1. The magazine for today’s electrical and systems contractorWWW.IECI.ORG
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
Innovation.
Education.
Success.
Marketing
and the
Electrical Contractor.
iMarketing
Building Customer Loyalty
through Marketing
How Do I Write a Marketing Plan:
Goals and Action Plans
Successful Marketing: How to Make
Your Company Stand Out
from the Competition

2. 12 | November/December 2011 | www.ieci.org
nless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep for the past 20 years, chances
are you’ve at least heard of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Groupon, and other social
media sites. If you have a smartphone or a tablet, you probably even have apps. We are
living in an iWorld; a world where there is a constant stream of communication and
information; and it’s instant. This world even has its own vocabulary: “Hey tweet me that
link from Politco”; “Don’t forget to check-in on Foursquare”; “That YouTube video is
trending!”
By Laurie Montanus
Special Feature
U
iMARKETING

3. www.ieci.org | Insights | 13
Special Feature
Social media can be overwhelming, even if you
are a seasoned “influencer.” Be that as it may, it has
transformed the way people communicate and conduct
business. A majority of organizations have pages on
Facebook, accounts on Twitter, and a YouTube channel,
such as The Home Depot, Coca-Cola, ESPN, etc. Most
importantly, many of your potential customers are also
using these mediums.If you haven’t already,maybe it’s
time to fire up your iPad and start developing a market-
ing plan that includes social media communications.
Not every social networking site is ideal for your
business, so before you implement them into your
marketing mix, do your research and see what fits.
Whatever medium(s) you decide to use in your mar-
keting strategy, keep in mind the “golden rules” to
follow when engaging in the vast, nebulous realm of
social media.
1. Know your audience: Know who you are com-
municating with so you can create tailored mes-
sages.If yourTwitter audience is mainly comprised
of commercial contractors and you are tweeting
about home safety inspections, then you are
sending the wrong message to your audience.
2. Post with purpose: Post relevant, powerful
messages with a desired result (awareness of a
special deal, promote community involvement,
etc). For example, posting a link about winning
an award or volunteering for charity is great PR
for your company.Posting that it’s a sunny day,that
the boss brought coffee for the staff is not effective
and can sometimes turn followers away.
3. Be responsible: What you say on a public forum,
such as a Facebook page, will last forever. Try
not to engage in public fights, don’t use profanity,
and don’t bash your competition. If you think
something may come back to haunt you…refrain!
Also a good rule of thumb, don’t accidentally
confuse your personal account with your business’
account; it’s easy to do!
4. Listen, listen, listen: Like all other forms of
communications, social media is a two-way
street. As you are communicating with your
audience, you need to listen to them to see
what they are saying. If they send a tweet or a
Facebook post that they are unhappy with your
service, it may present the perfect opportunity
to flex your customer service muscles and take
care of a problem that may affect other clients
too. Customers will be impressed with how well
you handled a problem or a complaint. Social
media avenues such as Twitter and Facebook
provide great settings to pose/answer ques-
tions, stay on top of industry trends, and gauge
customer’s opinions.
As mentioned before, there are several big social
media networks that may fit your marketing plan.The
best way to determine this is to know a little bit about
each, see who uses it, and determine if it will be an
effective means of communication for your business.
Facebook
Facebook was the first major player in social
media. Although MySpace came before it, Facebook
grew at an unprecedented rate, and has since
transformed the way we communicate with other
people. We don’t need to wait around for pictures of
a friend’s wedding; in the iWorld, we can check
Facebook. We don’t have to pick up the phone to
wish a friend happy birthday anymore, because now
you post to their wall.
It has also transformed the way businesses stay
in touch with their customers. Many organizations
now have a Facebook page where they post infor-
mation. This acts as a more casual informational
medium then their website, where businesses can
post pictures from events, post about upcoming
deals or news, etc. It also acts as a forum where
customers may post questions and the business can
answer them. This can be used as a great tool for
electrical contractors to connect with the community
and to allow their customers to get to know the
business and the electricians. Post about charities
you’re involved with in the community; share infor-
mation and pictures on any special events held with
customers and/or staff, and any other content that
will add value to your company. IEC member Above
& Beyond Electric, located in Memphis, Tennessee,
uses their Facebook page to connect with their
community; “We like to keep ourselves in front of our
customers by promoting our involvement with the
community,” explained Nathan Harmeier, the president
of the electrical contracting company. Try not to make
your wall completely full of promotional items; people
log on to Facebook to make a connection with people
and businesses, not to hear a sales pitch.
Twitter
At first glance, Twitter is the most confusing
social media site out there. It has its own language,
its own search terms, and even its own applications
to help people use Twitter more efficiently! But it’s the
best form of rapid,condensed (a tweet can only be 140
characters) information. It’s also become one of the top
sources where people get their news. For instance,
many people found out from Twitter about Osama Bin
Laden’s death, and during President Obama’s address,
there were 4,000 tweets per second on the subject.
But how canTwitter be used as a marketing device
for the electrical contractor? This is where you really
need to know your audience. Who is following you
(subscribing to your tweets)…suppliers, homeowners,
general contractors? If different suppliers are your
primary followers, you may want to ease up on the
tweets about discounted retrofitting and tailor more
towards suppliers.Since a tweet is only 140 characters
long, the message needs to pack a punch in as few
words as possible. Make messages short and to the
point. This is a great medium for sharing news stories
and updates about your company.Also share stories
about the industry in general or local news that is
relevant to yor audience. Don’t fall into the trap of
posting every day minutia; instead ask yourself,
“would our customers care?”
YouTube
Facebook and Twitter have impressive numbers,
that’s for sure; but YouTube is its own world. Every
day, eight years worth of video is uploaded to this
website, and videos include everything and anything.
Want a video of a cat falling in a fish tank? Want to
watch clips of your favorite college football play of
all time? What about watching a tutorial on how to
build a Wikipedia page? This can all be found on
YouTube. While Facebook and Twitter have the luxury
of fast, constant communication, YouTube offers a
visual element that can be a great marketing tool.
Many businesses, small and large, have a free
YouTube channel,which hosts promotional/informative
videos about their services, products, charities, con-
tests, and more. YouTube can be especially beneficial
to services, such as electrical contracting, where
customers can see the faces of the service men and
women who will be working in their homes or at
their jobsites. Above & Beyond Electric has effectively
used YouTube to help market their business. Their
homepage hosts a video that shows Harmeier, dis-
cussing the many benefits of using his business (all
electricians go through background/drug testing,
they clean up after they finish working, etc), charitable
community involvement, as well as different services
offered. The video is short and simple, and most
Continued on page 14.
What you say on a
public forum, such
as a Facebook page,
will last forever. Try
not to engage in
public fights, don’t
use profanity, and
don’t bash your
competition. If you
think something may
come back to haunt
you…refrain!

