Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Weave in a link to a specific product or product line within the text of the answer to drive traffic back to specific product page(s). Blog about your online cross-reference guides that help design engineers and industrial specifiers find the closest substitute for “End of Life” components from your current product line.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Curation Ad Exchange Case Study 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 12, 2011

Nobody buys product features, they want solutions. However, if you are a manufacturer or an industrial services company, ask yourself this question, why would anyone buy your products or services if they don’t know they have a problem? Industrial and manufacturing marketers are trained to sell solutions. That’s marketing 101, right?

Marketing Management 60

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Comparison Inbound Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 23, 2012

I’ll go out on a limb and state that content marketing for engineers is different. However, to engage with engineers and address their needs (WIIFM), your marketing content needs to have a different flavor of storytelling. is the driving force behind this effort where 14 in-house engineers write 73 different blogs.

Peer-to-peer 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Even though the process of buying industrial products and services has not changed much over the years, how industrial buyers prefer to go through their buying cycle has changed dramatically. On the contrary, it makes them more productive by providing valuable insight into the lead.

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Content Marketing Leads Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Make sure online datasheets include ratings, classifications, sizes, operating ranges and material options for all your industrial products. 42% of engineers and specifiers said they couldn’t find complete and detailed product or capabilities information on suppliers’ websites ( Source: ThomasNet’s Industry Market Barometer™ ).

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Wiki Content Buying Cycle 60

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. However, at the end of the day, every manufacturer or distributor of industrial products wants to sell more widgets and not just publish more content.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel FAQ Case Studies Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 1, 2011

The chart below shows the different online marketing tactics that manufacturers and industrial companies plan to use in 2011. Make it easier to weave in your product(s) within the text without making it too salesy. Demonstrate how others (their peers/your customers) are using your industrial product.

Peer-to-peer 60

Peer-to-peer Planning Marketing Analytics Tools CTR 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 7, 2011

The trend holds true across the board even though the mix may be different depending on the size of a B2B company. This allows them to address cost issues, along with design and quality issues, and to get quality products to market faster at a lower cost. Those three marketing channels received the largest allocation of the budget.

B2B Marketing 60

B2B Marketing Trade Show Allocation B2B 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2011

The chart below shows the difference between B2C and B2B companies. Getting found by more prospects that are actively looking for solutions that your products/services can provide. Showcasing in-house subject matter experts with blog posts written by your engineers, product designers and customer support people.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Business Blogging High Quality Lead Business 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 25, 2011

That’s why I say more power to the manufacturer if it can successfully use a B2C marketing tactic to help its customers select the right industrial product(s) quickly and easily. Applications like online color selectors and parametric part number builders are very popular with architects, engineers and specifiers of industrial products.

Tactics 60

Tactics Online Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Merchandising 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 21, 2011

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. National Semiconductor Corp. billion of sales in 2010.

Sample 60

Sample Content Sales Qualified Leads Sales Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 1, 2012

Even though this behavior is contrary to how they themselves interact online, they expect their target audience to behave differently. Don’t assume that detailed product features are sufficient to move the needle. See my post, “Do You Believe in Industrial Websites?” ).

Traffic 60

Traffic Marketing Analytics Tools Buying Cycle Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2012

If you are not convinced, take a look at these two findings from two different research studies done by GlobalSpec: 48% of industrial professionals spend six or more hours per week on the Internet for work-related purposes and 28% say their time on the Web for work is more than nine hours a week.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Creation Budget Programs Marketing Proposals 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2011

This is when I have to take a step back and start talking about how the job of inbound marketing does not end with lead generation but extends into setting the table for sales so they can be more productive. However, it is sales that actually hears how customers describe their products and services.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Inbound Marketing Bulldog Solutions Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 16, 2012

I have to politely disagree with them because “activity is not the same as productivity.” Here are the steps I go through to change their minds and have worked well for me: Step 1: Give them an overview of what inbound marketing is all about and how it differs from traditional outbound marketing.

Lead Management 60

Lead Management Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads 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. 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.

Social Media 60

Social Media Effectiveness Media Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 8, 2011

The company behind this social community success story is Farnell (part of the Premier Farnell Group ), a UK-based distributor of electronic, electrical, industrial and maintenance, repair & operations (MRO) products and Newark , their U.S. distribution arm. The naming of the site is very clever branding in my opinion.

Communities 60

Communities Peer-to-peer BtoB Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 26, 2011

However, it has been my experience that the realty on the ground is very different for many manufacturers and industrial companies. These buyers are not looking to engage, they want complete product specifications. Inbound marketing requires prospects to be actively searching for products and solutions.

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Companies Ad Frequency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 20, 2012

I agree that SEO is a very important goal of content marketing; after all, your website needs to be found by the right people when they are searching for industrial products and services that you provide. However, your industrial marketing content must do a lot more than just SEO. Why do I say that?

SEO 60

SEO Content Marketing Copywriting Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Often these are related to the company’s applications, solutions and/or or product names. SEO best practices say that you should optimize one web page for one keyword and optimize as many pages of your website as possible for different but related keywords.

