by tradespeopleinsights | Feb 17, 2015 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
I don’t know about you, but LinkedIn continues to be a top performer for me and my blog posts. The top referrer is search engines, but LinkedIn is a strong second and Twitter is third for getting the right eyes on my blog.
A recent article in eMarketer.com confirms the fact that among top social sites for B-to-B, LinkedIn remains on top for both usage and effectiveness.
I use LinkedIn exclusively to share my posts with not only the folks that linked to me, but to the numerous LinkedIn groups that I belong to. I’ve had clients who have great success in recruiting the right kind of talent using their paid job searches.
Are you using LinkedIn, and if so, are you having similar success?
by tradespeopleinsights | Feb 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
For those of you who read my posts on a regular basis, you know I’m concerned about the long-term viability of all the trades because the older tradesmen are retiring at a far greater pace than young folks coming in. I recently read an article in Contractor Magazine that said that out of every 4 people who leave the trades, only one is entering the field.
Gordy Noe, president of Pioneer Heating and Air Conditioning in Knoxville, Tennessee, has come up with a unique program called, “Ride and Decide” where he hires high school students for summer jobs and puts them to work. It gives them a chance to dip their toe in the water and see what opportunities are out their other than a 4-year degree.
It’s a win-win for everyone. Young folks get paid work for the summer break and get to experience a trade that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise do. Contractors get to show them firsthand what they do and what the potential earning power is in the trades. Here’s an interesting stat – only about 10% of those that graduate college actually get a job in the field they studied!
This program is a great model that other contractors across the country might want to try. Talk with local high schools and post jobs both in the schools and online via the social media outlets. Don’t try to do it all on your own. Go to your trade associations like the PHCC or NECA. They certainly should have resources that will help you attract the attention of the younger set.
Who knows, you might be able to start growing talent from within. You could hire these young folks, and as part of their training, offer them educational support by paying for classes at a local trade school or community college.
If you liked this post, you might find these of interest:
Education, Recruiting and the Trades – a Small Step Can Make a Big Difference.
Attracting and Retaining manufacturing talent.
by tradespeopleinsights | Feb 10, 2015 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Strategic or Tactical, which is more important? It takes both to ensure a comprehensive marketing program. Most of us have no problem doing tactics since we can list the tasks and check them off.
Strategic thinking is another matter. It really sets the tone from which the tactics are identified and then implemented.
Jason Falls from Social Media Explorer summed it up very simply on what the difference is.
Strategic thinking identifies who we are or who we want to be. What do we stand for?
Tactical identifies those things (what we do) in order to support our strategic thinking.
My biggest challenge is that I always tend to fall back on tactics because I can, in my own mind think that by checking off tasks, I’m accomplishing something. I guess I am, but it’s short-term.
The best way for me to make sense of both of them is that strategic is long-term and tactics are more short-term.
Do you have the same struggle with strategies like I do ?
I know we need both and we can’t have meaningful tactics until we have a strategy.
by tradespeopleinsights | Feb 4, 2015 | Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
From a manufacturing point of view, it’s in your best interest to train contractors on the best way to install your product. It eliminates call backs and helps contractors sell more of your stuff. No surprise there, but with sales forces that are stretched thin, now they can only do so much training. Where do they focus their efforts – on the distributor’s sales force or on the end user?
The answer is use online training for both.
- You can train distributor sales on new products, on not only features and benefits, but also on where/when they should be used. Several eLearning options out there can test them after to make sure they got the point.
- You can train contractors on new products/processes and installation tips.
- Online lets them take the course on their timeline, not yours.
Both distributors and contractors want to get the most out of both employees as well as opportunities, so you’re better off arming them with the right info.
- According to the American Society of Training and Development, companies that spend $1,500 or more per employee average a profit margin 24% higher than those who do not invest in their employees.
- Deloitte reports that 18% of all training is now on smartphones.
- Cisco’s VNI Global IP traffic and service adoption forecasts that by 2018, 79% of all internet traffic will be videos.
If you like this post, you might want to read:
Do You Have a B-to-B Video Strategy?
Manufacturers: Are You Missing out on Video Opportunities?