4. 14 | November/December 2011 | www.ieci.org
Special Feature
importantly…doesn’t feel like a sales pitch! Potential customers could view
this video and have an immediate trust with the electricians of Harmeier’s
business.
Groupon & Other
“Daily Deals”
The latest, and perhaps the most direct, trend of internet marketing is
the surge of “daily deals,” that people actively subscribe to. The two biggest
services are Groupon and Living Social, but other big-name tech companies
are trying to develop their own daily deal service. Users sign up to this service
by entering their email address and location.Then, the service will send daily
“coupons” for localized products and services such as money off of salon
services, money off of local restaurants, discounted movie tickets, etc.
This service can be very beneficial when it comes to smaller, service-
oriented businesses who want to get their names out to a broader group of
people in the area. Above & Beyond Electric also used this new way of mar-
keting by issuing a Groupon of $59 for a residential electrical safety inspec-
tion. “It is definitely a low cost advertising program that puts your name out
there in front of thousands,” said Jenny Harmeier of Above & Beyond
Electric. The one thing with using a daily service, such as Living Social or
Groupon, is that you must market a specific service that can be tied to a
price, so you must be creative with the type of service offered. “It was very
hard for us to come up with an item we could sell and tie it to a specific price,
because every house is different, electrically speaking,” said Harmeier. “So
the safety inspection was a good service. We would certainly do it again.”
Groupon may be a riskier marketing option for some, but there are benefits.
For instance, it not only puts your company name in front of a new group of
local residents, but also provides subscribers with background and contact
information on your business. This is a marketing method which combines
massive exposure with direct profits and new customers.Whether this online
coupon service bubble will burst remains to be seen, but why not ride the
wave while it’s here?
There are many more social media sites in the iWorld that can be beneficial
to your contracting business. LinkedIn, Digg, Tumblr, Blogger, Word Press,
and Google+ are all highly-used social media sites that have the potential to
reach a new group of customers.You can try and avoid social media, but the
truth is communications will always evolve. And to market your business, you
will need to adapt to the iWorld sooner or later, or be left behind.
Laurie Montanus is the Managing Editor for Insights and the Marketing
Communications Manager at IEC National. She joined the staff at IEC in
2010 and has previously worked in communications at other nonprofit trade
associations and global public relations firms. She graduated from Elon
University with a degree in corporate communications. Feel free to contact
her at lmontanus@ieci.org.
Continued from page 13.
You can try and avoid social
media, but the truth is
communications will
always evolve.