Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Ecommerce for Manufacturers
1. Build Your Audience Personas
2. Develop Your Marketing Strategy & Set Clear Goals
3. Update and Considering
4. Redesigning Your Website
5. Create Educational Content For Your Buyers - Common Problems (And Solutions) Of Marketing
- Challenges in B2B Manufacturer Marketing Strategies
- Advantages of Using Online Marketing with Manufacturers
- Conclusion
Introduction
Manufacturers require a digital marketing strategy to enhance and improve their sales. From content marketing to paid online advertising, manufacturers of all types and sizes can implement digital marketing strategies to connect with their B2B and B2C customers.
Companies save an average of $20k per year by investing more in inbound marketing. Digital marketing can enhance their word-of-mouth referrals and trade shows to drive new business via appointments/meetings virtually or in-person, inbound marketing focuses on creating educational content for manufacturers that pulls people to your website Also, setting up campaigns across multiple online channels can increase the awareness of your brands and drive more buyers to your website and convert them into potential customers.
Some examples of successful marketing strategies for manufacturers include email marketing, google ads (PPC), SEO and social media. Online marketing for manufacturers can be targeted precisely for their target audience. It not only results in higher ROI and conversions for manufacturers but it’s also easier to track your performance online.
The marketing strategies below for manufacturers are some of the most successful ones we’ve used for our clients and will help you reach more potential customers at the lowest cost possible.
Key Statistics:
- 57% of professional buyers surveyed said omnichannel convenience was one of the top three improvements industrial distributors should provide.
- More than 80% of surveyed B2B companies plan to invest in an eCommerce platform to provide a unified experience for their potential customers.
- 76.7% of surveyed B2B companies believe that personalizing the customer. experience is the biggest challenge they face on the road to steer online sales.
- 97% of B2B respondents said that it was important that vendor websites offered easy access to content.
- Marketing avenues identified as ‘extremely important’ to attract new customers: website (84%), email (73%), and a surge on virtual events, such as webinars (from 15% to 32% post-COVID-19).
Ecommerce for Manufacturers
Manufacturers must accelerate digital transformation to keep up with the growing demand and streamline their business processes. Ecommerce platforms and digital technologies enable manufacturers to sell online to their B2B and B2C customers.
66% of US manufacturers agree that implementing digital marketing and sales over the next two years is a “high” or “very high” priority, according to a PwC survey.
E-commerce channels for manufacturers can change business and operating models to open up a host of benefits like increasing reach into new customer segments and improving revenues. But the e-commerce platforms for manufacturers require various capabilities. For manufacturers, it is important to understand the customer journey to enhance the customer experience and successfully market across all customer segments.
Other key milestones customers have come to expect from manufacturers include providing shipping and order data, product specs, and pricing regarding products and services, integrating the right technology to facilitate the sales and marketing and ensuring that supply chains and logistics are closely aligned to their e-commerce sales and after-sales service similar to Amazon.
1. Build Your Audience Personas
It’s time to get precise: who are your target customers? What are their routines, goals, and obstacles? What do they have to do in their roles? Understanding your buyer and their motives is essential for creating material that will be relevant to them and keep you at the front of their mind throughout their journey. This can be accomplished by building target personas. Based on market research and real data about your existing customers, a persona is a semi-fictional picture of your ideal consumer manufacturer marketing.
2. Develop Your Marketing Strategy & Set Clear Goals
The next stage is to record your marketing plan now that you have a better sense of who you’re going after. To make sure you’re getting the most out of your time, create some goals. Set SMART goals that are aligned with your marketing approach, rather than just any goals.
3. Update And Considering
Your website is the center of the universe when it comes to inbound marketing. All of your marketing channels should point to it, and it should be jam-packed with useful content for your potential customers. After all, that’s how you’ll start generating leads.
But, before we get to that, you’ll need to conduct a simple audit to ensure that your site meets today’s consumer expectations. Your website is frequently a buyer’s first point of contact with your company, and if they have a negative experience, they will most likely go with a competitor. In fact, 73 percent of B2B buyers surveyed said your website influences their decision to submit RFIs.
4. Redesigning Your Website
Make your website easier to navigate by cleaning it up. This is generally a potential customer’s initial impression of your company, and the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” is unfortunately inaccurate. Your website judges you and frequently finds you wanting. My vendor verification procedure (which is a corporate issue) is extensive and complex, and I don’t waste time on a challenging site.
5. Create Educational Content For Your Buyers
All of your inbound marketing initiatives hinge on content. It’s how you’ll get people to come to your business and turn them into leads.
Do you recall the buyer’s journey? Consider those steps as a funnel through which suppliers flow as they investigate and evaluate prospective solutions. You’ll want to give them relevant content at every stage of the process if you want to sell yourself effectively.
Don’t conceive of a blog as a sales tool, for example. Your main goal is to keep people informed. This will keep you front of mind throughout your industrial buyer’s journey and, ideally, win over prospects in the end. The material on your website should be of good quality and clickable. This signifies that your hard work has paid off.
Common Problems (And Solutions) Of Marketing:
Problem #1: Not Enough Clicks Or Engagement:
Content wins every time! One of the most crucial components of marketing is creating high-quality content that your prospects desire to read or see. Industry-related offers, such as white papers, eBooks, and guides, or videos, can entice buyers and increase site engagement.
Problem #2: Not Enough High-Quality Leads:
Are you attracting a sizable audience, but you’re noticing that they’re the wrong type of customer? We talked about this earlier, but it all boils down to knowing who your target audience is. Make sure the material you’re producing is relevant to those audiences. We’ll get into targeting specific buyers, engineers, and MRO managers with custom online campaigns a little later.
