Katrina Olson

Strategic Communications

Taking Risks and Creating Buzz

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By Katrina Olson

This article originally appeared 6/30/2015 as an Exclusive Feature on tedmag.com.

On Monday, June 22, Chevrolet posted a media alert on their social media platforms written entirely in emoji—you know, those emotionally expressive icons used in texting. It was designed to generate buzz for the launch of its compact 2016 Chevrolet Cruze.

The media alert was part of a larger digital/social media campaign featuring Saturday Night Live alum and The Middle star Norm Macdonald in a series of YouTube videos.

The media and Chevrolet’s social media followers are encouraged to decode the message along with Macdonald who has been hired to read the announcement—except he can’t, because it’s written in emoji.

Macdonald enrolls in Emoji Academy where he is trained to read emoji by famous millennials Zendaya (singer/dancer and former star of Disney Channel’s Shake It Up), Jamie Chung (actress and former star of MTV’s The Real World), and Ashley Benson (star of ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars).

On Tuesday, June 23, Macdonald translates the emoji announcement in the fourth video—but not before the unique announcement received lots of play on social media with mentions on usatoday.com, brandchannel.com and finance.yahoo.com. Big news outlets like CNN also covered the campaign.

So, besides emoji language, what can we learn from Chevrolet’s campaign?

When To Take Risks

Chevrolet is a well-established brand with a long history of successful advertising including the “Heartbeat of America,” “Like a Rock,” “Genuine Chevrolet,” and “Chevy Runs Deep” campaigns. These taglines had broad appeal and played on the strength of Chevy as an American brand…rugged, adventurous and tough.

The all-emoji media alert was certainly a departure for the more-than-century-old automaker. It has received lots of play on digital media—and probably more earned media than a traditional news release would have garnered.

Now add Twitter exposure. More than 500 tweets featured the official hashtag, #ChevyGoesEmoji, which generated 9.2 million impressions as of June 30 at 9 a.m. according to keyhole.co.

Chevy also integrated Internet celebrities like YouTuber Tyler Oakley and his 4.3 million Twitter followers. His tweet garnered 1,800 retweets and 8,000 favorites. Macdonald’s Emoji Academy “trainers” Zendaya and Benson also tweeted about their involvement.

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen it yet, the new TV commercial for the Cruze features Oakley and fellow YouTuber, actor and director Julian Smith (“juliansmith87”). You can view it below.


Know Your Audience

You may not know any of these starlets or Internet “celebrities.” And you may not text, use emojis or watch YouTube videos. But those 20-something, compact-car driving, Tumblr-browsing, Buzzfeed-reading millennials certainly do. And they’re the target market for the Chevrolet Cruze emoji campaign.

The Cruze, a huge global seller for Chevy, was built for millennials, with integrated technology including 4G LTE WiFi, Apple Car Play and Android Auto—which makes this campaign so appropriate. It literally speaks to millennials in their own, universal language.

The Cruze has some tough competition like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Volkswagon Jetta. And according to industry insiders, it’s tough to get media attention for new model launches within the auto industry, and especially in mass media. With the #ChevyGoesEmoji campaign, they’ve managed to do both.

Is your brand strong enough to take risks? You may not be able to get away with a news release written entirely in emoji; but what can you do to create buzz for your next product launch?

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Olson is a veteran marketing and public relations consultant. She has written for tED magazine’s print edition since 2005, judged tED magazine’s Best of the Best Competition since 2006, and emceed the Best of the Best Awards ceremony for a total of seven years. Reach her at katrina@katrinaolson.com.

Sharing the Sales/Marketing Love: How to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Departments

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6-10-16 Sales Marketing Love

By Katrina Olson

This article originally appeared June 10, 2016 as an Exclusive Feature on tedmag.com, the digital version of tED Magazine, the trade publication for the electrical distribution industry.

As a longtime marketer, I’ll admit: I’m biased. When I wrote the May 27 tEDmag.com Marketing Momentum article about the “Love-Hate Relationship Between Sales and Marketing,” I intended to follow up with an article about how sales vice presidents and managers need to listen to the marketing people—because they’re the experts.

