Competition in B2B industrial marketing is fierce, and your company needs to stand out. The products and services offered in the manufacturing world can be very similar, so without your marketing investment, your customers may not understand the differences between what you offer versus other businesses. Differentiating your company from your competitors is crucial, and the methods you choose will make or break your success.
The first step in B2B manufacturing marketing is to understand what makes your business unique and why your product is the best around; once you have that in mind, marketing your company will be easier. Keeping your company and products in mind, walk through these six steps, and you’ll be well on your way to a successful B2B manufacturing marketing strategy.
6 Steps to Building an Effective B2B Manufacturing Marketing Strategy
1. Prioritize Market Research
2. Invest More in SEO
3. Optimize Your Website
4. Create Industry-Focused Content
5. Maximize Your Social Media Content
6. Experiment With Video Production
1. Prioritize Market Research
Before you even consider creating an ad campaign or pursuing any marketing efforts, evaluate your target audience. Use market research to see what your potential clients want and need, what they like and dislike about your products and your competitors’ products, and what you’ll need to do to earn their business. You can complete your market research using surveys, focus groups, interviews, and more; just make sure you take the time to do it right. If you rush or make errors, your understanding of your target audience will be flawed, and your marketing campaigns won’t be as effective. Many B2B companies outsource their market research to a company that specializes in collecting data for B2B marketing; research companies know how to obtain high-quality data from ideal stakeholders.
Once you know your target audience, you’ll have a more solid idea of who your competitors are so you can set yourself apart. The best way to check how you’re different from your competitors is to see what they offer and how their brand engages with consumers. Notice what your target audience thinks of your competitors’ products, and work on your own marketing strategy from there.
2. Invest More in SEO
The vast majority of your clients will start their search for a product like yours on the internet. To show up on their radar, you need to make an impact with search engine optimization (SEO). If you want to get the most out of your SEO budget, you may consider hiring a specialist who focuses on B2B SEO. SEO consultants have various areas of expertise—choosing the right one to help your business is essential.
Whether you outsource to a specialist or take care of it yourself, SEO is one of the top methods for attracting B2B leads; not only is it cheaper than many other marketing tactics, but the results are better and you’ll see higher conversion rates and more website traffic. A quick tip: when you’re relying heavily on SEO, you should always ensure that your website is up to date. There’s no point in driving traffic to your site if it’s defunct.
3. Optimize Your Website
Your website is likely the first thing your B2B leads will see, so make sure it’s optimized for your needs. If you hope to convert website visitors into leads and sales, you must think about how your website looks to the customer and their experience using your site. You’ll want lead capture forms so visitors can request information and give you their contact details. Overall, you need a high-converting website, which means including the following:
- Clean, easy-to-navigate pages for leads to learn more about the products you manufacture
- Call-to-action (CTA) buttons that allow leads to submit their information for price quotes
- Value propositions so your leads know what they’ll get by taking the next step with you
- Well-designed, optimized mobile pages for B2B clients away from their desktops
If your company focuses too much on sales instead of the user experience on your website, you’ll be missing out on a huge opportunity.
4. Create Industry-Focused Content
You’ve done your market research, tidied up your website, and made sure to use SEO to drive leads to your company. Now it’s time to ensure you’re creating content that your audience wants to read. Create blog posts, whitepapers, eBooks, and more that discuss trends in manufacturing, plus any news specific to your industry or other content that will intrigue your leads and help them further consider your products.
Using your competitor and market research and your team’s pool of existing knowledge is a great way to create content specific to your business and your industry. When you start looking, you’ll be amazed by how much content you can create with information that is relevant to your operations and clients.
5. Maximize Your Social Media Presence
You’ve written a blog post, but where do you put it to make sure your audience will read it? Disseminating your content is one reason you need a solid social media presence. Your potential clients are all on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and it’s important that you are, too.
Many B2B companies don’t know how to start building their social media accounts—that’s where a marketing expert can come in to help draft social media schedules and calendars, write and suggest posts, and engage with audiences to maintain a consistent presence for your brand. It’s also something your team can handle in-house if they stay on top of the newest social media tactics, tools, and trends.
The most important thing is that your company has social media accounts that include regular posts, the majority of which should promote content and industry information rather than your specific products (a good rule of thumb is to keep 80% of the posts on content and 20% on self-promotion).
6. Experiment with Video Production
Video marketing is the new must-do for B2B companies. The vast majority of internet traffic involves video content, and it’s an effective marketing tool. According to a recent HubSpot State of Marketing report, video is used even more frequently than email, blogging, or infographics, and marketers who incorporated video into their content strategies saw 49% faster revenue growth than those who didn’t.
There are great tools and resources to help you get started with video marketing. Today, manufacturers often partner with marketing experts to create videos to help sell industrial products, offer a behind-the-scenes look at production, and share their brand stories. If you don’t have a video marketing strategy plan, it’s time for your company to create one.
Get Started with Your Strategy Today
It’s hard to stand out in the sea of B2B manufacturing companies, but if you have a plan and keep marketing trends in mind, you can stand out. Make sure your website and social media accounts are in order, and stay attuned to industry changes along the way. Follow these steps to get started, and consider working with a manufacturing marketing agency to maximize your success.
For support with your B2B manufacturing marketing strategy, contact Sagefrog today. We’re certified experts who provide our clients with a full-service experience. From high-impact creative work and proactive client service to results that exceed expectations, your business will benefit from our integrated industrial marketing resources, all under one roof.
