by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 26, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain, Video Marketing
The popularity of video marketing is on the rise, and savvy supply chain marketers are using this medium to tell their brand’s story, broaden their audience, and generate leads.
Highlights:
- Use video to tell your brand’s story, broaden your audience, and generate leads.
- As marketing expands in a more visual direction, marketers should adjust their strategies to favor content that lends itself to this kind of storytelling.
- Consider accompanying data-heavy blog posts with explanatory animated videos, conducting and sharing video interviews with industry executives, or turning a case-study into an animated video presentation.
Video transcript:
I’m Frank Cavallaro, CEO and founder of Fronetics, and today I’m going to be talking about video marketing and the supply chain.
Video is the most popular content being consumed online today. And it shows no sign of letting up. Video let’s savvy marketers tell their brand’s story, broaden their audience, and generate more leads. Video allows the marketer to consistently deliver content that is visually stimulating and valuable.
Consider pairing data-heavy blog posts with some sort of video, whether its animated or a subject matter interview. Using animated video for case studies makes them easier to understand for the user. And because they’re entertaining and engaging, there’s a huge ROI that comes along with them.
When using video remember what you need is quality, high engaging, well researched content. For more information, visit us at fronetics.com.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 21, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Supply Chain
When it comes to growing your material handling business, digital marketing can set your company apart, capture quality leads, and keep your sales pipeline full.
Highlights:
- Material handling is extremely competitive and faces challenges like rising interest rates, trade policies that are increasingly inhospitable, and a scarcity of skilled labor, among others.
- Blog posts, e-books, tip sheets, guides, case studies, videos, and other forms of content go a long way toward attracting prospects to your digital assets.
- Arming your sales rep with targeted content to share with prospects during specific moments of the purchasing process advances their reputation as a knowledge source.
Last year, the MAPI Foundation predicted an average of 2.8% growth in manufacturing over the next three years, as well as an increase in capital equipment expenditure by over twice that. For makers of material handling equipment like conveyers, lift-trucks, and handling structures, MAPI’s forecast is good news.
As with all aspects of the supply chain industry, material handling is extremely competitive and faces challenges like rising interest rates, trade policies that are increasingly inhospitable, and a scarcity of skilled labor, among others.
For your business to participate in the forecasted global growth, your best bet is a sales funnel that’s consistently filled with quality prospects. But how do you make that happen?
Here’s where content marketing can help.
Digital marketing keeps you visible to your highest quality prospects
In the fiercely competitive material handling landscape, in which potential customers have a wide array of options, marketers face the challenge of visibility within the industry. Setting your business apart from your competition is obviously crucial to cultivating and captivating leads.
Perhaps your best strategy for achieving this kind of visibility is content. Blog posts, e-books, tip sheets, guides, case studies, videos — all these forms of content go a long way toward attracting prospects to your digital assets, building trust, growing your reputation, and, ultimately, converting leads.
Generating leads with content
A content-rich site has great advantages in terms of SEO (for more on this, check out our four-part series on writing for SEO), which is key to visibility. Creating quality content and structuring your site effectively will help capture leads. As developing and sharing content attracts prospects to your site, effective calls-to-action (CTAs) drive prospects to share their contact information in exchange for information that has value for them.
Keep in mind when planning and creating your content that your goal is not to push your products — a mistake many material handling marketers make. Instead, use your content to demonstrate to prospects that you have a deep understanding of their business and the unique needs and challenges they face. Offer useful information for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Remember, the most valuable asset you have to offer is your knowledge and expertise.
Align content with sales
Keeping your sales pipeline full is your goal when it comes to competing in the material handling marketplace. Arming your sales rep with targeted content to share with prospects during specific moments of the purchasing process advances their reputation as a knowledge source. That can be the key to getting a foot in the door, advancing through the final stages of a purchasers’ decision, or closing the deal.
When digital marketing and sales work together, you’ll see the results hit your bottom line. Curating and creating great content will generate quality leads for your company. And it also empowers your sales force to build relationships with potential customers — and close the sale.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 20, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
Many B2B organizations are using Instagram to grow business. Here are a dozen Instagram tips to help you use the platform effectively.
Highlights:
- Instagram has become the second most used social media platform, up from fourth in 2017.
- Audiences love real-time content, like Instagram Stories. It lets them feel a genuine, human connection — the creation of which sometimes poses a challenge for B2B marketers.
