by Sonnhalter | Mar 29, 2017 | Events/Trade Shows, Tradesmen Insights
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
As any salesman, engineer or manufacturer will tell you: marketing has it rough.
Done laughing? Well, here at Sonnhalter, we added a new twist to our vacation plan. Our team members now get one extra day of vacation, no matter their time with the company.
The catch? You have to take it on a B2T (Business-to-Trade) holiday. What’s that? As you’ve probably noticed from your social media feed, almost every day has some “official” holiday designation. National Left-Hander’s Day (August 13), National Look Up at the Sky Day (April 14), Cookie Cutter Week (December 1-7).
But what you might not know is there are an abundance of days dedicated to the skilled trades, like: (more…)
by Sonnhalter | Mar 21, 2017 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
According to a recent survey from The Content Marketing Institute 89% of B2B Marketers use LinkedIn as a way to distribute content.
But if a potential customer isn’t already following you, all you’re doing by posting it to your company page is having a closed conversation with friends. While that’s good for strengthening relationships, it’s not an effective strategy for growing business, brand or thought leadership in your industry.
So, short of requiring all employees to share everything you post, what’s a marketer to do?
Join Groups.
If you’re not familiar with them, LinkedIn Groups are smaller “communities within the larger LinkedIn community where people and companies can connect by shared interest rather than work or personal connections.”
The advantage here is that instead of waiting for people to find you or your company, you can use your industry, process or other qualities to go out and find them.
How do you find the right group, and what do you do once you’ve found them? A lot of things you’re already doing. (more…)
by Sonnhalter | Mar 1, 2017 | Marketing Tips
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
Use images on your website to de-clutter, increase SEO and tell a better story.
One of the biggest pitfalls in manufacturers’ websites (and trade shows, and product literature and more) is the overriding desire to SAY TOO MUCH.
And it’s easy to see why. Most manufacturing companies are led by Engineering or Sales. Both of these disciplines are highly verbal. You want to talk about how great a new process or product is in order to show the leap you’ve made in innovation. You want to make sure the customer has all the information in order to close the deal.
The problem becomes that marketing, and effective electronic communications, are becoming increasingly visual. Part of it is screen size. More than half of all internet use is by devices other than computers, the vast majority of which have screens smaller than a laptop. And some of it is just the pace and speed at which web browsers now expect information to be presented to them in the instant search era we live in.
So, it’s imperative to get your value proposition across in less time than it will take someone to hit the back button and open the next search result. (more…)
by Sonnhalter | Feb 15, 2017 | Events/Trade Shows, Tradesmen Insights
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
We’re in the thick of trade show season, and that brings up the age-old argument: Are they worth exhibiting at?
The ROI of a trade show can be the trickiest equation to manage. Very few feature direct sales, and how do you prove that a sale six months from now had anything to do with a 10′ by 20′ booth?
The short answer? You can’t. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exhibit, just that you should make the most of your customer’s experience.
I just finished reading a great article from Greg Zehe, from GES. It’s his review of a couple of standout booths at this year’s CES and how they succeeded through “hands-on marketing.” And it reminded me of some of the other key strategies to ensure your booth is a standout: (more…)
by Sonnhalter | Feb 8, 2017 | Events/Trade Shows, Tradesmen Insights
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
Another Super Bowl, er, I mean Big Game is in the books, and like last year, we want to take a look at the ads through the lens of B2T. Are there any lessons? Probably, let’s go to the tape!
You Can Protect Your Brand Too Much
The NFL is notorious for protecting the brand name “Super Bowl.” In fact, I should probably trademark that last sentence, add a disclaimer about how it’s the property of the NFL and let you know that any rebroadcast without the express written consent of the NFL will have lawyers flying at you like DB’s at the QB.
(more…)
