The landscape of marketing among manufacturing companies is changing. If your company is still relying solely on outbound marketing (traditional advertising) by using print ads, trade shows, telemarketing and other costly tactics to generate new business by pushing messages outward – you are sure to experience something our partners at HubSpot call the “Oh S**T” Moment.
If you are new to inbound marketing, it may seem daunting to take the step to convert your marketing strategies. Getting started could be the biggest hurdle that you will have to jump. The first step is having a basic understanding of the must-have components of your inbound marketing program. Consider the following:
We mentioned above how strong web content, keyword incorporation, SEO optimization and frequent blogging plays a role in ranking high and being found when potential leads search for products and services online. It is important that we stress how imperative it is that you show up on the first page of search engine rankings. The reason for this is the first 10 results on the page get 90% of the click-thrus and of these, the first three get the most clicks. Building your site incorporating inbound marketing practices will allow you to be a lead generating superstar within your industry.
Quick Takeaway: Start local. Update your Google and directory listings and ask delighted customers for Google Reviews. Then, take a deep dive into your analytics and identify which keywords you want to be found for and start sprinkling them into your website content. Write blogs, adjust some phrasing on your website and get in the conversation around the key terms that will drive prospects to your pages.
Engineered in the most effective way and partnered with a strong inbound marketing plan, your website can be a lead generating machine. Part of your plan should include lead generation campaigns – a series of integrated strategies and tactics built around an offer that brings prospects to a landing page on your website where you collect the visitor’s contact information. The best lead generating campaigns include ways to promote a special offer both on your website and other vehicles including social media, pay-per-click advertising, e-newsletters and more. View the beginners guide to lead generation here.
Quick Takeaway: Add site retargeting when you implement you lead generation campaign. Site retargeting involves using social media, and a plethora of other platforms, to serve up ads to people who have recently visited your website. You’ve likely seen this when you leave an item in your cart on a website, and suddenly it’s popping up everywhere for your buy! Whether it’s a favorite online newspaper, magazine, shopping site or blog, prospective customers who didn’t convert into leads the first time, will see your ads and have the opportunity to click back to your website. Retargeting allows your brand to stay top of mind and drive visitors back to your offer.
Have you experienced a situation where you’ve asked for more information or provided your contact information to a business, and never received a follow up? Missed opportunity on their part, right? Nurturing a lead is a critical part of inbound marketing strategies (especially for manufacturing companies), because if you have a long sales cycle, prospects should receive communication over a period of time in order to convert the lead into a client. Nurturing can be done through marketing technology such as an automated series of emails allowing you to stay top of mind. Keep messaging around thought leadership (information the prospect will be interested in learning and which positions you as an expert – think educational, promotional, best practice sharing) and not just sales. Try to target messaging as specific to the lead as possible.
Quick Takeaway: Consider how you can incorporate personalization into your nurturing campaigns to make your readers feel unique and truly special. With platforms like Hubspot, you can add personalization tokens and specific data details into your email campaigns, making it easy to tailor your messages to your prospects on an individual level. Now that’s customer service.
Manufacturing companies are realizing the value of inbound marketing versus traditional methods of advertising and promoting their business. Through the ability to be found, generate leads and position their business and employees as experts – the methods discussed in this post have the potential to deliver increased ROI.
Will your inbound marketing plan be ahead of your competitors in the next few years? By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.
Looking to learn more about how to use inbound marketing to transform the way you market your products and services? You’re one click away from the path to bigger, better and faster growth of your top line.