The world of marketing has seen a lot of changes with time. From billboards and banners and newspaper columns to Facebook ads and Google search optimizations; it has been a long journey.
Digital marketing has become an essential tool for any business (irrespective of its size) to thrive in today’s competitive world.
An efficiently planned marketing campaign solves 2 of the most prominent issues for any manufacturing business: getting clients/ customers and getting enough leads for hire.
That being said, for any business owner who is new to the world of running an online marketing campaign, things might get a little overwhelming.
Well, the way out is really simple.
Taking one step at a time & sorting out the basics will land you in a better place than
most of your competitors.
There’s always a scope for improvement as you keep on refining your approach. That is a discussion for later.
For now, the hardest times are when you’re just starting out and we’re here to prepare you for that initial leap.
Here’s a list of 10 easy-to-implement tips that can help you give shape to a decent, new-age marketing campaign for your manufacturing business.
#1 Knowing your Audience
Developing a marketing campaign without having a proper understanding of who your audience is, is like shooting an arrow in the dark.
The digital space is huge and you’ll reach nowhere if you do not have a set target and approach.
Hence, analyze. Spend an ample amount of time recognizing your target audience and
laying down their pain points, problems, desires, and purchasing habits.
Once you have all the basic information ready, you’ll know how to structure your
campaign and what pain points you need to target.
Your prime goal here is to recognize who your target audience is, and the ideal way of engaging with them. A correctly conducted audience analysis will help you with the same.
#2 Get Found
One of the most popular & important marketing tools today is SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Simply put, SEO includes several techniques that help in improving your website’s ranking in search results, so as to drive more organic traffic onto your website.
While it may sound too complex in the beginning, if done right, SEO can help you bring in more business and hence increase the profit numbers.
The fact that most people do not scroll past the first page of search results implies why it is important for any business to focus on their SEO approach.
Choosing the right keywords for your web content, improving page speed, optimizing images and videos, meta descriptions, etc. are the basics that you need to concentrate on.
#3 A Good Website
Your website is the main source that your audience will turn to, to know more about your business. Your website essentially acts as your extensive visiting card, showcasing all the necessary information - your story, product descriptions, case studies, blog, contact info, announcements, etc.
Despite knowing the importance of having a well-designed website, brands put minimalistic efforts into their web design.
If done right, your website will act as your top marketing tool for years. Hence, hire an experienced team of web designers and developers to get the job done.
Work upon developing an interactive & engaging UX/ UI and easy-to-use navigation across your website. Spend time deciding your brand’s logo, color palette, design style, fonts, etc.
Colors are important as your reader will begin associating your color palette with your brand. Think of the colors that come to your mind when you hear the name Google or Facebook or any other famous brand.
Such small details, when combined together, create a unique scrolling experience for your readers.
#4 Humanize Your Brand
No matter if you operate in the B2B, B2C, or D2C space, you are going to interact with a human being on the other end.
Hence, building rapport and forming a connection with your audience is the most effective way to ensure a long-lasting collaboration.
To do the same, you need to reduce the emphasis on business jargon and fundamentals. Sure professionalism is necessary to maintain, but at the same time, you need to bring in empathy.
No one wants to interact with a company that only talks business. You need to focus on the human side of your brand and on forming real connections.
Here are a few tips regarding the same:
- Showcase real photos of your team working/ having lunch/ celebrating/ playing together.
- Make your content engaging and exciting - do not always be formal and cold
- Form an honest, professional relationship with your clients
- Interact with nurtured leads on a regular basis - with gifts, festival wishes, discounts, etc.
If you’re looking for more new-age branding tips for your manufacturing firm, click here.
#5 Social Media
The power of social media is massive. Most of the eyeballs that you need to attend to are available online. Any business that decides to ignore its social media footprint in today’s age is going to miss out on thousands of dollars.
Social media marketing is probably the most efficient way to engage with prospective leads on a personal level. Winning businesses know the power of real-time engagement. For the same reason, they keep on upgrading their social media game.
There’s so much that you can do here. Once you have identified the platforms that your target audience uses the most, start posting engaging and value-providing content.
Along with posting regularly, interact with your audience via comments, various online events, quizzes, offer announcements, etc.
Besides this, social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, etc. also allow you to run paid ads. This option can be leveraged to bring in more sales or to reach out to more people.
#6 Content Marketing
One of the most popular sentences in the world of digital marketing is the following: Content is King.
Content is the backbone of most brands’ online reputation and is also responsible for driving major sales.
Image posts, videos, podcasts, blogs - find what medium suits you the best along with the relevant platform(s).
Client testimonials, a typical day at your factory, interviewing your CEO, customer success stories, employee testimonials, product launch videos, festive celebrations at your office, market insights, etc. - the list of ideas is never-ending.
A highly recommended tip here is to stay unique and continue experimenting till you find the best style that suits your brand and your target audience.
#7 Email Marketing
Another direct way to interact with potential customers is via their email inboxes. Focus on developing a full-fledged email marketing campaign.
To begin with, you’ll need a list of leads. Instead of paying for mining various leads, get the job done organically. You can simply ask your reader for their email address via your website. Pitch the request along with mentioning the value that you wish to deliver to their email address.
This way, you’ll have a list of leads who are genuinely interested in lending ears to you. From here, you can easily take things forward.
You can now contact your leads with a potential sales pitch, seasonal offers, exclusive discounts, market insights, value-providing writeups, festival wishes, etc.
No matter what your approach is, how you segregate your mailing list, or how many emails you plan to send in a month - make sure that you do not bog down the reader with irrelevant information. Focus on delivering value and the results will follow.
You can also make use of softwares like MailChimp, Klaviyo, etc. to automate the process for a larger set of audience.
#8 Recruitment Marketing
Manufacturing firms across Ontario often face difficulty in reaching out to suitable talent. To tackle the same issue, you can devote a section of your marketing campaign to serving your recruitment purposes.
This includes creating awareness about your business as a workplace via different methods - posting relevant content, showcasing employee testimonials, creating behind-the-scene videos at your factories, etc.
You can also craft detailed job descriptions and use them to create online job posts for your vacancies. The idea is to make potential candidates familiar with your brand by reaching out to them via different social media channels.
Besides this, you can also join hands with a reputed recruiting agency that has relevant experience in your niche.
Staffing partners often maintain a wide network of connections with companies across different markets. Along with housing B2B leads, such agencies also have an extensive web of hiring sources.
Hence, if you make a well-informed choice, you can achieve a huge percentage of your marketing goals with the help of a relevant recruiting group.
We at M&M have gifted our clients with similar marketing advantages in the past.
Here’s a quick read on one of our customer success stories: Solving a 6 months-old staffing problem for FGF Brands
If you wish to submit all your hiring hassles in exchange for peace of mind, feel free to contact us.