Did I get your attention?
I was at a recent chamber of commerce speed meeting – you know, where you sit across from another member and give your one-minute, thirty-second elevator pitch. Well… I didn’t want to talk about TKO Graphix (www.tkographix.com). I wanted to talk about social media. So I said, “TKO – we do large format graphics, vehicle wraps, banners, signs and – by the way – what are you doing with social media?” You already know what I heard: “What is social media?” “Nothing, it doesn’t work!” “I’m not big enough,” “It takes too much time,” and, “I don’t know what to do.” (We offered to help.) I also heard, “I’m dropping everything and only doing Facebook!”
How Did We Secure A 6000 Vehicle Contract (Over $1 million sale)?
TKO Graphix social media strategist, Josh Humble, published photos of our work on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkographix/). Jeff Moore of Moore and More Print (http://www.mamprint.com/blog.html), in St. Louis, saw our photos. Josh and Jeff reached out to each other, and continued to correspond and socialize within the network. One of our national account representatives, Glenn Burris, drove to St. Louis and visited Jeff. They had lunch and talked about how we could help each other. They were socializing face-to-face. Jeff was contacted by an advertising agency that needed a large format graphics company with traveling installation crews. Jeff recommended his friends at TKO, and the ad agency contacted TKO. Glenn and Tom Taulman II, TKO’s President, traveled to St. Louis and gave a big-ass presentation (BAP) to a big national company that shall remain nameless. Glenn and Tom met with the BIG company again. TKO provided a proposal and was awarded the contract.
We are currently re-branding 6000 vehicles at 221 locations in North America. We’re manufacturing the decals and wraps, de-identifying the vehicles, and installing the new graphics. This… is… a…game… changer.
The Answer? A Multi-Faceted Marketing Plan
Now, let me tie back to the first paragraph. Social media DOES work, but it should be part of your marketing plan, not just a plan in of itself.
- Social Media – Josh publishes TKO’s photos on Flickr and manages the account.
- Social Networking – Josh and Jeff correspond via the network.
- Traditional Networking – Glenn and Jeff meet over lunch.
- Friendship Networking – Jeff recommends TKO to the ad agency.
- Sales Presentation – Glenn and Tom give a presentation to the BIG company.
Without a combined marketing effort and plan, TKO would not have been awarded this contact. So… when someone tells you it doesn’t work, tell ‘em about our 6000 vehicle contract (unless it’s our competitors, then tell ‘em it doesn’t work). When someone says I’m only doing social marketing, and dropping everything else, you may caution him or her not to quit everything they have been doing.
The Call To Action – Let’s Help Each Other.
What SM successes can you share? Let’s gather ammunition we can all use when faced with non-believers. Tell us your story. Be an advocate. Share. #SMworks
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Randy Clark is the Director of Communications at TKO Graphix, where he blogs for TKO Graphix Brandwire. Prior to TKO, he spent 13 years with Unique Home Solutions as Marketing Director and VP of Operations. He is an avid flower gardener, beer geek, and he fronts the Under the Radar rock & roll band http://bit.ly/9mJ59m
Thanks for sharing your social media success story Randy! At The Salvation Army, we've had a few of these successes as well…on a MUCH smaller scale. The connection to West Coast Tacos is the most recent and one that you were a part of! We're always on the lookout for more opportunities to partner with others in doing the most good and social media is by far one of the best tools for doing just that! Thanks again and all the best in your endeavors.
An excellent example of social media being used for awareness in B2B and follow through via more "traditional" methods. I like the hidden story here which I will extrapolate from knowing Josh and yourself. It really didn't take all that much time to setup the Flickr account, post the pictures, and monitor the activity. Business owners often want to point to time as the reason for not being more involved with social media, when in fact it can be far less time consuming than other methods such as cold calling. My only question Randy is if this was before or after my seminar? Just wondering if any of that cheddar is headed my way. All joking aside, thank you for sharing this success! Great article.
It was a great experience and honor to be involved with the project, and it's unfortunate more businesses don't recognize the value of Flickr -and more broadly, social media altogether. The word IS spreading, though, and more companies are recognizing social media as a great supplement to the marketing plan. This has been even more important during our recent economics.
Re: Kevin – the Flickr experience came before we attended your excellent seminars, but plenty of your knowledge has been applied since then, sir!
Thank you Deborah and I might add the Salvation Army has had international success using SM. That's a little bigger scale. If you would like to connect locally with Deborah and the Salvation Army go to salvationarmyindiana.org
Wow. That is an amazing example of how simple social media can be with business…And it just started by uploading photo's and talking to someone who was interested in said photo's.
Quite often you read about how social media marketing is very complex, or there are tons of methods you have to take into account before starting work…but then an article like this comes out and it shows how simple, yet effective the system can be.
Even though I know all this new fangled media stuff works (and have great examples too) its still awesome to hear such a great example. The thing to take from this is the multi faceted approach that ultimately led to business. Alot of the face to face networking I do has been what really brings people into our new media efforts and closes the circle on our community and closes business. Congrats to everyone at TKO, really impressed with what you guys are doing.
Chris Theisen
Director of Digital Communications
Hare Chevrolet