Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 1, 2012

The other half is all about converting that traffic into leads and customers. What they have is a website that is leaking potential leads like a sieve. What then is the solution for converting website traffic to leads? For example, “We have XX years of customizing solutions for the ABC industry and offer the lowest price.”

Traffic 60

Traffic Marketing Analytics Tools Buying Cycle Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Lead nurturing plays an important role in industrial lead generation programs because it is rare that an industrial sale is completed on the first call or the first visit to the manufacturer’s website. Forrester, CSO Insights and Marketo reported that lead nurturing produced much better results. Still not convinced?

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Sales Management Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 27, 2012

Call it digital marketing or inbound marketing with content , the fact is marketing is now playing a much more active role in complex industrial sales. This has worked great in the past but the Internet and digital marketing have changed how that process works today. See Problem-centric Industrial Marketing ).

RFP 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 2, 2012

Manufacturers usually want their industrial marketing to generate leads that result in RFQs as quickly as possible. Inbound marketing tactics such as SEO and other content marketing strategies do fill the top of their sales funnel. Design wins lead to prototype and production orders.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 16, 2012

Talking to manufacturers and industrial companies on a daily basis has convinced me that when they say they need help with their lead generation, they really want more RFQ (Request For Quote) opportunities. Generating new leads, qualifying and nurturing them until they turn into a RFQ is too much work for them.

Lead Management 60

Lead Management Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2012

We spent a lot of money on SEO and PPC programs but our site hasn’t generated good quality leads. Source: 2011 GlobalSpec Marketing Trends Survey). Here is a quote from MarketingSherpa’s findings from their 2011 survey of 1,500 B2B marketers: Organizations devote one-quarter of their online marketing budgets to their websites.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Creation Marketing Proposals Budget Programs 60

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. Those three marketing channels received the largest allocation of the budget. See chart for details.

B2B Marketing 60

B2B Marketing Trade Show Allocation B2B 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 22, 2012

The adoption rate has been much slower as compared to the online retail industry but B2B marketers are catching on fast. According to a survey conducted in 2011 by BtoB and Rainmarker Systems, while only 35% of B2B marketers are involved with selling directly online, 58% of those companies have an increasing commitment to the channel.

Advertising Channels 60

Advertising Channels Cable BtoB Distribution 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 20, 2010

Having worked closely with many manufacturers and companies from the industrial sector, I have learned several valuable lessons about what works when it comes to marketing to engineers and technical buyers. It is always a good idea to serve up your marketing content in different formats but your text is the key component.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Planning Buying Cycle Lead Scoring 60

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. 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

JUNE 15, 2010

I am referring to updating, maintaining and sometimes marketing their industrial websites. My opinion is somewhat biased because I am an industrial and B2B marketing consultant. I make my living providing marketing services including designing and marketing industrial websites. Is that a good thing?

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Marketing Websites Work Management Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

Most CEOs of manufacturing, engineering and technical companies do not believe in the value of brand building and consider it the domain of consumer marketing (B2C). Branding is an expense item like the rest of marketing. He suggests that B2B marketers take a cue from their B2C counterparts when it comes to increasing brand awareness.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Branding 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 8, 2010

In one word content – marketing content that is relevant and tailored to the prospect’s stage on the buy cycle. My take: Go back to the drawing boards and brainstorm with your R&D, engineering, sales and marketing people to make a list of problems that existed and are solved by your offerings. How can you accomplish all that?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Work Management Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 21, 2011

As all good content marketers know, engaging marketing content moves the needle. They include application notes, reference designs, evaluation boards, order samples (key to securing design wins that lead to production-volume orders), videos, PowerWise® Design University and technical support.

Sample 60

Sample Content Sales Qualified Leads Sales Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 10, 2010

It seems the secrets of SEO are known only to a few high-priced consultants. an industrial and business-to-business (B2B) marketing communications company in Houston, Texas. Achinta offers his industrial clients marketing for engineers by an engineer. However, you can do it too with some help.

Business Blogging 60

Business Blogging Optimization Web 2.0 Business 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 21, 2010

How does one generate high quality, educated leads, not just site visitors on a marketing budget that is less than 1% of the projected revenue? Now, that doesn’t sound very different from most b2b and industrial marketers but wait till you hear/read about the phenomenal results that Holly and her team have produced.

Budget Programs 60

Budget Programs Education Marketing Budget Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 5, 2010

Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions, Inc. said it best when she wrote, “Passive reading of your content is not going to help online marketing initiatives shorten buying cycles or increase customer acquisition and revenues.” Your sales team must report to marketing and put these leads back into the hopper for nurturing.

Sales Cycle 60

Sales Cycle Web 2.0 Buying Cycle Privacy Policies 60

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. 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 60

Planning Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 21, 2010

If you believe everything you read (and lately there’s been a lot) about marketing automation, you’d think it is the killer app to solve all your lead generation problems. Then there are scores of B2B marketers who swear by inbound marketing as the path to lead generation nirvana. Let’s take a closer look at both.

Marketing Automation Services 60

Marketing Automation Services Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

The chart below shows the variety of content used at different stages of the industrial buy cycle (Source: Understanding the Industrial Buy Cycle: How to Align Your Marketing with Your Customers’ Buying Process from GlobalSpec). One can dedicate an entire site to SEO because it is such a wide and deep online marketing topic.

