Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 1, 2011

Notice how discussions about content marketing are full of words like engagement, helpful, sharing, nurturing and community building. These are all great at soft selling without irritating the customer. No complaints there. However, have we gone too soft with content marketing when it comes to selling industrial products and services?

Sales Qualified Leads 60

Sales Qualified Leads Content Marketing Planning Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 18, 2011

Here a picture is worth a thousand words! Now the bad news – there is a disconnect between what buyers/specifiers want from a supplier’s website and what they are getting. Keep in mind these are the same industrial companies from the survey that credited their own sites for generating growth. See chart below.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Buyer Personas Customer Surveys Advertising Mediums 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 20, 2012

He finds it difficult to articulate it into written words and differentiate our company. Here are some of the common hurdles that I have come across in my conversations with manufacturers, distributors and engineering companies: Our Founder/President/Owner has a clear vision of his business but it is in his head.

SEO 60

SEO Content Marketing Copywriting Content 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 26, 2010

A word of caution here about social media marketing – yes, it is easy and free to set up Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts but it is not cheap, and neither is it quick to achieve measurable results. You may want to read the following: Industrial Website design and management. Social media marketing. Search engine optimization (SEO).

Marketing Budget Creation 60

Marketing Budget Creation Marketing Budget Inbound Marketing Tactics 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 11, 2011

Traditional sources of new business – word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business from existing customers have slowed to a trickle for many of these industrial companies. The current economy and a global supply chain have forced many manufacturers to reevaluate how they do business these days.

Word of Mouth 60

Word of Mouth Telemarketing Paid Search Agency Sales Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 19, 2010

In other words, it is time to walk the talk! Creating engaging marketing content is NOT clever wordsmithing B2B marketing content that will truly engage you audience and nurture them until they are ready to make the purchase decision, requires more than just copywriting and/or hiring someone who can put a clever spin on words.

Relevance 60

Relevance B2B Marketing CMS Development Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 16, 2012

In other words, your customer has little to no influence on the selection of the preferred vendor. This is typically an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company and is the technical buyer. The EPC company decides which vendor will supply the valves and level controllers that go on the fabricated system.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Marketing Management Paid Search Agency 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Don’t make it mere word-for-word translation in different languages. In other words, new and disruptive technologies can never make good sales people extinct. Incorporate mobile solutions since many decision makers are not tied to their PCs during the workday. Not so fast!

Social Media 60

Social Media Social Marketing Media Planning 60

Industrial Marketing Today

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

A picture in this case is worth more than a thousand words! More how-to, less copy – Engineers and technical professionals prefer to see how things work instead of reading long descriptive prose about it. Examples: A manufacturer of safety relief valves includes on their site 3D animations of how to disassemble and reassemble their valves.

Relevance 60

Relevance Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JANUARY 14, 2011

Build a larger base of loyal customers and spread the word via social media channels. Attract more leads and acquire new customers. Become the go-to source of information related to your niche and build thought leadership. There is a big difference between knowing and doing.

Content Marketing 60

Content Marketing High Quality Lead Planning BtoB 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 3, 2010

Don’t be afraid of putting long tail keywords in your titles so that people searching for those words can find your post. You don’t have to write a thousand words post each time, shorter posts are good too. Do a bit of keyword/phrase research before deciding on a topic or a title of your posts. Mix them up for variety.

Business Blogging 60

Business Blogging Web 2.0 Long Tail Marketing Business 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 26, 2011

In other words, their content is very product-centric. 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. There is a good reason for that – see my earlier post, “Details Matter in Creating Content for Engineers.”

Product 60

Product B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling Thought Leadership 60

Industrial Marketing Today

APRIL 14, 2012

Note the words Type and Graphics in the company name. I remember yelling at my proofreader for finding a typo even though it was my fault to begin with, because it meant waiting 30 to 45 minutes to pull another laser proof. Wow, we have all come a long way since then! Back then, print media was the center of the universe for B2B marketing.

Paid Search Agency 60

Paid Search Agency Work Management Marketing Management Companies 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Speak to engineers across the board about what keeps them awake at night and you are likely to hear these three words repeatedly: Risk. Compliance. Does your website content address those issues? The content on your industrial site may be missing the mark completely if it doesn’t speak directly to engineers’ pain points.

Marketing Websites 60

Marketing Websites Wiki Content Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MARCH 23, 2011

In other words, Google will put a premium on content that its algorithm deems worthwhile for searchers (humans) and will punish those that are churning out content for the sake of manipulating the ranking. However, we compared and it was 84 percent overlap [between sites downloaded by the Chrome blocker and downgraded by the update].

