Although digital marketing isn’t a new concept, many manufacturing companies still rely on traditional lead generation and promotion techniques. If modern manufacturers want to appeal to digitally sophisticated customers and avoid disruption, they must grasp the digital domain.
We’ll look at the trends driving the digital marketing drive and how they’re altering traditional marketing in this piece. We’ll go through what to think about when you start planning your strategy, how to get your firm ready for digital marketing, and six manufacturer-friendly digital marketing methods. We’ll even tell you about other companies’ experiences and successes in combining digital marketing with production.
3 Reasons Why Manufacturers Can’t Ignore Digital Marketing
Manufacturers are usually among the first to adopt new technology that can help them improve their processes. However, supplier-customer interactions have altered considerably, and manufacturers have been sluggish to react.
Today’s buyers expect digital experiences
For the first time, Gen X and millennials account for the vast majority of B2B buyers. Millennials have matured to the point where over 60% of them now make or influence purchasing choices and have direct reports. They expect to find firms on new channels and in new ways when they seek out to them.
Self-service and omnichannel is here to stay
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way B2B clients made purchases forever. Given that the majority of customers are millennials, it’s no surprise that 75% of B2B buyers now prefer online shopping to in-person sales. B2B buyers using in-person channels, according to the same survey, anticipate access to digital channels and platforms that enhance their experience.
Buyers use digital channels for big-ticket items too
Despite popular notion that in-person contact is required for large-ticket purchases, 20% of B2B buyers stated they would be willing to spend more than $500,000 remotely or digitally. To attract customers and close agreements, manufacturers must use hybrid or multichannel sales tactics. Manufacturers’ demand for online marketing will only grow.
Let’s look at how digital marketing is transforming traditional marketing now that you know how important it is in the customer experience.
Types of Online Marketing
Digital or online, marketing is an all-inclusive term that describes marketing activities conducted on the Internet. There are seven primary types of online marketing:
Social media marketing works toward acquiring attention and sales through the use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Influencer marketing is the process of working with people who have a large online following (influencers) to promote a product or service to their subscribers.
Affiliate marketing essentially means online referral marketing.
Email marketing is a form of digital marketing where you send direct marketing messages to people in an effort to gain new customers and retain and engage existing ones.
Content marketing involves consistently creating, distributing, and promoting relevant online written and visual content so that it attracts, engages, and converts your target audience into customers.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing websites and digital content to improve search engine rankings to grow the number of visitors to a particular webpage.
Paid advertising describes online marketing where advertisers pay to show their ads on search engines and other online platforms, such as YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Changes In Traditional Manufacturing Marketing
Cold calls, direct mail, and trade fair invites were all part of B2B marketing in the past. They all suffered a knock after COVID-19. Most of us are well aware of this. For a long time, telephones and fax machines have been out of favour.
The trade show industry’s sails may have been temporarily snuffed out by the 2020 lockdowns, but in-person trade shows could restart in 2022. They’ll also get a new look.
If you haven’t yet examined digital marketing choices, now is the time to consider how digital commerce for manufacturers may complement traditional marketing efforts to help you grow your firm.
This isn’t just a problem for manufacturers. Your consumers are online, too, if you’re an industrial merchant. You risk slipping behind your competition and losing your market position if you don’t comprehend digital marketing for distributors.
Using digital marketing with traditional marketing
Traditional marketing, such as printed periodicals and catalogues, is still crucial, but it must now be supplemented with digital. As trade events resurface, they, too, have a digital flair.
Self-service and digital content consumption have been popular among audiences across industries, therefore marketers must adapt to match the shifting expectations of B2B buyers in terms of interaction. Customers will have a better experience before and during an in-person visit to the office or trade show booth if marketers can combine digital and traditional techniques.
You can augment the physical catalogue with QR codes so users can download specification sheets and order things on the spot now that everyone uses digital devices. Add digital events, mobile-augmented in-store experiences, and other technology to trade exhibitions and face-to-face meetings.
1. Set your marketing (and digital marketing) budget
There’s a wide variety of manufacturing industries and digital marketing budgets. On average, manufacturing companies allocate 6.4% of the company budget to marketing, which accounts for 2.7% of their revenue. If you still aren’t sure what to spend, Botsprint recommends choosing from the following options:
A lean marketing strategy is one in which 1-2 percent of your income is allocated on marketing. Simple tools and methods were possible with this budget. It’s great for organisations who want to preserve their market position rather than grow aggressively.
Set a goal of allocating 3-4 percent of your revenue to marketing. This strategy is great for businesses that want to engage with existing consumers while also attracting new ones. Manufacturers may maintain a 15% yearly growth rate and increase their market share this way.
