Optimize your website for search
The first step in your manufacturer or distributor's marketing strategy should be to ensure that your website is easily found by potential customers in search and that you avoid some most common manufacturing myths and outperform your competitors. This is done through search engine optimization, often abbreviated as SEO.
If you are unfamiliar with SEO, here is a short explanation. SEO consists of numerous methods that make your website more likely to appear and rank high when someone types a keyword related to your business into a search engine. It can range from editing your individual page titles to acquiring more links to your site and can be very simple or very complex.
If you are new to SEO, the easiest way to start is to think of the words and phrases that potential customers would associate with your business or products. These can range from very short or simple words to longer sentences. For example, if you make pens, you can think of everything from "pens" to "buying pens with black ink." Then you should check your website to see if these words or phrases, called keywords, appear anywhere in your content.
If the keywords you chose aren't showing up on your site, chances are you're not ranking for them. If search engines can't find them, they can't associate them with your website. But if they are there, that's essentially a "vote" for you to rank them. This is why it is important to add keywords to your page copy, your headlines, etc. Find places where you can add these keywords and watch your ranking to see what happens.
This is a good starting point for SEO, but there is much more to the process than keyword optimization. You can learn the basics in about five minutes by reviewing our handy CEO's Guide to SEO.
Also, it is important to make sure your website is responsive. By ensuring that people can access your site from a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets, you can increase the number of leads and ultimately close more deals.
Use pay-per-click advertising
Another of the most important marketing strategies for manufacturers is advertising, but not the type of advertising you would expect. Pay per click, or PPC, is a modern advertising method that involves placing ads on search engine results pages (SERPs) and other web pages.
PPC Ads on Google for Manufacturing Equipment
PPC ads are usually inexpensive and can have a very high return on investment for manufacturers or distributors. They contain only a sentence or two of text with a link to your website, but the biggest benefit is that you only pay for them when they are clicked, not when they are viewed.
If you're not ranking very well in search engines, PPC ads can be a huge benefit to your brand, allowing you to control exactly how much money you spend to find exposure in search engine results. The reports are also very detailed, so you'll know exactly how much you spent on each click, how many people clicked on each ad, which ads attracted the most clicks, and how many phone calls or emails you received as a result.
One of the main benefits of PPC is that the results are instantaneous. As soon as the ads are clicked to run, they can start driving qualified traffic to your website. This is especially useful if you are looking to quickly increase leads without draining your budget or employees.
Test your website to see what conversions
A little earlier, we mentioned that online marketing allows you to experiment with different methods and gives you room for failure. This particular method, conversion rate optimization (or CRO), encourages trial and failure, and it's all in the name of making more money.
The premise of CRO is very simple. It allows you to test changes to your website to see which updates lead to increased conversions, such as requests for quotes or phone calls. For example, sometimes moving a "Contact Us" button from the bottom of a page to the top can lead to many more conversions. However, you don't want to implement this permanently and you risk losing all your leads for the month if it turns out that your hunch or intuition about something is wrong. CRO allows you to test these ideas safely.
With CRO, you can run A / B tests to show one group of website visitors the original or "A" version of a page, and another group a new or "B" version. Whichever version results in higher conversions can be implemented permanently. This allows for safer experimentation as a significant drop in conversions on version "B" can result in immediate removal from the test. However, a big jump can result in immediate implementation and more benefits for you.
Create engaging content and media that ranks well
When retailers go online to search for takeout products in their stores, they may be looking for photos, videos, or detailed information that goes beyond the basic overview they normally get. One way you can capitalize on this desire and attract more potential customers to your website is to create this engaging content and make sure it ranks high in searches.
Search engine results now go way beyond website links. When someone searches for a certain query, they can also receive videos, images, locations, and shopping results. As such, creating engaging content that is likely to rank can drive visitors to your website and allow them to learn more about your products.
Create social media profiles
Sometimes B2B companies are slow to integrate social media marketing. But social media is one of the best industrial marketing solutions for manufacturing companies. Profiling on social media will help you engage with potential customers and put your manufacturing company in front of decision makers.
Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow manufacturers to increase brand awareness and make meaningful connections. You can also use social media to share product photos, run contests, and create brand ambassadors.
Also, YouTube is a great tool for B2B companies and allows them to demonstrate their products and provide educational content in video format.
Manufacturers can also use social media to get ideas and feedback during product development. Social media listening tools allow you to capture customer sentiments about your business, and you can adjust your marketing strategy to meet their expectations. And you can use product forums to better understand customer reviews.
Make it easy for potential customers to contact you
The final strategy we recommend is to make it easy for potential customers to contact you. This can be as simple as placing your phone number somewhere highly visible at the top of your website, adding a dedicated contact form, or being active on social media.
Contact button on Siemens website
This may seem like obvious advice to you. You may be wondering what a marketing strategy is like. However, if you take a close look at your website, you might be surprised at how many proverbial obstacles a potential customer has to go through to send you an email. Can they fill out a simple form to request a quote or do they have to fill out eight or nine fields? Or do you have a contact form? Can your phone number be easily found or is it buried in your footer or on a separate page?
By giving your leads the path of least resistance, you can ensure that more of them answer the phone or send you an email. You can also increase your chances of contacting them if you are present and active on social media, where many of them may reach you with questions. It's not uncommon for questions about your prices or products to be sent to you via Facebook or Twitter, so be prepared!
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