by Fronetics | May 16, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Dear companies in the logistics and supply chain industries,
You have leveraged technology and innovation so that two-day shipping is becoming more of the norm rather than the exception. You have developed processes and standards for IT Asset Disposal (ITAD), which mitigate asset recovery management and increase data security. You have leveraged 3-D printing — disrupting the status quo.
Cathy Morris, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Arrow Electronics, Inc., puts it well: “Products can be made, money can be invested, ideas can be brought to fruition, but without the supply chain everything stops. The supply chain provides routes to market; everything hinges on an effective supply chain.”
In short, logistics and supply chain — you are pretty damn awesome.
Given your awesomeness, I wonder why marketing firms have taken to courting your business by promoting that they do “content marketing for boring industries.” You are not boring (in the least). Why would you choose to partner with someone that finds you boring?
Content marketing can be an effective tool for your business. When aligned with your business objectives, content marketing can:
- Build brand awareness
- Position your company as a thought leader within the industry
- Increase engagement with customers, partners, and stakeholders
- Educate and inform customers, partners, and stakeholders
- Build trust
- Allow you to manage your reputation
- Generate leads
Given the impact a successful content marketing strategy can have on your business, doesn’t it just make sense to find a marketing firm that recognizes the value of your industry and of your company; a firm that recognizes your awesomeness?
I lead the digital and content marketing arm of Fronetics Strategic Advisors. Our firm focuses on companies within the logistics and supply chain industries. Why do we do this? We do this because we have deep expertise in these industries, and because we believe in these industries. We stay up to date on industry trends. Phrases like: “Can you believe the capabilities of company x’s new forklifts?” and “Wow, the reverse logistics implications of that are going to be significant,” are daily conversations for us.
I am not saying that you need to choose our firm as your marketing firm, but, please, choose a firm that believes in you. When choosing an outsource partner, evaluate not just the firm’s marketing capabilities, but also their knowledge of your industry.
You do incredible work. Find a partner who recognizes this, not one who finds you boring.
by Fronetics | Apr 27, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Fronetics’ social media training offers basic instructions on how you can help your company get invited, show up, and make a good impression with customers online.
What if you were told that a number of potential customers all visit the same place to chat and get to know businesses like yours before they choose to buy from them? Would you feel there was a strong reason for your business to have a presence there?
The answer is definitively, “Yes, absolutely!” Yet, some businesses are not establishing a social media presence — today’s ultimate social meeting establishment — which puts them in position of severe disadvantage.
Though you may be hesitant to participate, the various social media platforms are the place to meet, greet, and establish trusting relationships with your potential customers before they commit to a purchase. So, either show up, grab a drink, and chat, or surrender opportunities to your competition, who, by the way, is already “liked” by the masses.
How to Make an Entrance at the Social Media Party
Feeling a bit lost as to how to navigate social media? Don’t simply resign yourself to being the wallflower at this gathering. Make an entrance and get noticed!
Fronetics Strategic Advisors has created a social media training, specifically designed for business owners (B2B and B2C), marketers, and employees who are seeking a better grasp on social technologies. Consider it Social Media for Businesses 101: The training offers step-by-step instructions on using your individual social media presence to help boost your company’s social footprint.
No need to be shy. You know more, and can have a bigger impact, than you think. To be sure, the B2B sales process has evolved, but the basics remain: create conversation; educate the consumer; establish trust; and, eventually, generate a sales lead. But now you and your business can conduct this courting via digital platforms.
In this training, learn how social media is an opportunity for building brand awareness and allowing potential customers to get to know your business. See how you can make an impact on your company’s growth through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And get a grasp on the fundamentals — as basic as how to “like” or “follow” your company — so that you feel more comfortable using social media in a professional context.
Social media is limitless opportunity for engagement and branding for your company. Participating across multiple platforms is an ideal way to expand brand awareness and establish your company as a thought leader in its industry. Don’t miss out on the party! Download Fronetics’ Social Media Training below so you can participate in the conversation happening online.
Get the free training
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Fronetics Strategic Advisors welcomes your questions about social media, and can advise you on how to best leverage it to your company’s greatest advantage. Contact us for a free social media assessment.
by Fronetics | Mar 24, 2016 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
These four supply chain companies constantly post fresh, quality content to their social media accounts.
When it excels at social media, a company’s opportunity for growth is as vast as the web itself. Today, even small businesses can compete shoulder to shoulder with their biggest competitors if leveraging social media properly.
