by tradesmeninsights | Sep 26, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends
Today we have a guest blog post from Rosemarie Ascherl, PR Foreman at Sonnhalter, discussing content marketing. Content marketing should be part of all B2B [and B2T] business’s overall marketing strategy.
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend a fabulous week of learning and motivation when I attended the 2013 Content Marketing World Summit at the Cleveland Convention Center.
Content marketing’s purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy, and it focuses on owning media, not renting it.
While the term content marketing has become popular in recent years, content marketing is a marketing technique that marketers have been using all along. Top B2B content marketing strategies are social media, articles on a business’s website, eNewsletters, case studies, videos and articles on other websites.
While there were many important takeaways from the conference, a couple stood out:
Content marketing needs a strategy
Before you dive into producing your content, you need to have a content marketing strategy. You need to establish your goals and mission, define your audience and establish your process. Content needs to be planned around a clearly outlined purpose. You need to establish the why behind your content strategy before you can begin to put together the how and the where.
Content marketing must be relevant
To establish authority and gain trust with your audience, your content must be valuable and relevant to them. This relevant industry information should provide insight or entertain them. Content must fulfill a need, be interesting and unique.
How can you create something meaningful for both your brand and your audience? Understand your customers, and try to find ways to solve their problems. Give them content that addresses their needs. Remember that it’s not about you—it’s about them. Ultimately, providing this type of content allows a company to steadily build rapport with its demographic and develop a loyal following.
If you find this post interesting, you may be interested in the following:
Manufacturers: What are you trying to accomplish with your content marketing?
Why do you use content marketing – Do you think it’s for branding or for selling?
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 25, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
When you start to develop an internal email database for marketing purposes, what are the protocols you should follow? Beyond your existing customer lists, you normally get addresses from trade shows, ad leads or possible contests you are running. Should you just assemble them and start emailing?
A recent article by Karen Talavera in Marketingprofs contends that the “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” might not be the way to go.
There are several reasons she states, among them email addresses go bad, people change jobs and companies change internet providers. Permission is granted to a brand or company, and if they don’t hear from you in a timely manner, they may forget that they gave you permission. Karen suggests you consider the following:
- Remind people how they got on your list
- Give them a reason for staying on the list
- Let them know what types and frequencies they might expect from you.
She also notes that after the first email to get rid of any non deliverables so you don’t get caught in any spam filters.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 24, 2013 | Marketing Tips
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m finding dealing with people, both personally or in business, is that they just don’t seem to care about the “customer experience.” I eat out a lot and I tend to go back to places where they treat me better. Their food might not be any better than the guy down the street, but I feel they appreciate my business.
The same holds true in my business dealings. I tend to do business with people I know, like and trust. Yes price is a consideration, but it certainly isn’t the main one. Unless you have a one-of-a-kind product or service, there are other options, whether it be for dining, dry cleaning or buying a new contractor tool storage box.
From a marketing perspective, I see this as a great opportunity to not only keep existing customers happy, but to convert potentials. Just think, if your competitors are just treating their customers OK, doesn’t that leave room for an opportunity for you?
What a missed opportunity for some folks! When someone does go that extra step, whether it’s a waiter or a CSR at a manufacturer, it makes an impression and not only do I take notice, but when the opportunity arises, I tell people about it.
So what are you doing to ensure that your customers are having a better than OK experience with you?
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 19, 2013 | Public Relations
Today we have a post from Rachel Kerstetter, Sonnhalter’s PR Engineer.
I have noticed in some companies that internal communication is not made a priority. External communication in the form of advertising and marketing seem to be pretty important though.
Here’s the problem: Within a company, if you can’t communicate internally enough to get everyone on the same page, how exactly do you expect to communicate with anyone else?
One of my mentors once told me that internal communications is definitely “public relations,” because a company’s employees are its most important audience.
Think about it: Would you want to hear news about your company from a source outside of your company?
If a friend comes to you and says, “Hey, I heard your company just started Initiative X,” but you have no idea what they’re talking about, it’s embarrassing to you and your company. Internal communication is really very simple, talk to each other. Clue your employees in and let them know what you’re doing. Word-of-mouth recommendations are incredibly valuable and have to be earned through solid communication. We live in an age where we look at online reviews before purchasing a pair of flip flops, so if your staff knows what your company is doing, they can be an excellent resource for recommendations.
I know that my answer to the question: How’s work going? is a lot more interesting when I know about new things happening at Sonnhalter.
Internal communication is also important if you’re hiring outside help… for example, an agency.
There’s a reason for a reporting structure, even for outside help. It saves you not only hassle, but also money, if everyone on your team is on the same page, because your outside help won’t have to decipher what your messages and goals are.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 18, 2013 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Here is another reason Suppliers should think about the value of joining a buying group. The trends are that they are starting their own meetings which means lots of quality time with distributors. Here are the details:
Lockport, NY – NetPlus Alliance, a buying group for industrial and contractor supplies distributors, has opened registration for its first annual group meeting. The event is scheduled for March 16-18, 2014 and will take place at the M Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The group’s first stand-alone gathering will engage NetPlus distributors and suppliers through one-on-one business meetings, networking and educational breakout sessions.
M.K. Morse, ORS Nasco, Proto Industrial Tools and Walter Meier will host the breakout sessions that will deliver product knowledge and sales opportunities to NetPlus distributors in a classroom style setting. Dan Judge, NetPlus Alliance Chairman and CFO spoke on the value of these sessions. “The breakouts were an idea that came out of our advisory meetings last fall. These sessions will give our distributors something to take back to the office: product knowledge and new sales opportunities.”
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 17, 2013 | Marketing Tips
When we think about sales training, we all think about teaching our sales crew about the latest and greatest product we have and seeing how many we can sell. But these folks who we send out into the trenches each day aren’t our only salespeople. What about your non-selling sales people?
Think about your guy who does will calls or the truck driver who delivers your products. How about the receptionist that answers the phones (yes, some companies still have them), customer service folks and yes, even your credit department. These are all non-selling roles that could ultimately affect future orders.
The point I’m trying to make is anyone who comes in contact with your existing customers has an impact on future sales whether they’re thinking about it or not. Think about the last time you called in with a problem or an issue and got treated like they were doing you a favor by taking time to talk to you? Now you’d expect that the customer service department is aware and has had training in how to be nice to people.
Think about your credit department (most people would break out into a cold sweat). Are they working on future sales or just trying to collect money. I know of credit departments that are firm but flexible in coming up with ways that treat customers fair and foster the relationship. Abe Walking Bear Sanchez gives you a fresh perspective on this job function and how it can be a positive way to increase sales.
But are you overlooking other ambassadors within your company that can influence future purchases? We need to instill in all that come in contact with our customers that our future paychecks are hinging on keeping them happy. I think companies need to make sure the attitude and culture is reflected on the front lines and not just in a mission statement that’s on our lobby wall or on our website.
We are who we appear to be and success is based on the weakest link in the chain. Maybe we should all be a little more sensitive on how we present our companies… and a THANKS FOR YOUR BUSINESS every once in a while couldn’t hurt.
Content marketing’s purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy, and it focuses on owning media, not renting it.