Trade shows can be one of the most valuable sources of quality leads for manufacturers.  We all understand the benefits of being able to shake hands and build trust with a lead in person.  In this post, we share how to generate a high return on your trade show investments.

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.

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.

One of the single largest opportunities that you have for improving performance in the modern business environment involves aligning marketing and sales. This is a decision that brings with it a host of different benefits that can't be ignored, from dramatically improving your marketing return on investment to an increase in sales productivity. Misalignment between sales and marketing technologies and processes cost B2B companies 10% of revenue or more a year according to HubSpot, and they found that when smarketing occurs (sales and marketing alignment) companies see 38% higher sales win rate.

No matter how big or small your sales force, your website can be working around the clock to attract leads. To do it, however, your B2B site needs great content and an effective content strategy with messaging that connects to your target clientele.

Blogging: that time-consuming writing practice of innermost thoughts flowing onto a digital forum to be read by strangers you’ll never meet. Or is it?

Blogging as a practice has transformed over the years from an anonymous online journaling endeavor to one that helps establish individuals - or businesses - as thought leaders and influencers through providing much-needed insight into their expertise. 

It's the first day of spring training for our hometown Milwaukee Brewers! As they start training for this year's April 3rd home opener and we dream of firing up the grills and the stadium filling with baseball fans from all over, we're drawing inspiration from Field of Dreams - you know, "If you build it, they will come."