It is estimated that for every 5 minutes people spend online, 1 minute of that is spent on some kind of social media network. And most of your customers are on social media — statistics indicate that more than 79% of adults in the U.S. use social media each day. As the popularity of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and company blogs continues to grow, it is vital to utilize these tools to your own marketing advantage.
When you think of social media masters, you may not think of companies in the supply chain industry. But there are a few excellent examples, and much can be learned from what they do. Here are four supply chain companies that excel at social media and the reasons why they stand out above the crowd:
1) Cerasis
Cerasis, a top freight logistics company and truckload freight broker, excels at social media because their content is fresh, posted daily, and of high quality. Simply put, they create engaging, informative content and are consistently active across all of the major social networks.
2) Kinaxis
Kinaxis, a global company offering advanced supply chain management systems to customers in a variety of discrete manufacturing industries, offers in-depth blog posts and is consistently active in social media channels such as Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.
3) Transplace
Transplace, a provider of transportation management services, posts informative articles and incites topics of conversation on Twitter several times per day. The company is active across all social media platforms, including their own YouTube channel.
4) UPS Longitudes
Longitudes is a blog with insights on the trends reshaping the global economy by United Parcel Service, a global leader in shipping. The blog also engages true thought leaders on topics ranging from trade to transportation and ecommerce to emerging markets. Posts are consistently new, innovative, and informative. Longitudes also has its own social media accounts, separate from UPS’s primary accounts, which distribute the blog’s content and engage in related discussions.
Why do these four supply chain companies excel at social media? Here are three commonalities that help these businesses rise above the rest:
Consistent daily posts and content
Having consistent, reliable, fresh social media posts is essential. The more active you are, the greater your outreach to potential new customers.
Think of it this way: search engines pick up on social media activities — like when someone shares content from your website on Twitter or Facebook, for example. Search engines use this to weigh the relevancy and validity of your website and your company. So, fresh daily or weekly content gives people a chance to read and share every time you publish a blog post, ebook, buying guide, case study, testimonial, and other interesting content to your social media accounts. Your marketing efforts reap the benefits of better search engine rankings as a result.
Engaging readers
You want readers to connect and engage with your social media posts. Every time they leave a comment or share or like a post, your social media presence — and your digital footprint — grows.
Quality content
Posting anything just for the sake of posting is not a good social media strategy. Content that is boring and basic will not help your business grow. Content needs to capture the interest of readers and engage them to read, share, and follow your business. Posts should be timely and relevant. This is what builds your following and your brand and generates new customers.
With social media you can find new customers and fans, connect with existing customers who can help spread the word about how great your product or service is, and drive more traffic to your website, which creates new avenues into the digital realm of marketing, company branding, and lead generation. The most successful companies today work daily to improve their social media content and reap the benefits of consistent, quality content marketing.
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by Fronetics | Mar 9, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
The other day a client called to express his frustration with content marketing. Not only was he disappointed with the number of leads that his company had obtained to date, he was also disappointed with the number of sales. He was ready to call it quits and pull the plug on all content marketing efforts.
This client was not the first to call and express frustration, nor will he be the last. Unfortunately, there is a misconception that as soon as a company incorporates a content marketing into their strategy, they will be flooded with leads — leads served on a silver platter and leads all boxed up and tied with a bow. I wish content marketing could do this — it can’t. That being said, walking away from content marketing is a big mistake — content marketing is an effective strategy that companies should employ.
The buying process for B2B buyers has become more complex and longer. The 2015 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report found that 53% of respondents reported their purchase cycle was longer than it was the previous year. The buying process has gotten longer because the majority of buyers (82%) are using more sources to research and evaluate products and services, and they are spending more time in the research phase itself. A full 80% of respondents reported they spend more time on research alone — this is up from 58% in the previous survey.
Social media and vendor-focused content are two key places where buyers turn to conduct research. More than half (53%) of survey respondents reported that social media plays in their research process, and 86% of respondents reported that content such as case studies and product data sheets influence purchase decisions.
The increased focus on research has changed when the buyers engage with a sales rep. Today, the average buyer progresses nearly 60% of the way through the purchase decision-making process before engaging with a sales rep.
