by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 18, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
I recently spoke with Scott Chapin from Circle 44 Mobile, a division of DigiKnow who is a strategic partner of ours, on how and why manufacturers should be using QR codes in their everyday marketing efforts.
Scott covers not only why they should use them, but gives some practical advice and best practices for those thinking of using them. If your end users are mobile, and most professional tradesmen are, then you need to listen to this informative interview.
Click here to listen.
If you like this post you may like:
What are you Doing to Insure a Successful QR Code Campaign?
Manufacturers: Are you Taking Advantage of QR Codes?
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 13, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
Alternative energy is a growth market and we decided to do an overview of what’s available for those thinking of getting into this market.
The market overview gives a quick snapshot of the industry, the industry players and industry trends. Driven by the agency’s existing knowledge and additional research, content was compiled into a basic overview of the growing alternative energy market.
This market overview highlights a vast amount of information on the alternative energy industry, from industry trends and issues to information on various types of renewable energy. The overview also features information on training firms and certification organizations, codes and standards, and offers online resources, websites, trade shows and trade publications in each individual market.
To sign up to receive a copy of the Alternative Energy market overview, or any of our other market overviews, click here.
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 12, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
I had the chance to catch up with Mike Weil, the editorial director of Contracting Business magazine. I wanted to get his views on the recent Comfortech and HVACR Week show that just ended since I was unable to attend.
Mike gave an overview of attendance, the mood of contractors and what the show buzz was. The contractors were upbeat and were anxious to learn more about new products and hybrid systems and were looking for new business opportunities. Enjoy the conversation. Listen here.
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 11, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
If you’re not on LinkedIn you should be, and if you are, when was the last time you updated your page?
Did you set goals when you first went on, but as time has passed you kind of let it slip a little? You and 120 million of your possible friends are on this site. How many are you connected with?
Let’s review some basics and make sure we’re all on track.
- Profile page – Great place to make a good impression. Have you updated your photo or are you using one from 10 years ago? How about your accomplishments? I’m sure if you haven’t touched it for a while, something good must have happened at work that you could highlight. Have any other things changed like you started a Twitter account, a blog or new website? Be sure to include links.
- Key words – SEO is king. When was the last time you looked at key words within your profile? The best place to do this is on the summary section.
- Adding to your network – It was easy when you just started to get a list of contacts linked in. But what about all those grandiose plans of adding so many new contacts each week? I’m sure you haven’t stopped taking phone calls or going to meetings? What ever happened to asking them to link in with you? At least then when you do a posting, you’ll be getting it in front of them. I admit I’m as guilty as everyone else, but I’m back on track now to add at least 3 contacts a week. What’s your goal?
- Status updates – So what good is 500 connections if you never connect? You need to be active and say something. It doesn’t have to be something original. It could be something as simple as a comment and link to a morning news story that might have some impact on your industry. Try to do at least one a day.
- Groups – This is the “holy grail” as far as I’m concerned. Search and join relevant groups. They allow you to join as many as 50. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel…where else can you find a group of like-minded individuals to hold a conversation with? A great place to build relationships and also build your visibility and credibility as an expert in the field.
Those are some of my thoughts on recommitting to using a great networking site. What are you doing to capitalize on LinkedIn?
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 6, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Not all companies should be blogging. How do you determine if you’re one of them? Most manufacturers, unless they are making commodity items, should fit into the “do” column. If you sell through a distribution channel, there should be another check, and if you ultimately want to reach your targeted end user, put a bunch of checks!!!
Blogs are becoming more popular all the time, and according to eMarketer, blogs have increased from 16-39 percent in companies blogging for marketing purposes.
Our blog is the hub of all activity for us generating several times the number of page views than our web site. By utilizing other social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to drive more eyes to our blog by posting links on these sites, it insures that people keep coming back to the blog.
Why should you blog?
- Position yourself as an expert in your field
- Build your brand
- Use SEO to build readership
Why is a stategy is important. The main reason is you don’t want the ready-fire-aim approach to be your guidepost. Consider these points:
- Develop a policy and guidelines – This is new to everyone so someone has to set the ground rules.
- Identify topic categories and resources – Don’t think you have to be responsible for creating all the posts. Get sales customer service, engineering and of course marketing into the mix.
- Define frequency – You can start a blog and then do one post a month. That’s like trying to date and only calling the girl once a month. In order to build relationships, it takes time to get to know, like and trust people. I suggest at least once a week for a post; more if time permits.
- Define the audience – This is key so you can write to the interests and issues (content).
- Choosing the right voice – Remember, social is like having a conversation. Save the features and benefits for the sell sheets.
The key when considering blogging is that IT IS A COMMITMENT. But the upside is you can position your brand very favorably and generate lots of traffic, some of which will turn into relationships and maybe even business.
by tradespeopleinsights | Oct 5, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
Email is still a valuable and productive marketing tool if used correctly. There are several factors that need to be addressed.
Here’s a checklist of things that might be helpful:
- Identify yourself – Let people know who it’s coming from.
- Attention-getting subject line – Keep it short and benefit oriented.
- Provide relevant copy – Answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”
- Keep your copy focused and short – Get to the point, use bold headlines, highlight important points and give them a call to action.
- Make sure it reflects your brand – look and feel, colors.
- Do a text version as well as an HTML version. Many privacy settings won’t allow images.
- Make sure it’s mobile friendly – Many, if not most emails are opened on smart phones. Make sure they are formatted accordingly so you make an impact.
- Opt-in list – This is the preferred list. If you can get them, make sure you personalize the message.
- Add appropriate links – While keeping the copy short and to the point, you can always give them a link if they want more information, whether it’s to your blog, website or other URL.
- Schedule your emails – Don’t inundate your audience. The only repsonse you’ll get is an opt-out.
- Timing – best days are Tuesday through Thurdsay, either mid-morning or early afternoon.
Those are my thoughts. Anyone care to add to the list?
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Opt-in Lists: Key to Email Success
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