Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 1, 2011

“We don’t have the time or the skills to write copy for digital content” is the most common reaction I get from clients when discussing their industrial marketing programs. I can sense the confusion in the room or over the phone when I tell them that creating engaging digital content is much more than copywriting. I have to quickly shift into my explaining mode right after that.

SIC 91

SIC Peer-to-peer Buying Cycle Copywriting 91

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 16, 2011

Social media still remains a mystery to many manufacturers and industrial companies even though there is an abundance of evidence of its success in general B2B marketing. Many engineers, specifiers, users and buyers of industrial products regularly use social media in their personal lives but work-related usage is limited among this audience. I’ve read a few articles and blog posts about how some manufacturers are using Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to listen, engage and market to their custome

Social Media 91

Social Media Effectiveness Media Work Management 91

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2011

Happy New Year! Are you leaving additional sales leads and revenues on the table? Industrial marketers who don’t use a business blog are missing a key component of feeding the top of their sales funnels. By not using every opportunity to generate high-quality leads, they may be leaving money on the table. You can find lots of online articles about the advantages of using a business blog for building thought leadership, communities and humanizing your company.

Top of Funnel 90

Top of Funnel Business Blogging High Quality Lead Business 90

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 29, 2011

Lead generation from their Websites is the number one objective of most manufacturers and industrial companies that I talk to. Yet, their existing Websites have little to no lead generating capabilities. That statement may come as a shock to many site owners because they are convinced that sales leads will just roll in because their site includes a toll free number in a big bold font, there are links to the “Contact Us” page everywhere and/or there’s a RFQ form on the site.

Marketing Websites 90

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Sales Qualified Leads Lead Nurturing 90

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 7, 2011

…fall back on tried-and-true marketing tactics that they have relied on for years. In the current tough economy, cutting edge and innovative marketing is taking a back seat to proven strategies for lead generation. B2B companies are spending more of their marketing budgets on channels such as trade shows, Website design, management and optimization and e-mail marketing.

B2B Marketing 89

B2B Marketing Trade Show Allocation B2B 89

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 25, 2011

B2B and industrial marketers are usually tasked with two main responsibilities: Fill the top of the sales funnel (ToFU) with high quality leads. Maximize the middle of the funnel (MoFU) for converting more leads into sales opportunities. Achieving those two objectives are difficult enough, now add to that the constant pressure of having to lower the cost per lead at the same time.

Top of Funnel 88

Top of Funnel Marketing Funnels Content Marketing High Quality Lead 88

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2011

In my conversations with industrial companies about inbound marketing, I find my audience agreeing with me up to a certain point and then there is a big disconnect. I see heads nodding in face-to-face meetings or hear plenty of “Uh-huhs” on the phone when I talk about the benefits of inbound marketing. They agree it helps them get found in search engines early and often, drives hordes of traffic to their site and fills the top of their funnel with qualified leads at a lower cost per lead.

Top of Funnel 88

Top of Funnel Inbound Marketing Bulldog Solutions Lead Scoring 88

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 1, 2011

Plenty has been written about the importance of lead nurturing in B2B and industrial marketing. If you need a quick primer, read my earlier post, “ B2B Lead Generation without Lead Nurturing is Doomed to Fail. ”. Most of the lead nurturing best practices guides and articles that I’ve read are from a marketing perspective. Let’s switch gears for a moment and think of it from a sales point of view.

Lead Nurturing 88

Lead Nurturing Cold Calling Leads Lead 88

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 26, 2011

Inbound marketing with content has been getting all the attention lately. Consultants and practitioners of “pull” marketing want marketers to abandon “push” marketing because they say it is old school and no longer effective. I too have read all those studies about the how the Internet has permanently changed the industrial buyer’s behavior. They provide examples of how the target audience behaves in their personal lives where they TiVo through commercials, use caller ID to ignore telemarketing

Inbound Marketing 87

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Companies Ad Frequency 87

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Speak to engineers across the board about what keeps them awake at night and you are likely to hear these three words repeatedly: Risk. Security. Compliance. Does your website content address those issues? The content on your industrial site may be missing the mark completely if it doesn’t speak directly to engineers’ pain points. If you are in the process of redesigning your industrial website, pause for a moment and think about the site content first.

Marketing Websites 87

Marketing Websites Wiki Content Buying Cycle 87

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 3, 2011

Building strong customer relationships is probably a close second only to lead generation for most manufacturers and industrial companies. Many of them will also tell you that the bulk of their new business comes from repeat customers. It makes perfect sense then to put a good deal of effort into nurturing new leads and building strong relationships in order to convert them into loyal customers.

Planning 87

Planning Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management 87

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 30, 2011

Your landing page may be the culprit if your lead generation campaign is performing poorly. I realize that successful lead generation depends on many factors but the landing page is where your site traffic and email clicks convert into qualified prospects and leads. A poorly designed (layout and content) landing page can kill your lead conversion rate.