But in the interest of “balanced reporting,” I interviewed both marketing and sales managers, you know, just to be fair. What I forgot was that in a product- and sales-driven organization, sales must play a significant role in marketing planning and execution because they are in the trenches every day with customers and know them better than anyone in the organization.

But what’s the best way to maneuver the relationship between these two organizations? Which department should take the lead and how will they be managed? The answer is… it depends.

It depends on your corporate culture, management style, leadership, and the talent you have available or are willing to hire—and the CEO or president will most likely decide.

Following are three distinct models that emerged for managing the sales/marketing relationship.

  1. Marketing or sales as driver:
    In this model, one department “drives the bus.” Perhaps the marketing team plans and strategizes, develops campaigns and suggests tactics, some of which the sales team implement. Or, the sales team tells marketing what materials they need and then marketing produces them.Desiree Grace, vice president of sales and marketing for Anamet Electrical, Inc. shared, “Sales needs marketing to provide the right tools at the right time for the right markets. If marketing doesn’t serve sales, you are wasting valuable marketing dollars and not earning the maximum ROI on your investment in collateral, trade shows, etc.”

    Or, perhaps marketing calls the shots as with this (anonymous) Houston-based distributor. “Marketing has only been around as a department for three years. There was unnecessary fear at first, but I’ve found that once you’re able to ‘sell’ a sales person on a marketing initiative (e.g. direct mail, email blasts, e-commerce, promotions, etc.) the first time, they’re usually easier to convince the second and third and so on.”

  2. Sales as a client:
    When I was director of marketing and PR for a large automotive group, I treated the company’s locations—especially the sales departments—as my clients. I advised them, supported them, and learned from them. By asking questions, talking with their customers, and understanding their business model, I could help them be more profitable—just as I had done in my agency days.Most of the time it worked. But sometimes I felt like more of an “order taker” than a strategic marketer—especially when I was creating last-minute print ads or schlepping refreshments for an event.

    As the Houston marketer shared, “I think the biggest disconnect between sales and marketing is that sales assumes marketing folks are simply ‘party planners’ until we can show them all the other strategic initiatives we can help with!”

  3. Sales and marketing as partners:
    From a sales manager: “Our marketing group works very closely with the sales management team to facilitate promotions and sales events. Marketing also plays a key role when introducing new products to our existing customers and potentially new customers through social media and other means.”In this model, two-way communication is essential. Sales can provide valuable market intelligence that helps identify potential clients and helps marketers better understand existing clients’ wants and needs. Sales can also serve as a sounding board for strategies that the marketing team is considering.

    Of course, this requires more cooperation, compromise, and ideally a director or vice president who oversees both departments. And there may be conflict.

As one marketer revealed, “Occasionally the sales team will not give the marketing group sufficient time to order products for upcoming events.” And, “The sales team wants marketing to produce events for customers, but isn’t always willing to help out with the planning and doesn’t adhere to deadlines.”

Another shared, “Sales expects marketing to have an unending supply of giveaway items, especially apparel, without contributing to the budget or realizing that there actually is a budget.”

To address these issues, both sales and marketing should be involved from the beginning so everyone takes ownership of the marketing efforts, knows timelines, and helps implement them.

But, wait. What about those marketing experts? Marketing must still play a major role in the long-term strategy of the business by managing the brand, developing marketing plans and coordinating both internal and external communications.

Want to learn more about this topic, and many other marketing challenges? Register to attend the upcoming NAED AdVenture Marketing Conference in Chicago on August 10-12. Visit naed.org/AdVenture to join us!

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Olson is a marketing and public relations consultant, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She has written for tED magazine’s print edition since 2005, judged tED magazine’s Best of the Best Competition since 2006, and emceed the Best of the Best Awards ceremony for a total of seven years. She can be reached at Katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

Four Ways to Get To Know Your Customers

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 By Katrina Olson

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with one of my clients in person. We had lunch at the famous (if you’re from Illinois or Indiana) Beef House Restaurant near Covington, Indiana. She lives in West Virginia, so over the past several months, we have been communicating by phone, email and text (except for a brief conversation in an elevator at a conference).

