Manufacturing companies are often reluctant to explore digital marketing. As a specialist manufacturing marketing agency, we have helped companies of all sizes to realise incredible growth using digital marketing strategies.
Marketing for manufacturers might not look like every other marketing strategy, but that’s the beauty of digital marketing. You can carve your own path and pick the channels that will deliver success for your audience.
So if you’re wary about Google ads, wondering how on earth to get started with content marketing and not sure if email marketing can ever work for you, we have a few suggestions to help get you started.
Marketing for manufacturers: why do you need a strategy?
It’s common for manufacturing companies to rely on existing contracts and word of mouth referrals to gain new business. While this might keep things ticking over, your manufacturing company will always rely on luck and good will for growth.
When you want to take success into your own hands, you need a marketing strategy that helps you to identify your ideal target audience and introduce them to your offering. Purchase decisions typically require seven points of contact, so you need a multi-channel approach to help place your manufacturing company front-and-centre.
Not all marketing activities will result in a sale. Rather than heading down a sales funnel, you’re creating touch points for your ideal target audience. The ultimate goal is to increase sales, but there are stepping stones you need to create to get there.
This includes understanding the buyer persona, increasing brand awareness and introducing your products and services. Once B2B buyers are aware of your company and have expressed an interest in your manufacturing services, you can then begin the sales pitch.
How do you market a manufacturing company?
Marketing a manufacturing company is no different to any other B2B sector. You need a cross-platform strategy founded on knowledge and expertise. You’re the expert in your manufacturing sector. You have the solution to a common problem. Your goal in creating a digital marketing plan for manufacturing.
Website and SEO
You need an effective website to be able to sell your products and services. Slow and sluggish websites will turn away customers. But more importantly, a slow website could damage your rankings. If your site doesn’t appear in search results for the relevant search terms, your strategy will fall at the first hurdle.
Your website should be fast, reliable and informative. Every page should be optimised for key terms that are relevant to your industry.
And no matter where a user lands on your website (because it isn’t always the home page) they should be able to find everything they need within a few clicks. This requires intuitive and streamlined navigation with a logical content structure.
If you’re unsure if your website is up to scratch, get in touch with Auburn today.
Google Ads
Google Ads offer a cost-effective way to supercharge your digital marketing. While an SEO strategy requires time to take effect, you could see significant returns on your digital marketing budget as soon as you switch on your Google Ads.
Keyword research is the key to an effective Google Ads campaign. Focus on the high-intent keywords that are most relevant to your sector. Review regularly to ensure irrelevant keywords are filtered out and you can optimise your digital marketing budget. You can run SEO and PPC campaigns in tandem to maximise your results.
Remarketing
Website visitors might not make a purchase decision straight away. With remarketing, you can gently jog their memory with non-intrusive display ads. Remarketing is a cost-effective way to increase brand awareness and increase your conversion rate.
Remarketing installs a tracking cookie on your website and then serves adverts on other websites to those who have already visited. It’s cheaper than other digital marketing methods because you already have a well-defined audience.
Content marketing
Publishing high quality content is one of the best ways to capture attention and drive leads. Content marketing for manufacturers could include:
- Blogs
- White papers
- Videos
- Images
- Podcasts
- eBooks
- Case studies
Manufacturing is a technical sector and content marketing can help you to explain complex topics in a simplified way. Publishing content also helps to catch the attention of search engines, allowing you to enjoy a steady stream of organic website traffic and generate leads.
If you need help creating digital marketing for manufacturing, get in touch with Auburn today.
Lead scoring
Not every contact is equal, and lead scoring will allow your sales team to focus on the most valuable prospective customers. When sales and marketing work well together, you can increase the conversion rate without increasing the number of leads.
We’ve recently shared our thoughts on lead scoring and how you can make it work for your manufacturing marketing plan.
Email marketing
Your email marketing list doesn’t have to be huge for you to see big results. Email marketing for manufacturers can be incredibly lucrative, particularly if you segment your audiences and reach them with the right message at the right time.
When crafting email marketing campaigns, don’t write like you are speaking to a room of interested prospects. Write like you are emailing one person directly. Think about the person you are emailing and how your email is going to solve a problem they have.
Email marketing for manufacturers is a great way to get feedback on your services, launch new services to a test audience and generate repeat business. Email marketing is also a great way to share the content you create.
How do you find manufacturing customers?
You won’t know who you are trying to speak to until you create your buyer personas. A buyer persona helps you to target your customers with precision. When you understand who your customers are, where they spend their time and what challenges they face, you can begin to construct a digital marketing strategy that speaks directly to them.
If you cast your net too wide, you might increase website traffic for irrelevant terms. But this won’t always lead to an increase in leads and sales. By understanding your target audience and their motivation, you can reverse engineer your digital marketing strategy.
Start with the customer and then devise an inbound marketing strategy that will allow you to serve them your marketing message.
Does social media work for manufacturers?
Social media can be effective for manufacturing marketing, provided you understand its limitations. Your marketing team can use social media platforms to share content such as white papers and blog posts, but don’t stop there.
Social media is the ideal place for sharing video content. Manufacturing processes can be very interesting and fun to watch, so don’t be afraid to get technical and create content that gives a behind the scenes look at industrial processes.
The audience might not always be a potential buyer, but you’ll enjoy a profile boost that can help to put your message in front of the right people.
Twitter and LinkedIn are the obvious social media platforms for B2B marketers, but Facebook could also be worth exploring. Manufacturing marketing doesn’t have to be dry, and you can use social media to share the human side of the company. If you’re attending trade shows, this is also a great way to facilitate meetings and get your products and services in front of the right people.
Need help creating your digital marketing strategy?
Get in touch with Auburn today to find out how we can transform your manufacturing marketing strategy.