Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 15, 2010

In all three instances, we brought additional value to the table by working together with the client and their in-house resources instead of fighting it. For DiYMers: Read my earlier post Do-it-Yourself Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your WordPress Blog. Is that a good thing? Take a quick poll.

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Marketing Websites Work Management Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 21, 2011

You know your work is cut out for you if you are a Content or a Marcom Manager at an engineering or manufacturing company. What can do you do if you are tasked with maintaining an active industrial blog that needs fresh content regularly? Copywriting – It takes practice to translate thoughts and ideas into well-written copy.

Peer-to-peer 60

Peer-to-peer Copywriting Content Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 31, 2010

I have listed some easy, do-it-yourself (DiY) SEO tactics to optimize your WordPress blogs for search engines. Just building a business blog is not going to help you drive traffic or generate leads. On-site SEO refers to changes that you can make within the code of your blog. What is On Site SEO?

Optimization 60

Optimization SEO Buying Cycle Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

What does it really mean to an industrial marketer, especially if you work for or are a small to mid-size manufacturer or engineering company? Content marketing does not mean churning out white papers, case studies, articles, blog posts, podcasts and webinars for the sake of putting out content. What is effective content marketing?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Blogging and mainstream social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube get all the attention these days. Blogs have great search engine optimization (SEO) benefits that community forums will have a tough time matching. Niche blogs written by in-house Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can be just as effective.

Communities 60

Communities Paid Search Agency Peer-to-peer Companies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 23, 2012

Yes, I do get it that the lines between work and personal lives have blurred thanks to today’s hyper-connected world where everybody is always “On.” It is not just about facts and figures, engineers want content marketing to talk about challenges and issues that they face in their work life on a daily basis.

Peer-to-peer 60

Peer-to-peer Work Management Content Marketing Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 14, 2012

I learned my business in the early years by doing production work for other ad agencies and printers around town. I launched this blog in 2008 and have written more than 160 posts about industrial and manufacturing marketing. Along the way, I have worked with some great people, both clients and vendors.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Work Management Marketing Management Companies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 20, 2010

Sure, they are human beings like the rest of us but they have very different emotional triggers and needs when it comes to making work-related decisions. Here are my top five industrial marketing lessons: Lesson #1: Save them time Most engineers, especially design engineers are already overloaded with work.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Planning Buying Cycle Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 14, 2010

Next, I came across a blog post written back in September of 2009 by Rohit Bhargava of Influential Marketing Blog. The final piece of the content curation puzzle was an article by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing blog. BTW, this post is a working example of content curation. David Brazeal´s last blog.

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Curation RSS Web 2.0 Content Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 9, 2012

These work best for middle of the sales funnel (MoFU). Blog posts to highlight knowledge of the subject matter(s), create thought leadership and provide direct interaction between readers and in-house experts such as engineers. Case studies and testimonials for proof of performance.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Differentiation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 8, 2010

Pay attention to the terminology and words your target audience uses when they discuss their problems on social media, forums and blogs. If you feel stuck for ideas, you can type in the URL of your closest competitor’s website into the research tool, select website content and let Google do the work for you. What has worked for you?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Work Management Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 27, 2012

This has worked great in the past but the Internet and digital marketing have changed how that process works today. Source: The End of Solution Sales, Harvard Business Review – HBR blog). One thing is certain; “business as usual” is not working in the industrial sector. The industrial buy cycle has not changed.

RFP 60

RFP Peer-to-peer High Quality Lead Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 22, 2010

That business model works for a while but in the long-term, it fails badly. I also found a fascinating video interview on Andrew’s blog that really drives home the point with a case study featuring Mr. Fred Whyte, President of STIHL Inc. Non-core functions such as sales and distribution should be outsourced.

Distribution 60

Distribution Web 2.0 Lead Ranking Privacy Policies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 6, 2010

I found this one from Michael Fortin’s blog. According to Professor Marks, it is quite simple to use his Product Analysis Worksheet and this is how it works: There are four basic layers – features, advantages, motives and benefits. I will visit this blog regularly. and professor of marketing at the University of Missouri.

Features 60

Features Web 2.0 Planning Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 3, 2010

It doesn’t matter whether you work for a corporate marketing department or the owner of a small business website. You spend countless hours, weeks and months working with the site designers developing site maps, wireframes and mock ups – but content? Is your website redesign project on hold waiting for marketing to deliver content?

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Work Management Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 12, 2010

I found a series of blog posts on pricing on your website at Dave Jung’s B2B Blog , some of those articles date back to 2006. So the pricing page is working to some degree in eliminating prospects who decide strictly on price. Dale Underwood of B2B Conversions Now has a step-by-step procedure for this on his blog.

Sales Management 60

Sales Management Pricing Price Marketing Websites 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 29, 2009

What’s working for you? B2B Lead Generation Using a Business Blog Variety of Content is the Key in the Early Stages of the Industrial Buy Cycle Content Auditing and Mapping it to the Industrial Buy Cycle Is Your Industrial Website Still Just a Business Card? So, I’m leaning more towards Seth’s point of view.

Social Networks 60

Social Networks Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 16, 2011

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 customers.

Social Media 60

Social Media Effectiveness Media Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 20, 2010

Working in small teams, the fifth graders first engaged in what creativity theorist Donald Treffinger describes as fact-finding. Then, problem-finding — anticipating all potential pitfalls so their designs are more likely to work. Achinta Mitra July 23, 2010 at 11:39 am Jack, Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your comment.

