The use of inbound marketing can drive higher ROI at a very high rate for the manufacturing industry
Manufacturing companies are noticing significant benefits from using inbound marketing because their target market is actively searching online for a supplier are in the end of the funnel process to close a contract. Well-designed inbound marketing campaigns can drive higher and qualified traffic rather than conventional marketing. Inbound Marketing is the most effective way to attract visitors looking for your company’s products.
Bridge for communication: A website is an essential bridge in creating communication between your company and a prospective client which will often lead to a conversion. By engaging in Inbound Marketing and keeping your website up to date with industry information, shopping cart, product specification/documentation, and featuring related industry news is essential to keep your visitor informed and give your company a strong online presence.
Content is king: Content was and still is the best way for search engines to index your website. Accordingly to online research, instead of attending in-person events and trade-shows, companies are spending more time and resources using the Internet to find companies that can fulfill their needs. Based on these findings, manufacturing companies need to develop content that fuels the buying cycle as well as engaging in Inbound Marketing to promote their products and services.
Here are some of the results gathered by different online research:
- 56% of industrial professionals will only contact a vendor after they compare & evaluate vendors online (source: GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
- 53% of manufacturing companies say they are going to increase their content marketing spend over the next 12 months (source: Content Marketing Institute 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report)
- 21% of B2B companies in the manufacturing industry rank their organization as “effective” or “very effective” at inbound marketing (source: Content Marketing Institute 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report)
- 64% of B2B marketers say that “producing enough content” is a challenge (source: Content Marketing Institute 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report)
- 83% of buyers review up to three sources of online information before making a decision on an industrial purchase over $1,000 (source: GlobalSpec Industrial Buy Cycle Survey)
Being found: Industrial professionals are savvy when it comes to find information online and are using search engines and social media to gather the information they need. Manufacturing companies must be aware of how their website and inbound marketing efforts. Having information about your company and products available on your website is a great start, but if your website is not found by your target market, it is not helping your company to close sales.
How professionals are using online search to find what they need:
- 70% of industrial professionals are using search engines to compare and evaluate potential suppliers (GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
- 86% of industrial professionals use search engines for work-related research (GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
- 84% of industrial professionals use search engines to find components, equipment and services (GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
- 74% of professionals use the search engines and websites to compare products across suppliers (GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
Marketing Automation: Industrial buying cycles are typically long, therefore manufacturing companies need to plan the best way to nurture potential buyers throughout this cycle. Marketing automation (emails and blog articles) present great opportunities to achieve this goal. There has been a great increase of manufacturers adopting marketing automation to reach buyers online and seeing better results in their sales.
- Engineers and related professionals subscribe to an average of 5.8 digital publications (GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector)
- Among B2B compaies using inbound marketing, 62% say they are “strong” or “full” adopters (B2B’s Marketing Automation: Best Practices for the Management of B2B Digital Marketing Campaigns report)
Video Channels: Videos can be a great digital marketing tactic for all manufacturers. Videos can help explain technical concepts, visually represent benefits, and much more. According to GlobalSpec 2013 Digital Media Use in the Industrial Sector, 46% of industrial professionals use YouTube or other video channels.
Social Media: Researches show that manufacturing companies are starting to use social media marketing to promote their brand; however, they are still not using it to its full extent. Statistics prove that social media is gaining traction in the industrial sector by promoting the company’s brand.
According to “Content Marketing Institute 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report, the top three social media sites used by manufacturing marketers are
- Facebook (77%)
- YouTube (67%)
- LinkedIn (61%)
Seven out of 10 small- and mid-sized suppliers are engaging with prospects through social channels (source ThomasNet)
How is your company using its website and inbound marketing to gain advantage online?