There’s a ton of money to be made in the s!@t business…at least that’s what I reminded every year I attend the WWETT Show.
This show does a great job on their education sessions…and this year was no different, with over 100 sessions running over the four days. And I loved their “Button Wall” which was just outside the main entrance of the exhibit hall…the “straight outta toilet paper” and “septic” (which was orange, so obviously had to grab) were the two buttons I picked up.
The exhibit hall was packed (I believe there’s still a waiting list for companies that wish to exhibit at the show). Pipe re-lining and repair was a “hot topic” for this year’s show. It’s been at past shows, but I feel this year it was much more prevalent across the entire show.
One thing I took advantage of this year, which I hadn’t in the past, were the facility tours on the last day of the show. I signed up for the Belmont Wastewater Treatment Plant, Indianapolis’ largest wastewater treatment plant. And this was the first time I had toured a wastewater plant.
It was fascinating and the highlight of the show for me…here are just a couple of nuggets of wisdom I learned on the tour:
-they have a max daily capacity of running 330 million of gallons through the system (normally daily amount is 120M gallons)
-it only takes 12 hours for the untreated water to go through the entire system and when it is released into the water it’s actually cleaner than the actual water running in the river
-to help deal with surges and overflows from strong storms, they are currently building (scheduled for completion the end of 2025) the DigIndy Tunnel System that’s a 28-miles-long network of 18-foot diameter deep rock tunnels, 250 feet beneath the city, with a main trunk and five fingers which has a 250 million gallon capacity
-I think the gigantic ten screw pumps were my favorite part, followed by the UV light treatment
Typically this shows runs Monday-Thursday and tends to be in the mid/end of February, but the show organizers are shaking things up for 2023, which will now be happening at the end of January (January 24-27) and running Wednesday-Saturday. This 2023 show will also run up against AHR Expo in Chicago and coincide with the World of Concrete Show out in Vegas, so it will be interesting to see how this affects attendance.
In 2023, companies are taking the time and effort to access their opportunities and think about long-term impact, and short-term actions. This is inspiring marketers to be more strategic on platforms while working with the ever-changing algorithms.
Hootsuite released their 2023 Social Trends report and in this blog, we will discuss the future of social media marketing.
Influencers
“With the recession, with COVID, and just being more financially pinched… marketing dollars always get cut. When we’re strapped for resources, creators become a very appealing tool for marketers,” said Leah Gritton, director of integration strategy, Energy BBDO.
When working with influencers it’s important to do your research as you can discover a variety of influencers across different platforms. Understanding relevant influencers and their audience will help identify potential influencers to work with. Don’t be shy to work with influencers who have fewer followers as it’s essential to find a creator that can make content applicable to your product or service.
Return on Investment
Last year, 83% of marketers in Hootsuite’s social media trends survey reported having some level of confidence in the return on investment (ROI) of social media, up from 68% the year before. This year, they asked how confident marketers were that social media was useful for marketing to or engaging with their audience. A whopping 96% of marketers reported some level of confidence on how useful social media is.
All social media metrics can tell you something about whether you’re achieving objectives and meeting your goals. But tracking the right metrics is the key to understanding your social ROI. Run monthly, quarterly and yearly reports to understand how social is performing and what can be done differently.
As leaderships evaluate budgets and have deeper conversations about goals, make sure everyone is on the same page. Social media is a valuable channel for your audience and efforts should be maximized.
Social Media Platforms
More than 84% of TikTok users are also on Facebook and almost 88% of Twitter users are also on Instagram. People don’t only get different types of value from different networks, they explicitly use different social networks for different purposes.
As social media platforms introduce new features, make sure to reflect on your business goals. Focus on creating content that is well suited to the platform and your company, instead of trying to keep up with every new feature.
Some recommendations we have are conducting a social media audit to evaluate what audiences are on what platforms and how does your social media presence compare to your competitors. We also recommend making your content fit each platform. Having your social content reflect the platform it’s getting posted on allows you to more easily target your audience and build a stronger strategy.
Building a brand and connecting with your audience can be difficult, but developing goals, taking a deeper dive into your social strategy and creating an online presence, makes it easier! We hope with the look inside the top social media trends of 2023 that this helps to give you insight and ideas of what you should be striving for.
Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
Sure, some people are lucky enough to work with a product or service that they consume or want to consume, but most of us spend our days working on products or services where we are not part of the target audience. And, that’s okay. You don’t have to be the target audience to be able to market to them. However, you do have to recognize who they are and keep them top of mind when making marketing and product decisions.
