by tradesmeninsights | May 29, 2020 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Tradesmen Insights
By Andrew Poulsen, Content Engineer, Sonnhalter
With the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic constantly looming, finding silver linings throughout this situation isn’t always easy. But with millions stuck at home with their phones acting as their main source of entertainment and social interaction, influencers and content creators in the trades have been able to use this time as an opportunity to expand their audiences, connect and engage with their online communities and use their platforms to spread messages of positivity and encouragement.
One of these content creators is Dustin Henson, owner of Rustic Customs Woodshop. Based out of Texas, Dustin primarily makes custom wood projects for customers, such as barn doors, dining room tables and built-in shelving units. On Instagram, Dustin is a very active voice in the woodworking and DIY communities, where he shares his projects and woodworking tips to his more than 13,000 Instagram followers.
Sonnhalter spoke with Dustin to learn more about how the pandemic has affected his personal and professional life, the nature of the content he creates and some of the positives he has experienced while staying home with his wife and kids. 
Sonnhalter: What were some of the initial changes you noticed in your personal and professional life when the pandemic started?
Dustin Henson: In my personal life, I think it’s obvious. It’s been nice spending time with the family, but I think being stuck in the house has us ready to strangle each other. [laughs] Professionally, I was already booked two or three months ahead of time, so it hadn’t slowed down my business yet. I just don’t have as many new projects coming in. Probably about 90% of my stuff is barn doors or custom-built furniture for houses, where I have to go out and visit the homes to measure for those projects, so that’s been put on hold.
Did you notice any significant changes in engagement or follower growth on social media?
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by tradesmeninsights | May 21, 2020 | Marketing Trends, Tradesmen Insights
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
As we are all challenged with navigating our businesses through the realities of COVID-19, we’ve noticed that a number of the trade media have been nimble in responding to the “New Normal.”
We had the opportunity to speak with several publishers in our B2T (business-to-trades) industry to learn how they were adapting to this new environment. The following is part three of our five-part series.
Mechanical-Hub is an online industry resource for today’s plumbing, heating and mechanical contractors. Founded in 2012, its mission is to provide updated industry news and information to the trade contractor and to partner with industry leaders in media, contracting and manufacturing.
We spoke with John Mesenbrink, president of Mechanical-Hub, who oversees its one-of-a-kind website and digital ecosystem. Today’s busy contractors looking for information to help them perform their jobs more efficiently turn to the site for highlights of the latest industry news, originally written features, videos, new products and tools, weekly guest blogs and contractor resources. The “Hub” also features social media engagement on its social channels and is a cornucopia of unique and original information for contractors and a great place to connect with other professionals in the industry.
“We started almost 10 years ago as a digital-only resource,” said Mesenbrink. “In these unfortunate circumstances of the pandemic, we feel that we are in a good position to be flexible and to help our clients and their companies get their messages out. We can be the vehicle to help promote a brand.”
Online After-Hours Training
Many of Mechanical-Hub sponsors rely heavily on in-person training and trade shows to educate their customers. With these types of events canceled because of COVID-19, Mechanical-Hub felt that it had an opportunity to help companies by facilitating casual online training sessions.
A few companies expressed interest, and Mechanical-Hub has been conducting two online webinars each week, scheduled eight weeks out. Free to attendees, all of the informal educational webinars are recorded and archived on Mechanical-Hub’s YouTube channel for reference. There is a minimal fee for the brands to participate to defer the administration and promotional efforts.
With many of Mechanical-Hub’s audience considered essential workers and on the jobsite during the day, the consensus was determined that holding the sessions in the evening would be the most convenient for attendees. That timing proved successful. (more…)
by tradesmeninsights | May 15, 2020 | Marketing Trends, Tradesmen Insights
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
As we are all challenged with navigating our businesses through the realities of COVID-19, we’ve noticed that a number of the trade media have been nimble in responding to the “new normal.”
We had the opportunity to speak with several publishers in our B2T (business-to-trades) industry to learn how they were adapting to this new environment. Following is part two of our five-part series.
Babcox Media is a business-to-business media and information services company serving the auto dealer, auto care, tire, performance, commercial trucking, powersports and enthusiast markets. Its 100-year heritage is built upon its commitment to connecting audiences with quality content and providing clients with results-oriented campaigns. It delivers content through various assets across all channels and platforms to engage its audience.
