Personal Brand Building with Digital Transformation–Emerson Exchange

Personal Brand Building with Digital Transformation–Emerson Exchange

Emerson Global User Exchange brings thousands of geeks together to, well, exchange ideas. Most relate to technology and its applications. Some relate to personal growth and development. So far, I’ve captured the growing importance of Digital Transformation—both Emerson helping customers achieve their own, as well as, Emerson’s own transformation. We talked personal development with Dave Imming’s presentation on giving presentations. Then we discussed the Edge, Industrial Internet of Things, and connections. Today, I’m reporting on a presentation by Jim Cahill (for years he was called “Chief Blogger”) and Adam Thompson.

Personal Brand Building with Digital Transformation

The “Digital Transformation” part of the presentation was partly a reference back to the conference theme. But, the presenters also did a bit of compare and contrast of the older analog way of building personal connections and the newer digital way.

Cahill and Thompson told us that first we need to become an expert on some topic. How do we accomplish that? Well, the traditional way included reading books, attending classes, researching, attending conferences, reading trade magazines. Those between analog and digital might watch TV, also read books, scan social media,read blogs [maybe like mine…], attend conferences, read trade magazines, watch TED Talks. The digital people are on Netflix, YouTube, and social media, they watch TED Talks, are active on Emerson 365.

Next you must build your network. We traditionally do things such as trade business cards, attend conferences/events, reach out to authors, reach out to internal contacts, join groups. Moving on, you might make use of online groups such as Emerson 365 and LinkedIn groups both reading and contributing. Use hashtags both in your posts and searches.

Finally, you’ll want to share your expertise. Take the initiative. Present in company meetings. Find relevant conferences and construct presentations (see Dave Imming’s ideas). Share ideas and knowledge with press and influencers [we like input]. A great activity is to participate on industry standards committees or, if you are a programmer, contribute to an open source project. Write white papers.

Building a personal brand will help you and your company and often the community, as well.

Accelerate Manufacturing Repair Processing

Accelerate Manufacturing Repair Processing

Here is an interesting idea in the manufacturing services meets social media area. Let me know if you use this and how it worked. Volt480, which is dedicated to helping manufacturers recover faster during downtime, announced a new app that quickly connects plant managers with locally available service providers including automation system integrators and industrial electricians through an on-demand marketplace. The Volt480 app also uses machine learning to help solve problems faster.

The value proposition: When equipment fails due to this technology, companies can lose on average $40,000 an hour. The Volt480 app reduces downtime by quickly locating specialized technicians to troubleshoot and repair complex, interconnected systems that are sometimes mixed with obsolete technologies. The service also helps streamline the burdensome procurement process to quickly order and pay for emergency services.

“Volt480 was developed to help plant managers recover from downtime in half the time and half the cost,” said Volt480 Chief Executive Officer Bhavnesh Patel. “Because we know that every minute counts when production systems fail, we connect you immediately to a highly-skilled expert near you through our on-demand platform. Our real-time filtering algorithm enables manufacturers to find the right resource with the right skills right away.”

How it works

Volt480 combines an on-demand, crowd-sourced services platform with machine learning technology that collects data on the problem and solution across a wide variety of production equipment and technologies. This knowledge enables the company to build machine-learning models to address future failures.

Customers use the app to locate and connect with service providers who are knowledgeable and experienced with their equipment. Service providers set their own rates, and Volt480 processes the payment through the service, saving customers from working through the traditional PO/invoicing process.

Manufacturers then have an opportunity to rate their experience with the service provider, which can be viewed by other potential customers.

“When manufacturing equipment breaks down and production stops, every moment counts. Plant managers don’t have time to research the equipment and match it with a service provider that may or may not be familiar with the system, especially with older or obsolete automation control systems,” said Jim Keighley, former vice president of engineering for Kraft Foods. “With Volt480 at their fingertips, they can quickly browse for local/regional service providers, see ratings, prices, profiles, distance from their facility and contact them in an instant. And payment is easily handled via credit card.”

Volt480 also opens doors for service providers, helping systems integrators, control engineers and automation engineers build their businesses through a new network of potential customers.

