Note: This blog was updated November 2024.
Manufacturers have distinct challenges when it comes to marketing, whether it’s driving leads, traffic, or brand visibility. Price points are higher, the buying cycle is longer, and the purchase process involves more decision-makers.
But there’s hope! Effective marketing for manufacturers and OEMs is possible. In this post, we’ll review:
- Marketing challenge manufacturers face
- How and why a B2B marketing strategy is needed
- 8 tips and best practices
Let’s get started.
Manufacturer Marketing Tips: 8 Keys to Success
Why Marketing is Different for Manufacturers
Manufacturers have unique challenges when it comes to generating interest and demand for their products.
- Expensive products: Large-scale manufacturing products are not one-click purchases. They are high-priced investments that require more time (and more words) to convey unique value to the buyer.
- Longer buying process: Because of the higher price, buyer education is critical. As a result, the buying process usually involves more information-seeking on the part of potential buyers.
- Complex approvals: Other than extending the sales cycle, expensive products also make purchase approval convoluted. It’s not uncommon for a handful of influencers and decision-makers to be needed for sign-off.
All of this has a profound influence on the way marketing strategies are constructed. However, how buyers consume information and move through the sales funnel continues to evolve. Manufacturers who don’t acknowledge the changes will be left behind.
How an Integrated B2B Marketing Strategy Can Help
Traditionally, manufacturers created goods and services, trained inside and outside sales staff, and sent those professionals out to connect directly with potential customers at trade shows, in offices, and via tightly controlled advertising campaigns in industry publications.
Lead generation was mostly the task of the sales department. Even a decade ago, this type of sales-only relationship with business partners worked. But in today’s dynamic world, manufacturers are no longer off the hook for marketing.
Manufacturers, both buying and selling, tend to stay within small circles of existing relationships.
Historically, it was about who you knew and who would refer you to someone else. This is still true today to some extent. But content marketing, social media, search engine optimization, and a variety of other inbound – and integrated – marketing efforts change that story, making it possible to rise above the referral and grow your business in new ways.
According to HubSpot, more than 70 percent of companies globally are investing in content marketing, while a vast majority of companies have plans to upgrade their website. And business websites are the most used distribution channel for marketers.
So if your current marketing strategy isn’t helping you reach your business goals, rest assured you’re not alone. Here’s what to do about it.
Our Top 8 Manufacturer Marketing Tips
Know Your Customer
How do you know what to communicate, or how to communicate, if you don’t know who you’re talking to?
Start with the foundation of any effective marketing strategy: research. This includes information like what kind of content or information your audience wants – and where they go to find it. Demographics and psychographics can be used to construct personas.
The more detail, the better. But don’t overthink it, this shouldn’t be a months-long exercise. Spending a few weeks to get key data will help you determine where to focus your time, guide product development, tailor your messages, and allow for alignment across the organization. As a result, you will be able to attract the most valuable visitors, leads, and customers to your business
Know Your Competition
Understanding your competition is crucial to figuring out how to effectively position and market your own brand.
Identify a few of your biggest manufacturing competitors. These can be usual suspects you regularly come up against or upstarts with significant web presence who are not yet on your radar.
How do they position themselves? What are their key messages and takeaways? Which tactics do they employ most frequently? Answering these questions can help point you in a confident direction while minimizing risk around where you spend advertising dollars.
Turn Knowledge into Expert Content
You’re likely already perceived as an authority in your industry or specialty at events and trade shows. But you must also be able to meet the needs of your audience online.
This means taking your expert knowledge and intellectual IP and turning it into content – content that pulls people to your website where they can learn more about what you offer on their own time and at their own pace. In short, content allows you to solve your customers’ problems with information when you can’t do it with phone calls.
