by tradesmeninsights | Dec 15, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
Yes, I know the stats are overwhelming that of all smartphones today, over 50% connect to the Internet that way, and by 2014, 90% will be using mobile as a main way of staying connected.
A recent survey by Equipment World Magazine on those contractors that had smartphones:
- 85% view emails
- 81% use it to text
- 71% connect to the internet
- 52% use apps
- 24% visit social sites
- 20% watch videos
- 4% don’t use it for any of the above
Those are some impressive numbers and should tell us all that we’re missing the boat if we’re not including mobile marketing into our overall program.
But before you jump in right now, why don’t you ask the guy in charge of your web analytics to see how many people are coming to your site currently via a mobile browser.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t consider a strategy, but a QR Code isn’t a mobile marketing program.
I get a kick out of QR codes that go to the regular website that’s virtually unreadable. DON’T SEND PEOPLE TO A NON-MOBILE SITE.
If QR codes are going to be part of your strategy, then WOW them where you take them. That’s been one of the biggest complaints (disappointments) from most users that scan the code. If you put them on product packaging, make sure, for example, a how-to-use video is short and clear. Make them glad they went to the extra effort. Also tell them what to expect to get if you scan the code, i.e. a coupon, how-to video, chart to find the right size tool.
Beyond using a QR code, apps that help the tradesmen do their jobs are really a good way to connect with them. Calculated Industries has mobile apps for phones that allow a contractor to download specific calculators onto their phone. RIDGID has a digital level download for your phone. Something useful that a contractor can use.
Are you starting to think about a mobile strategy, or maybe you already have one in place? I’d love to hear about your success stories.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
What are You Doing to Reach the Young Professional Tradesmen?
Tablets and Smartphones are Changing the Way Manufacturers Will be Reaching the Tradesmen.
What are You Doing to Insure a Successful QR Code Campaign?
Are you Considering Mobile Media as a Strategy to Reach the Professional Tradesman?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 14, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
Here are some facts we can’t ignore: According to Hubspot, mobile devices will be the number-one way we access the Internet by 2013. Comscore just released a white paper that shows in the U.S. right now almost 7% of Internet traffic is coming from non-computer devices with mobile phones leading the way.
So it begs the question – is your website optimized for mobile users? I recently read an article by Jamie Turner in Social Media Examiner, 9 Tips for Optimizing Your Website for the Mobile Users that I thought was very helpful. Here are some highlights:
- KISS – keep it SIMPLE.
- Plan your site layout – keep pages to a minimum and the layout simple.
- Match branding elements – make sure mobile site looks like your regular site (look and feel).
- Avoid Flash and Java – Apple products don’t Flash and many phones don’t support Java.
- Reduce the amount of text entry – use dropdowns, checklists or prepopulated fields when possible.
- Use mobile redirects – make sure your site has the correct software so it can identify a mobile user and send them to that version of the site.
Have you made sure your website is mobile friendly?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 13, 2011 | Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
I caught up with Lisa Bordeaux from BlueVolt recently to talk about the importance of using online training. Everyone is looking for ROI.
BlueVolt provides online training centers for manufacturers, distributors, buying groups and trade associations. They have delivered more than 1 million courses to date. They have been a strategic partner of ours for over 5 years and have helped several of our clients in this area.
Lisa explains the differences of why Manufacturers and Distributors use it and why their reasons are different. She also talks about the different ways to learn – Observations, Conferences, Classroom and Self-Study.
Here are a few highlights:
Training – It’s not on fire (easy to push out) – but in our customers’ experience – it’s one of the most significant things you can do for the bottom line. We have customers telling us certified people are outpacing their industry averages by 16-24% YOY. Not sure what other efforts have that impact.
Training – get it as close to the guy as possible – usually folks have 10 minutes in the afternoon to learn something – our buying group customers – say their member employees spent the ten minutes surfing a supplier site for product information – but by bringing it all in one place and putting the incentives on it, like we do – they spend the 10 minutes becoming better sellers – and that’s time well spent.
Enjoy. Listen here.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 8, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Leads no matter where they come from are an important part of starting the sales cycle. I’m used to dealing with Manufacturers who make stuff and are trying to sell it and I thought they would have better success identifying online leads than service companies. Evidently that’s not the case.
I recently read a post on the PRSA Newswire about a study that was just completed by Hinge Marketing on 500 service companies that used online leads as part of their lead generation strategy.
What was particularly interesting was that high growth firms got 64% of their leads online and grew 4 times faster than their counterparts. That’s an amazing stat and one that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Other highlights from the study include:
- The greater a company’s online generation, the greater the total firm’s profitability.
- 66% plan on spending more online next year as a result of this.
- 77% of firms that participated in the survey generated online leads.
- SEO, blogging and web analytics were considered the most effective online tools.
A copy of the study can be downloaded free.
So what kind of results are you getting from your online activity?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 7, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
The Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs second annual research report is out and as usual, both CMI and MarketingProfs have a great handle on what’s happening in the B-to-B space. It’s worth the read.
Highlights include:
- Content marketing remains a top priority for marketers in 2012.
- Article posting and social media (excluding blogs) are the most popular tactics.
- Blogs, white papers and videos are seeing an increased adoption.
- Content marketing spending is increasing as well as outsourcing.
You can download the report here.
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 6, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Twitter isn’t about you, it’s about sharing relevant information with those that follow you.
The more relevant the content, the better chance of you building your base of loyal followers. I use Twitter strictly for business, so everything I put out has something to do with issues that I think affect my followers. In turn, my hope is that they will agree that the info is useful and RT to their followers. Twitter, along with LinkedIn, are my two biggest sources of page views to my blog.
So if you use it for business, then you should have some ground rules to help you make the most out of Twitter. I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen that outlines 11 Tips to Get Your Best Results with Twitter. Among them, here are my favorites:
- Do your research – see what people are saying about you and your brands.
- Thanking people – for those that follow and especially for those who retweet your messages, it’s a great way to build loyalty.
- Be that “go to” person – with the content you supply, you should be considered a thought leader and thus an “expert” in your field.
- Integrate Twitter with your content marketing strategy – not only use Twitter to distribute your content, use Twitter slurp to augment it on your website and blog.
What are you doing to make sure you’re getting the most out of Twitter?
I recently did a post on how to How Do You Thank Someone For a Retweet and it was one of my most popular posts this year. This post also may be of interest to you.
