by tradesmeninsights | Dec 10, 2013 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Smaller B-to-B companies (under 100 employees) seem to be doing a better job maximizing their content marketing efforts according to Content Marketing and Marketing Prof’s B2B Content Marketing 2014 Benchmark, Budgets and Trends Research.
Heidi Cohen does a good job highlighting important nuggets from the report. Among them:
- Over 90% of B2B marketers are using some sort of content marketing.
- 42% of marketers think their content is effective and 20% thinks theirs isn’t.
- 48% of smaller B2B organizations have a documented content strategy compared to 41% of bigger organizations.
- 78% of smaller companies have someone specific overseeing content marketing as opposed to 58% of larger companies.
More people are planning on spending more of their budget on content marketing. If you’re like the rest of us, budgets aren’t getting any larger next year and we have to do more with less. Heidi suggests looking in other people’s budgets to help the cause.
The biggest challenge still is producing good relevant content no matter what your budget is. That’s why a content marketing strategy is the most important thing you can do to ensure good content on a regular basis.
Are these findings consistent with what’s happening in your world?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 3, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends
When you go to all the work to create great content, don’t miss out on opportunities to share it. We’re all guilty of getting into a routine when creating content and rarely deviate from it, whether it be because of time constraints or just laziness. The point is, we need to shake it up a bit sometimes.
According to 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends, there are over two dozen tactics that you could use. Here are some that I think are important in going after the professional tradesman:
- Offer useful info on your website – Make sure to include topics that help folks through your selling cycle.
- Industry newsletters – As you collect email addresses, send out a regular newsletter quarterly or monthly. If you are selling to several different audiences, segment the newsletters so they will be more meaningful for those who read them. A plumber probably isn’t interested in something a HVAC guy would be. Don’t be concerned about the size of it, but the quality of it. I’d rather be regularly communicating with 500 key prospects than 5,000 unqualified ones.
- Case Studies – By market or application are in high demand by your target audience. Tradesmen like to see what their peers are doing and the results. Post on your website, use it as an e-blast to your targets and have them reprinted so your sales force has something to hand out.
- Videos – How to and feature and benefit videos are an easy way for you to get your point across. Put it on your website, and put it on YouTube (create your own channel) with the appropriate search terms.
- Online Presentations – Take those PowerPoints you do everyday on why you’re better than the other guys and put it on your website, along with putting it on SlideShare with appropriate key words.
- Podcasts – Even if you don’t have a blog, you can utilize this tactic. Interview an industry leader on the issues of the day or what’s coming down the line that might impact your reader. You can use it again on your website and do e-blasts to targeted audiences.
Those are some highlights from my point of view. Whether it’s utilizing these tactics or others, step outside the box and try other things. You’ll be glad you did.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 5, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
As we start planning for 2014, ask yourself this question:
When was the last time you took a hard look at where your marketing budget is going?
B-to-B budgets, while on the mend from the last few years, are not growing at the same rate as the tasks we are being asked to do. We all are creatures of habit and tend to go and support things that we’ve used in the past and have been successful.
Do this simple exercise. Pull out a spread sheet from 3 years ago where you have all your line items. I’ll bet you didn’t have things like lead nurturing, responsive websites, mobile apps, mobile marketing or content marketing as part of your radar a few years ago.
Yes, over the past few years you may have dabbled in a new tactic, but have you done enough to see if there has been any impact on your brand? I’m not saying you should abandon your current tactics, just make sure you’re not missing any opportunities that might help you sell more. You go to the doctor for your annual visit, don’t you? Why not put your marketing budget through the same type of process?
You may even want to get someone outside your organization who is familiar with your markets to review line items and make suggestions as to what you might want to try or include moving forward.
By using an outsider, you’re not worrying about someone trying to sell you something, and for some reason, outside consultants somehow get the ear of the C suite easier than you or I would.
Good luck in your planning process and at least set aside a portion of your budget to try new things.
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 30, 2013 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Recently, Christopher Hosford, the East Coast Bureau Chief for BtoB Magazine, held a virtual roundtable discussion with some industry leaders about the future of email and where it’s heading. Here are some highlights from my perspective:
- Gmail – has moved to a tabbed format that is raising issues about open and read rates.
- Dynamic content – the wave of the future is to segment communications around real-time, behavioral-based messages.
- Mobile has an incredible impact on how people read their emails. 43% of all emails are opened on a smart phone.
- Automation tools are not a silver bullet – it’s the size and frequency that counts.
- Triggered email around events, time or a behavior-based activity.
- For B-to-B marketers, site visits or time spent on a site is more important, so you need good content to keep them coming back, especially for those in long selling cycles.
Their conclusion is that the future of email is bright because it builds on all these new ways of engagement and marketing perspectives.
You can read the entire interview here.
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 29, 2013 | Marketing Trends
Beyond doing a great job in advertising, PR, messaging and engagement, have you ever thought of the other side of the equation – the customer experience?
Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies by focusing on getting the message out, and the means by which we’re doing it makes sense to us, but have we asked our customers what they think?
Forrester claims that Adaptive Marketing Confederation is the trend of the future. They define as:
“A flexible structure and culture of working with marketing staff, partners and systems that enables brands to respond quickly to their environments to align customer and brand goals.”
My take on what this means is pretty straightforward. Talk with the customer service people and sales folks to get a better sense of what the customers’ wants and needs are. I challenge marketers to get out of the office and into the field for some “Street Smarts” by calling on end users.
Forrester refers to customer intelligence teams. This goes beyond spread sheets as you need to uncover customers affinities and needs. All this is driven by data and sometimes it can become overwhelming. But you need to sort through it and along with contributions from other team members, outside marketing (sales and customer service), you can improve the customer experience.
I know this is a moving target, but if you’re not trying to improve it, your competitors will be.
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 23, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
I think everyone realizes by now that mobile is the fastest growing segment of the business. While the biggest impact is on the retail markets, B-to-B usage continues to grow. So should you have an app? The answer to that is, will your app give value and help your targeted user with practical things? If yes, then you’d better get rolling.
comScore data shows that 63% of mobile commerce happens via a smartphone. Don’t take these retail numbers for granted. From a B-to-B perspective, giants like Amazon are leading the way in this category. That means that a consumer can buy a book as easily as a hydraulic fitting using a smartphone.
So the questions you have to ask yourself are this: do I have a mobile website, and if I do, is it optimized for smartphones and tablets? If not, you need to get a responsive designed site sooner than later. But just because you’ve built an app doesn’t mean people will come.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, 21 Ways to Promote Your Mobile App that gives you quick ideas on how to promote. Here are some highlights:
- Promote your app on your website
- Promote your app on your mobile site
- Get your app in iOS and Android app stores
- Use it in self promotion from emails to QR codes in print and digital ads
- Promote it on your business cards and email signature
Let’s not waste an opportunity.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
Mobile Marketing to the Professional Tradesman – What are you Doing?
Things to Consider When Using Mobile to Reach the Professional Tradesman.
Is Your Website Mobile Ready for the Professional Tradesman?
