by kitzmillermedia | Jun 14, 2017 | Commercial Furniture, Email Marketing
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]After working in the office furniture industry for over 5 years I found email was one of the most effective way to keep key audiences informed, engaged and entertained. Somewhere along the line email may have gotten a bad rap, but the numbers don’t lie. Email outperforms social media engagement 3 to 1 and delivers an ROI of $38 for every dollar spent when compared to other forms of advertising.
The trick is to send no more than once a month and to an audience who is already acquainted with your brand. Here are 6 proven ways office furniture businesses can leverage the power of email.
Client retention
It’s more affordable and way more profitable to keep the clients you have than it is to acquire new leads. In the case of office furniture, keeping the A&D community, brokers and project managers engaged on a regular basis will net you more referrals, more leads, more RFP opportunities and more brand authority.
In an industry where businesses often turn to other dealers or rep groups for office furniture, it’s important to stay top of mind. Being the incumbent office furniture provider does not make you immune to change. Email gives businesses an opportunity to not only stay in touch, but to share your expertise, knowledge and resources with clients. It builds trust which leads to loyalty.
Product announcements
The industry loves a good product shot. Whether it’s fresh off the floor from NeoCon or a beautiful client installation, innovative new product photography is always a head turner.
With manufactures introducing new products or innovations all the time, email allows you to send product alerts to your clients, the A&D community, project managers and interior designers. Pretty soon you will be known as the best place to learn about exciting new products. With email you can include image galleries, animations, links and downloads to products you represent.
New projects
After reviewing hundreds of email activity reports from numerous office furniture clients I’ve discovered project photos and case studies are quite popular among key audiences. As new projects come on board you would obviously add the best shots to your website, but how do you let your audiences know about them?
Email makes a great platform for announcing the installation of a new project. Include several stunning photos, a snippet of the project description a link to project page on your website and you’re good to go. Don’t just assume people are visiting your site to see the latest project. You need to let them know.
Company culture
In the office furniture industry, the team or the about page is one of the most popular pages on a client’s website. We’re naturally curious about who we’re working with, for obvious reasons. Seeing smiling faces at BBQ’s and ballgames humanizes the experience.
Email is a great medium for sharing a company’s story. There is so much happening inside an office that isn’t actually work. From office pranks to babies to bowling trophies, the workplace is filled with interesting stories that your audiences will relate to.
Special events
The office furniture industry loves to mingle. From networking events to NeoCon to Denver’s own BestAwards, there is always something going on. If your business is headlining, sponsoring or just attending, it’s a good idea to let your audiences know about the event. Email makes is super easy to update your list with key information and even post-event photos. If your business is hosting an event, email is also a great way to request RSVPs.
Email looks good
Today’s email technology can help us create wonderful looking emails with logos, galleries, buttons and animations. Email is a great extension of a brand and provides continuity of color, style, imagery and message. A good looking email campaign gets noticed and shared.
Email also has the capability to look great on desktops and mobile platforms alike by scaling to match the screen size. As I mentioned earlier, aesthetics are an important qualifier for the office furniture industry and when audiences notice your email is just as good looking as your website, the wow factor really kicks in.
You have a lot of options when it comes to email so naturally, you probably have a lot of questions. Call or send me a message and I can share some examples with you and answer any questions you might have. Thanks for reading![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” enable_gradient=”true” color_overlay=”rgba(30,115,190,0.11)” color_overlay_2=”rgba(238,238,34,0.11)” gradient_direction=”left_t_to_right_b” overlay_strength=”0.8″][vc_column column_padding=”padding-4-percent” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]
[icon color=”Accent-Color” animation_speed=”Slow” size=”small” icon_size=”” animation_delay=”” image=”icon-check”]Commercial Furniture Marketing & Website Design
Increase leads, market share and brand equity with a mobile-friendly website designed specifically for your commercial office furniture business.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
by kitzmillermedia | Jul 1, 2016 | Commercial Furniture, Email Marketing, Websites
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]I have worked with dozens of commercial and residential furniture dealers, rep groups, and manufacturers over the past decade. It’s a highly competitive landscape where a company’s reputation can make all the difference in the world.
If you want penetration into a marketplace and a brand that is memorable, you will need to engage in a couple of key marketing efforts. In a crowded marketplace, having a consistent message and an ongoing marketing strategy is the key to differentiating your commercial or residential furniture business from the competition.
Email marketing works
In the commercial furniture industry, email marketing is all about brand awareness. After reviewing hundreds of email campaigns, statistics show the A&D community reacts very positively to project photos. Having case studies and project highlights in your email campaigns with links to your website is a great way to get the A&D community to take notice.
