResponse showed that e-mail messages that included social sharing options generated 30% higher click-through rates than e-mails without a social option.
Messages with 3 or more sharing options generate 55% higher click-through rates.
These findings make sense if you consider that Twitter posts 55 million tweets a day and that the average Facebook user has 130 friends. This is Viral at its best, and if you give your audience an easy way to share your info, they will.
So next time when doing an e-mail campaign, make sure you include social sharing options.
