by tradesmeninsights | Sep 14, 2016 | Public Relations
By Rachel Kerstetter, PR Architect, Sonnhalter
We’re officially in trade show season, which means planning booths, putting together promotions, connecting with customers and preparing your staff for the show. One often overlooked aspect of trade show participation is the media.
When you exhibit at a trade show, you can trust in the quality and relevancy of the attendees as potential customers. You can also trust that the media that is most important to your ideal customer will be at the show, so make sure you prepare to talk with them as well.
I once supported a company at their biggest industry show. I’d set up meetings with media at the show and spent a lot of time in their booth. During a lull when I didn’t have anything scheduled, I decided to go eat lunch. When I returned, the sales rep in the booth handed me an editor’s card and told me he’d stopped to see you. I asked about the interaction with the editors, what had been shown to him and so on, just to find out that they had given him my card and sent him on his way. Throughout the show, the booth staff was so laser focused on getting leads that every time they encountered the media, they said two words, “See her” and pointed them to me.
It’s important to treat the media personnel at a show as if they are just as important as a customer … if not more. Trade media have a huge audience of hundreds or thousands of the people who you want to reach.
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by tradesmeninsights | Oct 30, 2014 | Public Relations
Rosemarie Ascherl, PR Foreman at Sonnhalter
Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the 2014 PRSA International Conference in Washington D.C. For three days I was exposed to an incredible amount of expertise, knowledge and thought-provoking ideas, that left me motivated and energized when I returned to my office.
While the takeaways were numerous, a couple really stood out.
Every company should have a media crisis strategy. Crises do happen. Having a plan in place can make all the difference in managing the outcome correctly. Of course, you never know exactly what your company’s crisis will be, but establishing a crisis management team, identifying key audiences, creating a media statement template and conducting media spokesperson training are all elements that encourage better preparedness. Contrary to the goals of most public relations professionals, who are seeking media coverage, in a crisis management scenario, success is NO story.
Visuals continue to rule. We live in a visual world, and compelling images that resonate with your audience are imperative to communicating your message. Bigger images are better. Smart phones are getting larger to accommodate larger images, and in response, clothes manufacturers are designing clothing with large pockets. Consumption habits are changing as well—in 2013, the average view went down to 8 seconds from the average view in 2000 of 12 seconds. Images are also becoming very short-lived as evidenced by Snapchat and Slingshot apps. Visual data is driving the industry, and sooner rather than later, as communicators, we will need to optimize for wearable technology such as Google glass.
The media is facing their own set of challenges. As communicators, we need to do everything we can to help the media do their jobs. Deadlines are faster, resources are shriveling and the expectations are to do more with less, and faster. Often media contacts don’t have time to take phone calls; instead, develop a relationship with them on Twitter. Be sincere and learn what their interests are and the types of stories and angles they cover. Provide content that is readily usable, packaged with research and sources, saving time and helping the media contact meet their deadline.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 10, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Public Relations, Social Marketing
There are all kinds of buzz words out there—integrated marketing, 360 degree marketing, etc. They all have the same goal in mind, and that is to take your marketing message and share it across all methods of communication. Place your customer in the center of your efforts and then deliver your information in various ways so they can get it in the format they prefer.
Heidi Cohen had an interesting post recently, 360 Degree Social Media Marketing, where she shared 37 different tactics that you can use.
Here are some highlights that manufacturers should consider:
- Be consistent – Develop content on a regular basis so you can start to build a relationship.
- Selective use of social media – Use the appropriate media to get in front of your prospects. Make sure you use photos and videos in making your points.
- Utilize customer service – they are talking to customers all the time. Create a FAQ segment to share. Give your customers options on ways to contact you other than on social.
- Collect customer feedback and input for research purposes. Hear firsthand their compliments and complaints on your products/services.
- Utilize social in your PR efforts – We all have brand advocates. Work with them to help build your visibility. Start a blog to establish thought leadership.
If you like this subject, you may want to reads:
Are You Getting Your Sales Force Involved in Social Media?
How Does Social Media Impact a B-to-B Purchase?
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 7, 2014 | Public Relations
By Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer
What are you doing October 3rd?
I hope your answer is hosting (or attending) a Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) event.
Not sure what MFG Day is? Here’s the short answer:
MFG Day, started in 2012, addresses common misconceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers the opportunity to open their doors and show, through a coordinated effort, what manufacturing really is and what it isn’t. Manufacturers can address the skilled labor shortage, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.