Now…I will preface this article by saying that I love digital communication—email, Facebook, texts, What’s App—I’m all in.

But there’s something special about connecting in person that can’t be replicated by digital technology. Dyann and I talked about our kids, our crazy families, animals, friends, hobbies, and so much more I can’t even remember.

We talked business for maybe 10 or 15 minutes—mainly because I asked for her input on my website revamp. We also discussed the upcoming National Association of Electrical Distributors AdVenture Conference in Chicago where we may visit again.

So what’s my point?

It’s easy to send an email, set up a Skype call, text, or Facebook message your friends, associates, or clients. But don’t do so at the expense of face-to-face interaction.

Social media is a convenient and efficient way to build relationships en masse—especially for marketing purposes. But if you really want to get to know someone, meet them in person.

When it comes to your clients, here are a few ways you can “connect” with your customers in person:

1.  Host a Customer Advisory Council.

I recently facilitated one of these for a client. They had been hosting these one-and-a-half-day, focus group style customer meetings for about ten years, but only recently started using an outside facilitator. You’d be surprised what you’d learn when you buy them dinner, out them up in a nice hotel, and put them in a room with someone who truly wants to know what they think.

2.  Meet up at conferences.

You’re already there! Take advantage of the opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper level and maybe discuss opportunities, plan for the future or work on a project.

3.  Conduct live research.

Are you considering offering a new product or service? Before you go to the expense and trouble of launching, host a focus group to find out what your customers really want. I recently conducted two focus groups for a non-profit, youth services organization, and it changed the way they planned to offer a new service.

If your launching a product, let them try out and see how they like it. Watch them, ask questions, and take copious notes. Let them ask you questions. And while you have them, ask about existing services, too!

4.  Get the team together.

Do you have a geographically distributed workforce? How often do you get the department heads or managers together to plan, strategize and share best practices? What? Never? Consider inviting key personnel to one of your locations for a combined workshop and planning session. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new and learn from each other.

Worth The Investment

Of course, it’s more difficult, expensive and time-consuming to arrange in-person meetings. But your customers will share things in person that they may not divulge in an email or text—especially if they can do so anonymously (which is why it’s important to use an outside facilitator). I’ve seen this feedback actually change the way companies do business.

Also people (especially for marketing people), are stimulated and energized by interacting in person. Creative people tend to feed off of each others’ ideas and energy. They’ll come up with solutions and strategies they would have never come up with working individually—especially when they’re trying to solve  common problem or issue.

The Original Social Media

Sometimes my kids will ask if we have fruit snacks—you know, those chewy, rubbery blobs that come in the shape of animals or cartoon characters? And I tell them, “No, why don’t you have the original fruit snack?” (a.k.a. a banana or apple).

Again, I love digital and social media; I work with it daily. But sometimes, you need to use the “original social media.”

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Katrina Olson is an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director, marketing and public relations consultant, freelance writer, content developer, trainer/coach, former college professor, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She can be reached at katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

The Love-Hate Relationship Between Sales and Marketing

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By Katrina Olson

Sales and marketing are a lot like siblings. You have to get along because you live together; but sometimes you don’t like each other. You’re competing for attention, money, and love from your parents…or in this case, the president or CEO.

You know, intellectually, that things will go more smoothly if you work together, but you still argue and pick on each other. Similarly, sales and marketing departments sometimes find themselves at odds. Why?

  1. A difference in goals. A marketer’s goal is to think longer-term to position the company and build the brand. Of course, you’re also there to support the sales team with shorter-term promotions, events and materials, along with shorter-term sales goals.
  2. Lack of c-suite support. Both disciplines need the full support of upper management.  Does marketing support sales or does sales support marketing? Does it matter? The answer is neither and both. And it depends on the corporate culture and structure. Ideally, they’ll work side by side under a common supervisor.
  3. Lack of communication and coordinated planning. When sales and marketing work together to strategically plan the year’s activities, their goals will align, they will communicate similar or complementary messages, and budgets will be distributed equitably from the beginning, eliminating misunderstandings or turn battles later in the year.