- An effective Instagram presence has the potential to grow brand awareness, improve your reputation, and generate qualified leads.
Recent research on social media use shows that 66% of brands now use Instagram. As of 2018, it was second-most used platform by businesses, up from fourth in 2017. If you’re considering using this social media network for your business, which you should be, our 12 Instagram tips can help you get started.
12 Instagram Tips for Supply Chain Companies
(Made with Canva)
1. Be authentic
Many supply chain companies often fall into the trap of using stock photography or overly staged promotional pictures of products. The ethos of Instagram is all about authenticity and personality. Let your audience get an up-close-and-personal glimpse into your company’s culture with real photos of the people, places, and things that make your business run every day.
2. Optimize your account
Before we get to anything fancy, take a step back and make sure your Instagram account is fully optimized. This means you need:
- a bio with a link to marketing or product pages related to a specific keyword or hashtag;
- image captions, which can reference the link in your bio;
- a search-friendly username; and
- a compelling profile image that reflects your company.
3. Go live
Live video is the “it” trend in social media marketing, with 63% of marketers reporting that they plan on adding it to their overall strategy. Audiences love real-time content, and it lets them feel a genuine, human connection — the creation of which sometimes poses a challenge for B2B marketers.
4. Put your Stories in Highlights
In addition to its Stories feature, Instagram now lets users create a featured group of “Highlights” in various categories on their profiles. Stories have only a 24-hour lifespan, so featuring your most effective Stories clips in Highlights gives them a second life and a chance to engage future followers. One of the best features of Stories and Highlights is that it allows companies to view and analyze how users have viewed and interacted with their content.
5. Keep up the pace
Instagram is one of the easiest social media platforms to post on. That means you can quickly snap photos wherever you are — say, at a conference or event, or even on your way into the office — and publish it instantly. This is great for reaching the coveted millennial audience, which seems to have an unquenchable thirst for consuming content, particularly images and graphics.
6. Keep your content consistent
Posting on a consistent timetable is crucial to maintaining an active following. Posting irregularly means you risk your followers forgetting about you, and posting all at once can annoy and drive followers away. Ideally, companies should post 2-3 times a day, but you’ll need to test how many times a day is most effective for your particular business in engaging your specific audience. For more, check out our guide to when to post on social media.
7. Try a takeover
Taking over the Instagram account of a partner company or customer is a great way to draw attention from an existing and relevant audience, providing mutual benefits to both parties.
8. Invest in sponsored posts and product reviews
Optimizing your account and following Instagram best practices will go a long way toward earning authentic followers that could become future leads and/or customers. But to really boost your impact, it pays to take advantage of influencer marketing on Instagram. Create a list of large accounts in your vertical (think industry media sites and partners), follow them, and reach out to their marketing team to ask about sponsored-post pricing. Be on the lookout for influencers with a high engagement rate relative to number of followers.
[bctt tweet=”Optimizing your account and following Instagram best practices will go a long way toward earning authentic followers that could become future leads and/or customers.” username=”Fronetics”]
9. Use the right hashtags
One of the most effective ways to grow your Instagram following is to use hashtags effectively. Since Instagram gives users the ability to follow hashtags that interest them, and they function as links to other relevant content, choosing the right hashtags is the ideal way to reach and engage your target audience.
Keep an eye on accounts of peer brands to stay up to date with the best hashtags to use. The most effective hashtags are short, memorable, and easy to read. You can also use an online tool like InconoSquare or Websta to find relevant hashtags for your business.
10. Use the right filters
Sure, filters are great for turning boring or poorly lit photos into more engaging images. But, it turns out that which filter you choose really does have an impact on engagement. These lighting and color presets offered by Instagram have the potential to create mood and style in your image content. According to Iconosquare, these 10 filters are currently the most popular on Instagram:
- Normal (No Filter)
- Clarendon
- Juno
- Lark
- Ludwig
- Gingham
- Valencia
- X-Pro II
- Lo-fi
- Amaro
11. Be a storyteller
Instagram is all about visual storytelling. Your posts should do more than promote your products — they should be drawing in your audience with narrative told through a visual format. Instagram Stories are an ideal way to engage your audience!
