There’s a ton of reasons to swing into the drive-thru and grab yourself a quick bite of a seasonal McRib sandwich. You’re thinking about the "right now"… the fact that you didn’t plan for your meal and that you want to fulfill your immediate goal of food in your belly. But, think about this… what do you actually prefer?  The fast food or a slow cooked, juicy, healthy, delicious pork tenderloin?  If you are willing to invest a little bit more, including time, into what was going into your face, you could have been able to be dining on some delish healthy option. Also, the food would be much more beneficial to you in the long run and I guarantee – much more worth the investment.

It’s not a secret or surprise anymore… video is the NOW of digital marketing. And, good news for you, if you’re trying to market a complex or customized manufacturing product or service, doing so with video gives you a bunch of advantages... and, it doesn't have to be as hard as you think.

Pause and think about this…

What do you think “BRANDING” is?

Let me tell you a story. It’s one that my team and I have heard about from many prospects, and have seen from almost every one of our clients to date. It’s not unique to a specific industry, though it does seem more prevalent (or perhaps just more obvious) in our manufacturing clients. This story is about a reformed marketing team’s path to success.

You're not Coca-Cola.  I'm pretty sure you knew that already, but just in case.  But, what that means is your marketing dollars need to be spent targeting very specific people.  Specialized manufacturing in the USA has become an efficient market. Creating and maintaining a competitive edge means staying innovative when it comes to your core business and improving all aspects of the business - including design and brand.

With the rise (and domination) of social media, your website has not lost importance, it has gained it.  Manufacturing CEO’s, the goal of your social media should be two fold: build trust and send people to your automated marketing and sales funnel.  And, the most effective automated marketing and sales funnel is still your website - partnered with an email system and a CRM/Database.

Alright, first of all, get on board with “expertise marketing”. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what that is – cause we kinda made it up. Basically, it’s marketing that utilizes your industry expertise on your specific product or service. You use that sought after knowledge and organized it into content that is on your site to attract your ideal buyer by answering their common questions, or triggers.

The best thing about this (besides the fact that you are attracting exactly the kind of person that you want to your business) is that all the while, you are fueling and empowering your website for now and years to come. Fueled by relevant content for your ideal customer, your website should be your #1, round-the-clock, best salesperson!

As a manufacturing organization, filling your sales pipeline with the right customers who will pay well and create repeat, long-term business is important for your bottom line. Marketing - especially digital marketing - can play a huge role in filling your manufacturing, packaging, and shipping schedules so your plant is running as efficiently as possible. 

As I go around speaking attending conferences, and working with our manufacturing clients, I’m often asked questions about what marketing technology is best for a medium-sized manufacturing firm. For context, I tend to think of companies with $25-100MM in revenues as medium-sized companies.  There are SO many choices now, your head will spin.  As you know, software as a service (SAAS) is now normal.  With that normalcy has come a market inundated with constant new technology and software applications.

We are assuming that you, like most other manufacturing companies, gather most of your leads through avenues such as trade shows, referrals, and word-of-mouth? You probably spend money on outbound marketing, but don’t really understand what the ROI is, if there is any at all? And, it’s probably near impossible for you to have success with cold calling because your product or service is too complicated to explain in such a brief conversation. Right? That is exactly why an inbound methodology for your manufacturing company is what you need – setting yourself up as an educational resource with useful content is the perfect way to explain your complicated widget or product.