Landing Pages 87

Landing Pages Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 87

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 22, 2011

I’ve heard some of my manufacturing clients call their subscribers free content leads. I’ve also read articles by other industrial marketers where they recommend using free content to generate new leads. That is good advice and it is a proven tactic for inbound marketing. However, I do have a problem with classifying these new subscribers as leads. IMO, these people have merely raised their hands to indicate some interest in your company, content and the free offer.

Sales Qualified Leads 87

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 87

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Blogging and mainstream social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube get all the attention these days. What about good ol’ community forums? Community forums have been around a lot longer than the newer social media channels. Some even consider it the original crowdsourcing platform for content. Traditionally used as customer support tools by manufacturers and industrial distributors, the discussion threads were primarily text-based.

Communities 87

Communities Paid Search Agency Peer-to-peer Companies 87

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

The idea of combining a website with the benefits of a blog is very appealing to many industrial marketers. In my conversations over the past few months, I have noticed a growing acceptance of blog sites among manufacturers, industrial distributors and engineering services companies. Blog sites as inbound marketing hubs. Industrial companies have realized the importance of inbound marketing and its impact on lead generation.

CMS Development 87

CMS Development Curation Inbound Marketing Marketing Management 87

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 18, 2011

First the good news – 76 percent of small and medium sized manufacturers and industrial companies reported that their websites made a contribution to their growth during the second half of 2010. Nearly 9 out of 10 “Outperformers” credited their websites for helping them increase revenues, open new sources of business, compete more aggressively in core markets and serve customers better or more efficiently.

Marketing Websites 87

Marketing Websites Buyer Personas Customer Surveys Advertising Mediums 87

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 21, 2011

As all good content marketers know, engaging marketing content moves the needle. It persuades readers to take action and guides them along in their sales cycle in a logical manner. It is a balancing act to create content that solves real problems for your readers (prospects and customers) without hawking your products and services. Pushing out blatant product-centric sales messages are sure to turn off your audience.

Sample 87

Sample Content Sales Qualified Leads Sales Cycle 87

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 7, 2011

Websites of most industrial distributors follow the same basic format – the focus is on their product line card. You will find little evidence of best practices in content marketing – relevant, valuable and compelling content for customers. In other words, the online content is very product-centric. It is rare to find explicit calls to action (C2A) on these sites.

Enterprise Management 86

Enterprise Management Effectiveness Content Marketing Marketing Management 86

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

I am seeing more manufacturers and industrial companies willing to try inbound marketing with content. A sure sign of that is the number of conversations that I have had recently with my current clients and new leads. They all want to either add a blog to their static industrial websites or convert them into dynamic blog sites. Retrofitting a blog into an existing site is quicker and less expensive than recreating the site on a blogging platform.

Marketing Websites 86

Marketing Websites Curation Ad Exchange Case Study 86

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 17, 2011

The mantra for effective business blogging is to regularly pump out fresh content that is reader-centric and not focussed too much on you, your products or your company. I agree. More power to you if you already have a horde of avid readers who visit your blog every time you post new content. For others, the bulk of your blog traffic, in some cases as much as 80%, will come from first-time visitors.

Top of Funnel 86

Top of Funnel FAQ Case Studies Content 86

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 22, 2011

As we wind down 2011, this is a good time to review all the industrial marketing posts that I have published here and been viewed by you, my readers, during the year. Not all the posts were written in 2011, one was way back from 2008. If there is one important takeaway from this exercise, it is that blog posts live forever and continue to attract traffic long after they have been posted.

Marketing Analytics Tools 85

Marketing Analytics Tools B2B Thought Leadership Buying Cycle Thought Leadership 85

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 1, 2011

Notice how discussions about content marketing are full of words like engagement, helpful, sharing, nurturing and community building. These are all great at soft selling without irritating the customer. No complaints there. However, have we gone too soft with content marketing when it comes to selling industrial products and services? May be it’s time to inject a healthy dose of reality into this warm and fuzzy picture.

Sales Qualified Leads 85

Sales Qualified Leads Content Marketing Planning Paid Search Agency 85

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 10, 2011

According to a new report released by the Content Marketing Institute, manufacturers have some of the highest adoption rates for content marketing tactics as compared to other industries. Videos (48%) are the preferred content format over other digital tactics (podcasts, virtual conferences and e-books) by a wide margin. Even though social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) adoption is lower among industrial marketers, YouTube usage by manufacturers (50%) is higher than other B2B marketers (

Video Marketing 85

Video Marketing Content Marketing Co-Registration High Quality Lead 85

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 11, 2011

For most industrial companies and manufacturers, a Website is the centerpiece of their online presence. By now, most industrial marketers are aware of the power of inbound marketing for lead generation. A blog is considered the cornerstone of an effective inbound marketing strategy. What if you could combine the best of both these marketing tactics?

Marketing Websites 85

Marketing Websites Ad Building Long Tail Marketing Cross-Selling 85

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Confused about Inbound Marketing? Never heard of it? View this hilarious and entertaining video from HubSpot and it will tell you everything you ought to know about inbound marketing. Click here to view the embedded video. In the past I’ve written about manufacturers such as Indium Corporation and Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. and their success stories of inbound marketing with content.

