by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
Brands are no longer defined by marketers, but by the very people we hope to influence – our customers and potential customers.
B-to-B marketers have to embrace the new engagement marketing (social media) as a viable way to target and talk to both customers as well as prospects. This is about developing a two-way conversation between you and your prospect.
Think about it – it’s like dating. If on your first date all you do is talk about yourself and don’t let your date get a word in edgewise, where do you think this relationship is going?
Instead, if you talk less and ask questions about her and her interests, you’ll engage her in a conversation which might lead to other things based on what is learned by both sides.
Engagement marketing works the same way. You need to ask questions, listen and respond. Customers know they have choices and want to be treated as partners, not prospects.
As a B-to-B marketer, it is increasingly important to establish customer loyalty because without it, it becomes an issue all about price and that’s a road no one likes to go down.
Engagement marketing is about a process that invites, engages, nurtures and then consummates into a sale. Once you do get the sale, you must continue the dialog and turn that customer into an advocate.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
B-to-B marketers looking for ways to reach the professional tradesmen on the go have a new tool to consider – mobile advertising.
Emarketer forecasts that advertisers will spend 3.3 BILLION on mobile ads by 2013 up from 648 million in ’08.
As consumers (both B-to-C and B-to-B) embrace mobile technologies at an ever-increasing rate, emarketer predicts that 2009 may actually be the point where advertisers start shifting attention to mobile.
The industry’s turning point started with the introduction of the Smartphone, then the iPhone. 3G led to faster connection speed and the rise of Internet browsing and WI-FI connectivity kept the ball rolling. 4G is due out this summer and who knows what the next advancement will be. The only thing we know for sure is that it’s coming.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2009 | Marketing Trends
An overwhelming majority (88%) of marketers say they are using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less, according to a social media study by Michael Stelzner, sponsored by the upcoming Social Media Success Summit 2009.
Mediabuyerplanner just released a post that outlines details of new research that should make B-to-B marketers sit up and take notice. Highlights include:
- The #1 benefit of social media marketing is gaining more attention for their business.
- Improving traffic and growing marketing lists is second.
- More than 50% said a major benefit was a rise in search engine rankings.
- 88% of marketers are employing some form of social media.
- 90% of business owners are most likely to use social media.
- 72% say they just started using social media
What does all of this mean for the B-to-B marketer? It means if you aren’t already on the bus, you’d better get on soon!
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 9, 2009 | Marketing Trends
Perception vs. Reality. Perception is Twitter is for people under 30. The reality is it’s the fastest growing segment for folks 45-54. Another reason B-to-B marketers should be using it.
Twitter continues to have incredible growth, but may surprise you where the growth is coming from. Alexei Oreskovic shared these great nuggets of information regarding Twitter in a recent post for Reuter’s MediaFile blog:
Twitter has seen its popularity explode in recent months with a number of unique visitors to its site increasing by more than 1000 percent year-over-year in February, according to comScore.
Twitter is a rare example of the older people embracing a new web technology at such an early stage, says Andrew Lipman, director of industry analysis at comScore.
Twitter may even be catching on among people who have reached a post-business phase of their lives: of the 4 million U.S twitter users in February, 5.2 percent were over 65 years old.
That shouldn’t surprise me. I’ll be 61 this year and this new technolgy stuff is interesting and not that challenging to learn. I not only use it for business, but as my grandchilden grow, I’m going to be a hip Papa.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 9, 2009 | Marketing Trends
Twittering isn’t just for the young and hip anymore. As of February, there were 7,038,000 Twitter users (up 1,382% from last year ) according to Neilsen Netview.
Twittering is fast becoming a go-to tactic for B-to-B marketers. They are finding that brief messages to their followers are allowing them a platform to connect using tips, news alerts, events in near real time. They’re also learning that they don’t have to twitter, but can become followers and listen to what’s being said about the markets or industry in general .
B -to-B buyers are still people and that they buy from other people. Jon Miller ,VP Marketing at software developer, Marketo, says, “If you can build a relationship with a prospective buyer using Twitter before they are actively looking, you build your brand more effectively than you could with much more expensive options.”
B-to-B marketers are finally realizing that conversations are going with or without them. If you don’t believe me, type in your company name in Twitter Search and see what comes up. It may surprise you. Tweets don’t show up on Google Search yet or SEO ranking, but it’s just a matter of time.
Rick Karpinski recently had an article in BtoB Magazine that outlines how the business community can benefit from Twitter and gives examples of what some of the early adopters in B-to-B are doing with Twitter as part of their marketing programs. You can read the full post at: B-to-B Followers Flock to Twitter
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 6, 2009 | Marketing Trends
Industrial markets focusing on design/engineering and technical jobs are spending more time online according to a recent survey released by GlobalSpec.
Here are some of the survey’s highlights:
- 83% found suppliers online
- 81% get their product specs online
- 79% use the Internet for research
- 67% request quote
- 66% compare products across suppliers
- 74% of engineers visited 6 or more related sites weekly
- 56% spend 6 hours a week on the internet
- 21% spend 12 hours or more on the internet
Seeing an online advertisement motivates the engineering, technical and industrial audience to take action. According to 2008 GlobalSpec Engineering Trends Survey, upon seeing an advertisement online, 87% of respondents visited the advertiser’s Web site and 56% e-mailed the advertiser.
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