by tradesmeninsights | Oct 27, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
In today’s market, everyone seems to be focusing on social media as the thing to do. Both social and traditional tactics have a place in your marketing plan. Inbound and outbound marketing must work together to get the most bang for your buck today. Social media or email can’t be isolated tactics, but should be used together.
I recently read an article by Kipp Bodnar in Social Media B2B, 7 Awesome Email and B2B Social Media Integrations that I thought hit the nail right on the head. Here are some highlights:
- Use social media links in your emails – pretty simple but you’d be surprised how many folks miss this opportunity.
- Use social media to grow your email list – you have a better chance of getting a lead if you can convince them to sign up, for example, for your monthly newsletter.
- Test email efforts on social – before sending out a communication to your list, test it on social to see what kind of reaction you’ll get.
- Use social media for future email content – follow and listen to what the hot issues are on social and craft future messages around those issues.
- Source leads correctly – use tracking URLs to better understand where your interest is coming from.
Those are some highlights; what are you doing to integrate social into your traditional marketing efforts?
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 20, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
Blogging greatly improves search engine optimization, which has proven to be a key lead generating factor for new business. Following are some highlights from a post from my social media mentor, Michael Gass.
How new business is being acquired for companies is currently undergoing a paradigm shift; instead of pursuing clients, it’s now more important for your prospective clients to find your company.
Blogs make their search easier.
2011 HubSpot ROI Study
In a recent 2011 HubSpot ROI Study, 69% of businesses surveyed said that blogging attributed to their lead generation success. The study also found that 75% of businesses believed SEO was a primary factor. The study shows companies that blog attract 55% more website visitors than non-blogging companies.
Blogs generate far more visitors by:
o Search visibility – blogs are organized to be search engine friendly. Plus the more content you have (well-linked), the more chances there are of attracting search traffic.
o Click-through traffic – through posting interesting articles a blog gives a reason for other people to link to you.
o Repeat traffic – regularly updated content and comments bring visitors back… and back… and back. Most company websites are not conducive to repeat traffic, particularly if your website hasn’t been updated in 5 years.
o Personality – create a blog around your company’s culture and let your personality shine through. People will be attracted to you. People like to associate with people they like. It’s hard to make friends with a business, but easy to warm to an individual with a welcoming personality.
o Viral effects – you create something cool and visitors tell their friends, who tell their friends… and so on.
o Authority/credibility – blogging allows you to become an expert in the minds of your prospective clients.
Company Website | Blog
Your company’s website functions well as an online brochure, a place for your credentials and credibility. A website doesn’t have the potential that a company blog has for significant online traffic and to provide prospects a reason to visit often. A blog can be the gateway to your company. Through content marketing, focused toward a specific target audience, a company’s blog can become a great lead generation tool for new business.
Your company’s website is about YOU, but your blog should be about THEM. Blogging keeps you focused on what is important to your prospective clients. It forces you to speak to their benefit instead of your company’s products and capabilities. Blog content, if developed correctly, will have more appeal to your prospective client audience because it is focused on their marketing needs and challenges.
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 19, 2011 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
To listen to all the “experts” Google+ is the next best thing to come down the pike and will eventually replace Facebook in the B-to-B space. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but since they opened it up to the public a few weeks ago, there are over 50 million users and it’s growing everyday.
I have to believe that if Google is involved then it has a pretty good chance of succeeding. I’ve been on it and have started building my circles, but have yet to fully understand all the ways we can use it.
I recently read an excellent post by Debbie Hemley in Social Media Examiner, 20 Ways to Improve Your Google+ Knowledge that I thought was very helpful. She gives tips on how to get through the basics and highlights ways that you can use it in everyday B-to-B applications from setting up your circle to creating your profile, setting up notifications, plus much more. Here are some highlights that I found interesting:
- Engage and learn – go to Google+ tips on Twitter and see what others are saying and dive in.
- Watch and learn – look at Google+ help and watch videos from people who created it.
- Set up Google Sparks account– that way you can get the latest developments on what’s new.
- Create a cheat sheet – to help you format and utilize hotkeys until you become more familiar.
- Show off your Google profile – by putting it on your blog or website.
- Go mobile – make sure you get the mobile app so you can use it from your phone.
So I’d like to know if you’re on Google+ and if so, what are your thoughts?
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 11, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
If you’re not on LinkedIn you should be, and if you are, when was the last time you updated your page?