Inbound Marketing 85

Inbound Marketing Top of Funnel Marketing Automation Services Allocation 85

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

Most manufacturers and industrial companies use email marketing as a way to keep in touch with new leads and existing customers. This usually means sending out a bi-weekly or a monthly email newsletter. It has been my experience within the industrial sector that these companies rarely use email marketing proactively for lead generation. Here I am not referring to new subscribers to newsletters and free content.

Lead Generation 84

Lead Generation Auto Responder Generation Marketing Analytics Tools 84

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 25, 2011

I’m sure by now you’ve read or heard enough about how the lines are merging between Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing. Some have even called B2B marketing obsolete in this day and age. Whether you agree or not is a topic for another day. IMO, the decision making process is more complex and there are many more stakeholders involved in industrial and B2B purchases but it still boils down to people doing business with people.

Tactics 84

Tactics Online Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Merchandising 84

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

It is a known fact that for content to engage and convert, it must be relevant. Needless to say, industrial and B2B marketers are constantly looking to improve the relevance of their content but are not always successful, as recent studies have shown. This is true no matter where the content is used – Websites, email campaigns, webinars or marketing collateral.

Relevance 84

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 84

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

My company, Tiecas has just released a new free guide called “Industrial Marketing Playbook.”. This playbook is not about marketing theories, it is based on our accumulated experience and expertise in marketing to your engineering, technical and industrial customers. It is 15 pages that are packed with bite-sized, actionable digital marketing ideas to help you score more wins for both sales and marketing.

Paid Search Agency 84

Paid Search Agency Top of Funnel Companies Buying Cycle 84

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

In the spirit of Thanksgiving later this week, this post is my way of giving thanks to those manufacturers who still believe in the value of “Made in America.”. Manufacturing has been a bright spot for a while now in our economic recovery despite the anemic growth and sporadic hiring. During these holidays, I’d much rather talk about the good news instead of Wall Street’s roller coaster ride or the recent failure of the Super Committee.

Youtube 83

Youtube Video Marketing Trends Advertising Channels 83

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 15, 2011

For a while now, manufacturers have been using online searchable product catalogs to generate new leads and sales. Downloadable CAD files have played a major role in components and parts being designed in – a key and necessary step in the industrial buying process. I have written about the benefits of creating an online CAD library in several of my posts in the past.

Lead Ranking 83

Lead Ranking Work Management Lead Scoring Marketing Management 83

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2011

In general B2B and technology (software and IT) marketing, there is usually a well-defined path for lead generation and nurturing with content. These B2B marketers seem to have a bottomless well of content to tap into. I’m sure that’s not by accident but the result of forward thinking and a lot of hard work on the part of content marketers in those industries.

Product 83

Product B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling Thought Leadership 83

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 22, 2011

The current buzz about mobile marketing is probably second only to the hype surrounding social media. There is a good reason for industrial marketers to seriously consider and/or revisit their mobile marketing strategies. Consider these research findings: International Data Corp (IDC) predicts that the global mobile workforce will increase to over 1 billion workers in 2011, totaling 30% of the workforce worldwide.

Mobile Marketing 83

Mobile Marketing Paid Search Agency Marketing Analytics Tools Planning 83

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

E-mail marketing to a house list continues to be the top marketing channel for many industrial companies and manufacturers according to Trends in Industrial Marketing 2011 from GlobalSpec. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that industrial marketers are very happy with the results. The biggest challenge in e-mail marketing faced by industrial marketers, besides not enough resources, is getting their subscribers to pay attention to their emails when everybody’s inboxes are already overflowing

Relevance 83

Relevance List Brokers Opt-out Marketing Analytics Tools 83

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 6, 2011

As an industrial marketing consultant, I interact on a daily basis with engineers and technical professionals from the Automation and Process Control industry. I receive valuable firsthand feedback on what this audience wants and needs from their digital marketing initiatives. It was reassuring then when the findings from Machine Builder Research and Buying Study 2011 done by Control Design mirrored what I’ve been hearing from my industrial clients.

Design 83

Design Work Management Marketing Management Paid Search Agency 83

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2011

Last month, Google announced a change to its search algorithm, called the “Panda” update. This is a major change and there is plenty of buzz on the Internet about the dramatic drop in ranking of some well-known sites. This change is primarily designed to cleanse Google’s search results of low-quality content. Most SEO experts expect article directories or “content farms” to be heavily penalized by Google’s algorithm change.

Content 83

Content SEO CAN-SPAM Buzz 83

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 12, 2011

For a while now, marketing consultants have been preaching the benefits of making B2B blogging the cornerstone of inbound marketing. It is difficult nowadays to find a marketing company or an independent expert not using a business blog to attract and engage with its target audience. I use this blog to reach a wider audience than before, drive more traffic to my industrial marketing company’s Website and establish my expertise in this niche.

Co-Registration 83

Co-Registration Paid Search Agency Companies B to B 83