Marketing For Non-Sexy Industries

Heavy machinery, engineering jargon, niche markets, kind of unknown products...

It is not an easy task for a marketer or a communication person to get the attention of the media or of the public when the product or the industry is everything but sexy. Right?! If you feel represented, trust me, you are not the only one struggling with it. But, what are you doing to make your content more interesting?

It does not help just giving up and falling into the trap of thinking that your brand is too boring or too traditional. 

Remember even in the weirdest industries, 

there is an audience waiting for information 

and getting ready to make a purchase. 

 Make it happen. 

Be brave, take risks.

 

8 Marketing tips for challenging industries: 

1. Share useful content: Remember the content main goal is to inform, educate and entertain. You should give your customers what they actually need (not just what you want to share or -better to say, to sell).
2. Make the content appealing: the content should be interesting and relevant but, please, do not forget using the right font, good layout, and the visuals. There are so many channels and tools out there, that you can try new things even at low cost. No excuses.
3. Focus on one topic at the time: The more common mistake when writing about a product that is not that "sexy", is that you try to say too much. Just visualize for a second a brochure with too much text and too many pictures, well you know the feeling...Forget to try to speak about everything. That will not increase your blog readership, either. Instead, focus on main points.
4. Write for a wider audience: rather than writing from engineers to engineers, (sorry for my honest example), try to make your topic more interesting for other people. Forget that technical jargon. It is not making you look as an expert or smarter. This is very relevant if you want your content to be shared on different channels. If more people understand your content, you will have more readers and therefore, more chances to get shares, likes, and comments. This approach will help you when working with the media, too. A journalist will not write about something that is too difficult to understand or that needs many hours to get deciphered. Keep it simple.
5. Stop measuring a number of readers (or likes); focus instead on quality leads: I know you think I am contradicting myself but, my point here is that you need to get more readers, but a number of readers does not guarantee the sell. You need to create content that will attract the buyers, too. A funny picture can get thousands of likes, however, they are not buying your product. 
6. Stop selling or advertising: Nobody wants to read a blog post that is only an advertising in plain text. What about talking about cases or examples in which those benefits are shown? Don't push your products. Make your customers discover the benefits between the lines of your stories.
7. Make your employees your ambassadors: If you are running out of ideas why not to talk to your own people. They can help you finding great ideas, new perspectives, new topics and why not, they can help you creating the content. What about getting a great picture from your factory, or the story behind the guy who creates your latest hit... Your company is not only about selling products, there is much more happening inside the organization. Share it! 
8. Track the results: You have the chance to try many things, but the only way to know if those have an effect on your results is by measuring. You can measure the changes to the sell, the reach of your stories, the media coverage, changes to the brand awareness, etc. Decide the measurement tools according to your goal.  

The Corporate Strategy: A Company Secret?

Defining your company strategy is the key to your company success. However, keeping this information to yourself or sharing this to an exclusive circle does not help your organization much. If you believe that your company strategy is a Board of Directors' secret, think twice. Sharing your strategy among your employees is vital for its implementation.
 

Strategy in changing organizations

Companies face multiple situations during their life-cycle. Companies go up and down, celebrate good times and confront adversity. Whatever the situation your company is facing right now, make sure that your employees know well the direction they need to go next. 

Having a solid knowledge of the company strategy will make the employee’s journey easier than without knowing about it. This is even more important when your company is facing changing situations such as grows or expansion as well as reorganizations. If your employees know well where they are going to and what do they stand for they do not need to speculate. They will be able to make decisions by themselves, prioritize and focus on the things that really matter.

  

One of the main goals of communicating your strategy is making your employees part of it. In this way, they will care more about the company and the job they do. 

Communicating your strategy 

 

If you have not communicated yet, go for it, plan a meeting with all your employees to talk about it. Articulate a clear and compelling message about the future of the organization. You can start talking about your company’s current status and continue with the future possibilities. Remember to respect the hard work they have done in the past and appreciate their old achievements. Invite them to move forward. Remember, there will be people who are not ready for changes, so be patient and constant. 

