by Fronetics | Jan 7, 2015 | Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
The majority of companies within the logistics and supply chain industries are realizing benefits by participating in social media. The social network that provides the greatest business impact: Twitter. A survey found that 95% of respondents believe Twitter to be either “somewhat impactful” or “very impactful” on their business.
What are the must-follow Twitter accounts for the logistics and supply chain industries?
In December 2014 Fronetics Strategic Advisors conducted a survey to learn which industry Twitter account is your favorite. The results are in.
The number one must-follow Twitter account for the logistics and supply chain industries is: Quintiq
Quintiq’s vision is to transform the world’s supply chains. The company’s Twitter account speaks to this vision by sharing and providing industry knowledge and news. Additionally, Quintiq uses to Twitter to engage with others within the industry.
Other must-follow Twitter accounts include:
by Fronetics | Jan 6, 2015 | Blog, Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chain, Talent
The start of a new year generally brings with it a host of resolutions. For individuals finding and landing a new job, or advancing in their current job are common resolutions. For companies, identifying talent, hiring, and retaining great talent are typical goals for the new year.
At Fronetics we work with clients to understand and execute on talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, and succession management. We also work with clients to design and develop roles and responsibilities, on leadership development, mentoring and counseling, and on performance management and compensation strategies.
Throughout 2014 we have created content focused on talent. Topics have included: networking; how to identify and hire top top talent; and how to solve the supply chain talent crisis. We have identified the most popular talent blog posts of 2014, #1 receiving the most pageviews.
Here are the top talent blog posts of 2014
Kathryn Minshew, founder and CEO of The Muse and The Daily Muse, began a piece for the Harvard Business Blog Network with this sage advice: “Network Your Face Off.” The truth and value of this statement cannot be underestimated. Here are 5 reasons why networking is essential and why connections matter. Read the full blog post.
CrossFitters recognize that good outcomes only come with hard work, and lots of it. For that reason, it generally attracts people who are willing to make sacrifices and go the extra mile to get results both in the gym and at work. If you want to hire top performers who have staying power hire people who do CrossFit. Here are eight reasons why CrossFitters make great employees. Read the full blog post.
The supply chain industry has a talent crisis. The question is: how can we solve this crisis? To answer this question I turned to Rodney Apple, founder of the SCM Talent Group. Apple has worked as a supply chain recruiter for the majority of his 19+ year career within the staffing industry and he has filled more than 1,000 positions within the industry ranging from executive-level in Fortune 500 headquarters settings to leadership and staff-level roles across large networks of manufacturing and distribution facilities within North America. Apple’s role affords him the ability to witness the talent crisis from the perspective of the industry, the company, and the job seeker. Read the full blog post.
Here’s the thing – the supply chain industry is perceived by those outside the industry as having no “wow” factor whatsoever. If the supply chain industry is going to attract new and qualified talent, it needs a face lift. It is time for the supply chain industry to re- brand itself. Read the full blog post.
Wouldn’t it be nice if great talent looked like Waldo? If great talent looked like Waldo we could simply look at the pool of candidates and be able to identify them by their telltale red and white striped shirt. Unfortunately, great talent doesn’t show itself like our friend Waldo. Given this, how can the supply chain industry spot great talent? Read the full blog post.
Be honest. How does your company approach talent acquisition? Is it viewed as a cost center or is it viewed as a strategic department, crucial to the success and growth of your business? If your answer is the former, it is time to rethink your approach. Read the full blog post.
With more than 240 million active users, LinkedIn is one of the largest social media networks. LinkedIn is an incredible tool for networking and professional development. LinkedIn is also an essential component in a job search strategy. Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is crucial to your success. Read the full blog post.
If the supply chain industry is going to attract new and qualified talent, it needs a face lift. The industry needs to be proactive. It needs to communicate what it is, what is currently happening within the industry, and what is in store for the future. Who is responsible for making change possible? You. Read the full blog post.
After the ball has dropped and after the champagne has been drunk, the New Year will begin. Forty-five percent of American’s will start the New Year with at least one resolution. Whether or not you are typically a resolution-maker, the New Year is a great time to evaluate your career and set goals. Here are nine career resolutions everyone should make. Read the full blog post.
Whining. Just writing the word makes me cringe. Whining is a truly unattractive characteristic. It is unattractive in children and it is even more unattractive when adults partake. One of the reasons why whining is just so unattractive is that it is ineffective and it can make a brilliant leader look like, well, like a blithering child. Read the full blog post.
by Fronetics | Jan 5, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Internet of Things, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain, Talent
Here are the top supply chain and logistics blog posts of 2014
2014 is over and a new year has begun. We look back at the content we created and shared in 2014.
Looking at content focused on the supply chain and logistics industries, there are three topics which garnered the most interest:
- The use of social media and content marketing;
- Supply chain talent;
- Technology.