“By registering my services with Volt480, I can be introduced to hundreds of potential customers,” said Richard Morales, a controls technician with Tornado Automation. “And I have the potential to be paid faster and with less effort than the traditional PO/invoicing process.”

“The machine learning capabilities of the Volt480 app will help speed the repair process, getting our clients back to work faster and our technicians on to their next assignment,” said Jeff Lea, CEO of Real Time Automation.

Availability

Volt480 is being rolled out as a pilot program for small-to-midsize manufacturers in Texas. The app is available through the Apple App Store and Google Play. After completing the pilot launch, the program will be offered to more than 16,000 food manufacturers in California and Texas.

Personal Update On Business of Manufacturing Connection

Personal Update On Business of Manufacturing Connection

If I haven’t seemed my usual prolific self, business has gotten in the way. Next week I’ll be at Emerson Exchange and life will start getting back to normal.

We constructed this Website to support advertising, but I decided not to directly sell advertising. That despite the fact that page views and click throughs are not bad relative to other sites.

All of a sudden, I got swamped.

Part of my work (hint) is individual research and analysis of pieces of the market. People seem to like my analytical capabilities. I have a couple of contracts that have kept me busy.

My long-time part-time job is assigning soccer referees to high school contests. This year has seen more changes and problems than ever before. I’ve always dealt with sportsmanship issues, but this past week has just about seen a record.

I also work with companies on various aspects of marketing–social media, inbound ideas, messaging, focus points (another hint). Some of that picked up.

Finally, I began to do a little angel investing. One of my investments needed marketing help–so, there I am learning the consumer side of Facebook for marketing. Check out High Grounds Cafe on Facebook.

Looking forward to some good industry news from Denver next week. Maybe I can try stirring up something that I didn’t from Sacramento a couple of weeks ago. I also have a pile of stuff to digest, analyze and report on. Coming soon!

Have a great fall weekend (or spring for my Brazilian friends).

Construct a Website That Builds Business-Automation Integrators Lag

Construct a Website That Builds Business-Automation Integrators Lag

Jon DiPietroAuthentia has published a comprehensive study of the control system integrator industry’s digital marketing performance. You can find additional information on the author’s blog. Many industrial/manufacturing industries lag behind in their adoption of modern digital marketing practices, largely due to target demographics that have been slow to embrace social media and mobile computing. This has especially been the case in the control system integrator industry. However, with digital trends accelerating and workforce demographics rapidly changing, businesses are being forced to adapt quickly.

[Disclaimer: I have a relationship with Authentia; I also hired it to construct a Website for Maintenance Technology magazine; Jon DiPietro built this site for me two years ago. Obviously, I like their work.]

Authentia randomly selected 100 North American control system integrators and assessed their digital marketing effectiveness against 32 separate criteria. The results indicate areas of opportunity for control system integrators to take advantage of industry-wide latencies. Owners, business developers, and marketing professionals will find this information valuable in assessing their own efforts and opportunities against their peers and competitors.

“With my background in industrial controls and leadership positions in the International Society of Automation (ISA), control system integrators are near and dear to my heart,” said Authentia Strategic Marketing Consultant Jon DiPietro. “I have many friends and colleagues who work in that industry. Over the past few years, I’ve conducted dozens of digital marketing assessments for control system integrators and other automation companies. I thought it would be interesting to conduct an industry-wide assessment and see how the industry as a whole is adapting to digital marketing trends.”

Key findings from the report include:

Websites are outdated in terms of messaging and technology:

  • 79% of CSI websites we analyzed make site visits from a mobile device difficult or impossible, alienating nearly half of their web visitors.
  • 48% of the website cannot easily change site content or even enable blogging, as they do not use a Content Management System (CMS).
  • 45% of all sites studied make no attempt to establish trust with site visitors through the use of social proof, such as testimonials, awards, certifications, memberships, etc.

Search engine marketing is nearly non-existent in the industry:

  • 3% of websites surveyed were determined to be paying for advertisements on search engines.
  • 85% of CSI websites had a Domain Authority below 40, which is a measure of how much clout a website carries with search engines.
  • 42% of websites did not have any analytics operating which track their performance.