So what’s the solution?

Andrea Barrall, director of marketing for New Jersey-based distributor Turtle & Hughes is, overall, very satisfied with how the company’s sales team, marketing staff and branch managers work together to plan and execute training workshops, counter days, and off-site events.

She sees marketing as an extension of sales. “Marketing should do everything it can to support the sales team attract new customers and nurture relationships with current customers. Without our sales teams and their customers, we would be out of business. But it’s also important for sales to be the voice of the customer, and share their needs.”

Barrall notes that sales also must share information. “The sales team sees information about their customers as proprietary and are not all willing to share in order to build a comprehensive database. Sales must view marketing as a support team and not simply overhead that their efforts support.”

OSRAM SYLVANIA Trade Marketing Manager Sarah Eastman enjoys a similar relationship with her sales team. “Members of the sales team are my customers. I develop tools for them to sell more products and collaborate with them. They give me direct feedback from their customers, which I in turn use to tailor our marketing efforts. The sales team also invites me to participate on client calls, and they connect me with marketing contacts at our customers.”

Eastman feels sales and marketing should work together to brainstorm new marketing ideas, communicate with customers, and develop programs to support those customers. “Marketing in a vacuum isn’t going to help anyone. No one can be successful.”

This issue often comes up when I’m talking with marketing people; and I’m sure it’s discussed among salespeople as well. So ask yourself, “What can I do to improve relations between sales and marketing?

Salespeople, are you asking for what you need? Marketing, are you listening to what salespeople want? Are you getting and using available resources to improve the company’s overall effort? If you answered no to any of these question, maybe it’s time for a change.

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Olson is a marketing and public relations consultant, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. This article originally appeared 5/27/2016 on tedmag.com. Olson has written for tED magazine’s print edition since 2005, judged tED magazine’s Best of the Best Competition since 2006, and emceed the Best of the Best Awards ceremony for a total of seven years. She can be reached at Katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

Can you handle the truth? What are your customers really thinking?

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By Katrina Olson

Have you ever received a “customer service” phone call following an appointment with a service provider? I have; and I could tell by the caller’s tone that they were working a list—calling because they had to. They didn’t really want to hear what I had to say.

I know this because both times I received calls, I had medical conditions that needed attention. One time, I was told to call back and make an appointment. The other time, I was told it was probably nothing to worry about and to wait a few days. (It was something to worry about.)

So what’s the point of the follow up call, if you’re not prepared to do anything?

I guess you could not bother calling at all; but these statistics suggest that’s not a good idea:

  • 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain; however 91% of those will simply leave and never come back. – 1st Financial Training Services
  • A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. – White House Office of Consumer Affairs
  • Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell 4-6 people about their experience. – White House Office of Consumer Affairs
  • 94% of customers do not want to be transferred to another representative more than once. – Mobius Poll 2002
  • It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. – “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

You need a plan for handling complaints.

If you make follow-up calls or suggest customers call you with questions or concerns, you need a plan to address those issues or concerns. Some options are:

  • Appoint a dedicated customer service representative who is responsible for working with the appropriate department or manager to act on the problem.
  • Immediately forward customers who have issues to the appropriate manager with the authority and means to address the concern.
  • Establish standard remedies for specific issues that the person calling customers can address on the spot.
  • Empower the person calling to deal with issues and make judgments about appropriate remedies.

Look at it this way. Every complaint is an opportunity to make a customer for life—if handled properly. And it’s an opportunity to improve the way you do business—especially if you continue to hear the same complaints.

Do you really know what your customers think?

If not, maybe it’s time you asked! Make follow up calls; then act on the feedback. Periodically survey your customers. Or provide customers an easy and convenient way to give you feedback—a phone number to call or text, a website or an email to log complaints.

