![DIY fail-proof content marketing strategy [eBook]](https://fronetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/content-marketing-strategy-1080x675.jpg)
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 16, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
95% of B2B enterprise marketers and 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing. The down and dirty is that content marketing works. Content marketing attracts leads and converts leads to customers – and it does so at a lower cost than traditional marketing (and in a much less invasive manner). Here are some cold hard stats:
- 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get information from articles rather than through advertisements
- Inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads
- Adopting an inbound strategy doubles average website conversion rates, from 6% to 12%
The reality is that content marketing works. Customers are no longer responding to interruption-based marketing as they once did. They’re ignoring overt sales pitches and looking instead to peers, social networks, and search engines. In short, it’s all about content these days. Companies within every industry – from fashion to fishing – are creating and curating relevant and valuable content and using it to engage prospects and connect with customers.
We have created a DIY fail-proof strategy for connecting with prospects and building brand awareness by creating and distributing amazing content – our content marketing eBook. Earn the attention of your prospects and customers by using this checklist to develop a solid content marketing strategy. In it, you’ll find step-by-step instructions, templates, lists, and samples to get your content marketing program up and running.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 10, 2015 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Fronetics Strategic Advisors conducted a survey focusing on social media and logistics and supply chain companies. Respondents shared information on their social media use, motivation, preferences, benefits, and challenges. One-hundred percent (100%) of respondents reported that they have used social media for five years or less, indicating that social media is a relatively new strategy for logistics and supply chain companies. Mirroring other industries, including those in Fortune 500 status, social media is playing an increasingly important role in company branding, marketing, and client engagement.
For the current state of social media and logistics, here is an infographic that summarizes many of the key points from the full report.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 9, 2015 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Transfix is poised to disrupt and transform the trucking industry.
Uber, the on-demand driver for hire mobile service, has come to stand for disruption. The company has not only transformed the taxi industry, it has changed everything. Uber, Aaron Levie notes, is a “lesson in building for how the world *should* work instead of optimizing for how the world *does* work.” NY-based start-up Transfix is doing just this. With the launch of the company’s new app, Transfix is poised to disrupt the trucking industry.
The trucking industry is huge. Valued at $800 billion, the industry moves the majority (67%) of freight tonnage in the US. To move this volume of freight, more than 3 million trucks log close to 100 billion miles annually. It is, therefore, not surprising that “truck driver” is the most common job across the US. What is surprising is that the industry is riddled with inefficiencies. One of the greatest inefficiencies has to do with needless miles. Drew McElroy, co-founder of Transfix, estimates that U.S. commercial trucks drive 19 billion needless miles each year. That’s a lot of needless miles.
Together, the industry’s inefficiencies have a significant impact not just on the bottom line, but also on the cost of goods, the environment, our country’s infrastructure, traffic, and on the truck drivers themselves.
Transfix takes the industry’s inefficiencies head on. Transfix is a digital on-demand freight marketplace. It provides industry-leading mobile technologies and location-based jobs offers for independent over-the-road truck drivers, as well as cloud-based management platforms for small carriers and shippers.
Transfix’s app integrates with the company’s digital marketplace and is driver-centric. The app gives drivers the ability to manage loads, map their itinerary, and manage payments. The app also provides truck drivers with trip planning essentials including the location of showers, ATMs, weigh stations, fuel prices, and weather.
The app is available for iOS and Android.
Barnes and Noble is one of Transfix’s early adopters. According to McElroy, Barnes and Noble has realized improvements in their processes and has seen their deadhead runs (times driving without cargo) cut by at least 50%.
Transfix co-founders Drew McElroy and Jonathan Salama have identified how the trucking industry should work and have provided industry stakeholders with the tools to make it happen. Transfix is poised to disrupt and transform the trucking industry. With Transfix, we are witnessing the Uberfication of trucking.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 8, 2015 | Blog, Manufacturing & Distribution, Strategy, Supply Chain
For many years robots seemed like the brainchild of science fiction writers and directors, meeting the needs of humans as we saw in the Jetsons, or challenging them as we saw in Battlestar Galactica. Occasionally we hear stories on the news of robots being built in basement labs at prestigious universities such as MIT or Stanford. Recently there was a report on NPR about how one of UCal Berkeley’s robots couldn’t easily figure out how to fold laundry, so, one could ask: what are we worried about? If robots can’t fold laundry in under ten minutes, could they take over manufacturing?
There has been a downward trend in manufacturing jobs since 1980 in the U.S. with similar spirals in Japan, Germany, and China. Is there a correlation between the decrease in manufacturing employment and the rise of the robot? According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2014 most industrial robots were operating in the same countries/regions: Japan (306,700 robots), North America (237,400), China (182,300), South Korea (175,600), and Germany (175,200).
In the same WSJ article, a new generation of robots is profiled. These robots are “smarter, more mobile, more collaborative, and more adaptable.” They are also less bulky and less dangerous for humans to work next to. One might say that the newest generation of robots is acquiring many of the positive qualities of human workers, and that that, combined with many skills humans don’t and can’t possess, makes them the ultimate worker. If robots supersede the work humans can physically do, in a faster, safer, more efficient way, then what will come of the human worker?
