Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 25, 2012

Buyers can easily find information about your products and that of your competition from their online research. So ask yourself this question, “Is my industrial marketing content really helping my buyers make a more informed decision and is it moving them closer them to a RFQ?”. 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

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

After sampling your content, your blog readers are more likely to download the complete article/white paper in exchange for their contact information (lead generation). Use your blog posts to deliver “proof of results” by summarizing your case studies. Link back to the full case studies on your site.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Curation Ad Exchange Case Study 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Several studies have found that most engineering and industrial professionals today prefer to use the Internet during the early stages of the buy cycle – Needs Awareness, Research and Consideration & Comparison. Sales people are better able to identify “hot” leads and opportunities when they have access to buyer behavior information.

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Content Marketing Leads Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Otherwise, either I didn’t do a good job of conveying the information, or there simply isn’t a match between their need and my offer.”. According to a recent study done by the CMO Council and Accenture Interactive , marketing and IT executives do not get along either and don’t believe they are highly effective partners. So far so good.

Advertising Agencies 60

Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency Work Management CMO 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. Your content must convince the reader of the value exchange before they’ll part with their contact information in exchange for your offer. What am I talking about?

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing Planning Content Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

They are beginning to look beyond a static informational website and are now seriously focusing on developing a more robust online presence for attracting qualified traffic, generating higher quality leads and positioning themselves as thought leaders in their respective niches. Blog sites as inbound marketing hubs.

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Curation Inbound Marketing Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2012

Update the articles with more recent application notes and/or case studies. Put these higher value content behind simple sign-up forms for lead generation (Readers are more likely to part with their contact information if they find value in your blog posts). 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 25, 2011

Several studies have shown that these lead generation challenges hold true across the board in B2B marketing. In creating informational, educational and actionable content in the form of white papers and webinars, marketers can effectively lure early-stage buyers into their sales pipeline. “By

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Marketing Funnels Content Marketing High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 26, 2011

I too have read all those studies about the how the Internet has permanently changed the industrial buyer’s behavior. They know what they need and are looking at vendor sites for specific information. Yes, a company blog does enhance their reputation and social media does increase their reach.

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Paid Search Agency Companies Ad Frequency 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. A QR code can hold a lot more information than just a simple URL. In other words, their content is very product-centric.

Product 60

Product B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling Thought Leadership 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 22, 2011

Lead scoring should be done using a combination of BANT (Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe) and behavioral information (site interactions). (See SAL is the Glue that Binds Sales and Marketing in Lead Generation ). Sales knows best about demographics and marketing has insights into visitor engagement through web analytics.

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 1, 2011

Myth: We want our site visitors to call our sales team for more information. Validate your claims with data from third-party research studies. Your digital content must address these issues, offer content in various formats and optimized for smartphones and tablets. Truth: Don’t wait for the phone to ring, that call may never come.

SIC 60

SIC Peer-to-peer Buying Cycle Copywriting 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. Their call to action was asking site visitors to call the toll-free number in order to get the latest information. It is true that a manufacturer’s website is the hub of its online presence.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Management Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

According to a study done by Professor John A. One of the key findings from the study was that B2B marketers are realizing that developing brand awareness among their customers’ customers can capture a larger share of channel margins and build loyalty that can protect them against lower-priced competitors.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Brand Identity 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 7, 2010

So there is no dearth of information about it. 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. Helped 9% more sales reps make quota and shortened ramp up time of new ones by 10%. What is lead nurturing?

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. According to Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor , you are going to need two critical pieces of information to conduct a content audit. What is effective content marketing?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

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. You’ve got a winner if your online content makes it easier for them to find relevant information with the least number of clicks.

Relevance 60

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Free and valuable content is usually in-depth technical articles written by engineers and not produced by marketing as bait for capturing someone’s contact information. 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).

Rules 60

Rules Paid Search Agency Companies Content Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Free and valuable content is usually in-depth technical articles written by engineers and not produced by marketing as bait for capturing someone’s contact information. 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).

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Companies Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 19, 2010

And they use different sources to get their information. The chart below from a research study done by Forrester illustrates this point very clearly. Even if you have carefully segmented your target audience by demographics, different people within the same company can and do react differently to your content.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing CMS Development Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 21, 2010

Capture visitor information – Implement a method to capture visitor information from your business blog. Install some kind of a sign-up form to capture basic contact information such as name, company name and email address. It has to be a value exchange for people to give up their contact information to you.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Buying Cycle B2B Blogger 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 26, 2010

Use case studies to demonstrate tangible results. Provide this information in plain English with compelling reasons for people to do business with you. Provide multiple ways to access relevant information with minimal clicks. Avoid common phrases like, “World-class manufacturing using cutting-edge technology.”

