10 Ways to Reignite Your Manufacturing Blog

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Is your manufacturing blog lacking content? Sitting down to develop a content map or write a new post but nothing is coming to you? Great manufacturing blog content may be right under your nose. Here are some simple ways to find and create blogs that are relevant and engaging to the various verticals and buyer personas that you serve.

  1. Review Social Media & Website Forms

Are people consistently asking the same kinds of questions on your contact us form? Are people leaving comments on your blog or social media? These are all great places to get a sampling of your audience and their unique needs, wants and preferences. What content is getting the most engagement? Your audience is probably already telling you what to do.

  1. Re-purpose Videos and Webinars

Have a great video of your process? Did you do a webinar showcasing your industry expertise? Just because you shared your videos and webinars doesn’t mean they can’t be re-purposed! Embedding videos provides visual interest. Consider transcribing the script of the video for a blog series or create an eBook.  Remember, to have good search engine optimization ranking, aim for 300-500 words in your blog content.

  1. Check Out Your Manufacturing Network

Look at manufacturing industry related LinkedIn Groups to identify current trends and issues facing their industries.  Also, follow industry experts on LinkedIn and Twitter.  While you’re checking your feed, jot down trending topics for content inspiration.

  1. Set Google Alerts

Google Alerts are a simple want to stay on top of industry trends. Set Google Alerts with keywords from your industry or the verticals you serve. Google alerts will send you emails with your pre-defined industry headlines.

  1. Debunk Manufacturing Misconceptions

Notice any common manufacturing misconceptions? Don’t be scared to explain why the misconceptions are wrong and take the opportunity to explain how your products and services address the challenge.

Example: A common misconception our client in the gasket and rubber products industry faces is that o-rings and lathe cut gaskets are interchangeable. Writing a blog on the 5 differentiators of a lathe cut gasket vs an o-ring in a certain application is a great way to showcase your expertise and give your audience valuable knowledge.

  1. Showcase Industry Research and Case Studies

Let’s face it: people are naturally skeptical of what they see on online. Your prospects know that you can say anything you want about yourself on your website. That’s where your white papers and case studies come in. White papers and case studies add third person credibility to your company.

  1. Interview Your Employees and Business Partners

Hearing firsthand from your employees and business partners why they like your company and enjoy working with you. Employee spotlights and partnership spotlights always make great pieces of content.

  1. Recap Industry Events

Attend or present at an industry trade show or seminar? Share the key takeaways in a short 300 word blog with photos from the event. Don’t forget to caption the photos as captions are often the most read item on a page!

  1. Highlight Giving Back

Does your company raise money for charity or volunteer for a specific cause? Bring awareness to your philanthropic efforts and invite others to participate. Remember, your customers do not want to buy from a “vendor” they want to buy from people. Making the public aware of the company’s volunteering brings a human aspect to your brand and helps you develop deeper relationships with your prospects.

  1. Survey Your Prospects and Customers

If you’re stumped for content go directly to the people who are consuming yours. Create a simple 5 minute survey about your content to gauge if your prospects and customers like your content or if not, what types of content they would enjoy seeing from you in the future.
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3 Captivating Calls-to-Action to Drive Manufacturing Lead Generation

Manufacturing lead generation on your website starts with one thing—Calls-to-action. Calls-to-action (CTAs) are essentially a graphic or button with a compelling offer to make people want to provide their contact information in exchange for something of value to them Long gone are the days of the old outdated three-page  Contact Us form. CTAs are a great way to influence your prospects to take a specific action, ultimately, allowing you to track their behavior on your website. Below are the top 3 CTAs to drive manufacturing website lead conversion.

  1. Free eBook or White Paper on Notable Industry Topic

Many visitors on your website may not be ready to   download product information or request a quote. Rather, they may be only doing some background research. Just because they are early in the buying process doesn’t mean they aren’t still valuable prospects. It is important to give prospects greater understanding of your company, what solutions you offer as you start to build trust. Trust must be earned and even the smallest of interactions is a start down that path. Target these customers by using a call-to-action to “Download a Free eBook on Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing” or a white paper on “Resistance Welding Exotic Metals,” offering prospects the information they’re seeking.
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  1. Download Our Product Catalog

For prospects who aren’t ready for a quote, create a CTA for prospects to download your product catalog. So many times, I see manufacturers have a product catalog on their website and are giving it away without tracking who is viewing it. By creating a CTA to download your catalog, which takes the prospect to a coordinating landing page with an embedded form to capture his or her information, you can gauge who is interested in your products. And, if you have an inbound marketing platform, you can track their behavior an interaction on your website and social media channels. For more on the power of inbound marketing, check out these resources Inbound Marketing Services and The Industrial Manufacturer’s Guide to Inbound Marketing.

