When the pandemic struck, office technology dealers (like many industries) incorporated belt-tightening initiatives that ranged from conservative to draconian. Keeping everyone employed quickly became mission one, which meant that certain expenditures would need to be rolled back. In many instances, marketing was one of the departments that saw investments reduced.
In the years following 2020, the marketing activities at some dealerships have been consolidated or farmed out to third-party providers. For those that maintain their own operations, creativity became essential in ensuring dealers could get the most bang out of their marketing spend. As part of this month’s State of the Industry report on the symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing, we asked our panel to share the tools, partnerships and software that have helped augment both their inbound and outbound efforts.
Datamax, with headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, and offices in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, continues to garner best practices and stay attuned to the tactics that other high-performing companies are employing. Marketing Communications Manager Jeff Walker attended INBOUND 2023, while Vice President of Marketing Robert Caldwell checked in to the Copier Dealers Association Marketing Summit. Caldwell was able to reap valuable content from recognized industry leaders including Keven Ellison from AIS in Las Vegas (see below) and Chris Williams from Denver-based All Copy Products.
One of the tools Datamax employs is the SEMrush keyword manager and keyword magic tools, which are optimal for organizing keywords and producing content. SEMrush also offers an audit on its website that enables users to track and ensure optimal health.
“According to SEMrush, the top 10 percent of websites have a 92% site health rate, and both our sites have been at 93 and 94, even though they are older website platforms,” Caldwell noted. “In the case that we do need outside technical support or engineering, we’ve used UpWork to find individuals who have the expertise, and that’s been very successful. Recently, we had some website optimization work done to help improve our Lighthouse score for mobile performance.”
Marketing Automation
Another service provider that’s constantly ferreting out the newest and best marketing tools is Impact Networking of Lake Forest, Illinois. According to Karlee Travis, CMO, the company switched its marketing automation software from Marketo to HubSpot back in 2021 to glean a more user-friendly platform. It’s been a boon in helping to segment Impact’s audiences and gain a clearer picture through the data it provides on the audience.
“That was one of our biggest successes this past year,” she said. “The last thing we want to do is email our entire database. We’ve had much success with segmenting the lists; we can see if someone has clicked on our managed IT page or maybe one of our blogs on that topic. That allows us to market to the audience’s interest versus blanket emailing everyone.”
A second tool Travis & Co. have leveraged is ZoomInfo, a B2B vehicle for connecting marketers with interested buyers. Within the platform is a feature called Scoops, which provides insights into the topics that different companies are discussing. These actionable intelligence leads paint a picture of the challenges and pain points being experienced in various sectors.
“For an industry like manufacturing, we can see if supply chain issues are high on their list or if they’re focusing on the labor shortage,” Travis added. “Then we can speak to those points in real-time via email or a paid media campaign.”
Trade partnerships with professional sports teams has been a beneficial tactic for Woodhull LLC of Springboro, Ohio. Robert Woodhull, the company’s marketing director, believes swapping copiers for billboards is an effective tool for moving around assets to benefit the department. Google ads and the analytics gleaned from them is particularly beneficial in guiding sales reps’ activity.
“If the highest click-through rate is for ads or keyword searches that contain IT services, we need to lead with that when we go into accounts,” he said. “Maybe digital scanning services is second-highest. Regardless, it’s important to help drive the sales team’s priorities.”
Building Community Trust
One of the more tried-and-true marketing enhancements has nothing to do with software or third-party engagements. Applied Innovation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, falls back on the 12 elements of Applied Chemistry, its cultural guideposts, one of which is community involvement. Hosting events such as Casino Royale, which benefits the Children’s Healing Center, not only supports a worthy cause but also fosters trust within the community, according to Alex Moran, marketing director.
“Now that things are getting back to normal, these events will continue. They’ve really generated a lot of excitement, and you can tell that it’s something that was missed,” Moran said. “Our digital initiatives and product marketing tactics have been great at expanding our inbound marketing. However, nothing can replace physically showing up in our communities. Being present and showing our support builds trust the fastest with your audience. It makes a huge difference.”
The aforementioned Ellison of AIS in Las Vegas notes his company seeks to keep its marketing technology to a bare minimum, leveraging many of the tools that Google and Microsoft provide for free. His department’s tech stack consists of the following applications:
- HubSpot (website, leads, and business intelligence)
- Birdeye (review management)
- SEMrush (SEO and content creation)
- Yext (online listing management and distribution)
- Tubebuddy (video analytics and content creation)
- Rev.com (video translation and captioning)
- Wistia and YouTube (video hosting)
- CEO Juice (emails, customer surveys, and Net Promoter Score)
- Vidyard (one-to-one videos)
- MPS Toolbox (online store)
- Lucky Orange (online store analytics)
- Shopify (online store management)
AIS is also vetting sales management tools to help reps with follow-ups and cadence for outbound communications and inbound follow-ups. “The sooner we get our departments working as one, this list will grow as we are integrated with many of the sales tools and platforms for them to work together,” Ellison said. “Finally, we are watching the developments in AI to see how this could be used in the development of future marketing campaigns, content and customer service.”