Back to my client. I walked my client through these facts, and then we walked through the metrics we track on the monthly basis. Since my client had started using content marketing, traffic to his company’s website had increased significantly, visitors to the website were spending longer on it than they had before, and they were looking at more pages. Additionally the company’s social reach had grown and engagement — with customers, prospects, and others within the industry — had increased considerably. All of these things, I pointed out, were positive. I then reminded my client that the typical sales cycle for his company and industry was 12-18 months — far longer than the few short months that he had been using content marketing.
I spent the next few minutes going over the company’s content marketing strategy. We decided to make a few tweaks, and then discussed both goals and expectations going forward.
It is important for companies to recognize that content marketing should be a part of their strategy — more than ever, B2B buyers are looking for information and are using that information to make buying decisions. Companies need to be using social media. Companies need to be creating and curating quality content. It is equally important, however, for companies to realize that content marketing is not magic. Content marketing doesn’t shorten the buying process; rather it changes it. Moreover, content marketing doesn’t deliver sales — sales people still play a large role in lead nurturing and closing deals.
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This was originally published on Electronics Purchasing Strategies.
by Fronetics | Mar 3, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Here’s how marketers can launch a B2B social media program that grows business.
A recent Harvard Business Review article discloses that a number of B2B CEOs still believe social media isn’t right for them, that it’s a tool for the B2C segment. In reality, many B2B marketers successfully leverage social media to engage potential customers, gather market intelligence, build brand awareness and reputation, discover and intercept customer problems, and influence purchasing decisions before sales calls are ever made.
In short, if you are not in the B2B social media game, you are missing out on enormous business opportunities.
Getting started with social media can seem like an intimidating task, especially if your C-suite is skeptical of the benefits. Here are six steps to launching a B2B social media program that will grow your business to its full potential.
1) Speak in the right terms.
Convincing management that you want your team to spend more time on social media to gain “followers” or get “shares” might be a hard sell. To win support, focus your argument around the factors that are most important to them. Lead generation, lead nurturing, conversions, sales, ROI, profits: this should be the vocabulary with which you approach this conversation.
2) Create a strategy — and put someone in charge.
Only 11% of companies without a documented content marketing strategy find their efforts to be successful, compared to 60% of companies with a strategy in place. And that number rises to 86% when the company designates someone to lead the strategy. Working with an experienced marketing consulting firm, like Fronetics, you can develop an inbound marketing strategy that aligns with your business objectives. And whether someone on your team heads up execution or you outsource that responsibility, the leader should continually monitor analytics and tweak the strategy accordingly. Which brings us to…
3) Determine which analytics to track.
In the B2B world, it’s not about shares, likes, or impressions, though those numbers speak to your brand exposure. (Read more about so-called “vanity metrics” here.) Leads generated, conversion rates, sales, and ROI are going to be the things you’ll want to track. If you have a good, flexible strategy in place, these metrics will help you adjust your efforts to ensure you’re achieving your business objectives.
See: The Six Marketing Metrics Your Boss Actually Cares About.
4) Develop quality content.
Twenty-seven million pieces of content are shared every day — and a large portion of it is crap. A social media presence could be pretty pointless unless you’re using it to push content that is original, high quality, and representative of your brand. One of the biggest mistakes B2B companies make is using social channels to push a sales pitch. You’ll quickly lose your audience, who is turned off by a strong sales pitch. Social media is about engaging your audience, building brand awareness, and offering valuable information.
See: Three Elements of Good Content.
5) Decide which channels are right for your business.
Who are you trying to reach, and what are you trying to tell them? These are good questions to ask when trying to determine which platforms will comprise your social media program. There’s a wealth of information out there about which channels are used by whom and when. You’ll also want to choose channels that you’ll be able to maintain regularly and which play to your strengths. As an obvious example, if you don’t have the capability to make videos, YouTube probably isn’t for you. Remember, you’ll likely want to work through several different channels to reach a maximum number of potential customers.
See: Which Social Media Channels Should Your B2B Business Use?
6) Follow your competitors.
Following your competitors is a great way to stay up to date on what they’re doing, especially if you don’t have a ton of time or money for competitive research. And when I say “follow,” I don’t mean “copy or imitate.” I mean subscribe to their blogs, engage with them on social media, and like and share their content that you find meaningful for your audience. This way, you become part of the industry conversation happening online, and you know exactly what your potential customers are seeing from (and how they’re reacting to) your competitors.
See: The Role of Social Media in Supply Chain Intelligence.
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