Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

They are not quite sure what if anything they can create beyond case studies, product data sheets and application notes. Create valuable case studies from trials, especially useful if you are entering a new market. Some refer to this as “drip marketing.”. Manufacturers find it difficult to produce good lead nurturing content.

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Sales Management Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 17, 2011

For others, the bulk of your blog traffic, in some cases as much as 80%, will come from first-time visitors. Use your blog posts to deliver “proof of results” by summarizing your case studies. Link your post back to the full case studies on your site. It is not just your latest post that draws traffic.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel FAQ Case Studies Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 2, 2010

Let’s look at two case studies to see how industrial marketers are using email to reach and engage with industrial buyers. Case study #1: B2B lead generation through better segmenting and more focused email content Business challenge: FreightCenter wanted to change its customer mix of 70/30 (B2C/B2B) to a more B2B-centric mix.

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Planning Web 2.0 BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 16, 2012

During my internal discovery process, in nine out of ten cases, I’ll hear the President/CEO/Owner of manufacturing or industrial companies tell me one of their goals is to double the volume of RFQs they generate. I have to make a strong business case before I can even get their attention.

Lead Management 60

Lead Management Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Use your blog posts to deliver “proof of results” by summarizing your case studies. Link back to the full case studies on your site. Write about the availability of your data sheets and product catalogs in different languages (where applicable). Product announcements and application notes make great blog posts.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Curation Ad Exchange Case Study 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Is this a case of the age-old disconnect between sales and marketing or is something else at play here? Making a strong case for inbound marketing. In this case inbound marketing proved to be a better fit. Notice how marketers are now talking about quantity of quality leads and not just filling the top of the funnel.

Marketing Automation Services 60

Marketing Automation Services Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

In this case, product features are the benefits and become more important than selling them on the solution. A picture in this case is worth more than a thousand words! Long on details, short on fluff – The first thing an engineer wants to know about your product is, “Does it meet my design specifications?”

Relevance 60

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 10, 2011

Other noteworthy exceptions include: While manufacturers use white papers, case studies, eNewsletters and webinars at similar rates as other marketers, they consider them more effective – White papers: 62% vs. 50%; Case Studies: 64% vs. 53%; eNewsletters: 63% vs. 55% and Webinars: 64% vs. 56%.

Video Marketing 60

Video Marketing Content Marketing Co-Registration High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

White papers and other lead nurturing content are rare finds on these sites (exception being Fluor, they have done a great job on their case studies). So it’s tough to make a compelling business case for them to adopt the new rules of content marketing that are used by many technology companies.

Rules 60

Rules Paid Search Agency Companies Content Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

White papers and other lead nurturing content are rare finds on these sites (exception being Fluor, they have done a great job on their case studies). So I can’t make a compelling business case for them to adopt more conventional content marketing strategies that are used by many technology companies.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Companies Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Case studies and testimonials for proof of performance. Gated content or higher value content such as white papers are used for lead generation where the company provides a tangible benefit in exchange for the visitor’s contact information. These work best for middle of the sales funnel (MoFU).

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Differentiation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 25, 2012

I am not minimizing the value of more conventional marketing content such as product data sheets, application notes, case studies, whitepapers and blog posts to name just a few. Cross reference guides. Evaluation and engineering kits.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Buying Cycle Lead Ranking Digital Marketing Funnels 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 7, 2012

Instead of expecting your site visitors to fill out an RFQ form, get them to sign up for a webinar, download a case study or a whitepaper. Consider these suggestions then to overcome the hurdle – change the purpose of your content marketing from conversion to action. What am I talking about?

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing Planning Content Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 27, 2012

Here are three quotes from well-known sources to validate my claim in case you have doubts about my statement. This has worked great in the past but the Internet and digital marketing have changed how that process works today. The industrial buy cycle has not changed. However, the way potential buyers look for information has.

RFP 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

However, this needn’t be the case. Lack of content is one of the main reasons many industrial companies hold back from launching a blog or incorporating one into their exiting sites. Here are two possible solutions to overcome the content challenge: Repurpose your existing content. Content curation.

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Curation Inbound Marketing Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 2, 2012

That is not an isolated case; I have read many comments that are variations of a common theme – design engineers will look for alternate suppliers if they cannot find 3D models on a vendor’s site. Some of the other benefits include: Influencing the influencer (specifier) to reach the final decision maker.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 12, 2011

Use case studies to help your audience identify a problem that they may not be aware of and lower their skepticism about vendor claims. If you use a blog as part of your inbound marketing with content , focus more on real pain points of your customers.

Marketing Management 60

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Comparison Inbound Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2012

Update the articles with more recent application notes and/or case studies. Don’t just skim over the text). Extract 4-6 main ideas from the article and make each one a separate blog post. Add links within your posts to these longer content.

