by tradesmeninsights | Jan 27, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Traditional Marketing
So you want to build a relationship with the professional tradesmen. In order to do that, you need to be in front of them on a consistent basis. What I like about e-newsletters is that they are relatively easy to assemble, easy to deliver and it allows your customers to read it on their time line, and hopefully if they find something of interest, they will pass the newsletter on. Besides, we’re sure he checks his e-mail every day and might miss or misplace a traditional paper one.
Realistically you don’t have the time to visit him several times a month, and truth be known, he doesn’t want to see you that often! So how do you and your brand stay in front of him on a regular basis? A newsletter would be a great vehicle to build credibility and visibility for your brand, not only to your customers, but to potentials as well.
Newsletters today aren’t like what they used to be 10 years ago. I’d suggest you consider an electronic newsletter using one of the many services like Emma and Constant Contact to maintain your lists and your newsletter programs. They have several templates to choose from if you don’t want to design your own. They also can tell you how many were opened and by whom, and if they clicked through and how much time they spent on the site. You also can embed links into your newsletter, and if people are interested in learning more, they can click.
Here are some thoughts on why I think you should consider doing an e-newsletter and what you should do to make sure they are successful:
- Make Them Educational – keep the sales pitch for when you meet them face to face. Give them info that will benefit them. How they might improve their business. What’s happening in the industry or key associations. What trends should they be watching for? Yes, you can put in a small bit of self promo, but I’d suggest to keep it to a minimum.
- Make Them Easy to Read – seems pretty evident but sometimes you can go overboard. Keep the article short and to the point, and if you have appropriate links to other articles, by all means put them in. Keep them entertaining. Remember you want to engage your reader.
- Put Them Out on a Regular Basis – I suggest monthly, but in some cases it could be more often. You want people to look forward to your newsletter. Don’t think you need to have a set amount in each newsletter. Don’t invent things or postpone sending it out if you feel you don’t have “X” amount of things to share.
- Get Both Sales and Marketing Involved in Content – your sales force is in the trenches each day and can give you plenty of issues to talk about. Get them engaged so they can talk it up (they also can help you build your lists).
For those of you who have blogs, you should be putting out monthly an e-newsletter of the top 5 posts from last month. Just another way to touch the folks that follow you regularly. Those are some of my thoughts on newsletters. I’d like to hear about your successes.
If you like this post, please pass it onto a friend.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 25, 2011 | Marketing Tools, Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Sonnhalter is deeply involved with the professional tradesmen. We recently completed a market overview on the construction industry. The purpose of this document is to give the reader a quick snapshot of the industry, its players and trends. Markets covered are residential, commercial (light commercial), highway/heavy, institutional and industrial/manufacturing.
Highlights include interviews with editors of top trade publications. Also included are associations, buying groups, trade shows/meetings, industry trends and media publications.
To sign up to receive a copy of the Construction Market Overview, click here.
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 13, 2011 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Synergy-the combined effect that exceeds their individual effects.
This certainly applies with marketing. But it takes more than just playing lip service to social media by adding a Twitter or Facebook bug to your ads, PR and direct marketing plans.
You need to define a process that works for you. There is no cookie cutter approach that will work for everyone. Granted there are best practices to follow, but it begins with the question of “how do I think” about blending the old with the new. The key is that there is value in integrated thinking.
Tom Martin, founder of Converse Digital, outlines 6 steps in establishing a social media framework:
- What’s the goal? It’s simple but important. Start with what your business goal is.
- Who’s your audience? Go beyond demographics. What do they look like, where would they hang out?
- Where’s the audience? Go beyond the obvious like where are they in their lives?
- How can I connect? What’s the best way? It may not be traditional.
- How do you keep the conversation going? Once you open the dialog, what’s next?
- How can the conversation get going; can I get my audience to introduce me to others? People are afraid to ask people to pass info on. You’d be surprised that people if they know, like and trust you will be your biggest ambassadors.