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Marketing Automation Services Peer-to-peer Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website B2B Lead Generation Using a Business Blog by Achinta Mitra on September 20, 2010 in B2B Lead Generation , Industrial Marketing Blog In B2B lead generation, quantity versus quality is probably the biggest challenge faced by industrial marketers.

Lead Generation 60

Lead Generation Business Blogging Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2010

Without a clear understanding of the stages, it is difficult to align your marketing content with your customer’s decision-making process. In short, this is good, practical and actionable stuff and not some marketing theory. There are plenty of charts and graphs too. You can download it from here (does require registration).

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Web 2.0 Allocation 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Are You Creating Irresistible Offers with Your Email Marketing? by Achinta Mitra on November 16, 2009 in B2B E-Mail Marketing Do you know the key component of email marketing that generates more high-quality leads and drives sales?

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Web 2.0 Planning Opt-in 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 7, 2011

You will find little evidence of best practices in content marketing – relevant, valuable and compelling content for customers. The implied C2A is “interrupt your online activity and call us for a price quote.”. or better known as just Grainger, is one industrial distributor that has embraced content marketing in a very big way.

Enterprise Management 60

Enterprise Management Content Marketing Effectiveness Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 28, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website A Blogging Style to Call Your Own by Achinta Mitra on April 28, 2010 in Industrial Marketing Blog , Industrial Marketing Strategies , Social Media Marketing Creating a blog is not too difficult but building an active community around it is.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Privacy Policies Buying Cycle RSS 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 20, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Social Media and B2B Marketing Do Pair Well by Achinta Mitra on April 20, 2010 in B2B Lead Generation , Industrial Marketing Strategies , Social Media Marketing , Social Networking For a while, it was difficult to find hardcore data to make a business case for social media.

Social Media 60

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 22, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website The Distribution Trap – How Innovations Become Commodities by Achinta Mitra on April 22, 2010 in Industrial Marketing Strategies , Sales Strategies I read an eye-opening article by Andrew R. He has outlined what is wrong with the theory of mass marketing.

Distribution 60

Distribution Web 2.0 Lead Ranking Privacy Policies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website 101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers by Achinta Mitra on September 29, 2009 in Industrial Marketing Blog , Industrial Websites , Social Media Marketing I came across an incredible blog post recently that I think every small business owner should read.

Small Business Marketing 60

Small Business Marketing Blogger Web 2.0 Tips 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 17, 2010

Optimizing your marketing content around keywords or phrases is the first step in your content marketing strategy. However, there is another strong reason for optimizing your marketing content that has nothing to do with SEO. I am referring to optimizing customer engagement in B2B marketing. Why is it important?

Optimization 60

Optimization Web 2.0 Buying Cycle Planning 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 29, 2009

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Business Value of Social Networking by Achinta Mitra on July 29, 2009 in Social Media Marketing , Social Networking Saw a very interesting video where Seth Godin talks about how useful social media is to businesses. Get Engineers Can Sell white paper now.

Social Networks 60

Social Networks Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2010

A vast majority of the survey respondents reported that outbound tactics outperformed inbound initiatives for generating qualified leads. I am wondering if it is a result of the age-old disagreement between sales and marketing on the definition of a qualified lead. This one caught me by surprise.

Sales Cycle 60

Sales Cycle Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads B2B Sales 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 18, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Top 10 Clichés to Avoid in B2B Marketing Content by Achinta Mitra on May 18, 2010 in B2B Marketing Collateral , Content Marketing , Industrial Marketing Strategies You can find plenty of clichés used (overused?)

B2B Marketing 60

B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Planning Demand Generation Agencies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 19, 2010

That is pretty much the mantra of B2B content marketing. Personas do matter in B2B content marketing You would be wasting your scarce resources if you pumped out marketing content without first having a clear and complete understanding of the personas of your B2B buyers. In other words, it is time to walk the talk!

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing CMS Development Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 24, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Social Media with Email Marketing – is it the Super Combo? This long time staple has become the Rodney “No Respect&# Dangerfield of B2B and industrial marketing. Do you have any good examples of social media used in email marketing?

Social Media 60

Social Media Email Marketing Social Marketing Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 26, 2010

Paul Dunay in his blog post, “4 C’s of B2B Marketing” has defined this very nicely. Wikipedia defines content marketing as “an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases.” Don’t sell.

Marketing Budget Creation 60

Marketing Budget Creation B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Marketing Budget 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 29, 2010

The majority of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) consider customer engagement as their top priority according to a recent study done by Forbes Insights and George P. The New Rules of Engagement: CMOs Rethink Their Marketing Mix is based on a survey of 314 marketing executives at companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue.

B2B Marketing 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Home Marketing Matters About Contact B2B Marketing Store Company Website Content Auditing and Mapping it to the Industrial Buy Cycle by Achinta Mitra on September 3, 2010 in B2B Lead Generation , Content Marketing , Industrial Marketing Strategies , Integrated Industrial Marketing These days it is popular to say “Content is marketing currency.”

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60