  1. Request a Free Consultation, Quote, Sample or Demo

There should be CTAs on your website that cater to each stage of the buying process- awareness, consideration and decision. The free eBook/white paper and product catalog CTAs cater to prospects in the awareness and consideration stages of the buying processRequest Your Free Inbound Marketing Assessments. The free consultation, quote, sample or demo CTA is a great way to create an offer that aids your prospects in the decision stage and allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and get your sales people or your products in front of your prospects. Interested in learning more about how to incorporate CTAs into your inbound marketing strategy? Request your free inbound marketing consultation!

 

How to Attain Media Interviews at Trade Shows Part 2

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In Part One, we covered the steps necessary to prepare your company to arrange interviews with industry media at trade shows. Now that you have interviews scheduled, you’ll need to be prepared for the actual interview.

The Interview

Have both your media-trained experts as well as media kit information ready at interview time. Copies of press releases, company profiles and even product samples are important. Be ready for photo opportunities, including video and audio interviews. It’s a mega-media world now.

Hint: We stop (no not accost) anyone with a skinny notebook or a camera more expensive than your first car. These are media that may be flying under your radar. Ask who they are working for and if they know your company. Invite them back to your trade show booth for a tour.

Hint two: Same approach with media but track them down in the show’s media room. There is often a table for your materials and you might be able to politely start a conversation while you drop off your materials (last show I was tossing candy bars across the room to the hungry media toiling over their laptops).
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The Follow Up

If you promised photos or a research paper, send it! Make sure they have everything they need to post their story. Thank them and follow them as well on social media. We often post pictures during the interviews at the booth to the media social accounts.

So, go get ‘em! Start a relationship with media. Be patient. Understand they work months ahead of time, have no obligation to cover your company and have a job to do as well. Be persistent, helpful and flexible. The results may be years of stories as you become a trusted industry resource.

 

Trade shows not bringing you qualified leads? Contact us.

How to Attain Media Interviews at Industrial Trade Shows Part 1

Frustrated that your competitor is always in the news? Questioning why they are continually interviewed and not your company? Wondering how to secure a feature about your manufacturing company’s products and services?

Here’s a secret: Smart manufacturing sales and marketing professionals treat the media just like any other prospect. They get to know industry reporters, build rapport, find out what is important not only to them, but also their readers.

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@Fabrisonic3D: Our Mark Norfolk talks heat exchangers and embedding sensors with Bill Koenig of Manufacturing Engineering Magazine @RAPID_Event #Rapid2017

Trade shows, especially industrial shows, are the perfect place to begin building a relationship with editors and reporters that cover your industry. Follow the steps (and bonus hints) below and you will soon see your company featured. Remember, editorial coverage means thousands of eye balls on your article which will bring them to your website and ultimately, capture their information in lead conversion.

Part One: setting the stage for media relationship success

Pre-game: Before you begin, have the end in mind. Think about your prospect and what you want them to know about your company. Align the right media publication(s) with both their readers (your prospects) and their editorial direction or coverage. Then, have something to say. Have press materials, photos, charts, infographics at the ready should they be interested.

Step one: Obtain the media list from the show organizers. Show organizers may have last year’s list but what you really want is the current and registered media. These are the folks already credentialed and confirmed they are attending. You may have to ask for several updates to this list, as media may registered up to the last minute. You may have to do some research, securing email addresses and mail address as this is often not provided.
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Step two: Peak the media’s interest. Mail something ahead of time with both information about the company and a request to meet while at the show. We actually create a schedule and book set times for meetings. 90-100% of the media appointments booked are honored with on-time interviews (So, have your experts in your booth!). Here’s a cool dimensional promotion we sent prior to a rapid prototyping conference for our client www.fabrisonic.com

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Dimensional promotions are a great way to cut through the clutter and get the media to look over what you sent

Step three: Make the call! Yes, pick up the phone and actually speak to the editor. Tell them why it is worth their time to meet your company and employee experts. Have your top three message points and your schedule for interviews at the ready. Often, they will pick a time right on the phone

Step four: So, you were given unlimited access to their voicemail. Don’t fret. Send a detailed follow up email referencing your succinct voicemail, again with your reasons to meet. We often use the words ‘media’ and ‘the trade show name’ in the subject to get their attention.