12. Get personal
Go in deep and personal with your customers by answering their questions via 10-second videos. You let your viewers feel like they’re being heard. Plus, short videos are ideal for reposting.
The Bottom Line
Instagram is an extremely effective tool for B2B businesses. These Instagram tips for using the platform will help you create and nurture a loyal, engaged audience base. In turn, an effective Instagram presence has the potential to grow brand awareness, improve your reputation, and generate qualified leads.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 14, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
Instagram for business is a rising trend. Here are some top tips to get your business using Instagram as a part of your digital marketing strategy.
Highlights:
- Instagram is all about authenticity and personality. Let your audience get an up close and personal glimpse into your company’s culture.
- Audiences love real-time content and it lets them feel a genuine, human connection.
- Posts should do more than promote your brand and Instagram Stories are an ideal way to engage your audience!
Video transcript:
I’m Katie Russell, and I’m a marketing strategist here at Fronetics. Today I’m going to talk to you about Instagram for business. Instagram has been growing in popularity, and if you’ve been thinking about using Instagram for your business, here are some tips to get you started.
Be authentic
Instagram is all about authenticity and personality. Give your viewers an inside glimpse into your company’s culture. An easy example would be to create little videos answering your audiences questions. It shows that your viewers are being heard and as well as an opportunity to engage with new audiences.
Keep up the pace
Instagram is one of the easiest platforms to post to, so don’t be afraid to take pictures at meetings, conferences, or events, anywhere that you are. The pictures don’t have to be perfect, just remember that the more you post the greater opportunity you have to reach new audiences.
Go live
Live video is the “it” trend in social media marketing right now. Audiences love real-time content, and it gives them feel a genuine, human connection that can sometimes be a struggle for B2B marketers.
Be a storyteller
Instagram is all about visual storytelling, so your newsfeed should be more than just promoting your brand. It should give viewers and audiences a look at what makes your brand different. Don’t be afraid to be quirky or think outside the box to show audiences what makes your brand unique.
Out of ideas? Just ask!
Creating content and coming up with new ideas can be a huge challenge for marketers. Don’t be afraid to survey your audiences and ask them what they’d be interested in seeing. You might just get some great ideas you never would have considered.
For more tips on how to get started for Instagram for your business, visit us at Fronetics.com.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 6, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain, Talent
Increasingly, women are pursuing careers in the supply chain. But they continue to face a salary gap — and the higher they climb, the wider it gets.
Highlights:
- Men in the supply chain industry earned an average of 29% more than women in 2017.
- Women perform at the same levels as men with the same job titles and expectations but may not be given the same opportunities to advance their careers.
It’s no secret that the supply chain and logistics sector is largely male-dominated. Over the past decade, women have increasingly pursued supply chain careers and assumed leadership roles. But according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, women in the industry continue to face a pay gap, and that pay gap widens as they rise through the ranks.
According to a recent study by the Institute for Supply Management, which surveyed 3,000 supply chain professionals, men in the industry earned an average of 29% more than women in 2017. Interestingly, in higher level positions, where there are still relatively few women, the pay gap was even wider — and it was wider still between workers with the highest levels of experience. Among those who had been in the supply chain for 15 to 19 years, the study found that men earned 48% more than women with identical experience levels.
Progress?
In her article, Wall Street Journal supply chain and logistics reporter Jennifer Smith points out that there has been some progress. “The gap has narrowed slightly since 2016,” she writes, “when the disparity in salaries was 31 percentage points.” But she goes on to detail the ways in which the industry lags behind when it comes to pay equity.
Smith quotes Cory Ann Holst, senior director of data and performance management for the global business services division of snack-food giant Mondelez International Inc. “Women haven’t made near the progress that the industry wants us to think we have,” says Holst. “We all know there is a glass ceiling.”
Echoing this sobering reality-check, a compensation survey by supply chain organization APICS found an overall pay disparity, albeit smaller, with women earning an average of 16% less than their male counterparts. Abe Eshkenazi, chief executive of APICS, told Smith that “women perform at the same levels as men with the same job titles and expectations but may not be given the same opportunities to advance their careers.”
Why the gap?
While the pay disparity in the supply chain is generally in-line with that of the broader U.S. labor force, it’s still striking. So, what causes the pay gap to persist? And why does it go from a gap to a gulf at higher-level positions and greater experience levels? “Experts say a range of factors play into the gender pay gap,” writes Smith, “including discrimination and different career choices. White-collar jobs often reward people who work long hours or change positions frequently, for instance, steps some women with families may be less likely to take.”