Here are the top ten supply chain and logistics blog posts of 2014 based on pageviews. #1 receiving the most pageviews.
The Internet of Things trend is quickly approaching and will impact the way we live and work through increased productivity and efficiency. Supply Chain Management will continue utilizing these advanced technologies to improve factory workflow, increase material tracking, and optimize distribution to maximize revenues. Read the full blog post.
Within the past five years companies within the logistics and supply chain industries have begun to see social media as a strategic tool and have begun to actively use and leverage social media. A survey conducted by Fronetics Strategic Advisors looks, broadly, at the use of social media within the logistics and supply chain industries. The report discusses use, motivations, preferences, benefits, and challenges. Read the full blog post.
Santa’s supply chain was the first to run “in the cloud.” Read the full blog post and check out the infographic.
Looking at the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries there are a few companies that have emerged as leaders – companies that exemplify the business value of creating and executing digital, social media, and content marketing strategies. Cerasis, a freight logistics company, is one of these companies. Read the full blog post.
The supply chain industry has a talent crisis. The question is: how can we solve this crisis? To answer this question I turned to Rodney Apple, founder of the SCM Talent Group. Apple has worked as a supply chain recruiter for the majority of his 19+ year career within the staffing industry and he has filled more than 1,000 positions within the industry ranging from executive-level in Fortune 500 headquarters settings to leadership and staff-level roles across large networks of manufacturing and distribution facilities within North America. Apple’s role affords him the ability to witness the talent crisis from the perspective of the industry, the company, and the job seeker. Read the full blog post.
The purpose of this series of blog posts is to give others in our industry and especially those in the manufacturing industry, a guide to create an effective digital, social media, and content marketing strategy which will produce results for your company. If you have followed the Cerasis blog since its launch in March 2013, you have noticed that we work really hard at executing our strategy. The reason we work so hard is because we are passionate about educating the marketplace on information that matters to them. In that way, we want to be the de facto expert in the manufacturing and logistics industries. If we can help those who are our customers and potential customers (manufacturers and distributors) with best practices around logistics and freight, as well as manufacturing industry news, we are continuing our mission of driving long term value (even if we give the information away for free). The result (we hope and have seen) is that people view us as the expert and will want to engage us in a long term relationship as their logistics services provider. We hope this is helpful and you learn something from it! Read the full blog post.
3PL provider Coyote Logistics is one of the fastest growing companies in North America. The company’s incredible growth (five-year growth: 3,585 percent) and tenacious spirit has not gone unnoticed. Forbes included Coyote in its list of Most Promising American Companies; Supply & Demand Chain Executive listed Jeff Silver, Coyote CEO, as one of their “Pros to Know;” and the company was listed as one of the best places to work by the Chicago Tribune. There are undoubtedly many factors that have contributed to the success of the company. Coyote’s approach to social media is likely one of the company’s keys to success. Read the full blog post.
Here’s the thing – the supply chain industry is perceived by those outside the industry as having no “wow” factor whatsoever. If the supply chain industry is going to attract new and qualified talent, it needs a face lift. It is time for the supply chain industry to re-brand itself. Read the full blog post.
Without a comprehensive social media strategy, your message may be getting lost in the chatter. There are a number of tools that will help you monitor your online influence and, effectively, make the necessary adjustments to ensure your efforts are paying off. Here are 10 free tools to help you measure your social media ROI. The basic features of each of these tools are free. Read the full blog post.
Regularly tracking your relationship with your suppliers and their performance toward your expectations is critical to ensure the success of your business. One mechanism for tracking this is the supplier scorecard. A scorecard is in essence a report card for your supplier. Supplier scorecards when used effectively can help maintain a healthy supply chain and will benefit both parties. If not used effectively supplier scorecards can damage the supplier relationship and hurt both businesses. Read the full blog post.
by Fronetics | Jan 1, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy, Talent
93% of B2B marketers use content marketing. However, less than half (42%) of B2B marketers say that they are effective at content marketing. One of the reasons these marketers are ineffective: bad content.
All content is not created equal. There is good content. There is bad content. Good content drives profitable customer action. Bad content does not drive profitable customer action.
You need good content.
What is good content? Here are 3 elements of good content:
1. Good content is original
Good content is content that is unique. It is not content that is copied and pasted. It is not regurgitated content. Not only is original content SEO friendly, original content is customer-friendly. 70% of consumers prefer to get to know a company through original articles.
2. Good content stands out
There are more than 27 million pieces of content shared each day. If you want your content to get lost, create bad content. If you want content that stands out you need content that differs from that of the rest of the pack. You can make content stand out by using winning headlines, graphics, images, infographics, and with great writing.
3. Good content attracts and engages current and prospective customers
Every single piece of content that makes it onto your website and blog needs to be content that is created with your current and prospective customers in mind.
