Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 24, 2010

by Achinta Mitra on August 24, 2010 in B2B Lead Generation , Industrial Websites , Website Design & Development Unless you’ve been on a very long sabbatical from industrial and manufacturing marketing, you very well know that your website should be the hub of your online marketing. Why should you care about your company’s website?

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Buying Cycle Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 10, 2012

The online survey addressed the marketing trends, challenges, and expenditures within the engineering, technical, manufacturing, and industrial communities. 47% of the industrial companies spend more than a third of their overall marketing budget online. I’m not trying to be clever or facetious with my headline.

Planning 60

Planning Marketing Budget Creation PR Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 23, 2010

Today, technical buyers and engineers expect suppliers to have a substantial online presence with a website packed with relevant content in a variety of formats and easily searchable. Extend its life by making your site content shareable via social media, RSS feeds and forward to a colleague. However, they do have a strong influence.

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Marketing Automation Services Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 5, 2010

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 online content needs to play a much more active role in moving site visitors along in his/her buy decision.

Sales Cycle 60

Sales Cycle Web 2.0 Buying Cycle Privacy Policies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 26, 2010

It may be time to invest in your online presence. It goes well beyond just cutting costs, today, it is more about accountability, analytics and engaging customers and prospects by using free or inexpensive social media tactics. Is it so outdated that you avoid sending prospects and customers to your site?

Rules 60

Rules Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 17, 2010

Because B2B and industrial buyers tend to be more sophisticated in the use of online content in making their decision over the entire buying cycle. Optimizing your marketing content around keywords or phrases is the first step in your content marketing strategy. I am referring to optimizing customer engagement in B2B marketing.

Optimization 60

Optimization Web 2.0 Planning Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 14, 2011

Thriving in today’s content-driven online marketing world, demands that you think like a publisher. That mindset is even more important today if you don’t want to drown in the deluge of online content. Build a larger base of loyal customers and spread the word via social media channels. Chapman (Authors of Content Rules ).

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing High Quality Lead Planning BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 12, 2010

Source: CMP (now United Business Media ) Electronics Group’s Global Media Usage Study, 2006) 74% industrial buyers went looking for prices but only 23% of manufacturers published them on their website. Reasons people don’t want to publish prices online There may be many reasons (excuses?) Create an online Pricing/Prices page.

Sales Management 60

Sales Management Pricing Price Marketing Websites 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

In Needs Awareness and Research phases, the first two stages of the industrial buy cycle (see my earlier post Deconstructing the Four Stages of the Industrial Buy Cycle ) your prospects and customers use a variety of online content to find solutions to their current problems and needs.

Buying Cycle 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 27, 2012

Only 22% of companies surveyed still follow the traditional RFP path, 78% are narrowing the field long before the RFP process, by conducting anonymous web research and relying on information from peers and others via social media venues ( Source: SiriusDecisions ). Meet your customers where they are choosing to learn – online.

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

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 1, 2011

It also includes downloadable whitepapers, eBooks, product datasheets, application notes, technical articles, how-to and best practices guides, FAQs, videos, webinars, podcasts, presentation slides, blog posts and content for use in social media. That’s why headlines, subheads and bullets play such an important role in online content.

SIC 60

SIC Peer-to-peer Buying Cycle Copywriting 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 15, 2010

Success story #1: Manufacturer of electronic passive components We built an online parametric search application for the client’s website to help site visitors quickly find/build the exact part number based on selecting a number of design and/or performance characteristics. Take a quick poll.

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Marketing Websites Work Management Web 2.0 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.

Social Networks 60

Social Networks Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

I’ve seen some unusual applications of online content. You’ve got a winner if your online content makes it easier for them to find relevant information with the least number of clicks. This is true no matter where the content is used – Websites, email campaigns, webinars or marketing collateral.

Relevance 60

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 14, 2010

Instead, I found something on Media Curation, which I thought was close enough: Media Curation is the emerging trend toward creating media content using a mix of machine and human resources. The final piece of the content curation puzzle was an article by Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing blog.

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Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

They need to see verifiable results and not just screen shots in our online portfolios. Objective: Identify where their target audience hangs out online and build a community around them to increase awareness of the company’s supply-chain management solutions. Tactics: Their mantra — Learn, Laugh, Share and Connect. Results: 2.7

Business Blogging 60

Business Blogging Enterprise Management Paid Search Agency ROI 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Despite all the promises of online marketing tactics, industrial marketers are still wrestling with the same lead generation problem year after year. Marketing automation is good at supporting a self-service model that B2B buyers are accustomed to from their personal online experiences. B2B sales processes are becoming “consumerized.”

Marketing Automation Services 60

Marketing Automation Services Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 2, 2010

Today, the customer split is 55/45 in favor of B2B clients Read the full case study on BtoB Online at [link] Case study #2: Driving qualified traffic and growing in-house list using emails with videos links Business challenge: Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. Social Media with Email Marketing – is it the Super Combo?

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Planning Web 2.0 BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 14, 2010

Once they find the correct part number, offer datasheets with performance characteristics, applications and tolerance information, include a way for the visitor to send a quick question to your engineering department and if applicable, add a “buy now” button to take advantage of online sales.

