by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 7, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
In the social media arena like in the real world people need to know, like and trust you in order to have a meaningful relationship. In the social media space, things are somewhat different in that you can’t choose the people following you.
Bear in mind that more people are watching than participating. According to Heidi Cohen, your typical social media audience is comprised of about 90% who are lurkers (just watching and listening but aren’t jumping into the conversation). Of the balance, about 8% are actually participating in conversations and less than 2% are highly engaged.
Here are some tips on how to be who you are (transparent):
- Let people know who you are if you plan on jumping into a conversation – Believe me, they will eventually find out and if you’re doing this as a representative of a brand, not only will you suffer but so will the brand.
- Listen before you leap – Don’t jump right into a conversation. See what others are saying and don’t just talk for talking sake. If you can’t contribute something, just continue to listen.
- Use human speak – In other words, talk like you normally do in a conversational tone. Leave the corporate speak out of this arena.
- Be responsive – If you do a post and someone responds, acknowledge and answer the question even if it’s with an I don’t know but I’ll get back to you answer. It’s just common courtesy and if you want to build a relationship, you need to have more than a one-way conversation.
- Don’t overshare – This is especially true when it comes to sensitive or confidential material from your company. Remember, you need to set limits and once it’s out there, it will be there forever!
Those are some of my thoughts on the subject. If you’d like to add to the list, please feel free to.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
Social Media: 10 Rules to Abide By
Social Media Introverts: Here are Ways for You to Come out of the Closet
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 2, 2011 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
There are over 152 million blogs – how do you identify and communicate with the right ones to get in front of the professional tradesman? The first question to answer is are your products or services applicable to your end users using social media? If the answer is “yes,” then your goal should be to identify the right communities, monitor them and jump in and get involved!
If social is to be a part of your media relations strategy, you must remember that different rules apply to social:
- Your Brand can be affected positively or negatively. Remember you don’t control the message.
- Your Brand depends on the “loyalists” who are passionate about you.
- Key Blogs or social sites are authored by thought leaders from your industry.
You need to develop the right strategies based on the importance of social media in your overall communications plan. Cision has issued a white paper, Staying Afloat in a Sea of Social Media, that gives a good overall view of how to manage and monitor social media.
All blogs are not created equal. Do comprehensive research as to the communities you might want to get involved in and then monitor them. If they seem to be talking about relevant topics, jump into the conversation. Social media demands transparency, so be honest in your engagement. Here are a few sites that may be of interest to those going after the professional tradesman:
Blog references:
http://contructionmarketingblog.org
http://darrenslaughter.com
http://constuctionmarketingideas.com
http://tradeshub.mikeroweworks.com
http:/dirtpail.com
http://www.plantengineering.com/blogs.html
http://www.myplumbingportal.com/blog.html
http://facilityexecutive.com/facilityblog/
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/
http://myfacilitiesnet.com/
Remember that just because you’re using social media, the basic rules of marketing still apply. You must identify your universe, communicate to them clearly, engage in conversations, monitor comments, evaluate and respond.
I’d like to hear from you. What interesting communities have you come across that reach the professional tradesman?
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 1, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Webinar will focus on: How to Plan, Measure and Market using QR Codes and how B-to-B marketers can take advantage of them.
Marketing trends and tactics are ever changing and keeping up can be overwhelming. Mobile technologies are the next big deal in marketing and QR codes are a large part of that. QR codes can get a passive prospect to take immediate action by turning a standard ad, for example, into an interactive mobile call-to-action.
Please join us Wednesday, June 29th at 2 PM (EST) for this free webinar. Scott Chapin, head of the Circle 44 Mobile unit of DigiKnow, will provide insights and the ins-and-outs of QR Codes, how to use them, how to develop them, and how to measure a program’s success.
Don’t miss this must-attend Webinar on June 29th.
This webinar is available for viewing on our YouTube channel – click here.
Please forward this to a friend or business associate that might be interested.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 31, 2011 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
Twitter still remains a mystery to most B-to-B marketers. There are so many tools out there that it often overwhelms a prospective user.
