by tradesmeninsights | Dec 7, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I know it’s hard to believe, but not everyone has bought into the social media scene. Some are just disbelievers (we can’t worry about them), while others are intimidated by it. Well, if you’re one of those people who are apprehensive, or you know someone who is, please pass this post on to them.
I don’t normally do book reviews, but I came across an easy read that will take the stress out of getting started. The name of the book is, “the zen of social media marketing” by Shama Hyder Kabani of the Zen Marketing agency.
She gives you an overview and basic steps to get set up on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. She helps you understand where social media fits into the bigger picture and how to use these together to maximize your efforts. What’s neat about this is there is an online version of the book that has continous updates which are really helpful. So in essence, the book never goes out of date.
If you’re in marketing, whether it be for a small local company or a large international one, this book will make you look like a hero (only in social media). You can get it on Amazon. I read it in one night and it would make a great gift for someone.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 30, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
One of our strategic partners, Ultimate Leads, has come up with an intriguing service to help you identify who’s coming to your site by company. Russ Hill, the company president, explains how it works and has given our readers a free trial.
More than 95% of visitors to B2B websites leave sites without requesting additional information according to recent research. Visitors may click links to “Find a Distributor” or download a document without you knowing who they are. And if they arrived at your site via a “pay-per-click” banner ad, wouldn’t you like to know who they are?
Now you can! LEADADVANTAGE is a program that helps you identify companies that visit your website, their interest (pages viewed), and key contacts at that company and more. Great stuff for the B2B marketer interested in generating new leads and targeting new prospects. Visitors finding their way to B2B websites usually get there because they were seeking out information on particular products or services. (Do business people have the time to visit websites about things like lift trucks, hydraulic fittings, or industrial electronics for fun?)
Who’s Looking at YOU?
Simple reverse IP address look-up technology has been around for a while. Website traffic counts, page views, cost-per-click and return visitor numbers are standard fare in Google Analytics, WebTrends and other sites. These counts are little more than the old method of counting raw “Bingo” card inquiries and trade show booth visitors by previous advertising generations. B2B marketers need more. LEADADVANTAGE pulls detailed company and contact information from sources like LinkedIn and Jigsaw. For B2B marketers, it’s not enough to just know how many are visiting your website, but who!
Identifying and capturing website visitors is an excellent way to develop “soft leads” of prospects and new sales opportunities. It’s also a good way to learn which of your existing customers are visiting your website in search of information. Remember, these are companies that sought you out. Don’t let these opportunities elude capture.
To learn more about how to gain the LEAD ADVANTAGE, call 800-323-0550 for a no obligation 10-Day Free Trial.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 17, 2010 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
If you are, there’s a new association that started in 2009 (good timing isn’t it) that deals with the construction industry and best practices to market to them. It’s called Construction Marketing Association (CMA) and they are out of Chicago. I’ve joined it as I think it’s important for those of us that play in this market can get together with our peers and look at what’s working and what’s not.
The founder, Neil Brown, has been in the construction industry on both the client and agency side for the past 15 years. Neil’s vision is to support marketers with a broad range of resources from monthly webinars, e-newsletters, blog, databanks and a network of professionals you can talk with on a regular basis. Neil is trying to start regional chapters as well, and I’ve agreed to head up NE Ohio.
The CMA is a start-up operation, but I think it has legs. The bottom line is in order for anything to be successful, it needs people to join and interact. Individual memberships are $169/year and there are corporate rates for 5 or more.
Take a look at their site and consider joining. I know there are some great marketing minds out there with a vast amount of experience in this channel. Won’t you share your knowledge?
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 11, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
GlobalSpec is an internationally known portal used by engineers, technical and manufacturing professionals. They recently released a new study: Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010.
Of the 464 respondents, 70% hold management positions in sales or marketing. These companies had marketing budgets from 50,000 to over a million dollars.
Here are some highlights:
• 70% of companies anticipate an increase in sales compared to 2009.
• Marketing budgets are recovering after a down year in 2009, with 31% reporting an increase in their marketing budget this year.
• The top three marketing challenges in 2010 are having too few resources, not enough quality leads and a need to improve marketing ROI.
• Three of the top four sources of leads are online channels, including the company website, e-mail marketing and search engine optimization.
• 68% of companies plan to increase spending on social media in 2010. LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular social media applications currently being used.
• 47% will spend more than one-third of their marketing budget online, and the majority (51%) will invest more in online marketing in 2010 than they did in 2009.
How do you stack up with these trends?
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 10, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
When was the last time you and your IT department willingly collaborated on a project? The truth is, probably never.
The reality is in today’s environment, the customer is taking control of the engagement, and marketing’s challenge is how to get to the customer faster and more efficiently (customer-centric). Customers are turning away from companies who can’t provide the experience, channel of engagement and immediate service they need.
The CMO Council recently did a study sponsored by Accenture called Driving Revenue Through Customer Relevance, that outlines ways CMOs and CIOs can achieve Agile Intelligent Marketing together.
Now marketers may not be known to be the sharpest pencil in the box, but we do have a good sense of what the customer’s needs are (and all needs are not the same), while IT is usually all B/W.
According to the report,”CMOs must take a greater ownership of the customer experience and assume a leadership role in embracing digital marketing practices, data-driven strategies and new marketing process integration platforms across their organizations.” Technology now underpins and shapes the entire customer experience. IT departments need to take strides to be a stategic enabler rather than an operational cog.
The reality is working with or without IT, marketers are doing tactical things with e-mails,website analytics, lead generation, etc. with the ever-increasing pressure of ROI on marketing dollars no matter where they are spent. Beyond the spend, you need to look at what’s really the end game? It’s to get a new customer or make an existing one happy.
The moral of the story is for Marketing and IT to play nice. Remember, your pay checks come from the same account and together you can make a better impact for the company.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 4, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Uncategorized
Social media is about engaging with other people. In order for it to be successful, we need to move that engagement beyond the posts of Facebook or your blog. Yes, it’s understood that there are people behind the words, but unless you just want to be pen pals, you need to nurture them.
Once someone knows, likes and trusts you, you can go from engagement to a relationship. I know it may sound silly, but you’d be surprised how many social media folks would be happy to sit in front of a computer screen all day and engage people on social but are afraid to take it to the next level. A relationship by definition is an emotional or other connection between people.
Here are some suggestions to help you take that relationship to the next level (I sound like a dating coach):
- If someone responds to you and you start going back and forth with them, suggest an offline phone call to discuss in more detail.
- If you belong to a group or association and you plan on going to a trade show or a local meeting, let your audience know your plans, and maybe you could hook up. (People buy from people.)
- Social Sites – instead of using your logo, put up a team photo. On the about us pages, include the names of employees representing your brand. Put up profiles of team members.
- Encourage networking – if you have all this info about employees on your sites, then suggest that they promote the brand on their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
These are some of my ideas. I’d like to hear what you’re doing to make it more “human.”
She gives you an overview and basic steps to get set up on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. She helps you understand where social media fits into the bigger picture and how to use these together to maximize your efforts. What’s neat about this is there is an online version of the book that has continous updates which are really helpful. So in essence, the book never goes out of date.
