All Articles Tagged Marketing

Julie Jacobson | 10/18 12:50 PM, 10 Comments

Very few manufacturers in our industry have the guts to participate openly in dealer and consumer forums. SpeakerCraft is one of them, responding to just about every mention on CEPro.com and elsewhere. And look at all the flak they get. At the same time, though, the company has a loyal customer base that rallies behind such controversial initiatives as Nirv, so it just about balances out. SnapAV also chimes in from time to time, with mixed results. Newer or smaller companies, such as Just Add Power, are usually more vocal… View this story

Deborah Smith | 06/24 09:18 AM, 1 Comment

You’ve heard the adage that it takes a month of doing something every day to create a new habit. If you’re at a loss as to how to kick-start business, think about creating a daily marketing regimen whereby you pick two or three proven marketing tactics - and do them every day. This entails creating a target list, honing your message and reaching out by phone or in person to previous clients and through networking referral partners to prospective clients. Here’s a sample of daily or weekly activities to help… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 05/25 01:25 PM, 6 Comments

If you think you don’t need a lesson on Web site optimization for your CE Pro business … then why are you still using Flash? Why aren’t you updating your content? Why do you still show products that were discontinued six months or five years ago? During CEProLive!, Marc Bally, principal at the CE marketing firm Relidy, chatted at his booth about some of the most important practices (and worst no-nos) for dealer Web sites. Here are some of his words of wisdom: Putting the 'Pro' in CE Pro You… View this story

Jason Knott | 12/02 09:22 AM, 0 Comments

Just in time for the holiday season, members of the Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) are leveraging an online marketing push by Sony and Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) to co-brand local custom installation firms in national advertising. Sony and B&W are using a program called Local Extend from Netsertive. When an online consumer clicks on an advertisement, he/she is taken straight to a local dealer's website, not the manufacturer's. This is based on geographic location, so the online user will be automatically directed to the website of the closest… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/17 10:28 AM, 3 Comments

It’s ironic that home entertainment is such a personal experience, yet so much of the marketing for it is dull, technical or otherwise impersonal. Not for Supercalibrations, which always infuses its client email newsletters with first-person accounts from owner Dallas Dingle. The integration firm, based in the Twin Cities suburb of White Bear Lake, Minn., sends .pdf newsletters several times per year. The chatty pieces mix sales pitches with personal stories so you barely recognize you’re being sold. This month Dingle promotes video projectors as if he’s your next-door neighbor… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/15 06:50 AM, 0 Comments

I just attended one of the liveliest discussions ever on CE Pro marketing, and I did it in my pajamas. The discussion took place at the Relidy booth at CE Pro Live, the virtual event home for systems integrators. Relidy's Sean Busha shared some great ideas -- like taking "before" pictures of a client's space and Photoshopping TVs and other gear into the room -- but other participants shared useful ideas of their own. The following is an excerpt of the online discussion (only sligthly edited) -- just one of… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 09/09 07:06 AM, 6 Comments

I don't usually read the "About Us" section of industry Web sites because they're usually so friggin boring. So I don't know how I stumbled across this one at Caster Communications, a PR agency that represents Control4, Paradigm, Runco and other custom brands. But I like it. Here's how it begins, and the rest of it is more of the same: We are smart. We practice what we preach. Some of us our techies. All of us vote. Two of us have cats. One of us is a parent. Four… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 09/01 08:13 AM, 14 Comments

CE pros often jump to all sorts of conclusions about their customers based on assumptions about what their customers should be. In the process, they may totally mis-bid a job, fail to explore innovative new products, and tick off their clients. Are you making some of these false assumptions about clients and prospects? Customers want – or should want -- the very best automation they can afford. If you follow Mark Sipe’s online chronicle of a $500,000 installation, you’ve heard this assumption ad nauseum. Dealers have proclaimed exactly what percentage… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 08/25 04:19 AM, 2 Comments

Remember when iPods were all the rage, and integrators were giving them away as sources for a new multiroom audio system? Now many of you are doing the same with iPads: Buy a home-control system, get a free iPad. When I last spoke with Mark Buzzard of Sacramento-based Liberty Bell Alarm & Home Theater, he was on his way to close a Control4 prospect that responded to this email blast and blog posting: Buzzard tells us, "The Control4 app for iPad control is awesome and even more reliable than the… View this story

Tom LeBlanc | 02/02 06:28 AM, 0 Comments

ZeeVee wants more installers and consumers to know about its video distribution over coax solutions. The four-year old company is looking for integrators to help spread the word. It recently launched the ZvProfessional Rewards program, which incentivizes dealers to learn more about ZeeVee and share their success stories. ZeeVee dealers that sign up for the program can earn points toward “ZvRewards,” which include a trip to Boston to see the Red Sox play at Fenway Park. ZvPros earn points through:Submitting photos of successful ZvBox installationsSharing project case studiesCompleting a monthly… View this story