Optimization 60

Optimization SEO Marketing Websites Keywords 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 12, 2012

I’ve read two different survey studies about how companies within the industrial sector use or plan to use social media. It is a lot easier to set up free Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts and use them to promote products and announce new ones. Social media usage by industrial companies has received some coverage lately.

Social Media 60

Social Media Tactics ROI Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 14, 2011

Nobody cares about your products and services (except you)” was the title of a blog post written by David Meerman Scott (Author of the wildly successful book The New Rules of Marketing & PR and his new book Real-Time Marketing & PR ) back in 2008. There is a big difference between knowing and doing.

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing High Quality Lead Planning BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 1, 2012

Marketing for these industrial companies has always been a sales support function — put together a PowerPoint presentation for the next sales meeting, create a few posters for an upcoming tradeshow or make the product catalog look “pretty.” Yes, there is a big difference between strategy and tactics.

Tactics 60

Tactics Planning Paid Search Agency High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

In this post, I’ve listed the major areas to focus on if you want to make your industrial e-mail marketing more relevant and productive. Each segment should receive different e-mails. Keeping e-mails relevant has become the key factor in proving their worth in industrial marketing. E-mail List Hygiene.

Relevance 60

Relevance List Brokers Opt-out Marketing Analytics Tools 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 12, 2010

You are not alone, most business purchases, especially industrial products don’t lend themselves to a simple Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). It becomes even more complicated if you sell through channel partners and there are different pricing structures in place. This was second only to downloading product data sheets.

Sales Management 60

Sales Management Pricing Price Marketing Websites 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 25, 2011

According to GlobalSpec’s survey of 384 manufacturers and industrial companies of different sizes, 40% of the respondents stated that Customer Acquisition was their primary goal and Lead Generation was second at 31%. ( This was followed by Lead Generation (ToFU) at 48% and Lead Nurturing (MoFU) at 40% (See chart). See chart ).

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Marketing Funnels Content Marketing High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Industrial sales typically involve various stakeholders, each with different pain points that your content must address. It should help you shift the focus from writing about your products and services to how you help your customers solve their challenges. People tend to consume content in their preferred formats and in their own ways.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

She defines it as “Contagious content must educate them [prospects and customers] about what they need to know, apply your company’s unique expertise in addition to your product and prove you walk your talk through the sharing of evidence. How effectively you employ this content makes the difference in the outcomes you achieve.”

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 20, 2010

The answer lies in shifting from traditional company product marketing to customer problem oriented marketing. We need to develop customer-centric solutions-based marketing content instead of product-centric features and benefits marketing collateral. According to Tim Riesterer of CMM Forum LLC (now part of Corporate Visions, Inc.),

Creativity 60

Creativity B2B Marketing Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 8, 2010

You are well aware of the fact that the Internet has completely and permanently changed the way industrial buyers purchase technical products and services. Let’s say your business offers a software product designed to help business owners efficiently allocate revenue to related expenses to ultimately reduce costs.

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Work Management Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Digital marketing has also changed how industrial and technical buyers behave, search and consume information that they need at different stages of the buy cycle. Decision makers and stakeholders are spread over different states and even countries. Don’t make it mere word-for-word translation in different languages. Not so fast!

Social Media 60

Social Media Social Marketing Media Planning 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 24, 2009

You’d be surprised how many different ideas and variations you can get from your initial thought after doing your research. Don’t be afraid to tear apart your initial outline if you think it will improve the product. Google is not the only source of content ideas. I realize the above 5Rs may seem a bit daunting at first.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Copywriting Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

Add a new twist to this old workhorse by telling your story in different ways. Too often, marketers create new educational content based on internal triggers, such as a new product launch or the adoption of a new marketing strategy. We are all used to seeing case studies and they are powerful marketing content.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Brand Identity 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 14, 2010

Now I’m in an entirely different industry, one which is heavily manufacturing and supply chain oriented and I’ve been struggling to find a way to connect with visitors to our website. You can get more ideas from my earlier post, “7 Strategies for Using Content to Market Industrial Products.&# Maybe it’s my M.A.

Curation 60

Curation RSS Web 2.0 Content Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2011

Then you know very well that it is fundamentally different from marketing industrial and/or manufactured products. For one thing, you don’t have a ready-library of product data sheets, engineering and performance information to use as relevant content. He said, “…marketing services is very different from marketing products.

Thought Leadership 60

Thought Leadership Marketing Management Peer-to-peer Service 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 11, 2011

Strategic planning and analysis does sound a lot more glamorous than writing content filled with nitty-gritty product details. Industrial marketers, who use content that is light on product specifications and heavy on benefits, may have a difficult time engaging with engineers. It is easy to justify leaving the details to others.

Content 60

Content Marketing Proposals Case Studies Case Study 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Use a free tool like Google’s Keyword Tool to find search terms and long-tail keywords that people are using to search for information related to your products and services. You can offer choices of different formats (PDF, Podcast, PowerPoint presentation, video etc.). Here you can add a link to your Home page or a product page.

Traffic 60

Traffic Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 60