by tradespeopleinsights | May 21, 2009 | Marketing Tips
You may have the best widget in town, readily available and priced to sell. You need to determine their hot buttons and what trips their trigger. But to get the tradesman interested, you need to:
Get their attention. Address the (WIIFM) “what’s in it for me” question. We need them to feel excited about your new widget and eager to learn how it can make their job easier and more profitable. Use “how to” videos, case studies and online training as ways to get them engaged. Raise questions.
Covert to a customer. Now that you have their attention, what do you do? You need to soft sell and persuade them that your solution is best for them. Build your case, establish the trust factor and then send them to a well-constructed landing page that gives them an offer they can’t refuse and a clear call to action.
Remember, content is king and it defines who you are. Sonia Simone has an interesting post, 49 ways to profit from content marketing, that should give you some guidelines to consider.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 20, 2009 | Marketing Tips
Good writing doesn’t have to be complicated. Especially in a blog, you need to get in, make a point, have a call to action and get out. Professional tradesmen are too busy and too smart to have to waddle through a post and try to figure out what’s in it for them. Here are 3 sure ways to make your point:
- Clear. If you can’t capture their attention with a good subject line and then deliver your core message in the first paragraph, you will lose them. Don’t make them think, spell it out for them. Remember, blog copywriting isn’t about winning a creative award, it’s about delivering a straightforward message.
- Concise. Keep it to short sentences and paragraphs even though they might not always follow the rules of grammar. Remember, you’re not writing a white paper or a master’s thesis. You want to make a point and get out.
- Compelling. Keep it interesting and persuasive. Keep it as personal as possible and cite real life examples. Do your homework and find out what piques your readers’ interest.
Write from the heart don’t to try to maximize your SEO key words.
So what are your thoughts on killer content?
by tradespeopleinsights | May 18, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Blogs are now in mainstream media(over 100 million worldwide ) and it presents a unique opportunity for marketers to both influence and monitor conversations that are relevant to your business.
Conversations about you, your brands and your competitors as well are happening as you read this… These conversations are taking place whether you’re participating or not. Wouldn’t you like to be on the inside looking out?
I read a post recently on E marketing Daily that outlined some interesting stats about the number of people either touching or being touched by blogs. Here are some highlights:
Currently, 27.9 million US internet users have a blog they update at least once a month and they represent 14% of the internet population. It’s estimated by 2013 that 37.6 million users will update their blogs at least once a month.
Even more impressive are the number of blog readers. eMarketer estimates that in 2009, 96.6 million US internet users will read a blog. By 2013, 128.2 million people (58% of all US users) will be doing the same.
The numbers tell the story – don’t ignore blogs. They’re not going away and smart B-to-B marketers will get ahead of the curve sooner than later.
by tradespeopleinsights | May 15, 2009 | Social Marketing
Business marketers trying to reach professional tradesmen can’t seem to warm up to a 140-character message as an impactful way to reach their targets.
Twitter has become a very powerful tool especially if you use some of their tools like Twitter Search which allows you to identify key words and phrases so you can follow and start a conversation with them. You can even monitor your company or product names and see what they are saying about you!
Twitter is a great tool for starting an opinion poll or directing folks to things they are tweeting about. It has been used by marketers at trade shows to create “BUZZ” on the floor: Stop at booth XXX and see their new left handed widget for plumbers.
In a post by Chris Brogan, 50 ideas on using Twitter for business, he outlines steps and hints on how to get the most out of Twitter in your business surroundings. Here are the top 5 tips that will help B-to-B Marketers to get the most from Twitter:
- Instead of answering a question “what are you doing?” answer the question “what has your attention?”
- Have multiple twitters at the company. People take vacations, quit, get on special projects. You need to keep the content going, it has to be good and it’s nice to have a different point of view.
- When promoting a post, give them a hint of what’s coming next.
- Tweet about other people’s stuff – it makes you look human and not always talking business.
- When you do talk business, make it useful. Give them a tip or advice that would make their life better.
What are your thoughts on using Twittersearch?
by tradespeopleinsights | May 14, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
If you’ve been blogging for a while, might I suggest you take the time to revisit some older posts to see if they can be updated and revised. In an ideal world, every one of our posts would be perfect, but let’s face it, we don’t live in an ideal world.
The information we used may be dated, there might be some wrong info in it or you’ve become more of an expert on the subject. And if we’re honest with ourselves, some of our posts weren’t our best efforts. Even changing a post title can dramatically increase traffic to a post.
All good reasons to rework, revise and update.
Here are 5 suggestions on how you might improve and update a post:
- Post Title. This by far is the most important. If the title doesn’t get them hooked, you could be giving away a million dollars in the copy and they wouldn’t even see it.
- Opening Paragraph. We need to remember that when writing blogs it’s different than writing ad or sell sheet copy. You need to answer the question (WIIFM) what’s in it for me. If the reader gets a sense upfront of what the post is about, you have a good chance of keeping them engaged. Newspaper writers are good examples; they lead with a strong headline, give the highlights in the first paragraph and then deliver the details. Go ahead and be a Clark Kent and you’ll see that you might turn into Superman!
- Add more meat. Since your last post, either the industry has changed or you’ve become smarter, so put more meat on the bones.
- Add more depth. Spend a few more minutes giving examples, sharing opinions or suggesting a book.
- Call to action. After all, isn’t one of the purposes of a blog is to engage our readers? Ask a question, direct them to another site or give them some sort of next step.
I’m sure you could think of other steps as well. Darren Rowse has an interesting post, Updating old posts on your blog, that might be of interest to you .
by tradespeopleinsights | May 13, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Micro-blogging is an effective way for people to get messages to the world.
Unlike regular blogging where your posts can go on and on and cover numerous subjects, a micro-blog communicates one event. A good comparison is thinking of it as a cross between social networking and blogging. Another way of thinking of it is it’s the new instant messaging vehicle .
If you’re a Facebook user, chances are you’re already micro-blogging to your friends using their status update. Beyond Facebook, there’s Twitter (which is the fastest growing segment of the online market) that allows you up to 140 characters to convey your message (you really have to be good about what you want to say).
Micro-blogs can be used for both personal and business use. For example, if you’re going to a trade show and are introducing a new product, why not do a tweet or a status update on your Facebook page to let people know where and when this event is happening. These can used for product launches, special promotions or new strategic alliances. You must remember that social means conversational (you can’t be putting a hard sell on someone).
Here are examples of Twitter micro-blog posts to @HomeDepot:
Home Depot is using Twitter to offer help and receive feedback.
Do you have any interesting micro-blogs you’d like to share?