It seems so obvious, but it’s not. For example, a team member may know that their target audience is a 45-64-year-old woman, yet they choose to put a 20-something model in their print ad. Sure, she looks good, but that isn’t the right choice to resonate with the target audience, and in fact, may actually turn off that audience. That is a simple example, but you get the idea. If those marketers were thinking about their target audience, the young model wouldn’t have been a consideration.
Getting into the minds of your audience may take some time and extra thought, but it’s worth it. You need to know them and also know what they say about your brand or product. If your audience says a product is practical, it’s practical. It doesn’t matter that you want it to be chic.
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WAYS TO GET TO KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.
See them in action. I spent a large portion of my career in marketing research, so I’ve had the pleasure of watching consumers interact with a variety of products from greeting cards to bank teller lines to welding equipment. There is no replacement for seeing them in action. Get out of your office. Trust me, you will learn something every single time. You can watch them and just observe, or better yet, ask them some questions. Why did you choose that? How did you decide to pick that up first? Was this something on your list or an impulse purchase today? Then listen to what they say and ask follow-up questions. People are more than willing to share their experiences. One thing to remember is that you’re only talking to a small number of folks. Yes, it’s helpful, but don’t make decisions based on what we like to say is “a focus group of one.” Combine this with other learnings.
Conduct primary research with them. There are many methodologies out there from quantitative to qualitative. Match the method to the objective. You’ll want quantitative (e.g., survey) if you want to measure something. An example here is finding the preferred marketing message. To choose a winner, a large sample size is needed which means quantitative. Qualitative (e.g., focus group) is used when you want to explore something. The example here is understanding what the target audience likes and dislikes about a selection of marketing messages.
Dig into secondary research. There is data available on many target audiences – especially if your audience is a common one (e.g., Moms 25 – 54). Understand that this information won’t be specific to your brand or product, but you can still learn a lot about various audiences this way. Try to look at secondary research first, because it can help inform what you want to know from your specific audience.
Knowing your audience is a key step in presenting your brand or product in a way that resonates with them. Take that step – it’s worth it.
March 11th is set aside each year to spread awareness of the importance of plumbing and plumbers. At Sonnhalter, we have a great appreciation for plumbers and the work that they do. Today, Sonnhalter’s PR Technician, Kylie Stanley will be sharing with you some information about the holiday and plumbing.
Often plumbers don’t receive the credit and fame that they deserve even though plumbing is part of our everyday lives.
The reality is that without plumbers, our world would be far from sanitary or pleasant. As part of our team’s commitment to getting our hands dirty in our clients’ work, we’ve had the opportunity to see plumbers at work, we’ve used their tools and we’ve heard their stories; we know that they deserve to be honored today.
Plumbers do much more than unclog drains and fix leaky faucets – it’s plumbers who install the miles of piping that make hot, cold and process water and gas utilities possible.
Did you Know That Plumbing Improves the World…
Over 1 billion of people gained access to piped water supplies between 2000 and 2015
The global population of people who used safely managed sanitation services increased from 28% in 2000 to 39% in 2015
A 4-minute shower can now use as little as 24 liters of water
The dual system toilet flush, created in a small town in Australia in 1980, now uses as little as 4.5 liters of water
Today we salute the ones who keep everything flowing, and not overflowing. Thank you to the dedicated plumbers who answer the call and don’t recount the tales of what they’ve pulled out of pipes.
Next up was AHR in Atlanta. Now I got a whopping 12 hours at home after Vegas to do some laundry, repack and sleep before heading back to the airport! Anyhow no rest for the weary, as we had 30+ editor/influencer appointments over the course of the show for our clients Franklin Electric & NIBCO. So needless to say it was a jam-packed show!
And the busy schedule didn’t stop at the end of each show day…I had plenty of client dinners every night (we ate very well as you could see by the snippets in the video recap) and customer appreciation parties…highlighted by Franklin Electric’s party at the SkyLounge on top of The Glenn Hotel (spectacular views of downtown and the sunset).
I was also amazed at this show as far as the social media presence and the sheer number of influencers…from the AHR Podcast Pavilion and social media sessions, to the swarms of influencers walking the aisles. The podcast pavilion has grown exponentially in just three years. And the influencers far outnumbered the traditional trade media editors!
