by tradesmeninsights | Aug 20, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
With all the marketing trends and new things over the last several years, email still seems to be the “workhorse” for most people’s marketing efforts. Recent research from Gigaom reports that over 75% of smart phone users check their emails on their phones. What I find remarkable, if you look at the chart below, 5 years ago paid search, SEO and digital ads would have been at the top of the list. Oh, how the more things change, the more they remain the same.
When you’re on the job site, how many times have your conversations been interrupted when a contractor has to take a call or his email dings?
Email is considered in this research as the most effective in reaching their goals – awareness, acquisition conversion and retention. Pretty powerful stuff!
It’s not surprising then that most marketers are planning on spending more time and money on email marketing. The key is what are you doing? Here are a few things to think about and they aren’t costly to implement.
- make sure your email is mobile optimized – most services like Emma and Constant Contact have that option
- make an editorial calendar of email topics and schedule them on a regular basis
- make sure you test and review results to make sure you’re getting the most out of them
- give them a link to something of value that will help them do their job better
The key is to use email as an effective marketing tool to get your message across.
If you like this post, you might like to read:
Why Email Marketing is so Important in Lead Nurturing to the Professional Tradesman
5 Tips on Improving Your Email Marketing to the Professional Tradesman
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 19, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
How many times have you seen an ad or read an article with a link, that when you clicked on it, it went to a page that was designed to be read on a full-size screen? Chances are you didn’t go any farther and clicked out of it.
Many B-to-B companies don’t realize that smart phone and tablets are increasing in usage as the primary source of getting on the web. Of smart phone users, over 25% use them as their primary device to connect to the internet. Tablet users show a higher conversion rate than desktop users. You should monitor your analytics to see how much activity is coming from these devices and act accordingly.
All your hard work of gathering valuable content won’t be read because it wasn’t optimized for the device it’s being read on. What a shame!
Bottom line is, deliver content to potentials in the way they use to access it. Responsive sites do that in that they recognize what kind of devices are trying to connect to them and react accordingly.
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
Right now we’re in the middle of our annual Tool Drive supporting the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Since our efforts started in 2010, we’ve found amazing support from our clients, partners, friends and community members.
We talked with John Habat, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity to find out more about him, Habitat for Humanity and their efforts. Here’s the conversation:
Q. What is your position at Habitat for Humanity?
A. I’m the executive director.
Q. How long have you been there?
A. 3 years
Q. What are your responsibilities at Habitat for Humanity?
A. Everything imaginable and some things I never imagined!
Q. What’s your most memorable moment working for Habitat for Humanity?
A. There are many. But I think if you consider the dedications of our finished houses – these are really special. Happy kids running through their new home, selecting bedrooms, etc. Also, it’s the energy in the air – such a spirit of gratitude permeates and there are tears of joys amongst the family, the volunteers and staff. These are truly special moments.
Q. What does Habitat for Humanity need most from the community and businesses that wish to help?
A. Volunteers make Habitat happen, and money helps too. We always need volunteers, particularly in the ReStore.
Q. Tell us something that people might not know about Habitat for Humanity.
A. It is the fastest growing volunteer movement ever! In under 40 years, 100 million people across the planet have come together to make affordable housing a reality for more than 3 million families.
Q. How do tool drives like the Sonnhalter 5th Annual Tool Drive benefit Habitat for Humanity?
A. Our ReStore is a go-to used and new retail store for construction items, and tools top the list of desired products. New ReStore revenues are dedicated to Habitat’s affordable housing program; last year, the ReStore generated enough funding to fully rehab 8 houses.
Q. What’s your favorite part of your position with Habitat for Humanity?
A. The diversity of issues is incredible. I have a lawyer, lobbyist, CAO, CFO and marketing and journalism background (I am not as old as that collectively may seem!), and all of these skills are used in running Habitat.
Q. The Sonnhalter tagline is “Not Afraid to Get Our Hands Dirty.” What is your favorite way to get your hands dirty at Habitat for Humanity?
A. I love seeing the donations that come in the ReStore trucks as they are being unloaded on the dock… and I can’t resist getting involved. I also thoroughly enjoy working the sales floor in the ReStore.
Q. What’s your favorite way to get your hands dirty outside of work?
A. Gardening
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A. The annual Sonnhalter Tool Drive is a highlight of our ReStore donation year. It is amazing how many tools you folks collect.
If you’re interested in participating in the Sonnhalter Tool Drive, visit sonnhalter.com/tooldrive or contact us to find out more. Click here to read last year’s interview with Frank from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 13, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Everyone knows that B-to-B marketing is serious stuff. Maybe sometimes too serious! We need to write white papers and do microsites that talk about all the features and benefits. All good and necessary stuff, but is it memorable to a prospect looking at your brand? Now I agree that not all things may be appropriate for a humorous take, but most are and there are plenty of companies reaching out and taking the leap.
The president of our agency earlier this summer attended the annual BMA Conference in Chicago where one of the presenters was Tim Washer with Cisco. His topic was humor and why it’s important to use it.
Here’s an example from Tim Washer on how Cisco used humor introducing a new router .
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Another example is Kinaxis who used the idea of a dating scenario to bring home the points on supply chain management.
Here’s an example of how Kinaxis puts humor into the use.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WLr3hxpYYY
The challenge to all you conservative folks out there is to keep an open mind. I’m not suggesting you drop all the traditional stuff, absolutely not. But it’s not bad to show folks you’re human.
- These don’t have to be Hollywood productions.
- The key is delivering a key message using humorous situations.
- Keep it focused and under two minutes.
- Take a risk and dare to be different.
Let’s face it, we’re all humans here, and with all the things going on in the world, everyone enjoys a laugh. Make your brand stand out from the rest.
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 12, 2014 | Marketing Trends
It’s been two years now that Amazon decided to get into the industrial space and compete with the traditional brick and mortar stores. Google shopping even jumped in for a while (though they recently discontinued their pilot program).
I’ve written a few posts over the last couple of years asking you, the manufacturer, if you’ve jumped on the band wagon. For those that have, I’d be interested in what kind of results (sales) that you’re getting from this channel?
A bigger question is, are the big boys, Grainger, MSC, Fastenal, etc., becoming a bigger percentage of your sales number?
What’s your forecast going forward? Are the independents still going to be a vital part of your go-to market strategy?
I know these are lots of questions, but I’d like to get a feel for where folks are going to be focusing on in the future. Here are some of my thoughts Distributor Strategy: What’s yours?
What’s yours?
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 6, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing, Uncategorized
So everyone knows what content marketing is. But do we know how to get the best results out of it? I know I’ve been doing this for over three years now and have hardly touched the potential of what is available. I’ve been to webinars, seminars and summits on the subject and continue to learn new ways to capitalize on content marketing.
I recently read Joe Pulizzi’s book Epic Content Marketing. As usual, Joe does a great job explaining how to use and integrate into overall marketing plan.
This is a good book for the beginner or for those already engaged to reinforce the right way of doing things. It’s easy to read, has lots of examples, from defining your strategy to developing and managing content to marketing your stories, and I’m sure you’ll get tons of useful tips on how to get more out of your content marketing.
