How Manufacturers Can Benefit From Digital Marketing- Best In 2022

Manufacturers Can Benefit From Digital Marketing

Digital marketing for manufacturers can open up new ways to communicate with existing clients as well as drive qualified traffic to your website. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, you will find that adding digital marketing to your portfolio will grow your business and lower your marketing costs simultaneously.

Traditional marketing, using printed catalogs, meeting in person, making cold calls over the phone, all take a lot of your resources, time, and money. Digital marketing can increase your qualified leads, and reduce your marketing costs, resulting in higher revenues and profits. And you can use as much or little as will fit into your marketing budget.

Manufacturing has been slower than other industries to implement digital marketing into their overall marketing plan. However, those that have, are finding immediate benefits.

Establishing Credibility and Authority

Building trust with your customer is a priority, especially for major purchases. Having a website with relevant information about your company, your products, and your staff, goes a long way in determining whether a vendor is credible and has authority in your industry. You can provide answers to common questions, connect to potential customers 24/7, and interact with people in real-time. You can offer content on your website that displays your expertise and gives prospects confidence in your authority.

You can easily provide social proof of completed work, installation of your product, or implementation of your service by asking former customers to write reviews. You can post reviews on your website, in your ads, or on your landing pages to encourage conversions.

Generating Qualified Leads

Generating qualified leads is always a priority for manufacturers. Digital marketing combined with marketing automation can increase your number of leads, and engage with those leads to qualify them before you ever have any direct contact with them.

This starts with search engine optimization (SEO) to drive the right traffic to your website or landing pages. SEO will guide you to create content that invites your prospects into the sales funnel. Your content may include frequently asked questions, whitepapers, or even some company history, but the key is that you provide the prospects exactly what they need. They determine when they are ready to move forward.

In the meantime, you can build a trusting relationship with them, as they learn more about what you manufacture.

Demonstrate Your Products and Services

As we have learned during the pandemic, you don’t physically have to be somewhere to see how something works. Meetings can be held virtually with any number of people to discuss or demonstrate your products or services. You can meet in real-time or provide a pre-recorded video to walk someone through how to use your products.

Video is one of the best tools you can use to engage customers, and demonstrate how to use your products or services. A video can be watched at a convenient time for your customer when their attention is focused on what you have to say.

Shooting a video can be simple since new smartphones have been adding increasingly sophisticated cameras as standard features. Or work with a videographer if you have the budget for it.

Encourage Repeat Business

Repeat customers are what keep many manufacturers in the business, and digital marketing for manufacturers can encourage and support repeat customers. Happy repeat customers are often where referrals come from, so your investment in client relationships pays for itself.

Some manufacturers find that using social media platforms to run their customer service department makes it easier to respond to customer issues, and it shows other customers how quickly they respond to and resolve customer issues. In this case, the customer service interactions are social proof for the manufacturer.

There are other ways to use digital marketing to encourage repeat business.

• Nurturing existing customers and updating them about new products
• Sending out a regular newsletter offering discounts on merchandise
• Reminding customers when it’s time to service their product or renew their subscription
• Offering incentives to shop on your eCommerce site
• Giving rewards to repeat customers like coupons or loyalty cards

You can invite customers to create content such as reviews or images of them using their product to post on your website (with permission, of course). This type of social proof can be a deciding factor for new prospects.

Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader

Digital marketing offers a platform to demonstrate your expertise and experience in manufacturing. When researchers look for information on your industry, the manufacturers that consistently provide that needed information, are successful in starting the journey towards a good relationship.

Digital platforms give you the ability to state your opinions and start a dialogue with customers to offer answers and advice. You can market your company events, build on your interactions online, and let everyone know that you can help them because of your experience.

Showcase Case Studies

Buyers who make large purchases from manufacturers often have a purchasing cycle they are required to complete to buy from you. At each step, you can give them more reasons to buy from you instead of your competitors. Social proof can be influential in this process.

We’ve already discussed social proof in the form of reviews and images. These may be enough to generate initial contact from a buyer. When it comes to placing an order for a major purchase, reviews may not be enough. This is a good time to offer your buyer some case studies that they can review and compare with the needs of their business.