Adding new project photos to your website and sharing them via email and social media will attract attention. I recommend building a reliable partnership with a local photographer who specializes in architecture. When a project closes, be sure to get photos done as soon as possible.
Creating beautiful email campaigns has never been easier. Many of our clients create and send their own campaigns using our industry leading email software in just a few minutes. It’s an affordable and easy way to attract the attention of key players in your area. Send emails to the A&D community, brokers, project managers and end users at least once per month gain top of mind awareness.
Culture is important
One of the things we noticed from working on dozens of websites and hundreds of email campaigns is that culture is important. Apps such as Facebook and Snapchat are successful because it is a platform for you to share your personal story. Your business has a story too, with real people. Be sure to include cultural pieces in your communications such as events, promotions, fun activities, awards, and so on.
Put some effort into your team page
After reviewing traffic reports for numerous commercial furniture websites, I noticed something interesting about the team page. It was the most popular page on the site. You’re welcome to speculate as to why that may be, but I suspect it is because people work with people. We need to see faces to build trust. Use the About or Team Page of your website to include bios, fun facts and professional photos.
Don’t skimp on professional photos of your team.
Avoid bar shots or cropped vacation photos. Hire a professional photographer and get your entire team involved. The good news is you can use your new photos on your website, email campaigns, RFP responses and presentations. It’s money well spent!
Be creative with the RFP
I have designed and reviewed hundreds of RFP responses and noticed something important. Even if you’re not the low-cost provider, a good looking RFP response will turn some heads. Look for ways to make the deliverable more memorable. Which binder are they more likely to pick up from a table full of presentations – the spiral-bound black and white Office Max version, or a binder that has custom graphics, a creative cover, and unique packaging?
Take your brand seriously
If you don’t take your brand seriously, why should potential customers? Everyone on your team that interfaces with clients or prospects need to be brand conscious. From how you answer the phone to social media etiquette to RFP responses, it’s important to have a unified message.
Creating a cohesive brand is much harder than it sounds. Having a strong “elevator pitch” is a great place to start. Make sure everyone, especially the sales team, is speaking the same language when it comes to your brand. Look for consistency in logo usage, colors, typography and templates. It’s extremely helpful to have a style or brand guide on everyone’s desk to keep your brand in check.
Get everyone onboard
There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t include every department in conversations about marketing. At the very least your sales and design team should have regular discussions about ongoing marketing efforts. This creates an atmosphere of transparency and ownership. The goal is to have interdepartmental support of the marketing plan.
If your office furniture website has a blog (and it should) assign someone the task of writing a blog post each month. Create social media champions and networking ambassadors. Everyone on the team should be pitching in to make the company more successful.
The biggest struggle for most office furniture businesses is the lack of time and resources. I admit that all of my advice above requires everyone to put in a little more effort. In an industry where everyone wears multiple hats, time is hard to come by.
However, you would be surprised by what you can accomplish with just a couples per week. At the very least, try to implement one new marketing strategy per quarter. Once you get that off the ground and start seeing results, add something else to the marketing mix.
In closing, I would say take a look at your competition. If they have a lackluster brand or marketing strategy, you would already be ahead of the game if you started something new today. If your competition is racing ahead with email and social media marketing, the gap will only get worse if you do nothing. Be sure to schedule some time with me if you would like to explore some ideas.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” enable_gradient=”true” color_overlay=”rgba(30,115,190,0.11)” color_overlay_2=”rgba(238,238,34,0.11)” gradient_direction=”left_t_to_right_b” overlay_strength=”0.8″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”padding-4-percent” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]
[icon color=”Accent-Color” animation_speed=”Slow” size=”small” icon_size=”” animation_delay=”” image=”icon-check”] Schedule a Free Marketing Review
You probably have a lot on your plate, but don’t let that stop you from scheduling a free marketing review of your commercial or residential furniture business.[/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][vc_raw_html]JTNDc2NyaXB0JTIwY2hhcnNldCUzRCUyMnV0Zi04JTIyJTIwdHlwZSUzRCUyMnRleHQlMkZqYXZhc2NyaXB0JTIyJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyJTJGJTJGanMuaHNmb3Jtcy5uZXQlMkZmb3JtcyUyRnNoZWxsLmpzJTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBBJTNDc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBBJTIwJTIwaGJzcHQuZm9ybXMuY3JlYXRlJTI4JTdCJTBBJTA5cG9ydGFsSWQlM0ElMjAlMjI1NTczNDQlMjIlMkMlMEElMDlmb3JtSWQlM0ElMjAlMjI1Y2I2OTU1Yi1iNjJjLTQ5MTYtYjBjOS00YmQzM2Y3ZDZlODIlMjIlMEElN0QlMjklM0IlMEElM0MlMkZzY3JpcHQlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]