Problem #3: Not Enough Budget:
Believe us when we tell you that almost everyone wishes they could work with an unlimited or higher marketing budget. While a nice-to-have, working on a shoestring budget requires you to be resourceful.
Challenges in B2B Manufacturer Marketing:
B2B marketers encounter obstacles that most B2C marketers don’t have to deal with. Internal relationships, such as those with sales, and external ties, such as those with vendors, supply chains, and clients, are complicated.
1. Very specific needs:
When opposed to regular consumer marketers, manufacturing marketers have unique requirements. Website traffic is important for consumer marketing. The idea is that if you can get enough of the correct people to visit a consumer ecommerce site, you’ll hit your sales targets.
You must also strike a balance between how much information you want to provide on your public-facing website and how you want to handle customer interactions. To best help your business partners, you may need to limit access to information about your items in some instances.
2. Long sales cycles:
Long sales cycles are common in manufacturing. In B2B marketing, a PPC ad campaign will not produce the same results as it does in B2C marketing, where many people see practically immediate conversion outcomes.
3. Complex products:
Manufacturing companies that provide sophisticated products are unlikely to have much success with direct internet sales to B2B customers. Someone is unlikely to click on a “purchase now” button and enter corporate credit card data
4. More people to convince:
B2C marketing can rely on tried-and-true strategies like micro-moments to connect with customers at just the right time to encourage them to make a purchase. Creating a sense of urgency to encourage impulse purchases or sending cart abandonment emails are both tried and true B2C marketing strategies that might fall short in manufacturer marketing.
Advantages of Using Online Marketing with Manufacturers:
1. More lead conversions
Close to 70% of the most effective B2B marketers have a defined content marketing plan, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2020 B2B Content Marketing Benchmark report. Only 16% of the least successful businesses can say the same, indicating a lack of marketing commitment.
2. Brand awareness
Online marketing is a tried-and-true method for increasing brand awareness, increasing client loyalty, and persuading many stakeholders that you’re the proper organization for the job.
3. Position your business as a thought leader
Thought leadership establishes you as a go-to resource for professional counsel, useful information, and training and education for your clients. If you’re offering high-end or complex goods, it’s a must, but thought leadership content marketing is a smart concept for any manufacturing company.
Conclusion
Industrial marketers with experience can swiftly create an effective, high-quality marketing program that fits your budget. They should be able to tell you what works, what doesn’t, and what requires additional time.
FAQ's
Digital marketing for manufacturers refers to the use of various online strategies and tactics to promote products or services within the manufacturing industry. It involves leveraging digital channels such as websites, search engines, social media, email marketing, content marketing, and online advertising to reach and engage with target audiences, generate leads, and drive sales.
Digital marketing is crucial for manufacturers because it allows them to expand their reach, increase brand visibility, and connect with potential customers in a cost-effective and measurable way. It helps manufacturers stay competitive in a digital-first era, build brand awareness, generate qualified leads, nurture customer relationships, and ultimately drive business growth.
A successful digital marketing strategy for manufacturers typically includes the following key components:
- Website optimization and user experience.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) to improve online visibility and organic search rankings.
- Content marketing to educate, engage, and attract target audiences.
- Social media marketing to build brand awareness and engage with customers.
- Email marketing campaigns for lead generation and customer nurturing.
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive targeted traffic and conversions.
- Online reputation management to monitor and enhance brand perception.
- Analytics and data tracking to measure performance and make data-driven decisions.
Manufacturers can utilize content marketing by creating and sharing valuable and relevant content that addresses the needs, challenges, and interests of their target audience. This can include blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, videos, infographics, and more. Content marketing helps establish thought leadership, build trust, and attract potential customers who are searching for information or solutions related to manufacturing products or processes.
Manufacturers can leverage social media platforms to build brand awareness, engage with their audience, and drive traffic to their website. They can share industry news, product updates, behind-the-scenes content, customer success stories, and other relevant content. Social media also provides an opportunity for manufacturers to listen to their customers, gather feedback, and address inquiries or concerns in a timely manner.
Manufacturers can measure the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts through various metrics and tools. They can track website traffic, conversion rates, lead generation, social media engagement, email open and click-through rates, search engine rankings, and more. Google Analytics, social media analytics tools, marketing automation platforms, and CRM systems can provide valuable insights into the performance of digital marketing campaigns and help optimize future strategies.
Some common challenges manufacturers may face in implementing digital marketing strategies include:
- Limited internal expertise or resources.
- Resistance to change or adoption of new technologies.
- Competitive nature of the manufacturing industry.
- Complex or technical products/services that require specialized marketing approaches.
- Adapting traditional marketing mindset to digital marketing practices.
- Measuring return on investment (ROI) and attributing sales to digital marketing efforts.
- Compliance with industry regulations and standards.
To stay updated with the latest digital marketing trends and best practices, manufacturers can:
- Follow reputable industry blogs, publications, and thought leaders.
- Attend relevant conferences, webinars, and workshops.
- Join industry-specific forums or online communities.
- Engage with digital marketing agencies or consultants specializing in the manufacturing sector.
- Conduct regular competitor analysis to see what strategies are working for others.
- Continuously monitor and analyze data from their own digital marketing efforts.
- Invest in ongoing training and professional development for their marketing team.
Faisal Rafeeq is an SEO, PPC, and Digital Marketing expert. Faisal has worked on multiple e-commerce and web development projects, creating tailored and result oriented solutions. Some of the recent projects include ERPCorp, Wheelrack , TN Nursery, PROSGlobalinc, Patient9, and many more
