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.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 24, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
One of the biggest challenges marketers face, especially in the B-to-B market, is trying to sell something to their bosses who don’t really understand. Social media falls into that category more times than not. It’s hard for management to allocate resources to something they don’t have their arms around.
So you need a plan, and I recently read Social Marketing to the Business Customer by Eric Schwartzman and Paul Gillin that outlines some tips on helping you get both a budget and resources to get the job done. Here are some highlights:
- Identify your target buyers keywords – Identify and track words that would identify a potential sale. For example, if you were in the material handling business and the key words “new lift trucks” came up, there might be an opportunity for you to start a conversation.
- Evaluate your customers, suppliers and most importantly, your competitors – If you can show your bosses that other folks in your market are utilizing social media, it will help in making your case. We usually offer to do, for clients or potentials, a quick audit of their competitors, key words and phrases in their space to see what kind of activity there is.
- Position social media as an extension of your current marketing efforts – Social is just another tool in the marketing tool box so make sure you integrate it into current efforts.
- Support the existing culture – If your management gets social media it will be easier to sell and monitor activities. If they are less familiar they will want more control as well as metrics. Fortunately, it’s the most measurable media out there.
Bottom line is, do your homework to show that social is being used by your customers and competitors. Show them who’s on Twitter or is blogging. Pull up a mobile app or show them a relevant group on LinkedIn or a forum they should be participating in with your customers. The more tangible example, the better.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 19, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
Email marketing is still a very good B-to-B business tactic. But like anything else, you’re always fighting for the attention of the professional tradesmen. Contractor’s inboxes are just as loaded as the rest of ours, so what do we need to do to get him to open ours?
Here are 5 tips to consider:
- Identify yourself – If they don’t know you, they probably won’t open it.
- Attention-getting subject line – Keep it short and benefit oriented.
- Provide relevant copy – What’s in it for me?
- Keep your copy focused and short – Get to the point; use bold headlines and give them a call to action.
- Build a good list – Use your existing customer lists but also ask your sales force for a list of its prospects and don’t be afraid to rent a reputable list.
Those are some of my tips. What’s working for you?
If you like this post, you might also like:
5 Tips to Improve Your B-to-B Direct Marketing Efforts.