So when you’re putting together a plan, make sure you think – Integrate!
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 4, 2011 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Professional tradesman, for the most part, do more field work so they have a mobile office. And let’s face it, most manufacturer’s biggest challenge is how do I connect with them? The smartphone is coming more and more into play, so if your company doesn’t have an app, you may be missing an opportunity. According to Nielsen, as of the 3rd quarter of ’10 – 28% of mobile phones are smartphones with 41% of recent acquirers moving in that direction.
So what does that mean? It shows the trend is going strong for smartphones and we’d better be ready to capitalize on this tool. I know what you’re thinking, that most of the users are under the age of 35, and you would be correct. Isn’t that a targeted segment of the tradesman audience that you, as a manufacturer, are trying to come to grips with on how are you going to get your message to them? This would be one way to reach them. As a matter of a fact, the majority of smartphone users are under 45 years of age.
50 percent of Android owners are under the age of 35 – Apple has the most smartphone users under the age of 44.
I’m curious as to how many of you currently have a mobile App or are planning one in the near future?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 21, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Maybe you should!
In the good old days when you wanted to tell a customer about a new product, you had limited delivery methods, among them a personal visit, snail mail or you gave them a call (before there was such a thing as voicemail).
Today, the list of options on disseminating info is almost endless, and the preferred method of delivery to each individual could vary by age, type of job they have, industry they are in or several other options. The point being is when was the last time you asked your customers how they would like to receive information? And better, if you have asked, did you respect their wishes?
It stands to reason, at least in my mind, that if I say I want all new product info via e-mail, and copies of invoices on paper with a copy to accounting and an electronic copy for my files, then you should try to respect their wishes.
If I deliver info the way customers want it, you stand a better chance of them doing something with it and at the same time, you’re making it easy for them to business with you (a novel idea).
That’s why I’m suggesting if you haven’t done a survey to customers, you should. It could be a part of a bigger customer service survey so you can get more valuable info on your clients’ profile. The results may surprise you. E-mail programs like Emma and Constant Contact have survey modules built in. This info should be put into your CRM program so you are able to deliver by their preferred method.
I’m curious how many of you have done customer surveys on a regular basis to collect data like this?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 15, 2010 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Aylie Fifer, Relationship Architect here at Sonnhalter, has put together some information on Augmented Reality.
Augmented reality is a new technology that is starting to take flight in many different ways. Think of a flight simulator – the pilot goes into a “cockpit” and can use the actual controls of an airplane, but the visual is a non-real place – a video or computer generated environment to simulate the environment of a real world situation. In essence, this is very much like Augmented Reality.
Augmented reality:
- combines real and virtual data – meaning it uses real time video and integrates with computer generated data to create an “Augmented Reality” experience
- is interactive in real time
- is registered in 3D
Sometimes QR codes are used to launch an Augmented Reality site or game. The QR code just redirects to the URL or information coded in the 2D QR code and the Augmented Reality site utilizes information that the phone/computer is receiving (either by camera, video, or GPS) to incorporate a virtual reality with the real reality and allowing you to interact in real time. Essentially, it layers a “virtual world” into your actual reality world.
Examples:
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/top-10-augmented-reality-examples/top-10-augmented-reality-examples/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/14/augmented-reality
In the National Geographic article, you will see that the Air Force is using Augmented Reality as a means to train mechanics. Augmented reality is already being used with video games as well. It is a matter of time before this technology enters into other areas of our life. What I am excited to see is how marketers will use this new media to promote their products.
Photo courtesy of National Geographic.
So you want to build a relationship with the professional tradesmen. In order to do that, you need to be in front of them on a consistent basis. What I like about e-newsletters is that they are relatively easy to assemble, easy to deliver and it allows your customers to read it on their time line, and hopefully if they find something of interest, they will pass the newsletter on. Besides, we’re sure he checks his e-mail every day and might miss or misplace a traditional paper one.