We spoke with Sean Donohue, group publisher/vice president of sales at Babcox Media, where he oversees several brands, including AutoSuccess, Dealer Service, Motorcycle and Powersports News, BodyShop Business, Engine Builder, TechShop and Professional Car Washing and Detailing.
Betting on Video … Even Before COVID-19
“Over the last 18 months, we’ve been making big bets on video, which is proving to be a good strategy,” said Donohue. “Eighty percent of content viewed online is video in today’s world.”
As tools get more complicated—and cars get more intricate, technicians are using video as a key training resource to conduct their jobs. Video allows technicians to learn a lot more, a lot quicker.
Since COVID-19, the demand for video has not slowed down at all, and, in fact, the video segment of its business has actually increased for Babcox Media.
“Everybody’s at home and there is a desire to want more content, to learn, to see what’s new, to see what’s next, and to be able to do that quickly in a video format,” added Donohue. “We’ve seen increased digital engagement in the last few months across our entire portfolio.”
Garage Studio Videos Soar
Noticing the video trend many months ago, Babcox Media recently completed its 5,000-square-foot Babcox Garage Studio in its headquarters’ bottom level parking garage, complete with three working bays, cars, lifts, tools and all the latest equipment from the leading manufacturers and suppliers in the industry. The studio provides the perfect backdrop to bring video content to life–whether it is a 2-minute how-to video on repair best practices or a 30-minute training video featuring a technical service advisor. ASE-certified technicians are on staff as writers that help facilitate the video content.
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by tradesmeninsights | May 8, 2020 | Marketing Tips, Tradesmen Insights
Today we have a guest post from Pete Kever, president of K6 Digital Marketing, who has been leading the SEO, search marketing, website development and digital marketing for its clients. He’s been at it since before Google.
The World Wide Web has reached its “thirtysomething” birthday and is the base of the world’s digital information infrastructure. Today, according to websitehostingrating.com, there are over 1.74 billion websites containing many trillions of documents. With so many websites clamoring to deliver information to their target audience, search engine optimization (SEO) is as important as ever.
SEO is the art and science of attempting to gain a listing of website content on page one of Google, the world’s most popular search engine. If your content is not on page one, your competitors are getting their messages in front of your potential customers instead of you.
SEO helps businesses put their messages in front of people right at the moment they are searching for it.
SEO is Important to Every Business
Trades marketers and manufacturers need to care about their search engine rank. According to a recent Google study:
- 71 percent of B2B researchers start their research with a generic search
- On average, B2B researchers do 12 searches prior to engaging on a specific brand’s site
- 89 percent of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process
- Nearly half of all B2B researchers are millennials
- B2B researchers who are not in the C-suite influence purchase decisions
- 70 percent of B2B buyers and researchers are watching videos throughout their path to purchase
While there are a number of marketing strategies and services available to get the attention of online viewers, such as social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing and digital banner ads, SEO still offers the most long-term value.
We have developed a checklist of important technical and creative SEO tactics.
Pick Relevant, Focused Keywords
Based on your products and services and on what people are actually searching for, select a list of keywords and phrases that will lead people to your site who most likely will buy. This list becomes your keyword roster and is monitored; over time your rankings should increase for the important terms. Online tools are available for conducting keyword research and for monitoring rankings–a popular one is SEMRush but there are others.
Be sure to choose a mixture of highly popular, but more difficult keywords and long-tail keyword phrases–specific terms that are not used as often, but are less competitive and that tend to bring qualified traffic.
Write Useful, Engaging, Unique Content
Once you know the terms that are actually being used to find your products and services, you need to build content containing those keywords and phrases throughout your site. Professional SEO writers are valuable here, as they understand tactics like semantic search and keyword iterations and can weave keywords into on-page copy for the search engines that also help drive action from users.
Your site needs content that is both sales- and value-based, as well as educational. The sales and value content is optimized for keywords and focused on pitching your products and services. The educational content builds your organization as a thought leader and is useful for providing helpful resources that eventually drive purchase decisions.
Educational content–such as a blog–is also great for social media sharing and building awareness.
Make Sure All HTML Tags Are Optimized
Some HTML tags are absolutely essential for any SEO campaign and MUST be utilized if you want SEO success. Title tags feature keywords from your roster and are useful to search engines in understanding the context of each page. The description meta tag gives more detail on the page’s content is usually a reader’s first encounter with your website in the listings on search results pages.