The industry has not yet adopted content marketing as a strategy:

  • 67% of those studied do not list or promote social media accounts, such as Facebook or LinkedIn
  • 65% of websites have no blog or news feed.
  • 12% had a blog and published industry-focused content (as opposed to company news).
  • 88% of websites surveyed did not incorporate social sharing buttons, making their content difficult to find and share.

There are very few mechanisms in place to interact with prospects:

  • 2% of websites were connected to a marketing automation tool.
  • 84% of websites surveyed did not utilize visible call-to-action buttons.
  • 95% of websites failed to use landing pages, which contain an offer designed to collect information from prospects.

The 2015 Control System Integrator Digital Marketing Benchmark Report can be downloaded for free at www.authentiasoft.com/2015-csi.

End Note

I just went through my list of RSS feeds for blogs and Website changes that I’ve accumulated over the past several years. No fewer than 20 of them had not been updated for two years. I could not believe the number of companies who started a very good information and content system, and then they just bailed out on it. When I think of the lost opportunities for these companies, I just shudder.

Construct a Website That Builds Business-Automation Integrators Lag

Construct a Website That Builds Business-Automation Integrators Lag

Jon DiPietroAuthentia has published a comprehensive study of the control system integrator industry’s digital marketing performance. You can find additional information on the author’s blog. Many industrial/manufacturing industries lag behind in their adoption of modern digital marketing practices, largely due to target demographics that have been slow to embrace social media and mobile computing. This has especially been the case in the control system integrator industry. However, with digital trends accelerating and workforce demographics rapidly changing, businesses are being forced to adapt quickly.

[Disclaimer: I have a relationship with Authentia; I also hired it to construct a Website for Maintenance Technology magazine; Jon DiPietro built this site for me two years ago. Obviously, I like their work.]

Authentia randomly selected 100 North American control system integrators and assessed their digital marketing effectiveness against 32 separate criteria. The results indicate areas of opportunity for control system integrators to take advantage of industry-wide latencies. Owners, business developers, and marketing professionals will find this information valuable in assessing their own efforts and opportunities against their peers and competitors.

“With my background in industrial controls and leadership positions in the International Society of Automation (ISA), control system integrators are near and dear to my heart,” said Authentia Strategic Marketing Consultant Jon DiPietro. “I have many friends and colleagues who work in that industry. Over the past few years, I’ve conducted dozens of digital marketing assessments for control system integrators and other automation companies. I thought it would be interesting to conduct an industry-wide assessment and see how the industry as a whole is adapting to digital marketing trends.”

Key findings from the report include:

Websites are outdated in terms of messaging and technology:

  • 79% of CSI websites we analyzed make site visits from a mobile device difficult or impossible, alienating nearly half of their web visitors.
  • 48% of the website cannot easily change site content or even enable blogging, as they do not use a Content Management System (CMS).
  • 45% of all sites studied make no attempt to establish trust with site visitors through the use of social proof, such as testimonials, awards, certifications, memberships, etc.

Search engine marketing is nearly non-existent in the industry:

  • 3% of websites surveyed were determined to be paying for advertisements on search engines.
  • 85% of CSI websites had a Domain Authority below 40, which is a measure of how much clout a website carries with search engines.
  • 42% of websites did not have any analytics operating which track their performance.

The industry has not yet adopted content marketing as a strategy:

  • 67% of those studied do not list or promote social media accounts, such as Facebook or LinkedIn
  • 65% of websites have no blog or news feed.
  • 12% had a blog and published industry-focused content (as opposed to company news).
  • 88% of websites surveyed did not incorporate social sharing buttons, making their content difficult to find and share.

There are very few mechanisms in place to interact with prospects:

  • 2% of websites were connected to a marketing automation tool.
  • 84% of websites surveyed did not utilize visible call-to-action buttons.
  • 95% of websites failed to use landing pages, which contain an offer designed to collect information from prospects.

The 2015 Control System Integrator Digital Marketing Benchmark Report can be downloaded for free at www.authentiasoft.com/2015-csi.

End Note

I just went through my list of RSS feeds for blogs and Website changes that I’ve accumulated over the past several years. No fewer than 20 of them had not been updated for two years. I could not believe the number of companies who started a very good information and content system, and then they just bailed out on it. When I think of the lost opportunities for these companies, I just shudder.

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