Digital Marketing For The Manufacturing Industry

Used effectively, digital marketing can be an extremely useful tool for the manufacturing industry.

It can often feel like the rise of digital marketing has left the industry behind, however it is not impossible to catch up and start reaping the rewards that modern marketing techniques can offer.

Keep reading below to see how manufacturers can use digital marketing to generate more leads and start smashing sales targets.

YOU MEASURE EVERYTHING IN YOUR FACTORY, SO WHY NOT YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING TOO?

The manufacturing industry is always looking to streamline production methods. Streamlining enables more product to be produced in less time and with less cost. This is a no brainer, right?

Analysing the manufacturing process can bring a range of benefits to a company and improve the bottom line. Metrics such as labour costs, throughput, line changeover times, supplier costs and even more complex metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness are all designed to show you exactly where to optimise production, lower costs and boost profit. Though how do you look at metrics in this detail for your marketing efforts?

In the digital age of marketing, it is possible to obtain the same level of insight into your marketing efforts as it is to your manufacturing processes. See below for some tips on what you can actually measure, or click here to read the full blog.

EMAIL MARKETING

Email open rates have been available for a while now and have advanced to the point of being able to see how long people read the email for, how many people clicked on each link, and most importantly, who clicked on each link.

GOOGLE ADS

If used effectively, Google Ads can be an extremely effective tool for gaining new leads. Google Ads itself comes with a range of reporting analytics that show you exactly where you can improve your ads and spend less money and receive more leads.

WEBSITE TECHNIQUES

Your website should be a very important lead generation tool for your company. Your website should be your best sales person! With a combination of blogging, having educational eBooks available to download and providing engaging content on your web pages, you will receive new leads every week.

LEAD GENERATION FOR MANUFACTURERS

There are three digital marketing strategies that can increase the amount of leads that a manufacturer attracts through their website.

CONTENT MARKETING

Attracting potential leads to your site through providing thoughtful and educational content will guarantee the leads you get are high quality.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media can be a great tool for generating brand awareness, but it can also be used as an effective tool for lead generation.

INBOUND MARKETING

Inbound marketing ties together all digital marketing techniques to provide an overarching solution to generate more leads.

FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN MANUFACTURER BUYER BEHAVIOUR

Buyers will research before they buy. In fact, B2B customers today progress more than 70% of the way through the decision-making process before talking with a sales representative. This fundamental change has led us to have access to unlimited amounts of information. Whether we want to:

learn how to fix our leaky sink,
find the maintenance intervals for our tractor,
determine which metals resist corrosion the best,
understand the process for becoming ISO certified, or
find a partner to complete a part of our manufacturing process.

The information is already accessible online, instantly. This access has turned the tables on the traditional buyer-seller relationship. You can read more about this change in buyer behaviour, and how manufacturing companies can utilise this change to increase the leads coming to their business.

THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY FOR DIGITAL MARKETING

Social media can be a powerful tool for a manufacturing company. Having said that, it can also be an incredibly damaging tool if not used correctly. In order to be effective, it is important to implement a sound strategy with clear goals and objectives.

Social media is typically used as a top of funnel sales tool. Improving brand awareness is one common goal of using social media in a manufacturing company. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are perfect for informing consumers of your product and how it can help them. In a B2B setting, LinkedIn is likely to be the best social media platform to generate awareness, but it can also be used to generate leads.

To view some examples of how some companies improved their business using social media, see our blog here.