by tradespeopleinsights | Jan 4, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Professional tradesman, for the most part, do more field work so they have a mobile office. And let’s face it, most manufacturer’s biggest challenge is how do I connect with them? The smartphone is coming more and more into play, so if your company doesn’t have an app, you may be missing an opportunity. According to Nielsen, as of the 3rd quarter of ’10 – 28% of mobile phones are smartphones with 41% of recent acquirers moving in that direction.
So what does that mean? It shows the trend is going strong for smartphones and we’d better be ready to capitalize on this tool. I know what you’re thinking, that most of the users are under the age of 35, and you would be correct. Isn’t that a targeted segment of the tradesman audience that you, as a manufacturer, are trying to come to grips with on how are you going to get your message to them? This would be one way to reach them. As a matter of a fact, the majority of smartphone users are under 45 years of age.
50 percent of Android owners are under the age of 35 – Apple has the most smartphone users under the age of 44.
I’m curious as to how many of you currently have a mobile App or are planning one in the near future?
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 23, 2010 | Uncategorized
I’ll be taking a break over the holiday and will return after the first of the year. I’d like to wish everyone a great holiday season and a happy New Year. Hopefully 2011 will will bring us all some cheer!
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 21, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Maybe you should!
In the good old days when you wanted to tell a customer about a new product, you had limited delivery methods, among them a personal visit, snail mail or you gave them a call (before there was such a thing as voicemail).
Today, the list of options on disseminating info is almost endless, and the preferred method of delivery to each individual could vary by age, type of job they have, industry they are in or several other options. The point being is when was the last time you asked your customers how they would like to receive information? And better, if you have asked, did you respect their wishes?
It stands to reason, at least in my mind, that if I say I want all new product info via e-mail, and copies of invoices on paper with a copy to accounting and an electronic copy for my files, then you should try to respect their wishes.
If I deliver info the way customers want it, you stand a better chance of them doing something with it and at the same time, you’re making it easy for them to business with you (a novel idea).
That’s why I’m suggesting if you haven’t done a survey to customers, you should. It could be a part of a bigger customer service survey so you can get more valuable info on your clients’ profile. The results may surprise you. E-mail programs like Emma and Constant Contact have survey modules built in. This info should be put into your CRM program so you are able to deliver by their preferred method.
I’m curious how many of you have done customer surveys on a regular basis to collect data like this?
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
Social media marketing is important in its own right, but efforts in the area can boost more online channels according to an article in eMarketer.com.
According to the data from B2B magazine and Business.com, marketer’s No. 2 goal for social media after brand building was increasing traffic to websites. Search ranking increased with increased social activity. If you generate more traffic, a logical conclusion is that you’ll generate more leads.
Are you utilizing social media to improve your search as part of your overall strategy?
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 15, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Aylie Fifer, Relationship Architect here at Sonnhalter, has put together some information on Augmented Reality.
Augmented reality is a new technology that is starting to take flight in many different ways. Think of a flight simulator – the pilot goes into a “cockpit” and can use the actual controls of an airplane, but the visual is a non-real place – a video or computer generated environment to simulate the environment of a real world situation. In essence, this is very much like Augmented Reality.
Augmented reality:
- combines real and virtual data – meaning it uses real time video and integrates with computer generated data to create an “Augmented Reality” experience
- is interactive in real time
- is registered in 3D
Sometimes QR codes are used to launch an Augmented Reality site or game. The QR code just redirects to the URL or information coded in the 2D QR code and the Augmented Reality site utilizes information that the phone/computer is receiving (either by camera, video, or GPS) to incorporate a virtual reality with the real reality and allowing you to interact in real time. Essentially, it layers a “virtual world” into your actual reality world.
Examples:
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/top-10-augmented-reality-examples/top-10-augmented-reality-examples/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/14/augmented-reality
In the National Geographic article, you will see that the Air Force is using Augmented Reality as a means to train mechanics. Augmented reality is already being used with video games as well. It is a matter of time before this technology enters into other areas of our life. What I am excited to see is how marketers will use this new media to promote their products.
Photo courtesy of National Geographic.