I ran across a great article recently by Gabrielle Conde called, The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Marketing that pretty much sums it up in a very organized manner.
She covers everything from the basics of what Twitter is, how to set up an account, the Twitter mindset, getting followers and building a marketing strategy.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
5 Twitter Tools to Help Manufacturers Generate New Business
How to use Twitter to Find New Business
by tradespeopleinsights | May 26, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
We have used webinars successfully for several years now to promote new services and to share industry information and trends. They are a great tool to get the message out to many people at one time, and then you have the ability to archive them for people to come and view at their leisure.
Webinars are effective, and to get the most bang for your buck, you really need to cross the T’s and dot the I’s. There’s a lot that goes into a successful webinar starting with the topic itself. You need to give the professional tradesmen something they can take and make their own.
Andrew Spoeth from Marketo recently had an interesting post, How to Manage Successful Webinars: A Checklist that has several good points that you may want to look at.
I’m going to outline my top 10 tips on ways to improve your webinars:
- Build a great landing page – Clearly state your value proposition up front so the reader can see what’s in it for him.
- Set the time for the webinar outside of normal business hours – Let’s face it, these contractors have to make a living and they have crews to supervise. Consider doing a webinar later in the day, say around 4 PM. That way a contractor may have some of his tradesmen also sit in on the session. It’s better to inconvenience you than your customer.
- Registration form – Make it easy and don’t ask 20 questions in order for them to sign up.
- Give them an option of getting a copy of the slides without attending the actual webinar – In the world of contractors, shit happens and they may not be able to attend. This will get you their contact info for further follow-up.
- Use Social media – Both in the actual sign-up form so they can invite their friends, but also use it to promote the event.
- Promote – You need to build a schedule and build a good series of reasons why these tradesmen need to attend.
- Get your sales force and distributors involved – Have them pass out postcard size flyers when making calls and talk it up. If a distributor does a monthly newsletter or has a site, have him put it on there as a co-sponsor. You do all the work and he shares in the credit.
- Practice, practice, practice – Try to keep the presentation 20-30 minutes long and allow time for questions even though they may be via e-mail.
- Design a follow-up e-mail– Have yourself graded on the topic, how it was presented and what they might like as future topics.
- Get those names out to your sales force and distribution network for follow-up – Everyone should have at least had a phone message within a week.
Those are my thoughts. The key to a successful webinar is good planning.
If you like this post, you may want to read:
Webinars: Tips on How to Promote using E-mail.
Why Webinars are a Good Marketing Tool to Reach the Tradesman
by tradespeopleinsights | May 25, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
I believe the rule of thumb is it takes 5 times as much effort to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. All too often we focus so much on getting new customers that we forget about who’s supporting us now!
Have you ever calculated what a customers worth is over time? Say you have a 30-year old contractor that usually buys $5,000 worth of your stuff a year. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you keep him happy, you probably will have him for 30 years before he retires. So assuming he doesn’t grow his business or you don’t come out with anything new for him to buy over the next 30 years, he would have spent $150,000 with you. Is he worth keeping? I’d say so. So what are you doing to keep him happy? Unless you’re selling a proprietary product, your competition is knocking on his door every chance they get.
I know many of you who follow me don’t buy shoes online, but I’d bet that if you asked your wife if she’s heard of Zappos, she’d say yes. I picked them as an example and even wrote a post on their book, Does Customer Service Deliver Happiness, where they show that by even selling name branded shoes online, they could, in many cases, outsell the brand itself in the online arena. The way they did it was with customer service.
So here are some points for you to consider when evaluating your Customer Service department:
- Try to keep the personal touch (human being) as the initial touch point if you can.
- Empower your CS people to solve a problem immediately without having to go through 3 levels of supervisors.
- Reward customers with a loyalty program as a way of saying thanks.
- Customer surveys are a great way to get feedback, not only on how you’re doing, but for getting ideas for future products.
I’d also suggest if you haven’t done so in a while to call your customer service department and see what your experience is. If you aren’t impressed, what do you think your customers will feel like?
I’d also suggest reading Delivering Happiness that shows how Zappos grew to be a billion dollar company using customer service to set them apart from their competition.
