The E / Digital Marketing Distribution Craze

Recently I’ve talked to a number of distributors who only want to talk about their desire (they say “need”) to develop a social marketing initiative and/or an app.  The sense is that since others have apps, they need one; since others have a Twitter feed, they need one; that everyone uses email, hence all must be searching for product and ordering online; since millions of iPads have been sold, they need an iPad app (and while they are at it, they should develop a smartphone app), etc…

Which begs the question, do we know what the customer wants? Are all contractors only looking for information and tools via e?

Don’t get me wrong, there is a role for social marketing as well as a role for electronic business tools.  The questions are “what are your customers looking for?”, “what are you trying to achieve”, “what can you afford?” and “how will it be managed?” to name a few.

There are distributors who have very good smartphone / iPad apps.  A few that come to mind are (and they are available on iTunes):

• Elliott Electric (nice bar code reading capability to order products)
• Platt Electric also offers an app with bar code capabilities. (Could Rexel be looking to emulate this?) and showcases 170 apps on its website!
• Summit Electric (which reportedly has had over 5,000 downloads) and
• Leff Electric (nice app that simple gets the job done).
• Mike Holt has identified some contractor-oriented apps and is planning to recommend them on his site, and
• a number of manufacturers have also developed apps
• and don’t forget Grainger’s new app.

But what are your customers using (and how does this differ between contractors and industrial end-users)?

And a number of distributors have mentioned an upcoming Eclipse iPad app but they don’t know the features, what they’ll need to do to integrate it with their system, what content the system will pull from (product info) and how they can customize it to differentiate themselves vs local competition. (and we presume Infor has a similar offering either out or coming shortly)

Aside from apps, a number of companies are using Twitter, albeit it is mostly for information sharing (some are using it for product promotions / specials); Facebook is an enigma for many (what does “liking” you really mean!)

And then we have those who want to advertise online but don’t know where.

So, what does all this mean?

E-marketing (or communications) / social marketing / digital marketing does have a place in an overall marketing strategy, however, it does not replace a marketing strategy.  The “old” concept of integrated marketing communications is still relevant.  You need to break through the clutter.  And most importantly, just because e-communications, individually, may be cost effective and trendy, it requires consistency and potentially a different skill set.

What are your thoughts on e-marketing and social marketing? (and if you have an app or knowing of some “good” ones, please share.)

And, with a blatant commercial message … to help distributors better understand their customers’ e-interests, CMG has developed a e-marketing survey that can be sent to customers.  If you are interested, give us a call or email us.