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). This was second only to downloading product data sheets. We want the prospect to contact us for pricing information so we can engage with them further 3. There is no secrecy.

Sales Management 60

Sales Management Pricing Price Marketing Websites 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2010

Typically, that means understanding the prospect’s pain and then offering a solution for relief. But not easy to execute because there usually is a disconnect between what your prospect wants to hear and what you want to say about your company and its products and services. Sounds simple, right?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Web 2.0 Allocation 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 22, 2011

They are prospects by my definition. Sales and marketing must agree on a numerical score that a prospect must reach in order for him/her to be ranked as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) before being handed off to sales for follow up action for conversion. However, I do have a problem with classifying these new subscribers as leads.

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 16, 2012

I have to politely disagree with them because “activity is not the same as productivity.” I talk 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. To most of these decision makers winning new business is strictly a numbers game.

Lead Management 60

Lead Management Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 3, 2011

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. It is easier and quicker to get your blog posts indexed than adding more Web pages.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Business Blogging High Quality Lead Business 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 Ranking 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Lead nurturing is usually done by sending out helpful content to prospects and moves them from the top of the funnel (ToFU) to the bottom of the funnel (BoFU) where they are ready to make a purchase decision. They are not quite sure what if anything they can create beyond case studies, product data sheets and application notes.

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Sales Management Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Marketing’s role in interacting with prospects has expanded and goes further into the buy cycle than before. In developing a lead scoring system, marketing has to make certain assumptions to classify prospects as hot or not. Lead scoring increases sales productivity and drives revenues.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads 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 2, 2012

In the early stages of lead generation, you are primarily dealing with “suspects” – people who you have not yet qualified as prospects or leads. For top of the funnel content, infographics are very effective because of their focus on educating the reader rather than being product-centric. Videos that are non-product oriented.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Ideal Customer Profiles Content Marketing Planning 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 11, 2011

Driving interested visitors to your corporate Website, product and landing pages by weaving in links within your blog posts. Sending warmed up prospects to your telemarketing team to qualify before your sales team gets involved. Acquiring new readers (traffic) by using social media to announce your posts. Quality over quantity).

Word of Mouth 60

Word of Mouth Telemarketing Paid Search Agency Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Use optimized content for inbound marketing to attract qualified prospects (ToFU) and then nurture them with engaging content to convert them into “sales ready” leads (MoFU). Content marketing helps industrial and manufacturing marketers manage their sales funnels from ToFU to MoFU.

Top of Funnel 60

Top of Funnel Marketing Funnels Content Marketing High Quality Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

The big hurdle they face is in engaging and converting readers into prospects, leads and ultimately customers. Passive reading of your content will not move the prospect along in his/her decision making process. Are your company, products and services visible in various online channels used across the stages?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Marketing Budget Web 2.0 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. Chapman (Authors of Content Rules ). Attract more leads and acquire new customers.

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing High Quality Lead Planning BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 1, 2011

Salespeople mail out marketing brochures and product datasheets in an effort to maintain a relationship. After lead nurturing: Salespeople only call those prospects that have sent a clear signal of their readiness to buy with their online interactions with your marketing content.

Lead Nurturing 60

Lead Nurturing Cold Calling Leads Lead 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 27, 2012

There are many ways that digital marketing can help industrial companies make their consultative selling process more productive. On the contrary, I am saying that a good digital marketing strategy will make your salespeople more productive by engaging with fully qualified leads where conversations lead to RFQs/RFPs and more wins.

RFP 60

RFP Peer-to-peer High Quality Lead Lead Ranking 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

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

Design engineers in particular are handling more projects and are under tremendous pressure to bring their designs and prototypes into production faster. Long on details, short on fluff – The first thing an engineer wants to know about your product is, “Does it meet my design specifications?” See below).

Relevance 60

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Community members ask questions relevant to their needs, seek answers from others like them, users express their opinions and experiences with your industrial products, teach and learn from one another. By listening carefully they can get a much closer understanding of their customers, how they use and feel about their industrial products.