For the long answer, visit MFGDay.com.
If you’re planning to host an event for MFG Day in October, here are some tips for making it successful:
- Set goals for your event. Do you want to improve your image in the community? Do you need to recruit new talent? Do you want to contribute to changing the image of manufacturing? Figure out what you want to accomplish with your event and then create your plan.
- Identify your target audience(s). Based on the needs of your organization, some potential audiences to invite include local technical school and high school administration, faculty and students; local and regional politicians; local and trade media; family and friends of your employees and/or the local community as a whole.
- Put together a simple agenda. Include time to introduce your company and tailor your event to the audience that you’re inviting.
- Plan informative and interactive activities. Facility tours, brief presentations on different roles and Q&A sessions are easy to arrange and are effective.
- Promote your event. Be sure to list your event with mfgday.com, use your network to promote, and personally invite your target audience and promote your event through your existing channels including on your website and social media.
October 3 might not be a good date for your company. No problem! Pick a day that works for you and invite the people you want to reach to an event or open house and talk to them.
The manufacturing sector still faces a myriad of misconceptions. Initiatives like MFG Day provide a great opportunity to dispel myths and shed some light on what the industry is really like.
Whether or not you have a successful event on October 3 (or another day) depends on your goals.
I had the opportunity to write a story on a highly successful MFG Day event that was planned on very short notice. Check out Production Machining Magazine to see what a successful MFG Day event looked like for Thuro Metal Products.
What are you doing October 3rd? Save the date for MFG Day!
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 24, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Public Relations
By Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer
John and I presented a webinar awhile back, at the request of a client, about blogs. When it comes to blogs, the most frequent question we get is:
Should we start a blog?
It’s important to analyze the goals of your organization’s overall marketing plan to see if a blog fits into it. A company blog, like any other communication initiative, is a commitment. Blogs overall take time and energy to run, but they can provide a great payoff if they’re done well.
Here are 5 key questions to ask when thinking about starting a blog:
- Who is my audience?
- Who else is competing for my audience’s attention?
- What will be the blog’s focus?
- What are the goals for the blog?
- How will these goals be measured?
If you have those answers established and decide that a blog should be a part of your marketing plan, check out the presentation from our webinar below, or watch it on YouTube to get more information on the ins and outs of getting a blog going. And of course, our team is happy to help you get a blog off the ground as well!
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 17, 2014 | Public Relations
By Rosemarie Ascherl, PR Foreman, Sonnhalter
Industry trade shows are much more than just a chance to get out of the office and mingle with prospective customers, answering questions about the newest product launches with aching feet and dry mouths. Industry trade shows are actually terrific opportunities for connecting with industry trade editors who are attending the trade shows to report on the latest and greatest happenings in their markets.
Here are a few ideas to take advantage of the editors’ presence:
1. Schedule editor meetings at your booth. Contact the trade show management a couple of months ahead of time to obtain its list of registered media. Review the list and identify editors who are key to your industry or who are unfamiliar with your products and services, but should be familiar.
Contact the editors to determine if they are interested in meeting with a company representative. Chances are they will be. Editors want to make the best use of their time at trade shows to gather information that they can share with the readers of their publications, e-newsletters and on their websites, to showcase the latest industry trends. Make sure you are prepared to walk the editor through a short presentation and demonstration of your company’s products or services at the booth and then leave them with a thumb drive or a link to follow-up press materials.
2. Press events. Have a worthy product introduction or key company news? Depending on its newsworthiness [see below], a press event, in the form of a media breakfast, media luncheon or media cocktail hour, is an extremely effective method for conveying important company information and building favorable media relationships.
Depending on the trade show’s rules and regulations, the event can be held at your company’s booth before or after show hours, or at a nearby hotel or restaurant venue. A short presentation by company executives, demonstrations, networking, socializing and the all-important leave-behind press materials can make for a very valuable hour and a half event for key media contacts.
3. Press conferences. Reserved for only the most important of company announcements, it is recommended that press conferences be planned judiciously. While we like to believe that our company’s product improvement is extremely important to the industry—in perspective, it may not be perceived as quite that important to busy editors that are shuffling through multiple invitations and parceling out their precious time.
Make sure a press conference is warranted, because an empty press conference room will be a disappointment to not only the team that planned it, but also the company executives.
Are you taking advantage of these trade show opportunities with industry trade media? If you’re not, you should be!