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 5, 2010

Using content or Inbound Marketing , you are able to make that key connection with your prospects by delivering specific content needed in order to make an informed decision. Provide him/her with case studies and client testimonials to lower their risks and fears of selecting you. A white paper would fit the bill nicely here.

Sales Cycle 60

Sales Cycle Web 2.0 Buying Cycle Privacy Policies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 14, 2010

I searched Wikipedia for information but couldn’t find an exact definition. in Museum Studies, but the idea of acting as a curator of information to post on our website for the benefit of our clients and customers is extremely interesting. So curated content is not something new. What is content curation?

Curation 60

Curation RSS Web 2.0 Content Marketing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 14, 2010

What do you do when the bulk of your marketing content, with the exception of case studies is product focused? 4 comments… read them below or add one } Eric Goldman May 17, 2010 at 5:16 pm Achinta; This is a great article with much relevant information in it. Thanks for sharing!

Webinar Metrics 60

Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Product 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 23, 2010

Build a library of various content assets such as published articles, white papers, online demos, webinars, videos, technical specifications, datasheets, case studies and customer testimonials. The more detailed and specific information you can provide with the least number of search queries or clicks, the better will be the user experience.

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Marketing Automation Services Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 24, 2009

Studies have shown that people retain information quicker and longer when you engage their visual senses. Share customer stories or provide examples to make it more interesting and help your readers connect with their own situation. READ If you are going to edit your own content which is not a good idea, then read your text aloud.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Copywriting Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 4, 2011

Various studies and my own experiences with industrial clients show that filling the top of the lead-gen funnel is still the number one goal. A study of over 1,400 small and mid-sized businesses found that marketers with blogs generated 67% more leads. Source: HubSpot). Don’t confuse marketing automation with inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Top of Funnel Lead Ranking 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 26, 2009

A Home page is great for attracting prospects at the top of the sales funnel that may have found your site using generic search terms and are just looking for information on companies in your market. Do they ask for information that you feel is irrelevant to your intent? What’s the solution? How did they find your site?)

Traffic 60

Traffic Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2011

For one thing, you don’t have a ready-library of product data sheets, engineering and performance information to use as relevant content. Highlighting completed projects and a few case studies seem to be the norm. Update old articles with more recent case studies that use concepts from those technical articles.

Thought Leadership 60

Thought Leadership Marketing Management Peer-to-peer Service 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 8, 2012

One caveat to the above rule of thumb – a page for downloading case studies probably will have a very high bounce rate but that doesn’t mean it is bad. While making your contact information very visible on your site is a good idea, it is not very effective in converting site traffic into named contacts or leads.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 1, 2010

Buyers of technical products and services do look to vendors for providing relevant information for solving their problems. That was the key finding of a research study done by McKinsey & Co. The table below shows results from the study that shows what sales reps do wrong to turn off B2B customers.

Marketing Automation Services 60

Marketing Automation Services Web 2.0 B2B Lead Ranking 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 11, 2011

Engineers are known to be information junkies who crave specifics. Superficial product information and marketing fluff won’t cut it with this audience. Help engineers make a strong business case to their C-level execs (final decision makers) by arming them with case studies, white papers and PowerPoint presentations.

Content 60

Content Marketing Proposals Case Studies Case Study 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 11, 2011

Validation from similar customers with case studies. You can pull the core information right out of your existing product datasheets, catalogs and Website copy. Gain greater control over custody transfer applications because of our high accuracy and wide turndowns.

Relevance 60

Relevance Terms and Conditions Buying Cycle Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 24, 2010

You’d arm them with information about the marketplace. You’d arm them with information about your products and how people use them. If you need more empirical proof, then look at the recent study done by GlobalSpec, Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010: How Manufacturers are Marketing Today.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Buying Cycle Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 15, 2011

Even though the content marketing adoption rate for these companies is at an impressive 83%, I am surprised that it is even that high; the Manufacturing/ Processing industry (as defined in the report) is dead last among the six industries studied. See chart below ). These results match what I’m finding on the ground.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Trends Content Marketing Companies 60