If you’re looking for a more in-depth method of soliciting customer feedback, host a customer focus group or form a customer advisory council. I recently conducted three focus groups for two different clients who wanted candid feedback about their business. Both were well attended and we gained a wealth of information that will greatly affect how each company conducts business in the future.

If you’d like to learn what your customer are thinking, call me at 217-721-1679 or email Katrina@KatrinaOlson.com. I’d love to help you find out!

Katrina Olson is an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director, marketing and public relations consultant, freelance writer, content developer, trainer/coach, former college professor, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She can be reached at katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

How to Craft Compelling Marketing Messages

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By Katrina Olson

This article originally appeared May 5, 2016 as an Exclusive Feature on tedmag.com, the digital version of tED Magazine, the trade publication for the electrical distribution industry.

Last week, three other judges and I looked at roughly 300 entries for tED Magazine’s Best of the Best Marketing Competition. Many of them had several components including print ads, social media posts, logos, signs and branded trucks, and websites. We carefully reviewed the entries’ goals, strategies and outcomes to gauge success.

And once again, we were reminded of the expertise and energy marketers put into researching, planning and implementing these comprehensive efforts. But we also noticed that many efforts fell down when it came to the basics of creating and communicating a message.

In the busy-ness of our everyday jobs, it’s easy to just keep doing what we’ve always done. But Best of the Best is about recognizing those who went beyond what they’ve always done. It recognizes those who try a new approach, takes risks and ultimately, rise above the competition.

For example, one entry made us laugh out loud. Another gave us goose bumps. Did they win? Yes—because we assumed they had a similar effect on the intended audience. Of course, we considered their strategy and results. But all other things being equal or at least comparable, the execution elevated their entries to “winner.”

Yes, it’s too late to change last year’s marketing for this year’s competition. But as you’re working on your 2016 marketing efforts, pay special attention to the following.

Write compelling headlines.
A product name is not a headline—neither is a company name, market sector or product category. Headlines are statements that capture attention by communicating a benefit, intriguing the reader, or otherwise drawing them in with a promise of benefits in the copy.

The headline is the first thing your target audience will read—you know, the stuff about how long you’ve been in business, how rso make it count.

Write customer-focused copy.
The number of times “you” and “your” is used should greatly outnumber the times you use “we,” “us” and “our.” Ditch the “brag and boast”—you know, the stuff about how long you’ve been in business, how reliable and trusted you are, or how you really care about the customer. Very few people care. Customers want to know, “What’s in it for me?” Tell them.

Also, carefully proofread your materials for typos, spelling and grammatical errors and punctuation.

Write about benefits, not features.
A feature is a characteristic or quality of the product; the benefit is what that feature does for the customer. Does it save them time or money? Does it make their job easier? Does it reduce labor or eliminate down time?

Many entries talked about features, not benefits. And it hurt their scores, often knocking them out of the running for an award.

Create truly “integrated” campaigns.
When you’re developing an integrated marketing campaign, think about more than the various media. Tie all of the elements together with a common look, feel, color scheme, imagery and wording.

Also, quantity does not make a campaign. In other words, submitting a year’s worth of ads or social media posts does not constitute a campaign.

Advice for those who supervise creative people.
Give the creative team the research and direction; then let the copywriters write and the graphic designers design. Trust them and don’t micromanage the creative process. Also, trying to write or design by committee almost always yields a mediocre result.

We’ve come a long way…but let’s keep moving.
I remember when strategy statements read like ad copy and simply explained the product. Now we’re seeing research, goals, objectives, target audiences and meaningful metrics. And this year, several companies stepped up their game with fully integrated executions with consistent themes and creative concepts. And categories like social/digital media, video and branding have grown significantly.

Let’s keep moving forward!

