Speaking to 3 (possibly 4) different age groups of customers will require a mix of marketing tactics. Again, the tactics you choose should directly support your business goals. Here are the most common digital marketing tactics for manufacturers:
Content Marketing: As we mentioned in the beginning, seventy percent of industrial buyers do online research before reaching out to your sales team. This is especially true if you sell complex products or services. Meet your customers in the research phase with helpful, relevant content that helps them move into the evaluation and shortlisting phase of their industrial buying process. Examples of content marketing include the creation of downloadable resources (for lead capture) such as checklists, eBooks, case studies, white papers, on-demand webinars, CAD and BIM files (a must!) –even Excel spreadsheet templates, that can help buyers do their research.
Email Marketing Campaigns: Email marketing is still one of the best bangs-for-your-buck. It’s cheap, automated, measurable, and highly personalized for your buyers. Before you dismiss email marketing as ‘annoying’ or ‘something I regularly delete from my own inbox’, consider this: If a customer opts-in to hear from you, they’re raising their hand to give you permission to enter their inbox. They can set preferences for delivery frequency that work for them, and can opt out at anytime. We’ve seen incredible success for a client of ours who executed highly-personalized, thoughtful email campaigns such as quarterly newsletters or weekly tips. When done right, email is a powerful marketing tool.
Blogging/Vlogging: Like email, blogging (and its video equivalent – vlogging) is a low effort, high-return tactic. Writing regular articles that have been optimized for search is a great way to bring in organic traffic to your website, position your company as a thought leader, and provide your sales team with a reason to reach out and share helpful information with their leads. There is no magic formula for the frequency of blogging, but we do recommend at least twice a month, and between 600-1,000 words. Note: your blog is not a place to sell. It’s a place to help. Your first few blogs posts should be answers to frequently asked questions that your sales team gets early in their discussions.
Social Media: Most of the manufacturing companies we work with use social media in two ways: To amplify and promote their blogs posts and other content, and to showcase their company culture for recruiting purposes. Social media is a great mechanism to promote your employer brand. If you don’t have time to properly monitor and post on multiple channels we recommend that you focus LinkedIn. Join LinkedIn groups from your industry, share your company blog posts, and comment on posts to show leadership.
Video: Data shows that the play button is the most powerful call-to-action around. As a matter of fact, video content is 50 times more likely to drive organic search results than plain text. Using video at every stage of the buyer’s journey is a great way to nurture your leads. Use a mix of formal and informal videos. You can DIY your own ‘talking head’ videos of your engineers answering tough questions about problems your customers face. You can also hire a professional to do a ‘brand anthem’ video which is more of a marketing piece to show your company capabilities and culture. Either way, you need video! It can be repurposed so many ways: on social media, in emails, as part of your sales deck, on your homepage, etc.
Website: Your website is your workhorse. It must be found in search, showcase your products, educate your customers, convince visitors to trust you, convert those visitors into customers, and attract top talent. If your website is not SEO-optimized, well designed for good user experience, written professionally, mobile-friendly and full of conversion points– it’s letting you down. Your website is not an electronic brochure –it’s a marketing machine that should be attracting and converting leads for you, all while representing your brand and making your company look good.
Online educational events like demos, trials, and webinars: Use educational opportunities to promote your team as experts in the field. Bonus if you can offer continuing education credits to your attendees. Webinars are great because you can recycle them and use them as ‘on-demand’ content to capture leads on your website long after the live event is over. Webinars are great middle-of-the-funnel offers for buyers who are already aware of your service offerings and are comparing vendors. They’re also a helpful tool for client delight (helping your existing customers stay on top of trends and continuing ed credits).