A stretch plan is one in which 5% or more of sales is spent on marketing.
Companies have greater resources and freedom to generate leads, conversions, and sales in this environment. Marketers now have the financial resources to run more campaigns and test different techniques. This option is appropriate for manufacturers who want to considerably increase their market share and grow at a rate of 20% or more each year.
It’s crucial to remember that these figures are merely estimates and will vary depending on the size of your company, your marketing experience, and how clients find you. If your customers are online, they are also conducting research. In this situation, digital marketing could account for anything between 1/3 and 3/4 of your whole marketing expenditure.
2. Assign a team to lead your marketing efforts
First and foremost, you must hire a marketing leader to handle your digital initiatives. Any manufacturing and online marketing strategy requires a digitally savvy crew. SEO, PPC, digital content, and social media are all skills that most marketing professionals will have.
It may be tempting to hire one marketing specialist and call it a day if you’re just starting started with digital marketing. While some individuals provide manufacturers with full-stack marketing services, they can only do so much. They won’t be able to devote their complete focus to any one area. So, whatever path you take, you’ll need a marketing staff to manage all of the marketing pieces you’ve prioritized.
After that, you’ll need to decide which marketing activities to keep in-house and which to outsource to marketing companies.
Outsourcing versus in-house
There’s nothing wrong with outsourcing if it’s done correctly and strategically. Advertising agencies and online marketing firms provide a wide range of services at various prices, and you may be tempted to hire outside help to fill as many of your marketing holes as possible.
Aside from wage expenditures, you must factor in fees for training, healthcare, holidays, and other workplace benefits when hiring in-house marketers. While in-house teams are more expensive, they make it easier to create, communicate, and reach consensus on important choices. Because they understand your product, clientele, and industry, in-house teams may complement and maximize the results of other teams, and they can bring more creative solutions to challenging problems.
We advocate outsourcing highly technical or non-company-specific operations like SEO and sponsored advertising, while keeping email marketing and content marketing in-house, according to our analysis on digital marketing for manufacturers and distributors.
3. Revisit your brand mission and values
Customers’ perceptions of your company are shaped by your brand, so think about it thoroughly and explicitly. According to a 2020 Renegade poll of B2B CMOs, just about half of them could sum up their brands in eight words or less. How can you express your unique selling proposition to potential customers if you don’t know what makes your brand special?
4. Research and segment your customers
Design engineers, procurement managers, department managers, and other members of the buying team may be involved in B2B sales. The purchase intentions and inputs of team members may be substantially diverse. Create personas for each and then concentrate on the factors that impact their behavior.
Every buyer, regardless of sector or region, is a human who makes judgments based in part on emotions. Personal aspects will play a role in buyers’ decisions if they can achieve organizational goals with more than one supplier. The graphic below depicts the numerous elements that influence company purchasers.
In addition, business buyers can have different attitudes towards the purchase decision:
- Price-focused customers are concerned with the price and look for the price-value balance in their purchases.
- Quality-focused customers care about quality first, seeing quality as a strategic imperative.
- Service-focused customers pay attention to post-sale support and relationships after the sale.
- Partnership-focused customers prioritize long-term, strategic, and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Separating customers into these segments can help you better allocate limited marketing resources and focus on the type of customer that will bring the most profit.
5. Analyze your competition
Your brand isn’t likely to exist in a vacuum. While you won’t be able to influence the competition, you can learn about them and recognize their strengths and flaws. When you compare your brand to the competition, you’re objectively seeing the market through the eyes of the client.
- Analyze the market: Your research may reveal market gaps in which some customers’ expectations are unmet. If you know who these folks are, you can alter your marketing strategy to reach out to them and convert them into customers.
- Analyze the product: By comparing your products to those of your competitors, you can see how they stack up. This method could lead to new product development projects that will help your organisation compete better.
- Examine the marketing strategy: You may find areas for improvement and alter your plan to address them by looking at how competitors target their clients and what marketing methods they employ.
Competitor research of any level is essential for getting a sense of your digital environment and learning from your rivals’ successes and failures.
BotSprint is a full service Digital Marketing Company offering digital marketing services. BotSprint, help you tackle your goal in this crowded online market and help you to engage your brand in all online communities. Our team of experts and specialists work towards helping you to differentiate your brand from competitors and increase brand value. We provide end-to-end digital marketing services to our clients to meet their marketing goals and get maximum ROI on marketing spends. With the wide range of services we offer, we can cater to specific needs of clients. Create an online presence for your business which enables you to demonstrate your products or services and reach out to your target customers easily. Branding for your business starts here.
Contact us: https://botsprint.com/about-us/
