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.

I am sure that there are a ton of people thinking… what the hell is a buyer persona and why is this important to me? Well, honestly, those are great questions. Kudos to you for admitting that you don’t know and taking a step towards enlightening yourself.  Trust me – this topic is worth the read!

When someone is online searching for answers, they want the most relevant information possible.  When you are online, isn't that what YOU want? Well, in order to make sure your marketing investment is being spent on providing and pushing out relevant information to attract the right people, first you need to know exactly who those RIGHT people are.

A B2B marketing strategy for a manufacturing business HAS to utilize premium content such as eBooks! It allows your website to become your #1 salesperson, all while providing the exact knowledge about your service or product that you want to be sharing.

If your manufacturing company’s website isn’t utilizing premium content guarded by forms, YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON POTENTIAL QUALIFIED LEADS! I can break this down to two main reasons to jump on board:

Earlier this week, I wrote about why inbound marketing works for manufacturing. I walked through the buyer’s journey, from discovery, to consideration, to making a decision about a solution for a problem they’re facing. In the case of manufacturing, the buyer always feels an acute need for the solution prior to purchasing; buying a huge piece of machinery is not a week-long decision. The process could take months, with input from many other decision-makers in the company.

Once a potential solution has been identified, the buyer is ready to talk to a sales professional at your manufacturing business. Here’s how a sales team enabled through inbound succeeds more often.

Marketing for manufacturing companies is not an easy job. Traditional marketing methods focuses on the seller - what you have in stock, what you need to move, what’s been popular most recently, and where you think the buyers ought to be. While that method may work for some companies, manufacturing companies are a different case.

High-value publications and ebooks are (or, should be) the bread-and-butter of an inbound sales strategy for your B2B business. Not sure why? From a prospect's point of view, you're empowering them - the buyer - to learn more about your solution or product in a low-pressure way, while they research and educate themselves (read more about this inbound method for manufacturing marketing).

From your sales point of view, you're gathering information about the prospect's interests and pain points based on what they download, as well as receiving their contact information and more for additional communication.

As a business leader for a B2B company, you have responsibilities company-wide: caring for your employees, making sure customers are happy, ensuring that sales are up and losses are down, and possibly most importantly, working toward a high return on all investments. In your budget, marketing most likely has one of the highest-cost line items - but it should also have one of the highest returns. Contrary to popular belief, you can have faith in your marketing department's ability to produce high, measurable returns on your investments through a successful marketing strategy.

But how do you know if it’s working?

Marketing attribution: the quest for information and data that allows marketers to pinpoint the assisting marketing messages, formats, and channels that lead a purchasing customer to their buying decision.

To optimize your marketing investment to get the best return possible, attribution is a priority. It’s the ability to analyze the data you have to differentiate how marketing techniques affect the sales cycle, which allows you to choose how to optimize across silos to improve the end result: your bottom line.

Autumn is one of my favorite times of year in Wisconsin. And if you think it’s just because of the return of the Starbucks red cup, PSL, and holiday drinks, think again (but seriously, those things are delicious). Fall is hunting season in Wisconsin, and it tends to be a favorite hobby among friends and family.

Just you and the the great northwoods (and hopefully, that 12-pointer!) make for a great week-long break. The anticipation of seeing that buck makes the time in the stand totally worth it. But if you’re anything like me, as a salesperson, there’s some hesitation that comes from taking a vacation this close to the holiday season. What if I miss a follow-up email? What if I would have just contacted a few more people this week? What if I miss a lead?

Your manufacturing business has a very specific audience. Perhaps your industry is incredibly specialized, and you only create your product for one specific purpose. Or maybe you’ve determined that your product has the most influence at enterprise-level companies where there is already a demand. Whatever the audience looks like, they have some demands of you; are you meeting them in your marketing?