by tradesmeninsights | Aug 5, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
We all work hard on developing content for your blog, but what happens after it’s posted? Yes, you optimize it for search and you use various social sites to promote it, but is that all?
Repurposing is taking an existing piece of content and communicating your ideas in different ways using different media (i.e. SlideShare, infographic, podcasts) to deliver the same message from several different angles. Not all content should be repurposed though. You should stick to your core message that’s not time sensitive.
I recently read a post by Darren Rowse, How to Repurpose Your Content and Why You Should Do It that gave great insights on not only Why but How to do it effectively.
Here are some of his key takeaways on doing it correctly:
- Choose your content carefully – make sure it’s central to your key messaging and is not time sensitive.
- Think carefully about the medium – some people like to read, others would prefer a podcast and yet others are drawn to infographics.
- Use a different angle – while the subject matter would be the same, there are several ways you can approach the subject.
Some other suggestions from Darren are:
- Spread out the repurposed content over a period of time to give the reader time to absorb it.
- Repurpose as you write original content.
- Utilize your archives. Check out what has had good response in the past and work with that.
- Keep it visual.
- Make sure to cross link back to original content.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 30, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
We are all focusing on the next greatest product or making sales numbers for the month, but often overlook the very source of those sales.
Consistent contractor feedback is a key in establishing a long-term partnership. Let’s face it, we all have competition and contractors have choices. I think we are missing opportunities to cement relationships and differentiate our brands. When was the last time you talked to a contractor that didn’t have an opinion?
It doesn’t have to be a complex program and your field sales people can certainly help in this regard. Here are a few questions they should ask:
- What’s working – Find out what you’re doing right. Are they getting the tech support they need? Is customer service taking care of them in a timely manner? It’s a great way of finding out their level of satisfaction with you.
- What’s not – Here is your opportunity for you to find out ways of things that need to be improved. After talking with several contractors, you will find out rather quickly if a pattern is emerging.
- What can we do to improve our relationship – Show them that you are proactive. It might surprise you. Together you may identify new opportunities.
Of course, the info you collect will be worthless unless sales and marketing compile a spreadsheet of all answers to review, action items and process improvements. If you’re not ready and open to making changes, don’t waste your time or the contractors. When talking with tradesmen, there’s not a one of them that would love the opportunity to share insights. Wouldn’t you rather they share them with you instead of your competitors?
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 29, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
We hear a lot today about content marketing and how we all need to start producing more meaningful content to share. I’m OK with that, but most of us have the cart before the horse.
Instead of starting to develop content, we first do a content strategy. Lots of us do this by taking a look internally to see what content might already exist and identify topics and resources for future development.
But here’s where most of us stop—we don’t take a look at your competitors and see what they are doing. Doesn’t this make sense? If we were going to launch a new product, don’t we do our homework to see what’s already out there so we can figure out what to develop that will give us a competitive advantage?
I read a post by Danielle Terreri, Competitor Content Audits: Why & How to Vet Other Players in Your Industry that outlines steps you should take before finalizing your content strategy. Here are some highlights:
- Content – what are they doing, do they have a blog, how are they talking about themselves and the industry?
- Setup – what does it look like, how are they promoting it?
- Blog – does it have a consistent theme, how often are they posting, what kind of topics are they writing about?
- Evaluation – are they solving problems for their audience, where do you see opportunities for your company?
So bottom line is to avoid the ready, fire, aim strategy, vet your competitors and identify things you can do that would add value to your target audience.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 24, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Public Relations
By Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer
John and I presented a webinar awhile back, at the request of a client, about blogs. When it comes to blogs, the most frequent question we get is:
Should we start a blog?
It’s important to analyze the goals of your organization’s overall marketing plan to see if a blog fits into it. A company blog, like any other communication initiative, is a commitment. Blogs overall take time and energy to run, but they can provide a great payoff if they’re done well.
Here are 5 key questions to ask when thinking about starting a blog:
- Who is my audience?
- Who else is competing for my audience’s attention?
- What will be the blog’s focus?
- What are the goals for the blog?
- How will these goals be measured?
If you have those answers established and decide that a blog should be a part of your marketing plan, check out the presentation from our webinar below, or watch it on YouTube to get more information on the ins and outs of getting a blog going. And of course, our team is happy to help you get a blog off the ground as well!
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 23, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
When we think of utilizing social media in the marketing mix, SlideShare is probably the most overlooked and underutilized tool. There are over 60 million unique visitors a month to SlideShare sites with over 215 million page views.
Users are not only looking for good content, but also shared insights and SlideShare gives you a platform for both. Plus, you get the added bonus of using the other social media tools to promote your Power Points.
Lots of marketing departments, even if you tell them how great a tool it is, their push back very often is we don’t have time to develop one. My position is that between sales, marketing and the C suite, there are plenty of Power Points already existing that highlight and focus on issues that help differentiate you and help set you up as an industry expert. Here are some places to look:
- Industry or association speeches that a C suite executive have given regarding an important issue or trend and their position on it.
- Presentations to key customers on ways you can help solve their problems.
- General positioning Power Point on what makes you different.
- Distributor-focused Power Point that talk about ways you support them.
- Contractor-focused Power Point of the tools available to them from you to help them do their job.
- New products with features and benefits.
I recently read an article by David Waring in Social Media Examiner –7 Ways to Use SlideShare for Your Business, that I found to be very useful. He gives tips and examples on things as basic as creating well-designed slides, to how to work to get high rankings with key words and phrases by using key words in the file name and tag names. He also gives you tips on how to grab attention using how-to guides and list titles.
The long and short of it is if you haven’t tried it, you have nothing to lose. You may be surprised what kind of views and leads you may get. I’d like to know your thoughts after you’ve tried it.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 22, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
Interesting question, isn’t it? I think everyone thinks because they built one, everyone will like and trust what you have up there.
I read an article from the Content Marketing Institute written by Dianna Huff entitled, Why 55% of Potential B2B Buyers Might Not Trust Your Website that highlights some interesting findings. These findings were from a KoMarketing Associates usability report and are worth discussing. The key in a B-to-B relationship is that trust and credibility be established up front. The more transparent you are, the better. Here are some highlights:
It’s the little things that can either make or break the next steps in the process. Their study showed that lack of phone number or contact info was the biggest stumbling blocks in building trust (55%). That one made me wonder. The next few were expected – lack of a true message, do it yourself sites and tiny texts were no surprises.
Content assets that helped establish credibility were lead by thorough contact and about us page. So I guess we need to carefully look at what we say about ourselves and give them several options on getting in touch with us. Email was the most preferred way (no surprise there) and phone came in second. The reality is vendors source suppliers online and if you don’t have a clear cut message and contact info, you’ll be passed over.
Here are a few key takeaways:
- Remove all barriers from people contacting you
- Include email and phone number on each page for easy access
- Include info about the people behind your company
- Consider the strategic importance of the “about us” page
