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?

Marketing in 2017 is inbound-centric.

In fact, inbound is the preferred marketing method for all companies that spend under $5 million annually on marketing. If your organization spends less than $100,000 on marketing annually, you’re four times more likely to practice inbound than outbound. In the words of Guy Kawasaki, "If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing.”

Industrial construction business-to-business company marketing is a complex, two-pronged necessity for businesses today to increase lead generation.

A strategic role like a VP or Chief Officer of Marketing has a big impact on your business. Depending on the size of your business, a director of marketing may have just as large an impact. Hiring for this role means a long and often difficult recruiting process, with the chance that the person hired may not be a good fit or will not have the leadership qualifications promised during the interview process. Outsourcing the responsibilities of a CMO to an agency or firm may be the right choice for your marketing investment due to a few key differentiators.

It's not common to find marketing agencies specializing in construction, but luckily, you've come to the right place to learn more. In the past, I've talked about how industrial commercial construction company marketing is complex, so construction companies, especially those in specialized industries, need specialized marketing. Today's post focuses on lead nurturing, part of the conversion-to-closing process. Need a refresher? We've created this handy infographic about the inbound process and how it works for B2B construction companies.

Lead nurturing is the next step in the process after you've attracted someone to your site and converted them into a first-time lead: they've filled out a form and given you permission to communicate more with them, but they're not quite ready to purchase. Lead nurturing is what happens between conversion to a lead and closing a sale.

Content marketing is not an easy definition to pin down. When you Google this term, over 49 million search results come back. And this trending term has grown 500% in the past five years.

In honor of Harry’s birthday and the release of the latest in the Harry Potter franchise by J. K. Rowling (yes, I know it’s a script, but hey, I don’t ruin your dreams by pointing out they’re only half-true, do I?), I’m giving you direct access to all of the knowledge I’ve gained since working with inbound marketing for B2B clients.

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:

As content marketing becomes a more important part of your B2B marketing strategy as a whole, traditional roles of sales and marketing teams are being revised.

Virtually every bank, almost regardless of size, has as one of its strategic goals to develop, and acquire, more good-quality business and commercial loans. They're lucrative for the bank, and extremely helpful to the growing business that needs funding.