BIRDING BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Birding Business is the only magazine and web site dedicated to the business-to-business side of the bird feeding industry.

Selected articles from each issue are posted in the Research Center.

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December 2011

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Latest Issue - December 2011

Social Contact

BY RAY DAVID | Editor/Publisher

BEFORE E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, BLOGS, LINKEDIN, U-TUBE, APPS, MYSPACE and such, vendors and retailers met through face-to-face contact; a meeting of like-minded interests coming together to network and discuss new products, new ideas, new methods and new events. We did it by means of trade shows, seminars and conferences. We came together to buy, sell, teach, learn, listen and build an industry. 

Today it's a little different. The audience we used to reach has decamped to a parallel universe. Finding new products, new customers and new suppliers is easier now than it was, but getting your message in front of them is not, and Google can't help with that. New customers, both retailer and consumer, are appearing all the time, and you want them to find you, which means you have to get in their face. The way you do that, and get them to remember you, is through a fully-integrated marketing strategy. 93% of businesses now use social media to some extent, but just knowing that isn't much help if you don't know how to use it to reach your customer.

Marketing and advertising used to be designed to push the message to the market.

Now the point is to pull the market to the message.

That was the theme of a presentation by Ira Kaufman, Ph.D., a digital media consultant and president of Entwine Digital. Ira was a keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI) recently, and the good doctor's prescription was "synthesize your message with all media". One of the examples he used was a U-Tube video, and he pointed out that within the first 16 seconds of his presentation, U-Tube had 400,000 views. U-Tube is only one component of social media, but through it and many others one can find a whole host of additional information sources. Which means you can use it to pull viewers to your web site, or QR code site, where you can deliver as much content as your viewer wants to see. 

It isn't strictly with social media, however, that your ad message needs to be synthesized. Media also encompasses print, as well as whatever else you use, and that's where print advertising has a place, especially in today's business-to-business community. Store owners and consumers are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest and a QR code in a magazine or newspaper ad can be easily scanned with the newer cell phones. And those folks are scanning because they want to see what you have, so be sure the pages they are drawn to will present an image that blends the print with the electronic message. This is a qualified viewer delivered straight to your QR site or web site, where she can see whatever image you want her to see, including an action video of your latest product in use. A two minute professional video can deliver more information than a two hour sales pitch, and be far more memorable. If she likes what she sees she may mention it in a tweet which then gets you in front of hundreds or perhaps thousands of others. We have to leave yesterday behind in order to get to tomorrow.

IN THIS ISSUE

Don't Overlook the Book! Educating kids is part of our responsibility.
by Michael Anderson


Innovation in Optics: How is the optics industry changing?
by John Riutta


Madness in Missouri: Huge growth at Gold Crest Warehouse Sale!
by Sharon Stiteler


When it's Time to Sell your Business
by Steve Jones, CPA

Streaming Video: The whole world can see your store.
by Richard Yost

Hook it, Hang it: Hardware is dull, but it pays its way.
by Hank Weber


DEPARTMENTS
Publisher's Note
Contributors
Industry News
New Products
Book Reviews
Index of Advertisers

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