Content 60

Content SEO CAN-SPAM Buzz 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

It is smart to empower your subscribers to spread the word among their fans and followers. Even though work-related usage of social media is low among industrial professionals, it is here to stay. You cannot ignore it completely. See Social Media with Email Marketing – is it the Super Combo?). Same goes for mobile marketing.

Relevance 60

Relevance List Brokers Opt-out Marketing Analytics Tools 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JULY 7, 2011

In other words, the online content is very product-centric. Websites of most industrial distributors follow the same basic format – the focus is on their product line card. You will find little evidence of best practices in content marketing – relevant, valuable and compelling content for customers.

Enterprise Management 60

Enterprise Management Effectiveness Content Marketing Marketing Management 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. Pay attention to the terminology and words your target audience uses when they discuss their problems on social media, forums and blogs. What is the key to shortening the buy cycle? How can you accomplish all that?

Buying Cycle 60

Buying Cycle Buy Work Management Marketing Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 17, 2010

It is not just optimizing words within your marketing content. To deepen and strengthen this relationship, marketers (and sales) must optimize the “return on time spent” by increasing the value received through each touchpoint. Source: IDC Analyst Connection: Coordinating Marketing and Sales across the Entire Revenue Cycle.)

Optimization 60

Optimization Web 2.0 Planning Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Referrals: Inbound marketing drives interested leads to your site just like a word-of-mouth referral. Social media: When others tweet about your blog post or content, it becomes more trustworthy versus you pushing it out which is usually looked at with suspicion.

Marketing Automation Services 60

Marketing Automation Services Inbound Marketing Marketing Automation Top of Funnel 60

Industrial Marketing Today

JUNE 12, 2010

In other words, measure and prove it! So the pricing page is working to some degree in eliminating prospects who decide strictly on price. Test if your site visitors really do want pricing information. Create an online Pricing/Prices page. Then strategically place direct calls to action to it throughout the site.

Sales Management 60

Sales Management Pricing Price Marketing Websites 60

Industrial Marketing Today

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Source: Frost & Sullivan ) Peer referrals: This is primarily social media marketing or the online version of word of mouth marketing (WOM). White papers remain the most important content to get individuals to register with an 80% registration rate and 68% of white paper readers contacting a vendor or distributor for more information.

Buying Cycle 60

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

Industrial Marketing Today

AUGUST 3, 2010

In other words, think long and hard before jumping into the deep end of customer engagement. To add a new twist to a thorny problem, I read a very interesting quote from Avinash Kaushik, the man who literally wrote the book on Web Analytics 2.0 , he said, “Engagement is not a metric, it’s an excuse.”

B2B 60

B2B Marketing Analytics Tools Web 2.0 Buying Cycle 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 21, 2010

Research keywords and phrases used by your prospects and write blog posts with headlines that use those words and phrases. You have to take steps to direct traffic to your business blog by various means. The content of your posts should be rich in those terms also.

Web 2.0 60

Web 2.0 Buying Cycle B2B Blogger 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 14, 2010

Parametric part number search – in addition to the standard word search tool on your website, build a parametric search application. Here are seven content marketing strategies that you can use to engage your prospects and move them forward in their buying cycle.

Webinar Metrics 60

Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Product 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 31, 2010

By default, search engines will use words from your first paragraph if you don’t specify a description tag. Description and Keywords Meta Tags – the first one is relatively important because search engines use it as a description for your blog post or page when listing it.

Optimization 60

Optimization SEO Buying Cycle Web 2.0 60

Industrial Marketing Today

OCTOBER 13, 2010

In other words, marketing content is locked behind a registration form or as some refer to it as “gated content.”. In the words of Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, “If you love someone, set them free. You must set your content free if you expect to build a relationship with them and nurture them into a lead.

Lead Ranking 60

Lead Ranking Leads Lead Marketing Qualified Leads 60

Industrial Marketing Today

DECEMBER 17, 2010

This can be a simple bulleted Word document with the main sections bolded and sub sections as bullets. That can only happen if your prospects and customers can find your site when and where they are searching for solutions to their problems in their own words. Don’t start the redesign without a blueprint (site map).

CMS Development 60

CMS Development Marketing Websites Marketing Budget Creation Work Management 60

Industrial Marketing Today

MAY 11, 2011

I copied and pasted those words from his presentation notes that I’ve saved to this day. Services are about people and building belief of – trust, competence, commitment and creativity. And this is built over time through demonstration of traits.”. No, my memory isn’t that good.

Thought Leadership 60

Thought Leadership Marketing Management Peer-to-peer Service 60