There are rules and best practices for character-count limits and what to include in these tags if you want to maximize their effectiveness. Search Engine Journal offers a good primer on these essential tags for your online presence.
Build Inbound Links
The more links from other sites that link to your website, the better. The logic here is that other sites respect your site and are referring their traffic to your site. Your website is thus a healthy and participating component of the Web.
Be aware: links that are deemed “toxic” by Google and other search engines can actually harm the SEO rankings of your site, and disavowing bad links is an aspect of SEO that needs to be followed. Google Analytics can help with this SEO task and many others!
Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile Friendly
Google has begun displaying mobile content more predominately and is thus very interested in ranking websites that work well on a mobile platform. Google has even created a “mobile friendly test” tool to get insight into whether individual pages on your site pass basic mobile checks.
Make Sure Your Site Is Fast and Responsive
Since Google’s business relies on being the “front door” to web content, they are constantly looking to rank websites that have short wait times, load correctly and respond well to users. Therefore, it is important to constantly be checking your site for slow-loading pages, images that are very large, broken links and more.
Stay Connected with Customers and Prospects via Social Media
Social media sites like LinkedIn and Instagram are powerful tools to connect with your customers and prospects, and to increase your brand awareness. Social media does not directly influence your search engine rank, but well-known brands tend to get more clicks and engagement than unknown entities.
These platforms are other digital destinations where searchers can find out about your business and often you can provide a link on these platforms to come to your website. Just as “all roads lead to Rome,” many roads can lead to your website. Social media platforms are also useful in promoting special campaigns and offers.
Video Marketing
YouTube is owned by Google and indexed by Google with great regularity. More importantly, video content is highly popular–YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world behind Google. 68% of YouTube viewers have watched a video to help them decide upon a purchase. Having your company content on YouTube is a smart marketing strategy. Also, videos keep site visitors on your web pages longer.
Staying on top of SEO is an expense, but the long-term ROI is one of the highest among all forms of advertising and marketing. Once your website has been optimized and you continue to follow SEO best practices, you will see a payback over time, whether your goals are increased brand share, more leads, or more sales.
Make no mistake, whether you decide to pursue SEO or not, some of your competitors absolutely will.
Would you like to engage with Sonnhalter for SEO services for your industrial or manufacturing business? We’re here for you – please contact us to get the conversation started.
by tradesmeninsights | May 1, 2020 | Marketing Trends, Tradesmen Insights
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
As we are all challenged with navigating our businesses through the realities of COVID-19, we’ve noticed that a number of the trade media have been nimble in responding to the “new normal.” 
We had the opportunity to speak with several publishers in our B2T (business-to-trades) industry to learn how they were changing their tactics to adapt to this new environment. Following is part one of our five-part series.
As print readership has been declining over the past several years, many publications have been gradually making the move to offering digital issue options for readers who would prefer to receive their industry news on their laptop, tablet or smartphone.
One publisher doing exactly that is BNP Media. In business for more than 90 years, BNP Media is one of the largest B2B publishers, publishing nearly 60 titles that serve the architecture, engineering & construction, food, beverage & packaging, gaming & hospitality, manufacturing, mechanical systems (including plumbing), security and services markets.
We spoke with Dan Ashenden, group publisher of the Mechanical/Plumbing Group at BNP Media, on his organization’s reaction. The Mechanical/Plumbing Group publications include Plumbing & Mechanical, which targets contractors, Supply House Times, which targets wholesale distributors and PM Engineer which targets plumbing/mechanical engineers.
Digital-First Format
“Moving to an all-digital platform was part of BNP’s long-term strategy, said Ashenden. “The unfortunate pandemic we find ourselves in was simply a happenstance and motivation for BNP to say, ‘Why go slow with this plan?’ We’d already done the groundwork—we had been getting all our users registered and had started creating products that were trackable. And, our customers were demanding more digital options.”
On March 31, 2020, BNP co-CEO Taggert Henderson made an official video announcement that beginning with the April 2020 issues, BNP controlled subscription publications were moving to 100 percent digital-first format. (more…)
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 22, 2020 | Social Marketing, Tradesmen Insights
By Andrew Poulsen, Content Engineer, Sonnhalter
With the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic constantly looming, finding silver linings throughout this situation isn’t always easy. But with millions stuck at home with their phones acting as their main source of entertainment and social interaction, influencers and content creators in the trades have been able to use this time as an opportunity to expand their audiences, connect and engage with their online communities and use their platforms to spread messages of positivity and encouragement.
