Is traditional marketing dead? This is a big topic of discussion on various marketing blogs on the web at the moment with the social media advocates claiming that traditional “outbound” marketing techniques where you target the customer with ads are seen as intrusive and a big turn off these days, and all that matters now is “inbound” marketing where you set out your information, make sure that it is easy to find and useful and wait for the world to come to you, making lots of use of social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn of course.
I believe that the truth of the matter is somewhat different, especially in our industry, which is more conservative than some B2C industries. Traditional media still count and advertising and promotion in the industry magazines are an important source of information. But the internet is now one of the most important sources of information even in the B2B arena, so as I’ve said many times, it is very important to have a web presence. And whilst you might not be ready to start tweeting on a regular basis, I would recommend that you should look at expanding that presence beyond a simple catalogue site and maybe start a blog or get involved in some of the forums and discussions that are taking place about the subject of tiles and stone.
However please bear in mind that it pays to be honest. We all know that it is illegal to pass off something that you are selling as something else, or to make claims about your products that are untrue and likely to deceive, and I would like to think that the vast majority of the industry would stay away from such nefarious practices.
But have you ever been tempted to go on to a web forum and pretend to be a punter discussing and warmly recommend your own products or store?
If so beware: “flogging” (from false blogging) is widely frowned upon by people who read blogs for information on particular products. If you are found out it is likely to harm rather than help your company’s image and sales, as bad news travels fast in the cyberspace community. So declare your interest up front, before explaining why your product is good for a particular purpose or answer general questions on a tiling forum without even mentioning your products but put a link to your website on your signature, to make it clear that you are talking from a position of knowledge. It is much more likely to engender warm feelings to your brand than hiding your identity does, as you’ll be seen as helpful and unbiased rather than a representative of those internet bad guys: hard selling big business.
Traditional marketing techniques are far from dead in the tile and stone industry but social media is encroaching at the edges with an increase in forums etc even in the business to business arena. It pays to start thinking about and using the techniques now rather than scrambling to catch up later.
