by tradesmeninsights | Feb 11, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
When was the last time you reviewed your blog’s progress? What, you don’t have anything to review it against you say? If you’re going to take the time to blog, then let’s make sure your time and talents are being put to the best use. Well, let’s put a list of things together for you to evaluate:
- Goals – what were yours… thought leadership, lead generation, social media support?
- What content drew the most attention – look at your top posts for the year and write more around those topics.
- Are you maximizing your reach – is the content being utilized in all your marketing efforts including social media? Are you participating in forums and doing guest posts?
- Metrics – have you compared this year’s results to last year’s? Is one time of the year better or a day of the week pulling more hits?
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 6, 2014 | Events/Trade Shows
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect, Sonnhalter
I attended the 66th International Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Exposition in New York City (January 21-23, 2014). For those not familiar with this trade show, it is the largest HVACR show in the United States, endorsed by 33 leading HVACR industry associations and co-sponsored by ASHRAE and AHRI. This year’s attendance was once again very strong, with more than 61,000 people attending and more than 1,800 exhibitor booths.
Here are five of my observations from the show:
- Strong 2014 Outlook – in addition to the positive sentiment of almost everyone I spoke with at the show, the recent ASHRAE/AHR Expo survey forecasts a pretty good year for the HVACR business. Of the 1,000 HVACR manufacturers worldwide surveyed, 79% of the respondents said their prospects for business were either “excellent” (19%) or “good” (60%) for the coming year, 90% of the HVACR manufacturers believe sales will increase and hospitals/healthcare, light commercial and data/telecom centers were the top three market segments identified to be the most promising for 2014.
- Trade Publications Are Not Dead – 35+ publications had a presence at the this year’s show, each with their army of sales people combing the aisles for new and potential advertisers; there also seemed to be an increase of international publications covering both Latin/South America as well as Asia.
- Technology Continues To Play Strong Role – it seems every year at this show more and more technology is introduced to the products and services showcased, whether it is the software driving these products or the tablets used to control and monitor them. Again this year, there was a dedicated AHR Expo app for the show which not only helped you find your favorite booth, but also had valuable information about the speakers, educational sessions, transportation and local NYC attractions.
- Growing International Attendance – exhibitors from more than 30 countries attended the show. Asian manufacturers have been coming to this show for a number of years and 2014 was no different; however I did notice an uptick of Latin/South American as well as European exhibitors and attendees this year.
- “Efficiency” Is Still The Buzzword – with the way the economy has been over the last few years I think we have all gotten used to “doing more with less.” In the HVAC market that is nothing new, no matter which aisle you walked down during the show “efficiency” rang out in booth messaging, product benefits and sales pitches.
These are just a few of my observations, but if you attended, I would love to hear any key takeaways you had from the show.
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 5, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Although sales and marketing are getting better at working together, there is always room for improvement. Together they can make sure they deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.
But in order to accomplish this, they need to work together. Here are some tips to help maximize the results of the collaborative efforts:
- Know your audience – different people buy for different reasons. By sales and marketing working together, they can define the different personas and identify the prospects’ perspectives and content needs.
- Have a sales retention plan – We’re all so focused on getting a lead and making a sale that once that’s completed, we forget about them until the next sale. Now that they are a customer, it’s easier to help them. Start a nurturing program and engage them, and with appropriate content, that will help with the next sale.
- Have a plan – By working together with sales, set objectives to get the right content into the hands of your customers. Realize the one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to work.
By working together, sales and marketing can determine the right content, whether it’s for leads, brand awareness or thought leadership.
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 4, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Everyone is so focused on how to tell a story or where it needs to be instead of backing up and asking some real important questions. So, let’s slow down a bit and get back to some basics. Let’s focus on:
- Why – The first question you should ask yourself is why are you doing what you’re doing? Hopefully you have a written plan with strategy and tactics that are woven into your overall marketing plan.
- Who – What are your targeted audiences by industry or product line?
- What – What do we want to communicate to these targeted audiences?
- How – Based on your audiences, how are you going to tell your story? What tactics will you use?
- Where – Where’s the best place to reach that targeted audience – offline, online or both?
You can’t put the cart before the horse.
Sometimes we need to go back to basics.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 30, 2014 | Events/Trade Shows
For those of you that are heading to Las Vegas for this International Builder Show or Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, we put together an Insider’s Guide to Las Vegas by asking friends and business associates about gems in the city that you might not be aware of. It includes Restaurants, Nightlife, Events and more. It’s available here.
We hope you have a good show. See you there.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 29, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
All too often we focus so much on getting new customers that we forget about who’s supporting us now! I believe the rule of thumb is it takes 5 times as much effort to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.
Customer satisfaction is the main force in developing loyal customers. Why are Loyal Customers so important?
- Repeat business.
- More open to try new products from a reliable source (you).
- They become Brand Ambassadors.
There are several things you can do. A loyalty program, special incentives on certain products and giving them the first chance on buying a new product line before it hits the street are just a few examples. How about a simple thanks via an email or postcard. When was the last time one of your vendors thanked you for your business? Probably not many, and if they did, you’re sure to remember them.
Have you ever calculated what a customer’s worth is over time? Say you have a 30-year old contractor that usually buys $5,000 worth of your stuff a year. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you keep him happy, you probably will have him for 30 years before he retires. So assuming he doesn’t grow his business or you don’t come out with anything new for him to buy over the next 30 years, he would have spent $150,000 with you. Is he worth keeping? I’d say so. So what are you doing to keep him happy? Unless you’re selling a proprietary product, your competition is knocking on his door every chance they get. Give your customer a reason to stay.
I know many of you who follow me don’t buy shoes online, but I’d bet that if you asked your wife if she’s heard of Zappos, she’d say yes. I picked them as an example and even wrote a post on their book, Does Customer Service Deliver Happiness, where they show that by even selling name branded shoes online, they could, in many cases, outsell the brand itself in the online arena. The way they did it was with customer service.
So here are some points for you to consider when evaluating your Customer Service department:
- Try to keep the personal touch (human being) as the initial touch point if you can.
- Empower your CS people to solve a problem immediately without having to go through 3 levels of supervisors.
- Reward customers with a loyalty program as a way of saying thanks.
- Customer surveys are a great way to get feedback, not only on how you’re doing, but for getting ideas for future products.