Types of content that enable you to deliver this expertise include:
- White papers
- Research reports
- Guides
- eBooks
- Case studies
- Videos
- Webinars
- Blogs
- Podcasts (either your own or as a guest on someone else’s)
- Social media presence and posts
- Webpages
- Email newsletter/nurture sequences
- Newsletters
- Infographics
Content, however, is just one part of the equation. Context is equally important. You must be able to offer the right content at the right time to the right people when they need it. This is what transforms potential buyers from anonymous visitors into engaged prospects.
Build a High-Converting Manufacturing Website
Most manufacturing brands fail to realize the full potential of their website. Outdated design. Jargon-heavy copy. Far too many words. You can do better. Websites are typically the first place potential buyers engage with your brand, so don’t waste the opportunity.
Here’s what to focus on:
- Design & UX: Keep your webpages clean, professional, and easy to navigate.
- SEO: Effective SEO is what keeps your site at the top of Google search results and in front of buyers. The more queries you show up for, the more leads you will convert.
- Speed: Slow sites lose out on traffic and leads. People – and Google – prefer sites with pages that load fast and don’t delay user behavior. So, keep that Google Lighthouse report handy.
- Mobile-First: While most of your buyers will use desktops to access your site, Google sees only the mobile version.
- Accessibility: Site accessibility is a critical but too-often ignored element of website building. Follow the guidelines.
Optimize Your Content for Search
Engaging, useful content is more likely to rank high in searches. Google can read your webpages and content, and rank it on quality, resulting in various SERP outcomes. Helpful, clear, and well-written web content will inevitably rank higher than sloppy, disorganized material that doesn’t serve a purpose other than a promotional one.
Results on search engines now go far beyond links to websites. When someone searches for any given query, they can also receive videos, images, locations, and shopping results. So, your content strategy should also include mixed media, like videos, linked webinars and infographics add weight to your Google ranking.
Focus on creating content that answers the questions your buyers have. If these are popular questions that are commonly searched, the pages are likely to rank well, and potential customers will read them, then browse your website to learn more about what you do.
Use Social Media the Correct Way
B2B companies are often slow to integrate social media marketing. But social media can work if you do it right.
- Prioritize social media channels your audience favors. This usually means LinkedIn and Twitter (occasionally Facebook).
- Create individual profiles for employees who have the bandwidth and ability to engage others. You should still maintain a company profile but it’s mostly secondary to what your people can do.
- Content first, social second. If you don’t have anything cool to share, don’t sweat it. Your time is better spent creating valuable content that’s share-worthy in the first place.
- YouTube is social media, too. YouTube can be a great tool for a manufacturing brand – specifically for demonstration, educational or training video content.
- Use UTMs. UTM extensions on your web links will allow you to track the performance of posts containing links.
Optimize for Conversions
Attracting users to your website is merely the first step – converting them is the goal.
- Drive users to an action. Use Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) the process of increasing the percentage of users or website visitors to take a desired action. Only a small percentage of marketers use landing page A/B tests to improve conversion rates.
- Keep load times fast. The first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates. Website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42 percent with each additional second of load time. Your load time is critical.
- Pop-ups work. Website pop-ups are useful conversion tools, especially if they’re targeted and used sparingly.
Build targeted PPC campaigns
PPC advertising is a mix of science and art – in that order. Dialed in, it can produce high ROAS (return on ad spend) for manufacturers.
Here’s what to focus on:
- Keyword research: Identify the key terms and phrases your buyers use when searching for what you offer.
- Targeted ad groups: Narrow down your list of keywords to focus on the ones with the biggest search audience (monthly searches) and therefore most potential.
- Effective copy: Make sure the language in your ads mirrors the words and overall intent your buyers use.
- Landing pages: Create a landing page for each ad group, ensuring the keywords in your ads match the keywords on the landing page.
- Monitor & optimize: Don’t just set and forget. Keep a close on eye on important KPIs like conversions, conversion rate and cost per conversion.
Your best bet is to work with an expert, but if you’re doing all this on your own, don’t skimp. Otherwise, you’ll waste precious time and budget on junk clicks.
