Key attributes customers look for in manufacturers: flexibility, on-time shipments, quality, price, and productivity.
I worked in manufacturing for five years before I started my business. Today, I serve as Fractional CMO of a manufacturing platform. Here are marketing tips for manufacturers.
Do Drip Marketing
With long lead times, know your sales funnel and plan to deliver content regularly. Email marketing is essential for manufacturers.
Study B2B Marketing
Business to business marketing is different from business-to-consumer marketing. Get to know your audience. Purchasing agents are savvy professional shoppers.
- Which industries are you targeting?
- What size businesses?
- How can you make it easy to switch to you from another supplier?
- What is the individual purchasing manager/agent’s demographic and buying style?
- How does your customer prefer to buy?
Consider your Credit and Terms
In B2B, your customers will want to know how long they have before their bill is due. Knowing their own cash flow and liquidity might free them up to buy from you. Ask yourself:
- Will customers be able to move the product off their shelves before they have to pay you?
- Will you house inventory for them at your location?
- What are your lead times?
Be Different
What can you provide that others don’t? Find your customers’ most significant pain points and address them better than your competition.
As a supplier, significant differentiators may be technical and marketing support. Can your customers white-label your products? Will you share marketing collateral like pictures and videos they can use on their website and social media?
Write the Right Message
Who will make the purchasing decision? Craft a message that will speak to the purchasing department or engineer.
Publish highly targeted content. Showcase all the differentiators we discussed.
With long sales cycles, you need more content to help move people down the sales funnel. Use multiple forms of content. Your content calendar should include videos, blogs, white papers, case studies, and infographics to reach different types of learners and decision-makers. If you’re speaking to highly-skilled technical folks, speak their language.
Be Visible
Get in front of your ideal audience. Present at trade shows, continually tweak your website, and work on your SEO and PPC.
Do you need help marketing your manufacturing business? Schedule a call with Terra.