by tradesmeninsights | Jul 14, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I’ve been saying for some time now that B-to-B marketers, and especially those in the industrial section, need to start embracing social media. Recently BtoB magazine hosted a Netmarketing breakfast in New York. Among the panel members were: Paul Dunay – Avaya Inc., Robert DeRobertis – GP DSP division of Analog devices, Rick Short – Indium Corp. and Gary Spangler – Dupont Electronic and Communications Technologies. Here are some nuggets from the meeting for you to ponder on:
- Paul Dunay said, “You must bring valuable content that adds to the discussion. We’re using Twitter as a teaser channel, Facebook as a hub of information, Forums as a type of help desk and Blogs as our corporate voice.”
- Robert DeRobertis said, “You have to link your social marketing to financial results, noting that internal transparency helps guide both strategic and budgetary direction.” DeRobertis’ program is driven by an understanding of his customers’ buying process which means staying up on important influencers and offering “test drives” which are special offers to see how their audience reacts.
- Gary Spangler cautioned the audience to go slow and have a plan for social media. “The social train is coming, but you don’t have to get on all the cars at once.”
- Rick Short uses real employees in his outbound programs, making his company more human and approachable. “Turn your company inside out. Customers want transparency, they want the real deal.”
They all agreed that your strategy should include listening, supporting customers, embracing product ideas and energizing the communities that you serve.
See videos of the speakers
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 8, 2009 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
Are you taking advantage of the numerous sites out there that can drive traffic back to you? If your online presence is limited to things like banner ads and blogging, you’re missing out on some great social media marketing opportunities. 
Following is a link to 50 sites you may want to visit. Granted, they may not all be applicable, but I’ll bet you’ll find plenty to keep you busy for a while. Take your social media networking to the next level. Enjoy!
Inside CRM, 50 social sites that everybody needs a presence on.
Nicky Jameson, There’s more to social networking than LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 7, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Everyone is looking for ways to improve their blog so they can increase readership as well as engaging those who read your posts 
on a regular basis. Here are some tips I share with manufacturers who are trying to reach specific audiences like the professional tradesmen.
- Know what you want to accomplish. You need to ask, What objectives/goals are you identifying in order to strengthen your brand? If you have multiple channels, you may need to develop strategies and blogs for more than one.
- Content is king. Make sure once you’ve identified the market and your goals, you’ll need to deliver some useful information, whether it be product or industry issues, or helpful hints on how a tradesman could tackle a project.
- Listen, Listen, Listen. You get the idea. In order to deliver that valuable info in bullet point #2, you need to have a sense of what’s a buzz in your industry. This could come from sources like Google Alerts where you put in key words and follow them on a daily basis or joining groups on LinkedIn. In all cases, listen before you jump in on the conversation.
- Engage your audience by asking questions. Social media, by definition, should be engaging and you really want to have their input, comments and suggestions. It’s amazing. I get some of the best info from readers going back and forth discussing an issue, and I just sit back and LISTEN!
- Be the “go-to” resource for your readers. What that means is, as you do your homework, you share with them appropriate links on the subject at hand so all they have to do is click on the link. You don’t have to be an expert in everything, but you do have to be a good resource.
Darren Rowse has an interesting post, 13 tips for marketing your business with your blog , that you might find helpful. Also, Chris Brogan has a post, 23 essential elements of shareable blogs, that I suggest you read.
What things are you doing that are working that you can share with us?
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 1, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Why should B-to-B companies use Social media? Oliver Young from Forrester Research sums it up, “Marketers who embrace social media will outdistance competition, build community following and boost loyalty.” Is there a better time than now to start making that impression? People are still buying things, and with budgets being tight, decisions 
are often made on relationships. I’m a firm believer that folks have to know, like and trust you before they start buying from you.