Here is the table below, summarizing the eight points about their impact in your business and how to implement it,
|
Point |
Impact |
Implementation |
|
Know Your Customer |
Understanding your target audience enables tailored marketing efforts, leading to increased engagement, conversions, and customer satisfaction. |
Conduct thorough research to identify key demographics, preferences, pain points, and online behavior of your target audience. Develop buyer personas to guide content creation and messaging strategies. |
|
Know Your Competition |
Insight into competitors’ strategies and positioning helps identify market gaps, refine value propositions, and differentiate your brand effectively. |
Analyze competitor websites, marketing materials, and online presence. Identify key messages, tactics, and areas of opportunity. Use this information to refine your own marketing strategy and messaging. |
|
Turn Knowledge into Expert Content |
Providing valuable, informative content establishes credibility, attracts prospects, and nurtures leads through the sales funnel, ultimately driving conversions and customer loyalty. |
Leverage internal expertise to create diverse content formats such as white papers, case studies, videos, webinars, and blog posts. Tailor content to address buyer pain points, industry trends, and FAQs. |
|
Build a High-Converting Website |
A well-designed, optimized website enhances user experience and credibility, increases search visibility, and facilitates lead generation and conversion, contributing to overall business growth. |
Invest in professional web design that prioritizes user experience (UX), mobile responsiveness, and search engine optimization (SEO). Create clear navigation, compelling messaging, and conversion-focused landing pages. |
|
Optimize Your Content for Search |
SEO-optimized content improves visibility in search engine results, drives organic traffic, and positions your brand as a trusted industry authority, resulting in higher lead generation and conversions. |
Conduct keyword research to identify relevant search terms and topics. Optimize on-page elements such as titles, meta descriptions, headings, and content structure. Create valuable, relevant content that aligns with user search intent. |
|
Use Social Media the Correct Way |
Strategic social media engagement enhances brand awareness, fosters community engagement, and drives website traffic, providing opportunities for lead generation and customer engagement. |
Identify social media platforms frequented by your target audience (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter). Develop a content calendar with a mix of informative, engaging, and promotional content. Encourage employee advocacy and engage with followers through comments, shares, and direct messages. |
|
Optimize for Conversions |
Conversion optimization tactics improve website performance, increase lead generation, and maximize ROI from marketing efforts by guiding users toward desired actions and streamlining the conversion process. |
Implement clear calls-to-action (CTAs), streamlined forms, and persuasive messaging throughout your website. Conduct A/B testing to refine page elements and optimize user experience. Monitor key metrics such as conversion rate, bounce rate, and average session duration to identify areas for improvement. |
|
Build Targeted PPC Campaigns |
Strategic PPC campaigns target relevant keywords, reach qualified prospects, and drive targeted traffic to your website, resulting in increased lead generation and revenue generation. |
Conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-intent keywords and phrases. Create targeted ad groups with relevant ad copy and landing pages. Set specific goals and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure campaign success. Continuously monitor and optimize ad campaigns based on performance data. |
Manufacturer Marketing Tips: The Bottom Line
Manufacturers need more than referrals and tradeshow lists. Today’s marketing strategies require a comprehensive, integrated and very digital approach. But it’s not about perfection. Figuring out what your buyers respond to best is a process of trial and error. These tips will help you navigate it.
FAQs
1. What makes marketing different for manufacturers?
Marketing for manufacturers can be challenging because their products are usually very expensive. This means buyers need more time and information before making a purchase. The buying process also involves multiple decision-makers who need to approve the purchase.
2. Why do manufacturers need a marketing strategy?
In the past, manufacturers could rely on sales teams and industry connections for new business. But today, buyers research and educate themselves online before talking to sales. A solid marketing strategy helps manufacturers find and engage potential buyers during this research phase.
3. How can content marketing help manufacturers?
Manufacturers have deep expertise in their products and industry. Content marketing allows them to share this knowledge through blog posts, guides, videos and more. This valuable content attracts interested buyers to the manufacturer’s website to learn more.
