Honing your (social) media skills

Clcorr Tnov,q.s oFFERS a word to the LJwise (and the not-so had better listen up uit ttt" harder). As marketing director of Parksite. a lO-location outfit based in Batavia. Il.. he's a believer in that grand marketing guru's pronouncement that "The media is the message."

Thus, according to Thomas, spending advertising dollars solely on newsprint ads, direct mail, TV and radio while ignoring faster, more expensive modern tools is living in the past. He's thinking digital these days.

Convinced that digital marketing is the wave of-never mind the future: the world of today-two years ago, he convinced company management of his plan to exploit its potential. Sure, the company already had a website (duh) and Internet messaging (ditto), but how about expanding to include social media - explicitly, blogs, Twitter and Flickr?

The sweet part of obtaining the goahead was this: The campaigns would cost virtually nothing, beyond the expenditure of time on the part of the marketing staff, who were IOOVo behind the idea. The rest of the organization, not so much: "lt's still an ongoing hurdle," Thomas concedes. "Many associates still struggle with how to incorporate these new marketing tools into their daily roles and don't spend time communicating these resources to their customers. But," he's convinced, "that will change. As things evolve, companies will realize that those 'kids with the iPads' and the always-online mentality will be tomorrow's customers. Additionally, as younger people come into the building material industry, they will expect access to modern technology and encourage them to be part of a company's marketing scheme.

"The point is, today, vs. 15 years ago, consumers have access to information from a bunch of different sources, not just print and TV. What dealers and distributors have to understand is that a huge, huge percentage of homeowners do research online before even entering a store. They often know about products before we do, so we'd better join 'em: Get with it, or miss the boat," he says. "The world moves too fast to rely on wordof-mouth these days. You can't just wait for something to happen."

Thus. Parksite has embraced marketing efforts via email and social media, such as Twitter, via daily tweets, including product updates, links to helpful blog articles, industry news and trends, and more. On YouTube, it offers videos of, say, Dupont's Tyvek and Nichiha's fiber cement panel applications-all aimed, says Thomas, at "relaying information on our products."

But if a YouTube video plays in a forest and no one....? Okay, that's where email and Twitter come inways to alert and encourage potential viewers. Email also serves as an easy "and incredibly inexpensive" way to distribute the company's newsletters and press releases.

Here's how Thomas has learned to utilize those email alerts: "Our CRM database includes architects, developers, builders, remodelers, lawn & garden people, general contractors and lumberyards, and we use it to drive demand for a product and to support or drive customers."

Customizing a message for each demographic segment of the list is easy. Where the skill comes in is in crafting the subject line-"the most important part of a message," he instructs: "That will determine if the email even gets opened."

For an industry segment with 10,000 email addresses, Thomas tries out three different subject lines for a press release, sending each to 1,000 people. "We can get instant feedback, so we know right away which one got opened the most. Then we use that subject line for the other 7,000 in our database. You could never achieve that with a newspaper or TV ad," he declares-"those media are a blind investment. With our CRM database, we reach thousands of people in minutes, and we can control the content and target the audience by industry, title or geography."

Digital content also has a lengthy shelf life. "Your digital information is constantly out there and doesn't disappear," Thomas contends. "In fact, it's picked up by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, which helps your website search engine rankings."

Best yet, you can track hits to your blog, tweet or video in real time, "so your ROI comes in ASAP. By linking to tracking websites, you can tell the number of viewers that day, that month, whatever. For instance. links to YouTube that we embed in email communications can be tracked on bit.ly, which shows how often a specific link was opened." Bonus: "If a YouTube viewer tells his friends to watch it, too, he's doing your advertising for you, and for free."

Yet, don't get marketing director Thomas wrong. "Digital is just one component of our overall marketing scheme," he explains. "Still the most effective element I know is face-to- face. That's how you build trust. Our salespeople-with an average tenure of over 15 years-are very good in communicating with their customers." They also play their roles as what Parksite calls its building products specialists, meeting with builders, contractors, architects, what have you, to help in ways that range from correct use of a product to designing custom P-O-P displays. Parksite also offers classes that deliver continuing-education credits to contractors and architects.

Okay, probably your salespeople are similarly adept at one-on-one customer service. To take that to the next step, it's time to supplement those efforts with (bite the bullet) the abovementioned digital tools. Thomas offers this advice for beginners: "Start with a website. Then, assemble a good email database, comprised of your customers and potential customers."

Step Three: look for an email marketing service (they're fairly inexpensive) to help you with design and deliverability. To start reaching the up-and-coming generation, think about a presence on Facebook (your company has a page, certainly?) and Twitter. Finally, says Thomas, "I'm a big fan of two-or three-minute videos, your best marketing piece today. Remarkable! They're easy to get to and can reach millions of people. And once the message is out, people forward it and do the marketing for you."

Are there pitfalls to steer clear of, Scott? Well, sure. But the good news is, mistakes won't cost you money. Counsels Thomas, "Don't start it up and then not stick with it. You've got to get people in your company to understand that it's a team effort that they all need to participate in and promote. And you've got to have consistency of content."

Parting words of advice: "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly," Thomas jokes. "It won't cost you anything. Just remember: Today's marketing is about being helpful, not intrusive, and putting constructive information in the places where people go to find it." And that translates to social media.

For inspiration, peek at Parksite's blog at www.parksite.com/blog, tweets at www. twitter.com/parksite, or view videos at www. flickr.com/parksite.

By Cary Zauner,