Still not convinced that Inbound Marketing and its emphasis on social media fits your industry or marketing plan? Maybe you think it has no place in "hands-on" industries like construction and manufacturing... Here are several success stories that you may not have heard about.
- Indium Corporation is a 75-year-old global manufacturer of electronic assembly parts. Thanks in large part to an in-house evangelist, Rick Short, they are now blogging regularly, creating video content, and engaging in social media conversations with their customers. This strategy has enabled Indium' s sales team to increase leads while reducing costs by cutting trade show booth budgets. Now it's all about building and maintaining customer relations through constant contact, transparency and personal communication. Read more...
- Home Creations, an Oklahoma homebuilder, has been using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to reach customers, resulting in a 23% increase in website traffic in 2008. The company plans to shift more of its marketing budget into social media in 2009. Ideal Homes, another Oklahoma home builder, is also pleased with the increase in sales leads it gets from social media sites and is also moving more of its marketing resources into online channels. Read more...
- The are numerous stories of brand giants such as GM, Kodak, Dell, Marriott and Boeing using blogs and social networking to reach out to their customers for marketing, brand development, product testing and customer support. Less well-known in the U.S., Fiskars, a Finnish manufacturer of fine cutting tools, now engages its customer social media network as virtual employees, helping them to design, test and even name their products. This strategy has enhanced sales while reducing marketing and customer support costs.
- You would expect technology companies like Intel to be leading the way in online marketing, but it's revealing to see just how detailed their marketing strategy has become with respect to social media. Here is an Intel presentation that sheds light on the company's current thinking about Web 2.0 and its application in marketing and customer relations. Both general impact and specific steps apply to any industry, so this could be a blueprint for any company considering new directions.
What's the bottom line? Inbound Marketing and social media in general are now becoming mainstream in both "hard: and "soft" industries. Social networking provides the improved communications vital to both marketing and customer relations. Marketing and Customer Service budgets are being shifted to these new approaches, and companies are enjoying both increased sales and reduced costs as they adopt them.
