6 Manufacturing Marketing Strategies
You understand the need of marketing for your manufacturing business, but how do you go about it? Here are six manufacturing marketing strategies to get you started.
1. Publish Plenty Of Content.
You’ve probably heard that content is king. It’s a statement that’s been around for a long time, and it’s still relevant for digital marketing today. Your content — the material you post on your website — is the primary contributor to all of the following initiatives:
Search engine optimisation (SEO) ensures that you appear when potential clients search online.
It establishes you as a reliable manufacturer. In fact, nearly half of individuals read three to five pieces of material from a company before contacting them for further information or a quote. Therefore, the content you put out aids in moving individuals through the funnel. For example, a business contact in the awareness stage may uncover anything in your material that will assist convert them to the contemplation state.
Businesses that employ a variety of content types can boost revenue. This is due to the fact that people engage with various pieces of material to differing degrees, and one person may want to read about your product while another desires to watch a video.
In the case of sophisticated manufacturing items, you may need to provide both to help educate the potential client.
Consider including video, whitepapers, case studies, blogs, infographics, and slide presentations into your website (where it adds value to your customer).
2. Email Marketing.
As previously mentioned, manufacturing marketing usually entails you strategise and play the long-game. When potential clients analyse choices, rethink objectives, and get caught up in managing daily operations, it’s easy for your message to get lost in the bustle.
Email marketing newsletters allow you to collect interested leads and appear in their email inboxes on a regular basis. It keeps your company’s name in front of them.
Email is also an excellent marketing automation tool. Drip campaigns allow you to deliver a series of messages to prospective clients whenever they perform a specified action. As an example:
Someone obtains a whitepaper on screed flooring. To do so, they input their email address.
You send them emails over the course of several weeks or months. These letters might include details such as how much money the product will save over time, how the floor will improve working environments, and the longevity of the product. Every email provides another touchpoint and a CTA informing the potential client that you are accessible to provide a price or extra information.
3. Employ SEO.
Even Google recognises that the process to purchase may be complicated and time-consuming. However, one thing that many people have in common is that they begin with an internet search. Nearly 90% of transactions begin online, and most marketers consider SEO to be one of the top five traffic sources.
In summary, if you’re not visible in search engines, you’re missing out on a lot of prospective customers.
4. Effective Google Ads And PPC.
However, SEO is not a guarantee. You can’t buy your way into Google’s top organic page results, and getting there requires a dedication to content, perseverance, and a dash of luck. This is why many businesses spend on Google and PPC advertisements.
Paid marketing campaigns may get your manufacturing business on search results pages in minutes, but your advertising must be successful. That means doing your research to determine which keywords to target and how your buyer personas would search online.
5. Test Your Website.
Test your site once you’ve added content and other functioning aspects. It makes no difference how great your content is if the site gives a terrible user experience. People may distrust your capacity to give excellent items and customer service if you cannot create a flawless, easy-to-use customer experience.
Make sure:
All of your site’s links, buttons, and other features work as expected. Examine them on a variety of devices and browsers. Ensure that pages load rapidly. If your pages take one second longer to load than they should, you might lose 7% of conversions. And 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.
First and foremost, make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Sites that do not work properly on mobile may be hidden or even removed from SERPs. Second, your potential clients may begin their relationship on mobile. Whether someone is surfing from their own phone or conducting research while travelling with a corporate mobile device, if your site isn’t ready, you’re not ready to sell.
6. Integrate Social Media.
Another avenue to boost brand visibility and consumer loyalty is social media. It also allows you to connect with potential clients in a natural way, frequently where the prospect is already online. While Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter may all be effective B2B marketing platforms, manufacturers should start with LinkedIn and maintain a strong presence there.
Things To Consider When Choosing The Best Manufacturer Marketing Avenues For Your Business.
Not every suggestion and technique listed above will be applicable to your company. To determine which solutions are best for you, ask yourself the following questions.
1. Is Your Product A Commodity Or A Personalised Product Or Service?
There might be easier methods to sell online, such as through an e-commerce system. You may promote them using tactics such as product descriptions, PPC advertisements, and blog entries to improve SEO.
Customised goods and services may need more hands-on participation. Consider creating lead generation products like as white papers, videos, and ebooks. When prospects share their contact information, someone from the sales team can then get in touch with them to see how they can help.
2. Is Your Buyer A Single Person Or A Group Of Purchasing Process Influencers?
PPC advertisements, powerful CTAs, well-written product pages, and engaging social media marketing are all effective strategies to reach out to a single person. To sell to a committee, you’ll need extensive marketing content as well as a system for managing the lead nurturing process.
3. What Is The Level Of Competition In Your Industrial Sector Niche?
The amount of effort required for SEO and other brand recognition activities is determined by the amount of noise in the business. You have a higher chance of dominating search with exceptional web content if just a few vendors make this sort of equipment. If there are hundreds of businesses competing with you, paid advertising may be necessary to appear on top of the competition when someone searches online.
Steps for Successfully Adopting Manufacturing Marketing Strategies
Marketing is sophisticated, and the more complicated your business or products, the more difficult it may be to know where to begin. Start with the steps below to implement excellent marketing strategies in the manufacturing industry.
1. Set Your Goals.
Understand what you’re attempting to accomplish. Metrics in marketing include page traffic, click-throughs, and time spent on the page. It’s easy to get caught up in working toward these marketing goals if you haven’t settled on precise company goals. And, while click-through rates are vital, they are only necessary if your conversions and purchases are successful.
2. Have Someone In-House.
Someone must keep track of all of your efforts. It’s a good idea to hire a manufacturing marketing company, but it’s still advantageous to have someone in-house who focuses on digital marketing who can liaise and ensure the goals are being met.
3. Know Your Buyer Persona.
Spend some time defining your target audience. Who are the people who are most likely to be interested in your products? What are their requirements? Can they make decisions on their own, or do they need permission from others? The more you understand about the customer persona, the more effectively you can focus your marketing efforts, saving you time and money.
4. Select Strategies That Support The Audience.
Make sure that all of your marketing and customer service efforts, from social media to website content to shopping cart options, complement the target you’ve specified.
5. Launch And Test.
Never believe that your content marketing strategy or other initiatives are your only options. Marketing is all about constant development. A/B testing may be used to test numerous aspects of your marketing.
Do you, for example, receive more answers to emails sent on Tuesday mornings or Wednesday afternoons? If the answer is Wednesday, repeat the exam. Do you gain more traction from a big subject line or one with fewer than 30 characters?
You can organically optimise the ROI created by your campaign by regularly testing.
In Conclusion
In 1977, the Harvard Business Review posed the question, “Can Manufacturing and Marketing Coexist?” The solution is evident now, more than 40 years later. These two not only can, but must exist. If you don’t engage in manufacturer marketing, you’re placing your company in danger of being outsmarted by the competition simply by them showing up.
If you’d like to learn more about what marketing strategies are available to your manufacturing business then contact Sarah at sarah@aiminternet.co.uk or call her on 07816071112.
