Whenever my friends come to visit me in Wisconsin, our meals consist of the staples that make up the dairy state’s diet: cheese, beer, and more cheese!

This week, the 2017 WI Cheese Industry Conference is taking place in our own Madison, Wisconsin and it promises to bring out the best of our state’s dairy pride: a gathering of nearly 2,000 cheese industry leaders, suppliers, marketers and more, sharing information about the latest in cheese technology, new products, whey opportunities, product safety, marketing and additional issues affecting this industry. Of course I’ve gouda be there!

Those of you who know me well know that in a prior life I worked for a private equity company that focused on acquiring mid-size manufacturing companies.  I then became a small business owner/operator investing and running a specialized construction company.  I can tell you that it has not always been easy to make the long-term investment over the short-term instant results when it comes to marketing. Do you feel the same way?

Seeing my logo on a web banner, my name on a billboard, or hearing my voice on a radio ad made me feel like I was doing something to promote my business. So many eyeballs, and so many ears! It’s gotta be working, right?

Whether you’re ready or not, manufacturer marketing has already been disrupted. Peoples' behaviors have changed, and they’re tuning out traditional marketing tactics.

Ask any SEO company representative, and they’ll tell you that the fastest way to gain better rankings in search engines is to produce more content. More is better appears to be the motto when it comes to search engine optimization and rankings. And before Google (on which over 70% of searches is conducted) released its four major algorithm parts for search engine results quality, that was the truth.

Manufacturers are increasingly looking for new ways to generate leads online. In the process, decision-makers ask tough questions about social media ROI – questions that may be hard to answer early in a brand’s digital efforts. Most boil down to this: Is social media worth it?

How do I know if B2B inbound marketing is a good fit for our manufacturing company? I understand where you’re coming from: after all, marketing your B2B manufacturing company is difficult. If it were easy, everyone would be doing the same things with stellar results.

Here’s our gauge for determining whether or not inbound would be a great fit for your manufacturing marketing needs. You’ll know that inbound marketing is a good fit if you’re experiencing the following at your manufacturing company:

Is your manufacturing sales strategy built upon cold calling, trade shows, and other traditional lead generation tactics? Have you considered hiring an outside vendor to provide more leads - at a volume that seems too good to be true? Does your sales process seem convoluted, inefficient, and ineffective when it comes to generating new leads, or following up with new ones?

It sounds to me like your manufacturing company's lead generation tactics are stuck in the ‘90’s. Welcome to 2016: where content marketing helps sales teams build more pipeline.

You have completely updated your website as part of an effective manufacturing marketing plan; it is mobile friendly, has great images, and is easy to navigate. Now you sit back, and wait for your investment to churn out quality leads left and right. And you wait. All that time and energy and your website is still not generating enough quality leads. Everything you’ve read up to this point has told you – fix the website, and generate more B2B sales. So why aren’t you seeing enough quality leads?

Myth #2: The only reason for manufacturers to blog is to share news updates.

Marketing for manufacturing companies often includes a blog on a company website. But it's a common misconception that blogs are just for PR updates and not an educational resource.

If you're blogging only when you've won an award or to promote your own business, you're missing out on the benefits of blogging. Here are the top reasons you're missing out:

The manufacturing industry is changing fast – faster than any time in modern history since the first Model T rolled off the assembly line. Technology is advancing, breaking down barriers to market entry that once looked unassailable.