In an age of RSS feeds, online alerts, search marketing and instantly deliverable digital content we’ve all become pretty much spoiled for choice in terms of the content that we consume. With traditional push style advertising such as banner advertisements that we see whilst we’re walking through town, it’s just so untargeted. But with the world wide web, faster broadband, accessible WIFI hotspots and mobile devices becoming increasingly ubiquitous, we now get to choose what we read, listen to and watch…when it suits us. If you find content that you like and want to receive more of the same, as and when it’s published, join bookmark, setup an alert, subscribe to the RSS feed, join the email list and save yourself time and frustration with old-fashioned print-based media. Ok, perhaps I’m being a little biased and I do still enjoy reading the newsletter and various trade publications but I purchase fewer and consume more online these days than ever before. Yes, that’s right, my personal traditional media consumption budget has shrunk significantly and been re-allocated to digital spending. I have subscribed to my favourite broadsheets with my Android tablet (I’m not an Apple fan, I prefer more customisation from my technology, after all I am the Technical Director of My Trade TV) whilst I’m eating my Granola and sipping my morning coffee.
A lot can change in a year
Since I joined My Trade TV last summer, I have genuinely seen the company go from strength-to-strength. Working alongside Managing Director, Lee Clarke, is a pleasure. Bouncing ideas off of each other with our complimentary skill-sets. Whilst I may have been new to the trades industry when I joined, I have learned the ropes fast if I do say so myself and am noticing the growing trend of more and more forward-thinking trade company Owners, Marketing Directors and Marketing companies alike spending a greater proportion of their budgets in the digital medium. Why is this? Well, for reasons that I explained previously. More and more content consumers are using the Internet. They are seeking and finding content using a wider range of technologies. They are performing these searches at their desk, whilst watching the TV, whilst on holiday, in hotel rooms, in bars, in restaurant, on the train…everywhere! So if your online presence is underrepresented and your news, press releases, videos, podcasts, general musings, special offers and any other marketing collateral isn’t there when your prospects and existing customers search for content like it, then you’re surely at a disadvantage to your competitors? But don’t worry, you can change this and start the process to having a better online presence right now.
Our ethos
The whole ethos My Trade TV is a response to a deficiency in the way that the industry approaches marketing in general. It’s very easy to keep doing things the way you’ve been doing things and to keep plowing money into marketing methods that don’t really create that much of a return on investment (ROI). Lots of the types of traditional advertising that are in decline aren’t measurable as much as digital marketing and advertising is. Where is your money really being spent? Couldn’t you be spending it more effectively, elsewhere?
Game changing
Our philosophy is to evolve the model that we have built and make advertising cost-effective again for the trades industry. There are more opportunities to advertise than ever before. A plethora of ways in which to impart your marketing message, to put your brand out there. Well, people are online, looking for products and services like yours. Is your logo, company colours, video message and contact number there when they’re looking to spend money or are they in an old publication with a declining readership because changing what you’ve always done is scary? We have never taken a hard-sell approach with My Trade TV; our existing happy clients, creative approach, continuous idea incubation and insatiable appetite to bring about a change in the industry are evident to most people we speak to. It sells itself.
When opportunity knocks…
It’s a strange thing to me that a large company could have such a poor looking website. I see this a lot and it always make me wonder why. So I almost always ask and the response is invariably:
Big company “We get all of our work via word of mouth, people aren’t bothered about our website”
Little old me “So why have the website then? Take it down?”
Big company “Oh it’s there in case anyone needs to grab our contact details”
Little old me “Ah I see. So people do use your website? When you turn up to a business meeting are you suited and booted, with a nice, tidy, clean car? But what kind of impression does your website portray?”
Big company “Yes, I see your point. How much for a redesign then? Let’s talk”
Word of mouth…online
So we’ve established that word of mouth is a great way of getting new business in but we can’t solely rely on this to grow business. We can, however, integrate it with online marketing methods to generate more business. What do I mean? Well, Facebook and other social networks can help your happy client testimonials to be shared. You’ve heard of when news or other pertinent knowledge about a company goes viral right? Yes, well Facebook can be like world of mouth on steroids. Take a moment to consider the contradiction that is presented when a business decision maker states that they don’t do anything online because they get most of their business online and they don’t mind punting the whole of their marketing budget on traditional media advertising. The contradiction exists because lots of people, whether they have a good or bad experience with a company, will talk about it more online these days. Think about the essence of what we could call “traditional word of mouth” and how it used to occur. There’s been a distinct change in how world of mouth happens.