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Olson is a marketing and public relations consultant, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She has written for tED magazine’s print edition since 2005, judged tED magazine’s Best of the Best Competition since 2006, and emceed the Best of the Best Awards ceremony for a total of seven years. She can be reached at Katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

Proofreading Tips, Tricks and Lists

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By Katrina Olson

We’ve all had that sinking feeling. You’re looking at your printed brochure or poster, and there it is, staring at you—a big, ugly, glaring typo.

You can’t believe you didn’t see it earlier. You’ve looked at it probably 20 times. But somehow you missed it.

In this age of texting and Facebook messaging, typos don’t seem like that big of a deal. But good grammar, writing, spelling, punctuation and word choice still matter to a lot of people—like your bosses, your customers, and your prospects.

Mistakes make you look uneducated, unprofessional, careless, lazy—or all of the above. To avoid being embarrassed and losing credibility, you need to know the three types of proofreading.

There are three types of proofreading? What?!

Yes, there are at least three—and that’s after you’ve edited for content, clarity, flow, style and transitions.

Proofreading is about correctness and accuracy. To be thorough, you should make at least three passes—one for each type of proofreading listed below.

  1. Content Proofreading

Check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, style and capitalization—all those errors we typically look for when proofreading. If you’re at all unsure about a word or phrase, look it up. You may have been spelling a word wrong your entire life because you never bothered to check.

  1. Format Proofreading

Review the document to make sure that all headers, subheads and copy are in the proper style, point size, font, etc. Check for consistent indentation and line spacing. Also, make sure any bullets and numbers are consistently spaced and indented. Check the table of contents against the actual page numbers.

  1. Comparison Proofreading

Comparison proofreading may involve comparing the document with a marked-up version that someone previously edited or proofread—or comparing the document against another document to make sure they’re identical.

Following are a few tips and checklists to help keep your writing error-free!

Tips for Effective Proofreading

  • Find a nice, quiet, clutter-free place to proofread.
  • Keep your style guide and dictionary (or computer) handy.
  • Have someone else proofread your work, and proofread theirs in return.
  • Proofread a hard copy; it’s easier to spot errors.
  • Use standard proofreader’s marks so there’s no misunderstanding.
  • When proofreading for spelling, read the document backwards.
  • Read the document aloud, reading contractions as two words to catch potential errors.
  • Allow plenty of time; don’t wait until the last minute to write, edit or proofread.
  • Know what errors you commonly make and search for them specifically.
  • Don’t rely on spelling check and grammar check in Word. It won’t catch homophones and words that are used incorrectly, but spelled correctly. (Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently.)

Proofreader’s Checklist

  • Check the headers and footers.
  • Check the bullets to make sure they align properly.
  • Check for boldface and italics.
  • Check the font style and sizes.
  • Check all headlines.
  • Check photo captions.
  • Check all attributions.
  • Check for proper indentation throughout.
  • Check for consistent line spacing.
  • Spell out numbers in heads and at the beginning of sentences.
  • Make sure teasers and page numbers are accurate.
  • Make sure numbering in lists is accurate.

Common Errors

  • it’s, its
  • your, you’re and you
  • there, they’re and their
  • to, too and two
  • on, or, of, off
  • in, is, if, it
  • lose and loose
  • then, than, that
  • and, an
  • along, alone

Recently I worked on a quick-turnaround brochure for a client. She and I had read, edited and proofread the copy more than a few times. Right before it was to go to the printer, I suggested we have someone else proofread it. Of course, our proofreader found a typo.

The moral of this story (and this article) is: “Proofread at least three times. Then have someone who has never seen the document proofread it once more.”

You may never produce a completely error-free document or marketing piece, but it’s a worthy goal.

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Katrina Olson is an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director, marketing and public relations consultant, freelance writer, content developer, trainer/coach, former college professor, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She can be reached at katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com.

News Release/Publicity

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Building a Sustainable Future with Connexion and Eaton

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In a competitive, metropolitan market, Chicago-based electrical distributor Connexion needed a unique marketing position to carve out their niche. But sustainability isn’t part of a marketing ploy, it’s one of their core values. This new partnership with Eaton enabled the company to further expand their energy conservation capabilities and services for large industrial markets and deliver energy savings to businesses throughout the United States.