Long Tail Marketing 60

Long Tail Marketing Thought Leadership Content Marketing & Strategy 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 14, 2011

t have to babysit it constantly but it is definitely not a case of “set it and forget about it.”. Depending on your situation, you may be able to do it all yourself (DiY), outsource it completely or use an optimal mix of DiY and outsourced content marketing services. You can automate some of the steps so you don?t

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Top of Funnel Marketing Automation Services Allocation 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 1, 2011

There are cases where the lead nurturing content proved to be so valuable, it hastened the buyer’s timing. You’ve become the trusted resource and not just another vendor listed on their spreadsheet of bids. Your content has helped them make a more informed decision. Your ratio of calls to wins goes up significantly.

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Cold Calling Leads Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 10, 2012

On the right is a case of bad internal linking where the internal pages may be invisible to search engines even though you may have spent considerable time and effort optimizing them. An illustration here is worth a thousand words…. How deep you go with internal linking does make a difference.

SEO 60

SEO Long Tail Marketing Link Building Domain 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 22, 2011

Track 2 should be for nurturing those prospects who meet your general demographics but have not scored high enough to receive content meant for the middle of the funnel such as case studies, application notes and product comparison guides.

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 29, 2011

Technical articles, white papers and case studies would require basic registration information – name, company name and email address. Use a mix of free and gated content to qualify and nurture your visitors. For example, product catalogs, datasheets and application notes can be ungated.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Sales Qualified Leads Lead Nurturing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Other than a few case studies and some application notes, new content must be created to put the focus more on the customer’s pain points. It is a major hurdle for them to customize their content for different stakeholders and make it relevant for different stages of the prospect’s/customer’s buying cycle.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Management Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 16, 2011

Granted, many of these videos focus on equipment and capabilities but they do make a strong business case for the OEM buyer. These people have readily embraced video marketing, YouTube and social media.

Social Media 60

Social Media Effectiveness Media Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 16, 2012

These factors strongly influence the choice of equipment vendor specified by the EPC company to the OEM/Fabricator – your customer is only the functional buyer in this case. The EPC company relies on its field service people to provide vital information about your equipment’s reliability, ease of maintenance and availability of spare parts.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Marketing Management Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2012

In case you are not familiar with that term, the five Ws are – Who, What, When, Where and Why. You are probably very familiar with the phrase “To succeed with content marketing, you have to think like a publisher.” Building on that foundation, my process is based on the time-tested principle of “the Five Ws (and one H)” of good journalism.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

We are all used to seeing case studies and they are powerful marketing content. Instead, think like a publisher, who wants to keep their readers (in this case, prospects) engaged on a regular basis with content that’s tailored to their needs and interests.” Add a new twist to this old workhorse by telling your story in different ways.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Brand Identity 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 7, 2010

It is not just about posting a bunch of white papers, case studies, online demos and webinars on your website and hoping that someone will download and read. Fully 95% of your leads are like harvested green bananas, and, off the top, your sales team needs only the other 5%, those that are ripe.”. How do you nurture leads?

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Content marketing does not mean churning out white papers, case studies, articles, blog posts, podcasts and webinars for the sake of putting out content. How can you use marketing content to generate a decent volume of sales-ready leads at a low(er) cost? What is effective content marketing?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 26, 2010

Embrace social media: Yes, the jury is out on making a business case for social media but ignore it at your own peril. Use case studies to demonstrate tangible results. The bottom line is for your content to engage your prospects and customers at every stage of the buying cycle. Instead, explain how those things benefit your customers.

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2011

Most manufacturing websites are packed with product data sheets and catalogs, a few case studies, some application notes, may be a technical article or two and not much else. Manufacturers of industrial products struggle when it comes to generating a steady flow of fresh marketing content.

Product 60

Product B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling Thought Leadership 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 17, 2010

So my client’s request was not an isolated case. I did some online research to find a solution that wouldn’t require my client to spend a lot of money on additional tracking software and/or training his internal sales and marketing team. The solution that I felt would best suit my client’s needs required adding Google Analytics to his emails.

Marketing Analytics Tools 60

Marketing Analytics Tools Lead Generation Analytics Google 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 26, 2011

That is not always the case in the industrial sector. These buyers are not looking to engage, they want complete product specifications. Inbound marketing requires prospects to be actively searching for products and solutions. Engineers usually refer to a list of approved vendors when they need to source industrial products.

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Companies Ad Frequency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 29, 2010

It seems obvious that there is a big disconnect between the goals of B2B content marketing and true customer engagement.

B2B Marketing 60

B2B Marketing Top of Funnel BtoB Peer-to-peer 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 22, 2010

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. You can buy the book from Amazon and visit his site at www.distributiontrap.com. The interview is split over four videos.

Distribution 60

Distribution Web 2.0 Lead Ranking Privacy Policies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 7, 2010

One would think lead nurturing would be very important if marketing is to be held more responsible for revenues but that was not the case, it was seen as the least important role by 14 percent of the respondents ? the highest level reported on the question. This is another one of those “scratching my head” contradictions.

Lead Generation 60

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Web 2.0 B2B Marketing 60