Communities 60

Communities Paid Search Agency Peer-to-peer Companies 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

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Most manufacturers of industrial products agree that digital marketing is essential for their success now and going forward. Existing marketing collateral focuses primarily on the company and its products. I have been asked a few times to scan old product datasheets because that’s all that a particular manufacturer had for collateral.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing Management Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 29, 2011

At least have a mechanism in place to weed out unqualified prospects and move qualified ones into some kind of a lead nurturing program. You can make this content ungated (doesn’t require registration) to help visitors specify your products long after their first visit. Add a big button to download your online catalog.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Sales Qualified Leads Lead Nurturing 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 7, 2012

If all you do with your content marketing is to promote your company’s industrial products, you are likely to be disappointed. Your prospects won’t take action unless your content convinces them that you understand their problem(s) and have a solution. It’s a fine line between educational and promotional content.

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing Planning Content Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 3, 2011

Ross Perot that exemplifies this business philosophy: “Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Describe or show (videos) how your products/services solve those problems. Here’s a quote from billionaire industrialist H.

Planning 60

Planning Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 2, 2010

They are combining video, audio and sophisticated tracking tools to deliver email campaigns with highly customized messages that engage prospects in their preferred format and measure interactions beyond just open and click-thru rates and well into website behavior. WHEN : When on the sales cycle do you expect to engage with your prospects?

Email Marketing 60

Email Marketing Planning Web 2.0 BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 14, 2012

I owe a big debt of gratitude to the late, great Steve Jobs and his innovative products. I learned my business in the early years by doing production work for other ad agencies and printers around town. If you think Apple charges a premium for its iPhones and iPads today, think again. Wow, we have all come a long way since then!

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Work Management Marketing Management Companies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2010

Leave a Comment Previous post: The Role of B2B Marketing is Shifting from Lead Generation to Revenue Generation Next post: 7 Strategies for Using Content to Market Industrial Products FREE Marketing Guides Engineers Can Sell™ White Paper: Most people are skeptical about associating engineers with sales.

Sales Cycle 60

Sales Cycle Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads B2B Sales 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. Your list should be segmented into at least two broad categories – prospects and customers. Keeping e-mails relevant has become the key factor in proving their worth in industrial marketing.

Relevance 60

Relevance List Brokers Opt-out Marketing Analytics Tools 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2011

Check your content for the right balance of useful content versus promoting your products and solutions. Yet, marketing tends to focus on 20% of the content that is all about the how great the company and its products are. Joe Pulizzi refers to this as his 80/20 rule. After all, traffic that doesn’t convert is useless.

Content 60

Content SEO CAN-SPAM Buzz 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2012

78% of industrial suppliers indicate that their company Web site is one of their top three sources for connecting with prospects far outpacing other outlets such as tradeshows, direct mail and print advertising. Your industrial website must be a true reflection of your company, its products and services.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Creation Budget Programs Marketing Proposals 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 3, 2010

We already have lots of brochures and data sheets to give to our prospects and customers. Learn to connect the dots – many times product managers and engineers have very deep knowledge about their products and the problems they can solve. There’s nothing new we can say on our website.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Web 2.0 Work Management Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 1, 2012

This may seem obvious since you want to create content for your customers and prospects but it is somewhat of a tricky question. It should help you shift the focus from writing about your products and services to how you help your customers solve their challenges. The H stands for How.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Setting aside emotions, the key takeaway is and I’m quoting Pragmatic Marketing here, “Ideally, you should use architecture to free yourself from the technical and refocus on how the product solves problems for buyers. Or as Adele would say, “Got a great product? Now that’s a[n] architecture I can believe! Get over it.&#

Advertising Agencies 60

Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency Work Management CMO 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 5, 2010

This is a problem across the board for B2B marketers as reported by the same study – the largest challenge is “producing the kind of content that engages prospects and customers” (36% of respondents). One-fifth say that “producing enough content” (21%) and “budget to produce content” (19%) are their greatest challenge in content marketing.

Peer-to-peer 60

Peer-to-peer Social Marketing Paid Search Agency Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 29, 2010

Create an expertise blog to showcase your internal subject matter experts and allow your prospects and site visitors to interact with them directly. 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.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing Web 2.0 Branding 60

Industrial Marketing Today

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Often these are related to the company’s applications, solutions and/or or product names. Very little time is put into doing research on how their prospects and customers actually do their search. Or use very broad search terms that would result in a bunch of useless traffic.

Optimization 60

Optimization SEO Marketing Websites Keywords 60