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
by tradespeopleinsights | May 18, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
The iPad has some great applications when it comes to calling on Contractors and Distributors alike.
Its size for one and ease of use are the first two that come to mind. I have an iPhone and I sure wouldn’t want to watch a presentation on it and it has one of the bigger screens for the smart phones.
Here are a few ways you as manufacturers can utilize this tool:
- CRM Tool – You can keep your sales leads and calls for today on it. As you make the calls, you can be writing in your newest promotion/contest, and if it requires signing up, they can do it right on the iPad.
- Meetings/Presentations – Whether you’re making a pitch at a distributor, or if you’re on a job site showing the latest video or testimonial from a contractor on the new product you’ve just rolled out. This could be an easy and convenient way to utilize the iPad.
- Note Taking – I used to use my iPhone to jot down notes or thoughts as I’m out on the road. It can be done, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do.
The iPads are relatively inexpensive and are a good tool to help in closing the sale.
Those are my ideas on how to use the iPad. I’d like to hear how you might be using it .
by tradespeopleinsights | May 13, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Facebook fan pages are the current rage. That’s all well and good as long as you have purpose other than “everybody has one.” Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will come. You need to have a plan just like everything else!
I was reminded recently of that very fact when I read a post by Amy Porterfield, How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Editorial Guide, in which she outlines both defining a purpose and a guide to developing editorial.
Here are some highlights:
Defining your purpose:
- Don’t do it because everyone else is.
- How will your page be different from your web site? The more interactive, the better it will be.
- What sets you apart from your competition?
Suggestions for creating editorial guidelines:
- What’s your strategy? Is it going to be daily? Will it be in the morning?
- What’s your content? Are they all going to be original posts or will some be guest posts?
- Formatting – what will they look like?
- Engagement – what’s your plan to respond to those who come back with comments?
- Set rules – make a policy on what will and what will not be posted in regards to comments.
One of my favorite fan pages in the B-to-B space where we play is that on Snap-on Tools. They have over 44,000 fans and they do it right. They promote new products, upcoming events and even offer incentives for fans to buy their tools. Wouldn’t it be nice that every time you posted something on your fan page, all your fans were notified?
Can you share some other B-to-B pages that are doing it right?
If you like this post please pass it along.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 12, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
I’ve been saying for some time now that the most overlooked social media tool for the B-to-B market is LinkedIn. It makes sense to join groups on LinkedIn, whether it’s buying groups like A-D or Netplus Alliance, or associations like STAFDA or AHMA. Take advantage and participate in the arenas you sell to and through.
With sales cycles getting longer, social media is a good way to start building those relationships. They are by no means the only way to nurture a prospect, but according to a recent “B-to-B Sales Pulse Survey” from OneSource, LinkedIn usage has increased significantly. Nearly 50% of the respondents said they were using LinkedIn more than a year ago.
Hubspot, in their January 2010 data report, showed that 45% of North American B-to-B companies used LinkedIn for marketing and have acquired customers through the site.
So how are you using LinkedIn to identify new prospects and build relationships?
If you like this post, please pass it on.
B-to-B marketers, to be successful in the world of blogging, you must truly be focused on your target market.