Webinar Metrics 60

Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Product 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 19, 2010

Creating effective marketing content requires a well-rounded skill set that includes researching, interviewing subject matter experts (SME), customers, and internal stakeholders, compiling all that information into cohesive content and a basic understanding of any existing content management system (CMS) to update your online content library.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing CMS Development Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2011

Create an online version that supports complex parametric searches to help design engineers find the exact part from your inventory of thousands of SKUs. Convert that very useful piece of content from a static printed application into a real-time online application. A QR code can hold a lot more information than just a simple URL.

Product 60

Product B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling Thought Leadership 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2011

Over the years, marketers have interpreted thought leadership in a variety of ways including brand awareness and now with the advent of social media, buzz building. Building trust and reputation online is difficult, if not impossible to do with outbound promotional and advertising tactics. No, my memory isn’t that good.

Thought Leadership 60

Thought Leadership Marketing Management Peer-to-peer Service 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 20, 2010

Add a link that carries the part number to the shopping cart if you also have an online store or to the RFQ form on your site. Lesson #3: Features are the benefits Your online marketing content may consist of images, videos, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, white papers and pre-recorded webinars.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Planning Buying Cycle Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 17, 2011

These people find your blog while searching for answers to their current problem or visit via social media. Your blog posts will remain online in perpetuity. For others, the bulk of your blog traffic, in some cases as much as 80%, will come from first-time visitors. 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

AUGUST 20, 2012

We are afraid of giving away our trade secrets if we reveal too much in our online content. A good content marketer must play many roles – he/she must know SEO, be an investigative reporter who asks the right questions for extracting the meat of the matter from SMEs, be a copywriter, an editor, a marketer and be savvy about social media.

SEO 60

SEO Content Marketing Copywriting Content 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.

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Curation Inbound Marketing Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Industrial buyers of today use online content extensively in making their buying decision. Are your company, products and services visible in various online channels used across the stages? These three charts (from the webinar) illustrate how to answer these key questions.

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 21, 2010

In short, they are doing things that help them get found online. Leave a Comment Previous post: Social Media and B2B Marketing Do Pair Well Next post: The Distribution Trap – How Innovations Become Commodities FREE Marketing Guides Engineers Can Sell™ White Paper: Most people are skeptical about associating engineers with sales.

Budget Programs 60

Budget Programs Education Marketing Budget Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 3, 2010

Why does online marketing content cause so much angst? We just need site visitors to fill out our online order form. We are uniquely qualified to recommend hiring an expert online copywriter or designer or SEO expert when it becomes necessary to bring in outside talent. And the cycle of frustration continues.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Work Management Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2012

The most important ones are: Bite sized content is easier to consume online and on mobile devices. Use social media to announce each new post. Just like popular TV serials, you want to create a series of short blog posts that revolve around a common theme. There are many advantages to this content marketing strategy.

Long Tail Marketing 60

Long Tail Marketing Thought Leadership Content Marketing & Strategy 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 10, 2011

Even though social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) adoption is lower among industrial marketers, YouTube usage by manufacturers (50%) is higher than other B2B marketers (38%). Social media (excluding blogs): 21% effectiveness (73% usage). There is a strong disconnect between content marketing effectiveness and its usage.

Video Marketing 60

Video Marketing Content Marketing Co-Registration High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 24, 2009

However, to be successful in your online marketing, you must come up with fresh and interesting content regularly. That led me to other popular search terms like blog content creation, content creation help, online content creation etc. Most people get writer’s block or their brains freeze up while staring at a blank screen.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Copywriting Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 3, 2011

Customers in turn get 24/7 access via a secure online portal to personalized content such as: Detailed and critical cradle-to-grave records of every valve installed at their plant. That is its key differentiator from other forms of marketing that tend to focus more on advertising and promotional messages.

Planning 60

Planning Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

In the Needs Awareness and Research stages (the first two stages of the industrial buying cycle ), buyers use a broad array of sources, including social media, webinars, e-newsletters, Google, Bing, Yahoo and vertical search engines like thomasnet.com and globalsepc.com. Analytics is the new marketing creative!

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Brand Identity 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 21, 2010

A B2B blog is the perfect online tool to accomplish that. Search This Site Browse Industrial Marketing Topics B2B E-Mail Marketing B2B Lead Generation B2B Marketing Collateral B2B Marketing Videos B2B Media Planning Content Marketing Industrial Marketing & Web 2.0

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Web 2.0 Buying Cycle B2B Blogger 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 4, 2011

Building this kind of thought leadership and online credibility helps you grow your list of new prospects and leads. Here’s more proof that blogs do generate leads; the same study found that nearly three in five respondents had acquired a customer through a company blog or LinkedIn (the best performing social media channel for B2B).

Inbound Marketing 60

Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2010

Here are some stats, results and recommendations that I found very useful: In the Needs Awareness and Research stages, buyers use a broad array of sources, including social media, Webinars, e-newsletters, search engines and [vertical search engines like] GlobalSpec.

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Buying Cycle Buy Web 2.0 Allocation 60