Industrial manufacturers might not have the advertising allure of consumer brands. But they still need a manufacturing brand marketing strategy to compete for customers. Most manufacturing leaders understand the importance of marketing. On the other hand, some industry giants face mistakes and misconceptions. As a result, their manufacturing brand marketing suffers.
Don’t let these shortcomings bring your success to a grinding halt:
Thinking your brand is bland
Industrial services aren’t sexy. Neither is mapping out a manufacturing brand marketing strategy. But any passionate and skilled marketer will tell you that you can make any topic engaging and intriguing. Manufacturers are among my favorite companies to work with. They challenge me to step out of my comfort zone. Moreover, they give me the chance to turn complex parts and processes into:
- Snappy headlines
- Sharp copy
- Powerful calls to action
Driving people to a dated website
With each new year, marketing directors feel pressure to create manufacturing brand marketing content. Before you do, though, ask yourself whether your website is where it needs to be. Is the copy clean and concise? Does it feature eye-catching design? Is the layout user-friendly? A website refresh – or even a complete redesign – is often the best place to start. Why? All the web traffic in the world won’t show results if your website doesn’t convert visitors into leads.
Investing too heavily in social media
Repeat after me:
“I will not slap crappy content on Facebook and call it ‘marketing.’”
Excessive social media posts don’t do much for manufacturing brand marketing. While you need to maintain a social presence, it’s more for content-sharing and advertising purposes. In other words, you don’t need to post three times per day. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Stick to two to three social posts per week. Include branded graphics and links to your own blog content. And once in a while, you can post a curated news article.
Leaving the sales team out of the conversation
Manufacturing brand marketing and sales go hand in hand. Sadly, these two teams tend to view each other as separate operations. Even worse, they might think of themselves as rivals. The point of manufacturing brand marketing isn’t to make a sale. Instead, give your salespeople the materials they need to make great pitches. In addition, bring them into the earliest discussions about your marketing strategy.
Creating content aimlessly
There was a time when creating content would put a manufacturer ahead of the competition. But marketing has changed greatly. In the same vein, it’s no longer enough to publish content and expect customers to come running to your contact page.
If you’re going to produce content – which you should – pair it with a manufacturing brand marketing strategy. This might include search engine optimization (SEO), landing pages, social media ads, banner ads and more. When you put in the time to create blog articles, white papers and the like, you owe it to yourself to give them top exposure.