B-to-B Video is on the Rise: Are You Taking Advantage?
by tradespeopleinsights | Feb 3, 2015 | Marketing Trends
Marketing’s role over the last decade has been pretty simple. Focus on your brand and identify new potential sales. Granted, there have been several new tools and processes introduced to help us identify, track and communicate with potential new customers. But the ultimate end game was to differentiate your brand and help identify and create good leads for sales to follow-up on.
That is about to change if you buy into a recent article in eMarketer that said branding and lead generation in a few years won’t be marketing’s top priority. The article claims that the top 3 current responsibilities won’t even be on their list. What does that mean to current marketing teams? It means major changes will need to be made to support these shifting priorities and responsibilities.
According to the article, less than 20% currently have fully integrated customer data across their organization. That leaves a lot of work for the rest of us.
I think we all need to look at marketing tools that can help us work smarter. I also think most of us with our sales counterparts are trying to get a better handle on what our customers want. But what we sometimes overlook is one of the basics – talk to them and see what’s up. Isn’t that our ultimate end game?
What are your thoughts? Do we spend less time on brands and developing leads?
by tradespeopleinsights | Jan 28, 2015 | Social Marketing
Today we have a guest post from Carli Evilsiver, Marketing Coordinator at WTWH Media.
Social media marketing is becoming common across all types of industries, but some B2B companies are still hesitant to jump on the social media bandwagon. B2B companies have many reasons for believing they should not be on social media, but they are misinformed. Keep reading to find out why.
Photo courtesy of Carli Evilsiver, WTWH Media
I’m not sure how to do it: Companies might avoid social media because they do not understand it. They are sometimes intimidated by social media marketing because it is new, changes every day and can be difficult to create a strategy for social media.
Solution: Companies should research social media platforms, learn the basics and determine which platforms would be a good fit for their company. A common mistake is joining every platform. Not only is doing so a lot of work – as social media needs to be updated regularly – but the audience may not be there. Prospective manufacturing customers, for instance, probably are not on Instagram. Companies can also seek out social media training.
I don’t have time: Possibly the most common and valid reason a company isn’t on social media is the inability to devote time to another task. Social media marketing uses time and energy to set up and maintain.
Solution: Marketers who have too much to do and too little time should consider outsourcing their B2B social media marketing. Outsourcing social media is a great option for companies who want to be on social media but don’t know how to begin or don’t have enough time. By handing over the responsibilities to a professional social media manager, companies can rest assured that their social media channels will be updated daily in the correct format. An added benefit of outsourcing social media is the analysis and measurement that an experienced professional can provide.
There is no ROI: Any time resources are invested in a project, a boss will want to know what their Return On Investment is. It can be difficult to determine the effectiveness of social media marketing and unfortunately some companies think there is no ROI from social media.
Solution: Every social media strategy should include specific goals and a way to measure success. Tracking likes, follows and re-tweets is just the beginning. Other ways to measure success include website clicks, downloads and other measurable actions originating from social media.
Social Media is only for B2C: A common misconception is that social media marketing is effective only for companies marketing to the end-user. They might believe social media marketing is just for fun, creative and sexy industries, or that their clients aren’t on social media. Many B2B companies set up a LinkedIn and think the other social media platforms wouldn’t work for their company.
Solution: Marketers should recognize that if social media is used correctly it is effective for B2B. Success on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter requires companies to share interesting and relevant content. A mistake many companies make is sharing only promotional content. They should be engaging in conversations and sharing based on their audiences’ interests.
I don’t have anything to post: Another reason companies avoid setting up shop on social media is the worry they don’t have anything to say. Companies don’t always realize the amount of content they have already that could easily be shared on social media.
Solution: Companies should follow an 80/20 rule when posting on social media. Only 20% of content should be directly related to the company while 80% should be industry-related news. Social media is a great platform to promote a company’s brand, share blog posts or send out press releases. While marketers should take advantage of the opportunity to promote their company they need to remember that the audience will get bored of sales pitches. Try sharing a funny blog post or a great article about something going on in the industry. The re-tweets and likes received will expand reach and could lead to more followers.
