by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 25, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
Interesting fact about recessions – they end.
In our practice, most of our clients have been hit exceptionally hard in ’09 due primarily to their ties to the construction market. Some have opted to cut spending and ride out the storm. Others have reduced their budgets, but have continued to launch new products and support existing ones. It’s gratifying to see those that continued to promote themselves gained interest, inquiries and sales even in this downturn.
According to Industrial Supply, housing starts were up 2% in July. This was the 5th consecutive increase. Building permits for future projects climbed nearly 8%.You can read the entire USDH report here.
Here’s an interesting fact from some recent research from the Kauffman Foundation – More than half of the Fortune 500 companies were launched in economic downturns. For marketing purposes, if you don’t currently have something in the pipeline, this year is done.
All economic data indicates that the worst is over and we should start seeing an uptick as quickly as the 4th quarter for some industry segments.A recent online survey by StrongMail of 979 business executives in various industries show an optimism about the economy. The survey indicates that 85% are planning to maintain or increase their spending for the remainder of the year. But enough about ’09.
Yes, soon the trend lines will start to go up, but not as sharply as they came down. B-to-B marketers need to look forward and should be starting to crank up their plans for ’10. Inventory levels at distributors are at their lowest levels in years, and manufacturers need to be ready to respond. Spend smartly and monitor what you do. Try something new. If you haven’t added social media to the mix, consider it for ’10. Do something! There are contractors out there buying stuff!
by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 19, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
A lot of B-to-B marketers still find it hard to understand practical ways to use this marketing tool. Twitter can be used as a marketing tool to build your brand, build credibility by sharing your expertise and grow your network. Twitter is my number-one source for views to my posts. Here are a few ways you can capitalize on this powerful tool:
- Establish yourself as an expert in your field by authoring your thoughts on an industry topic, sharing tips and links to articles posted elsewhere.
- Grow your network by joining industry groups or forums
- Participate in Twit chats as they relate to your industry or expertise
- Use Twitter search to find out about competitors, trends or what people are saying about you
- Give -Get referrals
- Add your Twitter ID to all correspondence whether it’s your e-mail, business cards or even your sales material down near the corporate signature.
These are only a few ways. I recently read a post by Meryl Evans, 62 Ways to Use Twitter for Business, that you might find interesting.
Here are a few other posts you might find interesting:
5 ways to find prospects on Twitter
5 ways to use Twitter as a tool to reach the professional tradesman
use Twitter as a PR tool to help build long term relationships
by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 18, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
My blog focuses on helping manufacturers better communicate with contractors and professional tradesmen. We have three challenges: 1) identify our audience, 2) give them meaningful content, and 3) keep them coming back. One of the most important things I try to communicate is that to be successful, you must be able to engage and have a genuine relationship with your reader. I recently read a guest post on Problogger from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on 7 steps to build a genuine relationship with your readers, which highlights ways he’s been able to engage and develop relationships.
Here are some highlights from his post:
- A genuine relationship starts with you – start with an open and positive mindset and be willing to work on the relationship.
- Make posts as helpful and useful as you can – it’s not about you, it’s about your readers’ problems and concerns.
- Be helpful and positive in all interactions – whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook or your blog…always be helpful, positive and upbeat.
- Encourage discussion in comments – you’re not the only one with good ideas. Make sure to engage on your response and ask their opinion.
- Give back on other blogs – link when appropriate to other blogs, visit their sites and make comments and write guest posts for them.
One of the most important points Leo makes is you can’t fake this stuff. If you are just pretending to care about your readers, if you don’t really want to talk to them, they’ll feel it and then you’ve lost them.
Leo is a best selling author of The Power of Less. He also just released a free report for bloggers called, How I Got 100,000 Subscribers in Two Years: Lessons from Zen Habits. Check out his report as it gives some insightful ways to help get and retain viewers
by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 12, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Most of us think if we wanted to share a link to something of interest that the logical way to do that would be through e-mails. Not according to a recent article in the E-Marketer Newsletter that cites AddToAny, a creator of content sharing and web publishing tools, that Facebook accounts for 24% of uses of the widget to share links to articles, videos and other content. E-mail only accounts for 11.1%. Social media has overtaken e-mail in terms of worldwide reach.
What that means to B-to-B marketers is that they should reconsider how they deliver links. By using a social media outlet like Facebook or Twitter, you not only deliver your message and link, but you’re continuing to increase your awareness and improve your search rankings and site traffic.
Nice bonus don’t you think?
by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 11, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
A forum is a group of like-minded people who share a common interest in a particular subject. It could be anything from fine wine to travel to the best ways an electrical contractor can make more money. What’s great about the internet is it’s one big database where you can search for virtually anything.
Use Google or any other search engine and type in your area of interest, e.g. fine wine, and add the word “forum” after it (there are 2,170,000 results on Google for this). If you type in electrical contractors forum, you get 2,270,000 results. The point is, there are plenty of people that share the same passions as you do.
Forums do have rules you need to follow them. Some are written and some not. If there are written rules, they are usually posted. Remember, this is a social site, not a sell site. Forums are a great place to listen, learn and grow trust with the audience. So how do you get the most out of forums?
Here are 5 of my favorite ones from tips from Nicky Jameson from a recent post .
- Register for a forum – then lurk. Get the feel for the tone, style and interaction of the group you joined.
- Slowly start posting – once you get the lay of the land, start by posting an introduction. Then you can move onto answering questions.
- Build a reputation – do the basic stuff, that is, make good posts. Seek to establish yourself as an expert.
- Answer questions – provide the most complete answer as possible with the appropriate links.
- Share your opinion – make sure they know it’s your opinion so folks don’t confuse it with facts. Contrary opinions can be useful in highlighting an alternative option.
You can read her entire post at: 11 Steps For Getting Free Traffic From Forums.
by tradespeopleinsights | Aug 6, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Sometimes in this busy world, we need to take a “time out” just like we make our kids and grandkids do to slow down and think about what we’re doing. I recently read a post by Valeria Maltoni, entitled, 100 thoughts on Marketing. After reading them, I wanted to share them with you. Valeria is a widely respected name in this social media arena, and I suggest you read her blog for some challenging and insightful posts.
Stop what you’re doing and have a cold or hot beverage and read the list. I’m sure you’ll get a few “golden nuggets” out of this list as I did. Enjoy and thanks to Valeria for her thoughts.
Stuff, especially marketing stuff, is due for a tune up. Let’s take the meaning challenge for marketing. Enjoy!