Laura Ramos, a marketing analyst for Forrester Research agrees in a recent interview with BtoB Online Marketing. She says today that most B-to-B buzz is around driving awareness, but it will ultimately have a bigger impact on things like customer loyalty and advocacy. With social media, you can give customers a way to engage with other customers and with like-minded individuals that can talk about the best products and services. Seeing a community like this is a much more compelling experience for prospective buyers than a case study or a pre-selected happy customer. Ramos went on to say that for B-to-B companies, social success will be about creating communities. The relationship is important, not the channel.
According to Lee Odden in a recent presentation at the Online Marketing Summit in Minneapolis, “Despite such optimism and benefits, social media is new territory for most companies. The notion of engaging customers in social is a new paradigm and will take a shift in thinking for most organizations to adopt. Companies that properly plan and implement social programs can reap a variety of benefits,” said Odden. These include:
- Building thought leadership
- Improving customer relationships
- Improving recruiting
- Reducing customer service costs
- Improving search engine results
- Increasing media coverage
- Influencing sales
So what’s a company supposed to do to take advantage of these opportunities?
- Identify a niche
- Make a plan
- Get senior management to buy in
- Get started by listening first
- When you do start communicating, make sure you always answer the question, what’s in it for them?
The opportunies are there for B-to-B marketers. Let’s make sure you take advantage of them.
Other posts that might interest you, Improving sales productivity and collaboration with social media – Laggards steps to success, by Nicky Jameson
by tradesmeninsights | Jun 30, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
So, you’ve been reading about all this social media stuff…your friends have been talking about Facebook or Twitter, but you haven’t yet taken the plunge. Come on in, the water is fine. The longer you wait, the farther behind you’re going to be. Social media has made it to the mainstream which means businesses (you) need to get on board.
The best way to learn is by doing it yourself. Don’t worry, you can’t break anything. This whole social thing can be overwhelming, so I’d recommend you start off slow, and as you get comfortable, expand your horizons. If you want to get up to speed quicker, I’d recommend hiring a coach. When we decided to get into the social market, we wanted to be up and running in a short period of time, so we hired a coach that helped us identify our niche for a blog, and helped not only set up the basic accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), but helped us to get our networking going. Your timeline will be dependent on what you want to accomplish. If you are going after the professional tradesman or other industrial-type markets and want to ramp up your activity quickly, we do offer a program to help you do that, and if you want more information, you can click here.
Here’s what we are recommending to our clients who want to get started:
- LinkedIn. Beyond the basic profile info, make sure you link to your web site and eventually your blog (if you decide to do). Start inviting your friends and business associates to join (you might be surprised as to how many are already on). Join groups that are appropriate to your industry and start watching and participating in discussions, surveys, etc. Once you start getting a following, you can start asking for recommendations. Also consider starting your own group. Our agency started our own group, Sonnhalter.
- Facebook. You need to make a choice of either doing a personal or company profile. Once that’s determined, you need to fill out the profile making sure to include your web site and leave room for a link to your blog (again, if you plan on doing one). Facebook also offers pages, which are set up similar to profiles, except people are fans of pages making it a good option for companies, products or brands. You need a profile before you can create a page. On Facebook, you can also add photos (either personal or work-related depending on how you set up your site). Start inviting friends and engage in the conversations.
- Twitter. Sign up and start adding followers. Rule of thumb is if someone follows you, you should reciprocate. The idea is to have more people following you than you are them. Twitter has some useful tools, one of which I’d recommend you start off with is Twilert. This is a tool where you can put in search terms (about your company, its products or your competitor), and they will identify any tweets that have mentioned those terms.
- Google. Through Google, you can set up Google Alerts which again uses search terms and gives you daily updates on the latest web and news pages on the Google web search. They also have a tool called Google Reader which lets you assemble, in one place, all of your reading resources and links from various sources.
(Remember, our target audience is manufacturers who want to sell to the professional tradesmen, but these suggestions apply across the board.)
A link you will find interesting from Nicky Jameson, How to create your own social networking site on a shoe string.
Suggested reading, Monitoring the Social Web, by Larry Weber
Comic courtesy of Automation.com
