Archive for February, 2012
Mobile Apps for the Equipment Business
Does it Apply to Your Business Yet?
Yesterday, I participated in a webinar led by two thought leaders in the mobile app space. The conversation centered around statistics, trends and practical applications (like, almost everyone can use one, but they might not think about it… yet).
Good equipment marketing and marketing service companies should think long and hard about some practical application and customer needs.
Shocking Statistics Not Heard By Many
You’ll see plenty of upcoming posts on mobile applications from us, but for now, take a look at some statistics that should get your attention:
- There are currently over 5.3 billion mobile phones compared to 1.5 billion PC’s
- There have been over 100 billion “push” messages sent to mobile phone users (ads pushed to smart phones with a clear “call to action”
- 97% of “push” messages reach their intended audience, most are viewed completely within 5 minutes
- Current email open rates run around 4-10% (10% on a VERY good day)
- There have been over 18 billion downloads from Apple’s “APP store
- There have been over 10 billion downloads of Google’s Droid apps
- There are over 1 million smart phones being turned on every day!
- It is estimated that within 18 months, there will be over 2 million smart phones being turned on every day
Mobile Marketing is the most powerful media ever invented… The New York Times
So What?
The way people consume information is fundamentally changing. Mobile apps and tablets are taking over as people (yes… your customers!) are now looking for apps to solve problems instead of using Google to find information.
There are four basic drivers of app creation that customers (this means you and your business) care about:
- Leads: How will mobile apps generate leads?
- Customers: How will mobile apps create more customers?
- Sales: How will mobile apps help increase sales?
- Exposure: How will mobile apps increase exposure to our customers?
Plan Your Future
In the past mobile apps post we discussed ways to think differently about this opportunity. It does and will continue to apply to your business.
Don’t be that guy that thinks it won’t apply to your business and equipment marketing plan. Take charge and start planning for this today!
To Your Success…
Video Marketing for the Equipment Business
So We’re Not Video Experts…
Then again, neither are most people that post videos. If you’ve seen the videos that have garnered millions of views, more often than not they are not made by experts. They are often spontaneous, without a thought to optimizing video for the search engines. They go viral because they are funny, shocking or have that hard-to-define quality about them.
Good, strategic video marketing in our business likely will never have that same effect, but we can drive in substantial traffic to our site and build followers of our business with a few simple, practical strategies. Good marketing service companies should have a comprehensive plan for this as part of your online marketing strategy.
Practical Steps to Own Your Online Space
Video marketing is becoming more important literally every day. The video marketing post last week highlighted why this is so important. We’ll have more posts coming topic, but for this post, we’ll focus on a few more tips and video marketing strategies to help you visualize more of the steps required to build your online presence:
Five Basic Rules to Follow
- Good Lighting: Keep the light source at a 30-45 degree angle in relation to the subject
- Background: Don’t have a distracting background, show only what is important
- Hold Still: Limit the movement and running around, keep the shots simple and well framed
- Come From afar and Get Close: Establish the setting, then move in closer
- Sound: Try and get natural sounds (no background noise) when interviewing a customer for testimonials
Edit Your Video and Make it Short
There is some of great, easy-to-use software to do this by yourself, or assign to a talented person within your organization. Beware the perpetual “snackers”, a term used for those that seldom watch the end of a video:
- iMovie: An Apple product that comes with any Mac computer
- Windows Movie Maker: Similar to iMovie, it comes free with Windows
- Final Cut Express: A bit more advanced for those that have to have it just right
- Adobe Premier: A professional level editing product with lots of features
- Under Two Minutes: Professional service firms recommend this as the optimum length
- Cool Tip: Put your website address on the bottom so the prospects know how to reach you
Video and Search Engine Optimization
This will be another upcoming post, but keep in mind search engines LOVE video. So, when you make your video and upload it to YouTube, the basic strategy to get your video and company found is to properly tag, title and describe your video so it becomes indexed properly by the search engines.
Details Make a HUGE Difference
Once you get into a routine to share your story using video using the described techniques, the power of video often becomes as important as having an entire website optimized for the search engines. One video done right can be a lethal tool in your equipment marketing tool kit!
To Your Success…
Inbound Marketing for the Equipment Business
Inbound Marketing Defined
Inbound marketing is a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers towards a business and its products. Inbound marketing is becoming widely accepted because it complements the way buyers make purchasing decisions today — using the Internet and related media to learn about the products and services that best meet their needs.
What This Means for the Equipment Business
A definition of inbound marketing is great, but what does that actually mean for equipment marketing, or equipment marketing services in general? Let’s take a quick look at the short list of key disciplines that we need to understand and act on:
- Blogging: Websites continue to be the online “face” of your company, but the reality is that the content is seldom changed. A blog is a great way to share tips and information in general for your customers that is constantly being indexed by the search engines. Blogs tie right back to your site, so the more you do it, the more content you have, the more relevant you become. And, you can do it in a few minutes per week with a significant impact to your search engine rankings
- Search Engine Optimization: Organic search (not the paid version that Google makes their money from) is a set of strategies that use keywords and phrases strategically placed within your site in a certain way that insures you have the best chance at attracting the prospects and customers searching for what you sell. We’ll cover the difference between “on page” and “off page” search engine optimization in an upcoming related post.
- Social Media: This allows for an online social relationship with potentially thousands of customers. If you stick to the basics of “telling” vs “selling” and educate your customers and prospects about useful ways to make their lives easier, you drive interest and traffic to your website. When they visit your site, they make decisions to complete a contact form, call a dedicated 800# or move on.
Prospects Buy When They Are Ready to Buy
Not when you are ready to sell! The fact is, equipment marketing has lagged several industries when it doesn’t have to. Our prospects are literally bombed with information today. Recent studies show each prospects get’s between 3,000 – 5,000 marketing messages per day.
That’s a LOT of messages. They forget about you and all of the great stuff you sell and service. So, inbound marketing and inbound marketing service companies need to account for this and install a marketing “system” which keeps your company fresh and relevant WITHOUT selling. Educate your audience about how you solve problems and they’ll buy when they’re ready.
To Your Success…
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