by tradesmeninsights | Apr 24, 2012 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
B-to-B customers are doing more homework online when it pertains to buying well before they start the actual buying process. So what are you doing to take advantage of these “opportunity zones” to be successful? B-to-B marketers – are you prepared for a more educated buyer?
We all are facing the challenges of doing more things with sometimes fewer resources, so it stands to reason that what we do, do we want it to give us the best results. Where are you getting your leads and how are you qualifying them? I recently read an article by Dave Thomas on B2B Online Marketing that talks about the results of a recent nationwide survey from BtoB Magazine and Bizo that highlights marketers biggest challenges in 2012.
Among them were:
- Paid search came in as the second-ranked tool for marketing, followed by display advertising (35 percent);
- 60% of marketers claim their biggest challenge this year will be generating additional leads;
- 63% of marketers state that their marketing mix either falls short of sales demand or they are not entirely sure their mix is working;
- 56% note brand promotion as a major area of focus.
What I thought interesting was that their biggest challenge was that leads were falling short of sales demands. I guess does that mean that companies are forecasting growth and in order to attain it, they need more leads?
I guess the question I’d like to ask is are you experiencing these kinds of challenges, and if so, will you share with the rest of us?
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 18, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Now that most companies are back on the offensive and are actively spending more money on marketing, I thought I would ask you where are you getting the best results?
I know the big focus and conversations over the last few years have been on social. Have you jumped in yet, and if so, what kind of results are you getting? What about traditional things like print ads in trade journals and direct mail? Is anyone gaining traction with these?
So to answer my own question, we’re finding in our self promotion that both traditional as well as social media are playing important roles in new business development
A few years ago, we added social media to our marketing mix with this blog. It’s been a major commitment by us to do 2-3 posts a week, but our strategy is paying off. We not only have clients following us, but also potentials who are looking at going after the professional tradesmen.
The blog increases our visibility and also visits to our website. We’ve had a run on inquiries over the last 6 months from folks who have been following us and like what we’re saying. From the market overviews to Podcasts with industry leaders, they have recognized that we specialize in a niche market they are trying to reach and have come to us for help. What’s nice about these new business opportunities is that we’re not competing for the business.
All of our new business isn’t coming from social. We’ve had a print campaign going for the last three years in the leading trade journals where we put a false cover on the copies that go to potential advertisers in those markets. This too has brought us several new business opportunities.
So what’s working for you?
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 17, 2012 | Events/Trade Shows
For those of you that are going to San Antonio this weekend for the ISA Show, Sonnhalter has put together an Insider’s Guide to San Antonio 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 | Apr 11, 2012 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
A recent report by MarketingSherpa outlines the top priorities and challenges facing those of us that use this marketing tool. A free copy can be downloaded here.
This report re-emphasizes the fact that email marketing is not only alive, but is still an important part of the overall marketing programs of most companies.
Top 5 process priorities for B-to-B marketers include:
- Growing and retaining subscribers – 64%
- Delivering highly relevant content – 72%
- Achieving or increasing ROI – 39%
- Increasing email engagement metrics – 41%
- Integrating email with other marketing tactics – 30%
It makes sense that to grow and retain subscribers, you need to deliver good and meaningful content. Another important consideration is list size isn’t as important as the quality of the list. You should be interested in building lists of followers who are active and want to share information.
B-to-B marketers usually have longer sales cycles, so it’s important to engage and take your prospect through the various stages of the buying process. This is reflected in 70% of B-to-B companies identifying this as an area for improvement.
The top 5 barriers facing B-to-B email marketers include:
- Inadequate staffing – 53%
- Lack of an effective email marketing strategy – 37%
- Difficulty merging email lists with other systems – 36%
- Unclear or constantly changing objectives – 31%
- Inability to manufacture relevant content on a consistent basis – 31%
So tell me about your priorities and what your biggest challenges are with email marketing.
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 10, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Reading Will Fuel Your Writing for New Business
Google Reader will save time and allow you to consistently share and create appealing content that will be of primary interest to your target audience.
Social media is a great tool for new business, but it is the creation and curation of content that will provide success. Creating content is difficult. If you are going to write effectively, you must read and your reading will fuel your writing.
Constantly using search engines to find your resources is not only a huge waste of time, but you can easily get distracted. How often have you started a search for something in particular and 1-1/2 hours later, you can’t even recall what you were looking for?
The key to creating good content is to have a simple system that brings an organized approach to your online reading.
One of the most effective time management tools for an online reading program is an RSS Feed. There are a number of RSS Readers to choose from. My personal preference is Google Reader.
Once you have clearly identified your audience, Google Reader can help to organize your resources around their interests. You can be sure you are on the same page as your audience, reading what they are reading, discovering their trade publications, information and research from their associations, etc. You can also glean important information from sources that are not specifically relevant to your audience.
Here’s a sampling of what Google Reader will help you do:
- Stay up to date with the very latest materials.
- Comb quickly through online resources from hundreds of source sites in a single place.
- Easily share your reading to your followers in Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.
- Keep materials organized by creating folders and tags. Just like with email, folders help you easily find what you are looking for. It is far better than managing your email inbox.
- Quickly spot trends.
- Monitor your competitors or your client’s competitors. Know what they are writing and sharing.
- Create a consistent system that allows you to stay updated by reading the latest information from target audience’s industry publications, associations, even their competitors.
- Use it for Google Alerts. You will want to have a lot more alerts being created for specific type material than you would have coming into your email inbox.
- When online resource sites don’t pan out, easily drop them from your feed.
- Use the share settings to share your favorite blog posts and articles directly to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and other social media channels.
I have established the mornings as my daily reading time. Google Reader is set as the Home Page for my browser. It is the first thing I open each day. My readings are gathered from resources all over the internet and organized into a central location. It becomes my own personalized Continuing Education program.
If you read feeds on the iPhone or iPad, I recommend using Reeder, a nice app that can be used for that purpose. You will be able to view your feeds in “stacks” based on the folders that you have assigned to them.
Reader for iPhone: iTunes $2.99
Reader for iPad: iTunes $4.99
How are you researching for good content?