Did you set goals when you first went on, but as time has passed you kind of let it slip a little? You and 120 million of your possible friends are on this site. How many are you connected with?
Let’s review some basics and make sure we’re all on track.
- Profile page – Great place to make a good impression. Have you updated your photo or are you using one from 10 years ago? How about your accomplishments? I’m sure if you haven’t touched it for a while, something good must have happened at work that you could highlight. Have any other things changed like you started a Twitter account, a blog or new website? Be sure to include links.
- Key words – SEO is king. When was the last time you looked at key words within your profile? The best place to do this is on the summary section.
- Adding to your network – It was easy when you just started to get a list of contacts linked in. But what about all those grandiose plans of adding so many new contacts each week? I’m sure you haven’t stopped taking phone calls or going to meetings? What ever happened to asking them to link in with you? At least then when you do a posting, you’ll be getting it in front of them. I admit I’m as guilty as everyone else, but I’m back on track now to add at least 3 contacts a week. What’s your goal?
- Status updates – So what good is 500 connections if you never connect? You need to be active and say something. It doesn’t have to be something original. It could be something as simple as a comment and link to a morning news story that might have some impact on your industry. Try to do at least one a day.
- Groups – This is the “holy grail” as far as I’m concerned. Search and join relevant groups. They allow you to join as many as 50. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel…where else can you find a group of like-minded individuals to hold a conversation with? A great place to build relationships and also build your visibility and credibility as an expert in the field.
Those are some of my thoughts on recommitting to using a great networking site. What are you doing to capitalize on LinkedIn?
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 6, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Not all companies should be blogging. How do you determine if you’re one of them? Most manufacturers, unless they are making commodity items, should fit into the “do” column. If you sell through a distribution channel, there should be another check, and if you ultimately want to reach your targeted end user, put a bunch of checks!!!
Blogs are becoming more popular all the time, and according to eMarketer, blogs have increased from 16-39 percent in companies blogging for marketing purposes.
Our blog is the hub of all activity for us generating several times the number of page views than our web site. By utilizing other social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to drive more eyes to our blog by posting links on these sites, it insures that people keep coming back to the blog.
Why should you blog?
- Position yourself as an expert in your field
- Build your brand
- Use SEO to build readership
Why is a stategy is important. The main reason is you don’t want the ready-fire-aim approach to be your guidepost. Consider these points:
- Develop a policy and guidelines – This is new to everyone so someone has to set the ground rules.
- Identify topic categories and resources – Don’t think you have to be responsible for creating all the posts. Get sales customer service, engineering and of course marketing into the mix.
- Define frequency – You can start a blog and then do one post a month. That’s like trying to date and only calling the girl once a month. In order to build relationships, it takes time to get to know, like and trust people. I suggest at least once a week for a post; more if time permits.
- Define the audience – This is key so you can write to the interests and issues (content).
- Choosing the right voice – Remember, social is like having a conversation. Save the features and benefits for the sell sheets.
The key when considering blogging is that IT IS A COMMITMENT. But the upside is you can position your brand very favorably and generate lots of traffic, some of which will turn into relationships and maybe even business.
by tradesmeninsights | Oct 4, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Anyone who does a blog on a regular basis know it’s a huge commitment. I try to do three posts a week and some weeks work (clients) gets in the way. But the show must go on and constistency is something I think every blogger should aspire to. So what do you do? If you’ve read other posts about blogs on this site, you know that I’m a big proponent of doing an editorial calendar and having a list of people who could help out with content.
If you’re a manufacturer, here are some tips on identifying helpers:
- Internal employees – Your editorial calender along with the topic categories you’ve decided to write on will help you identify possible contributors. Engineering, customer service and sales are three that come to mind.
- Suppliers and distributors – These folks certainly understand your product and have a motivation to spread the word. Distributors and suppliers can shed light on various other issues that are closer to and are industry related.
- Customers – They have first-hand knowledge of not only how your product solves their needs, but they can also talk about how important customer service or engineering support is.
- Industry experts – Every industry has several “experts.” Ask them to do a guest post on a pressing industry issue. They can offer their take on it and hopefully start a conversation on your site.
- Magazine editors – Editors from trade publications that cover your world are in the thick of industry issues and most would be happy to share their opinion either in writing a post or being interviewed for a podcast, for instance.
Those are some ideas of who you can tap to help out with content. Who have you been asking for help?