Creativity 60

Creativity B2B Marketing Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 14, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website 7 Strategies for Using Content to Market Industrial Products by Achinta Mitra on May 14, 2010 in Content Marketing , Industrial Marketing & Web 2.0 , Industrial Marketing Blog I am a big fan of Content Marketing or as some people like to refer to it as Inbound Marketing.

Webinar Metrics 60

Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Product 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Just adding a sign up form in the sidebar of your site or blog stating “Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter for the latest news and handy tips” may be a direct call to action but is it really an irresistible offer or incentive? No, telling your readers what to do next is only half the battle.

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Web 2.0 Planning Opt-in 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 15, 2012

Social media is very good as a conversation starter that drives traffic back to your site and/or blog. To make email marketing and social media work together where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, requires a lot more planning and careful implementation than just adding social media buttons to your email campaigns.

Social Media 60

Social Media Paid Search Agency Email Marketing Social Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 6, 2011

Yup, social media does work in the industrial sector, sometimes. I’ll summarize the major findings from the study in this post but the headline of the cover story from the March 2011 issue says it all, “Sign of the Times: Wider Adoption of Web-Based, Digital Tools Usage Is Cruising Ahead.”.

Design 60

Design Work Management Marketing Management Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 4, 2011

There are three key ideas in the headline of my post – 1) Industrial blogs, 2) Lead generation and 3) Inbound marketing. In this post I’ll talk about how the three work together nicely in industrial and manufacturing marketing. You could write a blog post titled “Injection molding using engineered resins for automotive products.”

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 26, 2010

Consider hiring a coach or an SEO expert to work up a strategic plan that you can execute. The content doesn’t have to be dull text; it could be a blog with posts written by in-house experts, “how-to” videos or white papers that position your company as a “thought leader” within the industry.

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 2, 2012

Shareable content increases awareness about your company and drives more traffic back to your site or blog. Viral content is extremely popular in consumer marketing and it can work just as well in industrial marketing with some tweaking. Infographics fit the bill the perfectly for this purpose.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Ideal Customer Profiles Content Marketing Planning 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 2, 2010

Email strategy: Milwaukee Tool worked with email service provider (ESP) ExactTarget in developing an aggressive email campaign containing links to product videos. needed to drive more repeat visitors of its target audience of retailers, distributors, contractors and other building professionals.

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Planning Web 2.0 BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 23, 2010

That depends, see my earlier post, Do-it-Yourself Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your WordPress Blog. It takes extensive knowledge, expertise, experience and a lot of detailed work in order for your website to be ranked high for specific keywords and phrases in Google and other major search engines. And yes, it does cost money.

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Marketing Automation Services Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 26, 2011

Ergo, these people are too busy at work and couldn’t be bothered with anything that is deemed as interruption marketing. Credibility is built over many years of performance in the field and not by the frequency of blog posts, number of Twitter followers or Facebook likes. I agree that there is a lot of truth to all those findings.

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Companies Ad Frequency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 10, 2011

There must be a logical explanation for what seems to be a contradiction of everything I’ve read and have experienced in my 20+ years of working with manufacturing and industrial clients. That in my opinion is exactly how inbound content marketing is supposed to work for lead generation. Print magazines: 39% effectiveness (65% usage).

Video Marketing 60

Video Marketing Content Marketing Co-Registration High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

I have talked to owners and marketers from manufacturing and industrial companies of various sizes that sounded enthusiastic about launching an industrial blog and moving forward with inbound marketing with content but it seems easier for them to do nothing and maintain their digital marketing status quo.

Cost 60

Cost Planning Marketing Budget Creation Marketing Budget 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 1, 2011

Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry professionals have found innovative uses of QR (Quick Reference) codes in their daily work. Architects, engineers, contractors, building owners, developers and municipalities are all using them to improve productivity and gain a marketing edge.

Marketing Proposals 60

Marketing Proposals Comparison Mobile Marketing Communities 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Read this blog post by Lisa Cramer of LeadLife for a good high-level overview for preparing a lead scoring checklist. Without the right tools and a good understanding of lead scoring, there may be a tendency to assign a score to every interaction, which can lead to more confusion and very little progress made on prioritizing your leads.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 17, 2010

While working on an email campaign for a client who markets to manufacturers in the Process Controls and Automation industry, I was asked if there was an easy way to combine web analytics with email marketing. If you visit Google’s blog on Google Analytics , you will find lots of tips on tracking email campaigns.

Marketing Analytics Tools 60

Marketing Analytics Tools Lead Generation Analytics Google 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2012

This step of the strategy development is much more than just building a list of topics to blog about. In my experience, option number 3 works the best. What: What to write about is probably the biggest hurdle for many industrial companies that want to get on board with content marketing.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Create a blog written by your in-house experts to provide bite-sized information on the latest developments, new applications and field problems and their solutions. As a result, they are not as involved in the hands-on design work of their earlier years. A wiki or a customer forum is another option. Site content for future needs.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Wiki Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 9, 2012

Even though the companies that operate in this sector are well-known global brands, they are not exactly forward thinking online marketers who use business blogs and social media regularly. Google the search phrase hydraulic fracturing blogs and it will return 2 million results! This post is not a political statement of any kind.

Social Marketing 60

Social Marketing Social Media Paid Search Agency Youtube 60