Smith points to the career trajectory of Sana Raheem, now head of operations at the Farmer’s Dog, a subscription-based healthy pet food company in New York City. Raheem worked her way up in logistics at Kraft Heinz Co and was a senior manager of logistics and supply chain at Mondelez International. It wasn’t an easy road. “Getting there meant taking jobs in remote manufacturing facilities with a mostly-male labor force and few female role models,” writes Smith.
“I had many moments early in my career where I was told to slow down, be less aggressive, and pay my dues,” said Raheem. “I saw a lot of women around me accept similar feedback and spend years making less than their male counterparts.”
According to Robert Handfield, professor of supply chain management and executive director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management, “the industry is increasingly well suited for women. It involves identifying opportunities, thinking strategically, and working collaboratively.”
By every measure, the supply chain needs more women at all levels. It’s time to compensate them fairly.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Feb 20, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
These 6 robotics blogs are our favorite reads for gathering information, analyzing issues, and staying current in an industry that is rapidly changing.
Highlights:
- Follow these 6 blogs for the latest on the robotics industry
- Featuring a variety of expert perspectives analyzing issues and trends
- Get everything from the big headlines to niche opinion pieces
It’s not easy keeping pace with the latest developments in robotics, an industry where changes are happening swiftly and often. Not only that, sorting through masses of media sites and conversations to find informed, up-to-date coverage of these changes can be utterly overwhelming.
Why Following Robotics Blogs Matters
The robotics field is experiencing unprecedented growth and innovation. From collaborative robots revolutionizing manufacturing to AI-driven autonomous systems reshaping transportation, the pace of change is staggering. These carefully selected blogs offer a curated lens into this dynamic landscape, helping you:
- Navigate complex technical developments
- Understand market trends and investment opportunities
- Gain insights from leading thinkers and practitioners
Luckily, there are places where you can find the kind of information and analysis you need. These 6 robotics blogs are on our reading list — and we think they should be on yours, too. Here, you’ll find blogs that focus completely on covering news, trends, and issues within the robotics industry.
Top 6 robotics blogs for industry news, trends, and insights
1. Robohub
What you’ll find:
- Global community perspective
- Frequent, in-depth content
- Covers research, startups, business, and education
Robohub remains a cornerstone of robotics news and analysis. Its diverse contributor base ensures a well-rounded view of the industry.
2. IEEE Spectrum Robotics
What you’ll find:
- Technical depth from a trusted engineering authority
- Cutting-edge research and breakthroughs
- Explores ethical and societal implications
IEEE Spectrum’s robotics channel offers unparalleled insight into the technical frontiers of the field.
3. TechCrunch Robotics
What you’ll find:
- Startup and investment focus
- Breaking news on product launches and funding rounds
- Interviews with industry leaders
For those interested in the business side of robotics, TechCrunch’s dedicated robotics section is invaluable.
4. The Robotics Report
What you’ll find:
- Comprehensive industry coverage
- Market analysis and investment trends
- Curated by robotics expert Frank Tobe
The Robot Report continues to be a go-to source for business-focused robotics news and analysis.
5. Robotics Business Review
What you’ll find:
- In-depth industry analysis
- Focus on robotics applications across sectors
- Paid membership for full access
While some content remains behind a paywall, RBR offers high-quality insights for serious industry professionals.
6. MIT Technology Review: Robotics
What you’ll find:
- Academic perspective on breakthrough technologies
- Long-form articles exploring future implications
- Balances technical and accessibility
MIT’s renowned publication offers a forward-looking view of robotics and its impact on society.
Staying Informed in a Fast-Paced Field
Following these blogs will provide a comprehensive view of the robotics landscape. However, the field is vast, and new sources of information emerge regularly. We recommend:
- Setting up RSS feeds or email subscriptions to stay current
- Engaging with robotics communities on social media
- Attending industry conferences and webinars for deeper insights
The robotics industry continues to push boundaries, reshape industries, and create new possibilities. By following these top blogs, you’ll have the knowledge and insights needed to navigate this exciting field, whether you’re a researcher, entrepreneur, investor, or simply an enthusiast.
Which robotics blogs are you following?
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