Now that the stage is set, you’re ready to move forward with the actual interview. In Part Two, we’ll cover how to be prepared for the interview, how to gather additional interest and secure the press coverage you deserve.
Trade shows not bringing you qualified leads? Contact us.

5 Must Haves for Your Business-to-Business Manufacturing Website

manufacturing-websiteEvery day design engineers and procurement professionals across the globe are searching for new suppliers and manufacturers. If you are not seeing steady traffic and qualified leads hitting your website, you can make some simple changes to position your company as a leader in your industry. The following are the five most important components of information that design engineers and procurement professionals are seeking when considering new suppliers and manufacturers for their products.

  1. Thorough Capabilities Information

The most important component of your content should be your capabilities. Visitors need to know that your company can execute the products or services they are seeking.  There should be detailed information about the manufacturing and fabricating services offered along with in depth content regarding the materials used, maximum dimensions, quality processes, achievable tolerances, industries serviced, and accepted drawing formats. This will help the purchasing decision makers and engineers viewing your website know if you are a viable manufacturer worth further consideration.

  1. Promote Industry Certifications

Is your company ISO certified or do you hold other certifications in your industry? If so, promote it! Certifications increase your credibility and show prospects that your company is recognized for its achievements. Certifications should be prominently displayed on your website and visitors should have the ability to download or request documentation.

  1. Video

Video has emerged as a leading way for manufacturers to influence and engage their prospects. Using video content in a company’s strategy used to be an option but now it is an integral piece of the puzzle that could make or break your company reaching its sales goals. Video is an excellent way to showcase your quality processes, safety and scope of products and services offered.

According to a study done by Klein Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), this year video content will represent 74% of all internet traffic. 

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  1. Case Studies

Let’s face it, people are skeptical of what they see online. Your sales team can say whatever they want about your company, so engineers and procurement managers are looking for ways to vet you and other companies that are considered quicker and more efficient. Featuring case studies on your website is a great way to show your prospects you are a credible company. Showcase the types of projects you’ve worked on, parts you have manufactured, and specific companies utilizing your products or services.

  1. Valuable Offers

The way you really start to see who is visiting your website and their actual interest level is by creating valuable offers. Having strong calls-to-action on your website, which leads visitors to a landing page form to “Download a Free eBook” or “Contact Us for a Free Assessment” is a great way to see which content or offers are most appealing to your visitors.  In addition, it is also important to capture their contact information for a follow up by your sales team. To learn more about the importance of strong offers in your overall inbound marketing strategy, click to download our Industrial Manufacturer’s Guide to Inbound Marketing below.
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Industrial Manufacturer’s Guide to Inbound Marketing

industrial-manufacturers-guide-inbound-marketingAre you looking to incorporate inbound marketing into your industrial manufacturing company and don’t know where to start? Perhaps you’ve started to research inbound but are daunted by all the jargon and the vast amount of content out there. Our eBook “Industrial Manufacturer’s Guide to Inbound Marketing” is a simple, no nonsense eBook to guide manufacturers through the inbound process.

Let’s face it: inbound marketing is the future of marketing in the digital world, and, the future is now. The inbound methodology focuses on bringing prospective customers to you, rather than outwardly seeking them, as you would in traditional marketing tactics; such as print advertising, trade show marketing and direct mail. By creating content specifically designed to entice your ideal customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your website and starts the process of building relationships.

Many manufacturers have added inbound marketing to their marketing strategy and are reaping the benefits from it. However, for as many manufacturers that have successfully implemented inbound, there are just as many that have dropped the ball and made some major inbound marketing blunders. Or blog “The 5 Biggest Inbound Marketing Mistakes Manufacturers Make” delves into the most common mistakes and ways to correct them.

The Industrial Manufacturer’s Guide to Inbound Marketing is our most in-depth and comprehensive guide to educate and prepare business-to-business manufacturers for inbound marketing success. We’ve broken down the inbound process through each of the 4 stages: attract, convert, close and delight, sharing everything you need to know about the inbound marketing process and which tactics will help your manufacturing company reach its marketing and sales goals.

Learn ways to:

  • Increase Visitors to Your Website
  • Convert Those Visitors to Leads
  • Use Email Automation to Build Trust with Leads
  • Tie Sales and Marketing Together
  • Retain Customers More Efficiently

So, what are you waiting for?
Download Here Industrial Manufacturer's Guide to Inbound Marketing