Feature Story

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Telling others’ stories for NAED

Screen Shot 2016-04-27 at 11.43.58 PMAfter having my first child at 36. I had no more energy for agency work. Fortunately, I was introduced to the National Association of Electrical Distributors by a neighbor. That was 2003—and I’ve been writing for them ever since. Early on, I wrote a lot of interview-based feature stories. Some people were famous-ish; others, not so much. But I loved telling their stories.

 

 

7 Ways to Learn More About Your Customers

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By Katrina Olson

This article originally appeared on tedmag.com on April 22, 2016.

At last year’s NAED AdVenture marketing conference, a whopping 60 percent of attendees were female, and approximately 43 percent were under age 36.

Contrast that with the demographics of electrical contractors.

The average age of the electrical contractor is 56.2, according to Electrical Contractor magazine’s 2014 Profile of the Electrical Contractor. And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that women hold only one percent of all electrician jobs, according to 2009 Census data.

“How do I market to people who are very different from me?”

A good marketer gets to know their customers, inside and out—who they are, what keeps them up at night, and how they make decisions. By understanding customers’ concerns, buying habits, attitudes, preferences and behaviors, you’ll get a feel for what kinds of media and messages they’ll respond to. Along the way, you’ll also learn about trends in their businesses and industry.

“How do I learn more about my customers?”

Following are seven ways you can find out what makes your customers tick. Some are pretty easy; others are more involved. But all should yield valuable insights..

1. Read your customers’ trade publications.

Most industries have trade association and publications. Health Facilities Management, Facilities Manger, Facility Management Decisions, Electrical Contractor, and Buildings and Electrical Contractor are just a few.

2. Join online groups.

Is there a LinkedIn group or social media platform where your customers and prospects hang out? Observe without participating or commenting to learn what’s important to them.

3. Ask your salespeople.

If you can’t talk directly to customers, talk to those who do. Counter staff, inside sales, outside sales, and customer service representatives can give you insight into what your customers care about.

4. Attend company events.

Get out from behind your desk or computer and attend counter days, workshops, training sessions, and other opportunities to get to know your customers. Try to uncover your customers’ hot buttons and pain points.

5. Contact customers directly.

Call or email some of your key customers and ask specific questions—like how they want to learn about new products and services. Or take them out to lunch. Explain that you want to better understand their business so you can better serve them.

6. Conduct a short survey.

Curious about what media your customers are consuming? Want to know what social media platforms they’re using? Wondering how much they use their smartphones? Ask them!

7. Host a focus group or customer advisory council.

To get honest feedback about what your customers think, conduct a focus group or establish a customer advisory council that meets every year. Rotate members out every few years to get fresh perspectives. (To make sure you get candid comments, hire an outside facilitator and leave the room.)

How can I apply this knowledge to be a better marketer?

Here’s an example. The electrical contractor’s role is evolving as they become more heavily involved in design and specification. Also, building systems are becoming more integrated and interdependent, using data hubs that communicate with each other. All systems are tied together; so all the products must be compatible with each other.

As a result, electrical contractors may look to you for comprehensive solutions, not just individual products. Electrical contractors will also rely more heavily on the electrical distributor’s expertise to help them choose the right products for both new and existing systems.

This knowledge should change the way you position and brand your company, and the way your salespeople are trained, too. Instead of just selling and marketing products, you’re marketing your staff’s expertise and product knowledge.

The trick is putting yourself in your customer’s and prospect’s shoes. That means not just understanding their wants and needs—but speaking their language. That takes a little more practice. But the more research you do, the easier it gets.

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Olson is a marketing and public relations consultant, and principal of Katrina Olson Strategic Communications. She has written for tED magazine’s print edition since 2005, judged tED magazine’s Best of the Best Competition since 2006, and emceed the Best of the Best Awards ceremony for a total of seven years. She can be reached at Katrina@katrinaolson.com or via her website at katrinaolson.com