Many believe that robots will allow for manufacturers to return to the U.S. from their low-paying, cost-saving plants overseas. They also believe that robots won’t take away from jobs, but rather create them. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), robots actually create millions of jobs. The IFR’s reports oppose the idea that manufacturing jobs are waning. In 2011 article Positive Impact of Industrial Robots on Employment, the author, Metra Martech, stated, “The German and Japanese (automotive) manufacturers who have invested heavily in automation and robots have maintained a lead in the quality market. Germany has increased the number of people employed in the automotive sector.”
The IFR also states that there are many other benefits to robots in manufacturing:
- robots carry out work in areas that would be unsafe for humans.
- robots carry out work that would not be economically viable in a high wage economy.
- robots carry out work that would be impossible for humans.
“The Second Economy”, one in which computers have business interactions only with other computers, is upon us. According the to economist, Brian Arthur, who coined the term, things might not look so bright for the future of the American worker. He states, “If the Second Economy does achieve that rate of growth, it will be replacing the work of approximately 100 million workers. To put that number in perspective, the current total employed civilian labor force today is 146 million. A sizeable fraction of those replaced jobs will be made up by new ones in the Second Economy. But not all of them. Left behind may be as many as 40 million citizens of no economic value in the U.S alone. The dislocations will be profound.”
Others, some who are at the forefront of technology, are also very concerned about the rise of robots. Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, is one of the worried. He was recently quoted saying, “Computers are going to take over from humans, no question… Like people including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the future is scary and very bad for people. If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently.T”
The stuff of sci-fi is becoming a reality. As we humans make the robots that will replace us, only time will tell if that will benefit our race or harm it.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 4, 2015 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
When thinking about where to focus your company’s social media presence, look at the numbers. LinkedIn generates 80% of B2B social media leads, more than Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ combined. A 2013 study conducted by Demo and CEO.com shared that “LinkedIn remains the one social media platform that is actually more popular with CEOs than the general public.” Why are company higher-ups turning to LinkedIn, the top professional social media platform?
LinkedIn currently has more than 350 million users, from over 200 countries and territories, and sees 2 new members added each second. A good amount of people, 40%, check LinkedIn daily. With these impressive numbers and LinkedIn’s goal of reaching 3 billion users, a company profile is bound to get traffic, especially if the company is utilizing the publishing format to share ideas and situate itself as a leading voice in the industry.
Your own employees, current and former, most likely have their own LinkedIn profile. They list their education, and of course, their work history. If your company does not have a LinkedIn page, there will be no logo to click on, no link, no exposure for you, and perhaps a loss of credibility. In today’s tech-savvy world, being engaged in social media platforms has come to be the norm for individuals and companies. People spend 1.72 hours on social media a day; let them find you easily during that time.
Leads:
With LinkedIn being the top social media site to generate leads, why not highlight your company there? Unlike Facebook, you have the ability to see who is looking at your company’s profile, and now, with LinkedIn’s newest analytics service, users can see who has been viewing their posts. Users can also see how many people liked and shared a post, and see more detail into demographics such as viewers’ industry, location, and job titles. By understanding who is looking at your company’s page or posts, you can see which demographic you’re reaching, and which you’re missing. You can reach out to those who show repeated interest and try to find ways to tailor future content to attract the people you’re not reaching.
Credibility:
Let your former and current clients and partners advertise your expertise for you. With the “recommendations” and “endorsements” features others can help build your level of trust with potential leads.
Coaches, consultants and recruiters also comb through LinkedIn looking for company matches for their clients. According to Executive Coach and Consultant, Stephenie Girard, “I rely on companies to use LinkedIn to increase their credibility, attract quality talent and expose their product or professional services. When organizations utilize LinkedIn in full capacity we gain access to the company’s values, culture, people and products – all of which are crucial pieces to the puzzle when matching a potential employee to employer.”
Connections:
Finding leads directly might be on your mind, but finding other business people and businesses that you can follow, monitor, learn from, and partner with, can also be incredibly valuable and may, in the end, bring you some leads and great business allies.
Once you have the connections made on LinkedIn, stay in touch with your old and new connections, clients, and customers. Many companies use LinkedIn as another platform to share press releases, white papers, videos, and product announcements.
According to Business Insider article LinkedIn May Not Be the Coolest Social Network, but It’s Only Becoming More Valuable to Businesses, “LinkedIn has the advantage of being the place for white-collar professionals to network, meaning its population is highly desirable since it is a high-income and highly educated user base.” Is LinkedIn right for you? If you’re looking for intelligent professionals, perhaps it is.
![Women in the Supply Chain; A Discussion [eBook]](https://fronetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/women.jpg)
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 3, 2015 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
Between 70% and 80% of positions within the supply chain industry are held by men and 95% of top level supply chain positions within Fortune 500 companies are held by men.
The lack of gender diversity is bad for business. Recent research by McKinsey & Company found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Moreover, Arrow Electronics’ Cathy Morris points put that “diversity enables better decision-making and diminishes group think.”
At Fronetics we believe it is important to discuss the supply chain gender gap, and to work towards closing the gap. We have created an eBook which is inclusive of interviews with:
- Mickey North Rizza, VP, Strategic Services at BravoSolution.
- Cathy Morris, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Arrow Electronics, Inc.
- Don Firth, founder and CEO of several niche job boards
We invite you to join the discussion: connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter, or leave us a comment.