Content that attracts and engages is not a sales pitch. Rather, it is content that communicates valuable information to customers and prospects so that they have the knowledge to make better informed decisions. Moreover, it is content that establishes your business as a reliable source of knowledge – as the thought-leader within the industry.
Good content excites customers and prospects and makes them want to reach out to you.
You get what you pay for
Content creation takes time. However, time is often hard to come by. 69% of content marketers feel a lack of time is their greatest challenge. Moreover, almost 50% of marketers struggle with producing enough content, and producing content that engages.
Faced with constraints of time and volume, quality often takes a hit. In some cases the company itself creates and distributes content of poor quality. In other cases, the company chooses to outsource content creation, but does not do their due diligence with respect to the outsource partner and the quality of content that is created.
Good content is not inexpensive. That being said, good content is worth its weight in gold. This is not something I just say, this is something I know. I gave several low cost content options a try.
I began by conducting a search for companies that offered low-cost content (content that costs less than $20 per blog post). I then narrowed the field down even more by researching which of these companies had the highest rankings and customer satisfaction rates. I then selected two companies and decided to give it a go.
The results were dismal. The content was not good content.
If you want content that is good content and will drive profitable results you need to invest. You need to either invest in someone in-house, or you need to conduct your due diligence and find an outsource partner that can create good content for your company.
Interested in learning more about content? Check out these articles:
Or simply,
by Fronetics | Dec 31, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Content marketing is among the hottest topics in marketing and media. However, most companies should stop their content marketing efforts – immediately. The reason these companies should stop is because, despite the hipness of content marketing, they will not realize a positive ROI and will not grow their business through content marketing. In short, many companies are just plain wasting their time and money.
Everybody – companies and customers – has stuff. Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, discusses the importance of not only recognizing this reality, but also the importance of acting on it.
Pulizzi defines three categories of stuff:
- Corporate stuff;
- Content stuff; and
- Customer stuff.
The majority of companies fall prey to focusing on content stuff within a vacuum. But, as Pulizzi points out: “For content marketing to work, we need to link the corporate stuff with the customer stuff through content.”
What does this mean? This means that in order for content marketing it be effective you need strategy. Strategy is what enables you to link what you know as a brand (corporate stuff) with customers’ needs (customer stuff) through content.
The importance of strategy is underscored by the results of a 2014 study. The study found that 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing. 60% of companies who have a documented content strategy in place consider their efforts to be effective as compared to 11% of companies with no documented content strategy in place. Similarly, the study found that companies who put a person in charge of content marketing were more likely to be successful than those who did not (86% vs. 46%).
If your company is employing content marketing and does not have a strategy in place, stop. Create a strategy, put someone in charge, then re-start your efforts. With a strategy in place, content marketing will drive profitable customer action.
by Fronetics | Dec 30, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
I wrote a guest blog for freight logistics company Cerasis in October which discussed how companies within the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and industrial industries can increase their B2B visibility on LinkedIn.
The catalyst for writing the blog were results from a recent survey focused on the supply chain and logistics industry. 58% of respondents rated LinkedIn as “very impactful,” and 37% rated LinkedIn as “somewhat impactful.” At the same time, respondents reported challenges associated with strategy (33%) and a lack of understanding about the application of social media (24%).
Leveraging LinkedIn
There are over 3 million LinkedIn company pages. Being present on LinkedIn is critical, but is not enough. To maximize your LinkedIn presence you need to take steps to increase your B2B visibility. Here’s how:
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Create a compelling company page
Your company page is an extension of your company. Make sure that the page is compelling, informative, and presents your company as a leader within the industry.
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Be active
In addition to keeping your company page up-to-date, you need to be active on LinkedIn on a daily basis. LinkedIn groups are great. Actively participating in LinkedIn groups will allow your company to: 1) gain business and market intelligence; 2) introduce you to new, interesting, and relevant topics; 3) help you increase brand awareness; and 4) position your company as an industry leader.
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Distribute content
If you want your content to be seen you need to get it out there; you need to distribute your content. Distribute your content and curated content via your company page and (when relevant) within the LinkedIn groups to which you belong.
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Employee engagement
Your employees are your brand ambassadors. Empower your employees to be active within LinkedIn groups as representatives of your company. Encourage employees to share your content and industry content with their connections. Additionally, encourage employees to share open positions with their LinkedIn connections, and to identify great talent within their network.
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Prospect for leads
LinkedIn is an effective prospecting tool. Use LinkedIn to prospect for leads and to build your sales pipeline.
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Optimize your profile
Every employee is a reflection of the company. Encourage employees to optimize their personal LinkedIn profiles.
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Don’t be annoying
You will fail if you take a “me, me, me attitude.” Constantly self-promoting is bad for business.
If your company is not using LinkedIn you are missing out on opportunities and revenue.
