Modern Manufacturing Meets Modern Marketing

This guest blog post was written by Driven Digital. The blog post serves to provide an overview of their presentation on digital marketing for manufacturers that was presented at the 2014 Oklahoma Conference on Manufacturing. To simply download their presentation, click here.

Marketing Truth:Your MFG Can Grow Sales Through Digital Marketing

Expect to Learn About:

• How to grow sales in today’s digital world
• How decision makers love reading content online
• Why websites are so important for MFGs
• How Google should be viewed as your new lead salesman
• Plus, a free download on more technical insight on marketing online

Modernize the Way You Talk to Your Customers

Okay, you’re owner or decision maker at a medium-large sized mfg in Oklahoma. You’re trying to devise a plan that will take the company and its products somewhere that that is hasn’t been before. It’s your time to shine, but how do you grow?

That’s a complex question, but the simple answer is, modernize the way you communicate with your current customers and potential customers. This generation of decision makers revel in the opportunity to get the information they want without having to ask permission for it. They love companies that allow them to serve themselves with vital information, aka self-service marketing through digital marketing platforms (e.g. Facebook, Live Chat, Websites, Blogs, etc.).

Google Generates Sales for Your Company

Now ask yourself this, where do people, yes even the key decision makers in your reseller networks are Google people, go to find information about products or services they are interested in. Three, two, one and I hope you came up with the magic word, Google.

Google is where all customer relationships start or end. Google is the inventor and gatekeeper of self-service marketing efforts.

Google is where smaller companies beat complacent bigger companies on a daily basis. Because today’s decision maker could care less about the bigger company’s “revered history” in the industry. The decision maker is going to make a purchasing decision based on the company’s presence on Google. Are you there when they’re ready to click on a search result? (I bet your Googling your company’s or industry’s keywords right now to see how you’re doing)

So, now that you’re thinking how do I get my business on Google. Does this involve Facebook? What about online advertising? I heard that keyword domain names (e.g. BoatLifts.com versus HydroHoist.com) are the key to success, is this true? Slow down, just like any plan you need to have a foundation installed before any additional tactics are implemented. That foundation starts and ends with a company website.

A Company Website is the Key to Your Online Marketing

A company website for your manufacturing business should be at the center of your advertising strategy. Imagine a wagon wheel, the company website is in the middle of the wheel and the rest of the spokes are other forms of advertising that are pushing customers back to your website. For those old schooled marketers out there, it’s your controlled medium. Because LinkedIn, Facebook or Google could change or disappear tomorrow. You control the function and ultimately, the success of your website.

A website for today’s decision makers, those who revel in self-service, is not an exact copy of your company’s sales brochure. It’s engaging, it’s informative, and by all means, it’s ever changing. The website’s content should be easily editable by someone on your staff. No more of the mid-2000’s website change ritual–two weeks before changes are made by your “website guy.” Decision makers expect to consume the latest information on your products and so does your second most important customer, Google. Yes, you must please Google to earn sales through your website.

Your website should appeal to its most profitable customers, it should provide sales assistance and value to your resellers, and it should be viewed as an asset not a nuisance. The longer that you wait to embrace the digital age that we live in, the more likely that your competitors will beat you to the punch.

 

Let’s Review

Here are a few things that you should remember.

• Today’s decision makers want to learn as much about your company and your products without having to call you
• Most potential leads either start or end after a Google search–If your business isn’t on the first page of Google results then it loses sales
• Online advertising starts with having a results-oriented company website, not just something that looks good–We want sales
• Your company can earn a competitive advantage over its top competitors by engaging with its targeted customers online

 

About the Authors

Driven Digital

The Marketing Agency for Manufacturers

Address: 18 N Vann St, Pryor Creek, OK 74361

Phone: (918) 824-4494

Email: david@drivendigital.us

 

All views or opinions expressed in this guest blog post are those of Driven Digital and/or Moore Systems, LLC, and not those of the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance.