by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 20, 2013 | Events/Trade Shows, Uncategorized
Just returned from the 2013 STAFDA Show in Las Vegas. According to STAFDA, attendance was up to around 4,900 participants.
The show for the most part was upbeat, and the economic forecast for the next few years looks promising for the construction market.
I talked to several manufacturers and they seemed happy for the most part on the turnout for the trade show. The last day didn’t set any records, but most trade shows don’t.
In talking with several distributors and a few buying groups that were there, they confirmed that they were having great growth in 2013 and expect it to continue into 2014.
It was nice to go to a distributor/manufacturer meeting where both sides were positive. Hopefully the crystal ball will be right.
by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 19, 2013 | Events/Trade Shows, Uncategorized
The can, John, latrine, porcelain throne, commode, potty… No matter what you call it, the toilet is an important part of daily life.
Today is World Toilet Day. World Toilet Day was started to bring awareness to the global sanitation challenge. Here are just a few facts about the global sanitation challenge:
- 2.5 billion people do not have a clean toilet
- Sanitation is a human right
- Safe toilet facilities keep girls in school
- Sanitation is a good economic investment
You can read more information about World Toilet Day and the facts above here.
We have the pleasure of working with companies serving the tradesmen that keep our toilets in excellent flushing order and help maintain the sanitation systems that we rely on. Their jobs are not considered glamorous, but they are so important.
Today, and every day, we are flush with gratitude toward them for everything they do!
by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 14, 2013 | Public Relations, Social Marketing
Today we have a guest post from Rachel Kerstetter, our PR Engineer, about the evolution of social media and SEO.
In our B2T niche, as well as in the general B2B market, we use the word “relevant” frequently.
When it comes to B2T social media, quantity does not equal quality. Quality social media engagement can’t be measured in simple number of followers or likes. The relevance of those follows and likes is where we find the quality.
It can be hard to keep up with current SEO tactics that will land you on the first page of Google search results since the algorithms change every day, but as social media continues to grow, SEO is getting easier because it’s no longer optimizing for search engines that will land you on page one of Google.
Social engagement is becoming the new SEO. One of the many benefits of being involved in social media that I explain when we create social strategies is improving search visibility.
I was reading, “6 Reasons Social Media is Critical to Your SEO” on Social Media Today and Stephanie Frasco explained the concept so well when she wrote about the old SEO strategy of link building,
“Think about it – why did Google ever allow links to determine which websites ranked above all the others? The answer is simple: links were like “votes” for your website. The more votes you get, the better off you are. So SEO companies started building links (aka “votes”) manually[…]The idea behind links as a ranking factor is a very good idea, but since it’s become so easy to manipulate, Google has been forced to turn to social media channels which do the same thing but are much harder to manipulate. Link building was always about social proofing.”
The shift toward social search is an excellent opportunity to market more efficiently. Connecting with people (even in business-to-business social media, the decision-makers are still people) won’t have constantly changing algorithms because people have been communicating in similar ways basically forever. Social media is simply taking the natural, conversational form of communication that history shows taking place in the gathering places (think the Greek agora or the city coffee shop) and put it online, where it’s easier to be involved with the conversations that are relevant to you.
You can read the rest of Stephanie’s article here.
by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 13, 2013 | Marketing Tips
Other than me writing about stuff, there are ways that you can change it up and throw in some outside options about issues. The most common way is to ask someone who you know and respect to write a guest post for you and your target audience.
I have found that interviewing industry leaders, either in a Q/A format, or better yet, interviewing them for a podcast, has proven to be very beneficial and useful for our audience. Here are some steps that I use that might be helpful:
- Pick an appropriate topic that would be of interest to your audience.
- Identify an industry expert that would be willing to go on the record with an option.
- Focus the interview/podcast on a focused subject. General topics don’t normally do well.
- Get the questions to the interviewee before so they can contemplate their response.
- Get interviewee’s input in finalizing questions.
- I find that the fireside chat format (more conversational) works best.
- Put them at ease, especially when doing a podcast (tell them this isn’t live and if they want to re-answer a question, we can do that and edit it).
- Get them a copy prior to going live for final approval.
- Let them know when it does go live and supply them a link in case they want to promote it.
- Thank them. You never know when you want to reach out to them again.
Hope these ideas help.
by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 12, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
B2B prospects tend to be well on their way through the buying process before they even identify a company. Don’t you want to be one of those they contact?
In the 3 years that I’ve been doing a blog, I’ve seen more and more interest and yes, business that has originated because of what folks read on my blog. In many cases, by the time they identified themselves, we’re already talking strategy and have won the business. It’s a nice position to be in.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, How to Make Your B2B Blog Your Content Marketing Tool that outlines 10 steps that will help you get there.
Here are some key takeaways:
- Understand your audience.
- Do an editorial calendar that ties in with your other promotional activities/events.
- Optimize content for findability via search engines.
- Distribute content by building regular readership either by RSS or e-newsletters.
- Use other social platforms to promote your content.
Blogs are time-consuming to do,but if you’re going to do it, then do it right. It’s a great way to stay in front of prospects on an ongoing basis, builds your credibility in the space you’re in and ultimately generates new business.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
Blogs that Reach the Professional Tradesman
by tradespeopleinsights | Nov 6, 2013 | Events/Trade Shows
For those of you that are going to Las Vegas this weekend for the STAFDA 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.
