by tradesmeninsights | Feb 5, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Although sales and marketing are getting better at working together, there is always room for improvement. Together they can make sure they deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.
But in order to accomplish this, they need to work together. Here are some tips to help maximize the results of the collaborative efforts:
- Know your audience – different people buy for different reasons. By sales and marketing working together, they can define the different personas and identify the prospects’ perspectives and content needs.
- Have a sales retention plan – We’re all so focused on getting a lead and making a sale that once that’s completed, we forget about them until the next sale. Now that they are a customer, it’s easier to help them. Start a nurturing program and engage them, and with appropriate content, that will help with the next sale.
- Have a plan – By working together with sales, set objectives to get the right content into the hands of your customers. Realize the one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to work.
By working together, sales and marketing can determine the right content, whether it’s for leads, brand awareness or thought leadership.
by tradesmeninsights | Feb 4, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Everyone is so focused on how to tell a story or where it needs to be instead of backing up and asking some real important questions. So, let’s slow down a bit and get back to some basics. Let’s focus on:
- Why – The first question you should ask yourself is why are you doing what you’re doing? Hopefully you have a written plan with strategy and tactics that are woven into your overall marketing plan.
- Who – What are your targeted audiences by industry or product line?
- What – What do we want to communicate to these targeted audiences?
- How – Based on your audiences, how are you going to tell your story? What tactics will you use?
- Where – Where’s the best place to reach that targeted audience – offline, online or both?
You can’t put the cart before the horse.
Sometimes we need to go back to basics.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 29, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
All too often we focus so much on getting new customers that we forget about who’s supporting us now! I believe the rule of thumb is it takes 5 times as much effort to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.
Customer satisfaction is the main force in developing loyal customers. Why are Loyal Customers so important?
- Repeat business.
- More open to try new products from a reliable source (you).
- They become Brand Ambassadors.
There are several things you can do. A loyalty program, special incentives on certain products and giving them the first chance on buying a new product line before it hits the street are just a few examples. How about a simple thanks via an email or postcard. When was the last time one of your vendors thanked you for your business? Probably not many, and if they did, you’re sure to remember them.
Have you ever calculated what a customer’s worth is over time? Say you have a 30-year old contractor that usually buys $5,000 worth of your stuff a year. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you keep him happy, you probably will have him for 30 years before he retires. So assuming he doesn’t grow his business or you don’t come out with anything new for him to buy over the next 30 years, he would have spent $150,000 with you. Is he worth keeping? I’d say so. So what are you doing to keep him happy? Unless you’re selling a proprietary product, your competition is knocking on his door every chance they get. Give your customer a reason to stay.
I know many of you who follow me don’t buy shoes online, but I’d bet that if you asked your wife if she’s heard of Zappos, she’d say yes. I picked them as an example and even wrote a post on their book, Does Customer Service Deliver Happiness, where they show that by even selling name branded shoes online, they could, in many cases, outsell the brand itself in the online arena. The way they did it was with customer service.
So here are some points for you to consider when evaluating your Customer Service department:
- Try to keep the personal touch (human being) as the initial touch point if you can.
- Empower your CS people to solve a problem immediately without having to go through 3 levels of supervisors.
- Reward customers with a loyalty program as a way of saying thanks.
- Customer surveys are a great way to get feedback, not only on how you’re doing, but for getting ideas for future products.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 21, 2014 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Content marketing is becoming more of a focus with all of us, and for it to be effective like any other tool, you need to have a plan and strategy.
Content can be developed in many forms and this can be an overwhelming task, all the more reason to have a plan.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, 2014 Content Marketing Predictions that I thought was interesting and wanted to share some of the highlights of her 7 points:
- Content Marketing should be part of an integrated program – content needs to be created in different formats as people take in information in various ways and we need to make sure we’re touching them several times.
- Content Marketing expands to all corporate communications – it’s no longer limited to marketing.
- Managing Content Marketing assets – track and maintain assets identifying those that need updating and those that need to be created.
- Track Results to sales – start by nudging readers to some call-to-action to start an engagement and then follow it through to a sale.
What kinds of actions are you taking in 2014 to improve your content marketing?
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 14, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
From a B-to-B perspective, LinkedIn is one of the better networking tools. I like it because it’s strictly for business. You can also join groups that focus on various industries or topics. As you build your network, it’s important to know the do’s and don’ts.
I recently read an article by Melonie Dodaro in Social Media Examiner, 6 Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Connections, that give you some practical tips on growing your connections. Here are some highlights:
- Profile image – make sure you have a good, professional shot. Remember this is their first impression of you and you only get one chance.
- Keyword optimization – keep it to 3-4 top words you want to be associated with. Don’t stuff your keywords or people will pass you by.
- Personalize your connection request – let them know how you got their name. Whether it was from a common business associate, a group you both belong to, or maybe they do a blog that you follow.
- Ask for endorsements – From people you know, don’t be afraid to ask. If they know, like and trust you, they would be happy to do you a favor. You should also reciprocate and endorse skills of folks you know.
- Treat recommendations like references – you want to be sure those who are recommending you have a good reputation. Rule of thumb, never accept a recommendation from someone you don’t know.
Hopefully these tips will help you grow within LinkedIn.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 8, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I think most marketers realize that social isn’t going away and they need to plan to incorporate it into their overall marketing strategy. Marketers also know that adding social means more work for their existing staffs.
One of the biggest issues is push back from others within the organization. While marketing may be in charge of social media, it doesn’t mean they have to carry the entire load. I recently read an article by Stephanie Shkolnik in Social Media Examiner that outlines suggestions on why to get employees involved. Here are some highlights:
- Define the end goal – like any other initiative, we need to define objectives on what we’re trying to accomplish and how we are going to measure its success.
- Create a task force – whether you’re a one-man band marketing department or have a big staff, you need to get others involved and they can and should come from other departments. Tap into sales, customer service, engineering, R&D and general management to be part of the process.
- Develop a strategy – that will involve the whole company.
- Be consistent – hold regular meetings with the team and track your progress.
If you get others involved and explain what the goal is, it will become easier to get others on board and share the responsibility.
