by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 1, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
I recently interviewed Jim Lucy, the Chief Editor of Electrical Wholesaling Magazine on the state of the industry. Jim has been with Electrical Wholesaling for 28 years and has a good pulse on what’s happening in the industry. You can listen to the entire interview here.
Highlights include:
- Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
- How progressive companies weathered the storm?
- Which market niches offer the most opportunity over the next few years?
- Will M&A activity increase as the economy improves?
If you like what you listened to, pass it on to a friend.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 27, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
E-mails are still a good “go to” strategy whether you’re a B-to-B or B-to-C marketer. When going after the professional tradesmen or contractor, we have found that timing is probably one of the most critical components to a successful campaign.
We have found that the time of day is usually a key factor in the open rate. We usually either have them sent at 6-7 in the morning or after 5 as these are the times contractors usually have time to spend on their e-mails.
Silverpop‘s recent poll ranked tactics that both groups thought to be important.
B-to-B marketers were highly focused on moving prospects through the sales pipeline, while B-to-C respondents were looking to increase customer loyalty.
What are some of the tactics that you find get better results?
Other posts you might find interesting:
Will E-mail Be Replaced by Social Media?
E-mail and Social Media are Tools B-to-B Marketers Plan on Using More of in 2010
E-mail Marketing for Industrial Markets: Common Mistakes to Avoid
E-mail: Still an Effective Method to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
by tradespeopleinsights | May 26, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
When looking at what marketing tools to use, you have to look at your target and find out how they like to receive info. For the contractor that’s on the go, e-mail is still a viable option especially for the over-30 crowd. For the under-30 crowd, texting was the preferred method.
In a recent survey by eMarketer.com, they found 70% would rather talk to their friends and family via e-mail as opposed to social sites.
ExactTarget’s “2009 Channel Preference Study” also found e-mail on top, with 57% of U.S. Internet users preferring it for written communications versus 24% for texting and just 10% for social.
Texting was preferred by almost half of the respondents.
So, the bottom line is, don’t give up on a tool that has become part of our daily lives.
Other posts you might find interesting:
Will E-mail Be Replaced By Social Media?
E-mail and Social Media are Tools B-to-B Marketers Plan on Using More of in 2010
E-mail Marketing for Industrial Markets: Common Mistakes to Avoid
E-mail: Still an Effective Method to Reach the Professional Tradesmen
If you like this post, please share it with a friend.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 25, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
B-to-B marketers, to be successful in the world of blogging, you must truly be focused on your target market.
A blog should be central to your company’s social media strategy for new business. What fuels the engine to this strategy is good content.
You must consistently feed your inbound marketing machine with rich content or you will see a slow-down in traffic, search engine results and prospective client leads.
Here are my 6 tips to be more effective with your blogging:
- To be successful, you need to write a lot. The more posts you add to your blog, the more traffic you’ll get. The more content can also fuel repurposing content through other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. No content = no fuel = no traffic = no new business leads.
- Be consistent. To keep writing, I visualize someone walking to the end of their driveway to pick up the morning paper, only to discover there’s nothing there. That helps me to stay motivated to write 2 to 3 posts per week. My readers know what to expect. I want to give them a reason to consistently come back.
- Write concisely. People are busy. They need your content to be easy to digest. Provide them with the Readers Digest version. Make your content easy to scan, provide bullet points and numbered lists. People will be much more interested in what you have to say if you don’t try and fluff it up.
- Use your analytics. Know what your readers care about and what they respond to. It will help you to connect with your audience. They’re the judge and jury of whether your content is relevant or not. I know daily where my readers are coming from, what post titles and content generates the most traffic and what search terms they are using.
- Use your writing to learn. When I first started blogging, I was reminded of the old saying, “you don’t know what you know until you write it down.” It’s true. Writing strategizes and invigorates my learning. It can get me ahead of the learning curve and provide me with a system to stay there.
- Keep focused. If your blog is broad, you will not generate any significant traffic. Narrow your focus. Think narrow and deep rather than wide and shallow. Know who you are writing to, what you are writing about, know the categories you will be writing to, the key words that you want to dominate for search.
If you like this post, please pass it on.
Here are some other posts that might be of interest:
5 Quick Tips to Promote Your Posts.
How to Find Readers for Your Blog.
Forrester Report: Most B-to-B Blogs Fail.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 20, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Sonnhalter is deeply involved with the professional tradesman. We recently completed an overview of the Industrial/MRO market. The purpose of the document is to give the reader a quick snapshot of the industry, its players and trends for 2010.
Highlights include interviews with editors of the top two trade publications. Also included are association and buying group contacts, trade shows/meetings, industry trends and media publications.
A free copy for viewing/download is available by signing up here.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 19, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
If you’re a manufacturer who sells through a distribution channel, you need to think about training. A recent survey by BlueVolt indicates that distributors who are trained online recommend and sell more.
It makes sense – most distributors stock over 20,000 items and it’s impossible for them to know about each one of them. It stands to reason if they feel comfortable about a product, it makes it easy for them to recommend it.
Think beyond new product launches as well. Look at some of your core product that might be considered by the end user as a commodity. What better way to differentiate your product from the pack than by training the people who have influence over what users buy?
And what’s more interesting is that these folks are requesting online training mentioning manufacturers by name. Talk about an opportunity! You need to think of training as a selling tool, not a marketing expense.
About the study:
BlueVolt, starting in the fall of 2009, sent out a survey to employees of distributors who took online training within the major buying groups and associations. Among the industries covered were Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, PVC, Construction, Industrial and Flooring. Job titles included sales (inside and out), counter people and CSRs, to name a few. A total of 1291 surveys were sent out and 1210 were returned for a 94% return rate. The respondents were given the opportunity beyond just answering the questionnarie to identify, by name, those manufacturers they wanted more training from.
Regarding increasing sales and improving customer service:
– 81% said that they sell more as a result of learning through BlueVolt
– 94% said their customers rely on them to recommend products or manufacturers
– 89% said that they service their customers better as a result of online training from BlueVolt
– 63% said they recommend products at least once a day
– 57% said they recommend products 2-5 plus times a day
If you like this post, please pass it on.
Here are other posts that might be of interest to you:
Use Online Training to Educate Tradesmen Part 1
Use Online Training to Educate Tradesmen Part 2
I recently interviewed Jim Lucy, the Chief Editor of Electrical Wholesaling Magazine on the state of the industry. Jim has been with Electrical Wholesaling for 28 years and has a good pulse on what’s happening in the industry. You can listen to the entire interview here.