When planning your message, create an inspiring message that is easy to relate to and to understand by your audience. Identify the most appropriate channels to share the message across the organization and to reinforce the message often. Emphasize your company values. Remember that one meeting is not enough. You need to communicate your strategy often.

The way you communicate your strategy has a real impact on you employees’ behavior and commitment. Use the right message to inspire, motivate, and engage. In addition to letting your employees know where the company is going to, make sure that you have clear plans on how to go there.

Employer Branding Has No Holidays

Each company, from startups to corporations, should invest in creating the right perception of their organization. It is not only about creating catching recruitment ads or paying the highest salaries in the market; it is more about taking care of the diverse processes which involve the company and the employee even before this person is hired.  

Summer employees, an investment. 

At least in Finland, summer employees are common figures in many organizations. They come to substitutes some people and to help when the regular employees are taking their annual leaves.

We know that a summer job is a great opportunity for any employee to gain experience and develops his/her skills. For the company, this is a fantastic chance to create the "right employee for the future" and to show them all the opportunities they might have in the organization. But, what happens when the summer employees are abandoned on the new role? Or when the induction is poor because “they will be working for us only couple of months”?

Well, the truth is that employer branding has no summer holidays. Keep in mind that if you decide to take an employee to help you during the summer, you need to be committed to take care of this person. If things work well, the employee might want to stay in your organization, might get very motivated to continue developing his/her skills and even recommend this place to his/her school classmate and friends. However, if things are handled poorly during this period, the employee's results might be unsuccessful and he/she might not be willing to come back to the company. You all are losing your time (and your money).

Taking care of your employees: 

If you are having summer employees this year, remember these basic things to consider when the person comes to the company: 

- Prepare the initial paper work. Make sure that your employee has the contract, work permissions and all the documents that are needed to start the job.

- Arrange the tools which are needed for the role e.g. a working place or desk, computer with proper software, office keys, ID cards, uniforms, safety equipment, appropriate clothes, cellphone, etc.

- Arrange the appropriate orientation for the hires. In addition to the proper training related to the job, you should have some training on the company and the industry. Remember to show the place where this person is going to work and introduce him/her to the team and other units. If you are counting on somebody to take care of the training, you need to make sure that this person is available during the summer or at least during a reasonable amount of time. List the things the new employee needs to learn and schedule the training. Remember to let some "extra air" just in case the training takes longer than expected. Based on my own experience, I recommend you to plan some "training review" few weeks after the initial training in case the employee has some questions or doubts. You cannot digest all the information at once.  

- Describe the role clearly and agree together on the tasks and goals. Especially if you are having young employees who are working for first time, you might want to offer some structure to the job. It will be useful to clearly share what does this person need to do, when does he/she need to get it ready, as well as how the results are going to be measured. If needed, define the processes and tools that employees should use to get the job done. 

- Make sure that you deliver the information to the other units, too. This might be very useful if for example, you need to get email accounts open by another team and salary payed on time. 

- Offer the right challenges to the right people and if your summer employee develops quickly, remember to offer tasks in which he/she can develop even more. For many students, the point of getting a summer job is to find out their real interests and passions, to learn more, and to develop their skills. If the job is not challenge enough, they might move forward to another role just after the summer. 

- If you find the diamond, try to keep it. If you have the resources and the need to hire somebody after the summer period, make sure you are retaining the top talent on time. Do not wait until the last minute to inform him/her that you want him/her to continue. You just invested your time and your money, so make the most of it.

-  If you need to let go your summer employees, prepare suitable exit programs which will give the best impression of your company. It is recommended to have exit interviews with your employees. You can get constructive feedback to develop your processes in the future. Make sure that you deliver all the documentation needed for the exit such as payments receipts and certifications. 

- Remember to communicate often. Make sure that things a clear and this person receives support during this working period.