Tanya Earley | B2B People Top Digital Marketers

Tanya Earley

By By Mary E. Morrison

June 11, 2012 - 6:01 am EDT

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Title: Director-channel and field marketing

Company: USG Corp.

Years in current job: 4

Tanya Earley, director-channel and field marketing at USG Corp., adheres to a straightforward digital marketing philosophy: Online efforts should be informative, but also interactive; they must educate, but also engage.

Among Earley's accomplishments at USG is her work on theweighthasbeenlifted.com.

The site, created by agency gyro, Chicago, was originally intended to be a short-term platform for USG's

UltraLite product portfolio. Since its rollout two years ago, however, the site has taken on a life of its own,

attracting an average of 23,600 unique visitors a month, Earley said, and USG has expanded it beyond the U.S. to all of North America.

Earley said USG is increasing its use of online video because it allows the company to highlight customer testimonials in a compelling way—a key tactic when trying to reach an audience of contractors. “They're a little bit skeptical; they don't like change,” she said. “Trying new products is something they don't like to do unless they hear about them from their peers.”

USG employs several tactics to drive traffic to the microsite, including print, events and online advertising. One of the most successful efforts has been a co-marketing relationship with Home Depot, which is the exclusive big-box retailer for USG's Sheetrock Brand UltraLight panels, Earley said. “When we partner with retailers, we connect with smaller contractors that we aren't able to reach through salespeople,” she said.