Sarah Listi, who runs Tool Girl’s Garage, is one of Instagram’s leading voices in the woodworking, home improvement and DIY communities. Based out of Texas, Sarah is a full-time tool reviewer, builder and all-around storyteller who has partnered with some of the industry’s biggest brands and built a loyal following of more than 51,000 Instagram followers.
Courtesy of @ToolGirlsGarage
Sonnhalter spoke with Sarah to learn more about how the pandemic has affected her personal and professional life, the content she creates and how the situation has affected her brand partners and the online community at large.
Sonnhalter: How has it been trying to create content in the midst of the pandemic?
Sarah Listi: There is a lot of fear and concern out there, so I try to generate content that is useful and positive. There is that feeling of, and I don’t want to say “obligation,” but you want to put out positive content when things are going on that are difficult to escape. This is a hard time. It’s weighing on everybody. So, I’m trying to stay positive and focus on what the content is meant to do, whether it’s meant to inspire, bring positivity or just be funny or irreverent.
What have been some of the challenges for you and how have you overcome them?
Trying to balance being a parent and being a content creator when there is no division. There is no school to divide up the day. My biggest thing is trying to stay as consistent as I was before, stay positive and focus on the good. There are many amazing things happening in the community, not necessarily just on social media, but so many people are showing up for others.
I try to be honest about how I feel. I’m very lucky to have followers who are very loyal and respectful and engage with what’s going on in my day-to-day life. I try to be transparent and honest because it’s just easier to be honest and be yourself than to pretend something else. I needed to own up to and address that it’s crazy being a mom, a teacher, a housewife and a full-time content creator right now. That’s a lot for anybody.
Have there been any unexpected benefits or positive experiences with your time at home?
While I am in the shop, my kids have been able to come in and help with sanding or to just ask a lot of questions. It’s nice, because before when they were home, I tried to just focus on them 100 percent so now that there’s a mix, I think they appreciate it and I think it’s good for the family dynamic in a way. It’s nice to have that connection. Like, my daughter was following me around with a sketchbook full of designs of things she wanted me to build her, which struck me. It was a cool moment for me because she’s learning that building and creating is so much more than the execution. There’s a planning stage and there’s an artistic aspect to it.
We had a scrap plywood family project I did with them over the weekend with Lowe’s “#BUILDTHANKS” project and they got a kick out of it. That was really fun and it reminded me of when I was younger and got to create something for the first time. There was a little bit of magic in there.
With everyone being stuck at home, did you see an increase in your social media engagement?
A lot of people are seeing engagement in higher numbers, but I’ve seen more increases in profile visits and followers. I was averaging about 850-900 new followers a week for a while, and now it is closer to 1,100. It’s significant, but not, say, a 300% increase or anything.
Courtesy of @ToolGirlsGarage
What has this situation meant for brand partnerships?
A lot of us have heard more from brands trying to get content together, because they can’t utilize those traditional marketing methods right now, like photo shoots, filming, etc. It’s been kind of interesting. I would imagine that [these opportunities] are probably going to keep growing, even after we get back to the norm.
What are some of the trends you’ve seen with fellow content creators and your followers during the pandemic?
One cool thing about social media is that we’re never alone. If I talk about having a rough time or a great day, they want to hear that and give you that feedback and they’re always celebrating those victories with you. For content, I think a lot of people are focusing on getting organized. We all wish we were more organized, especially in our shops, so we are all thinking about how we can make it better for when we are back to the norm. There are a lot of “build at home” initiatives and projects encouraging others to use scrap materials.
Any other ways you’re staying positive during this time?
I am trying to capitalize on family time. We are all home together, so let’s make the home that much better to be in. At the end of the day, when have we had this much time at home with our families? It’s a weird and huge shift. You have to find the good in whatever you can. Hopefully, we never have a situation like this again. It has been devastating to see this much fear, but all you can do is make the best of a bad situation.
To learn more about Sarah’s work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
To read part one of our blog post series, click here: Even During a Pandemic, Influencers in the Trades Build On: Part One
