Content marketing can deliver exceptional results for manufacturers looking to attract and engage their target audience and ultimately turn them into profitable, long-term customers. But, for many companies, the idea of developing and distributing interesting and informative materials on a regular basis in order to earn the trust of their market is a bit foreign. Fortunately, as a manufacturer, you have a “model” you can look at as you start to consider how to build a content engine: your own manufacturing processes.
Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post on interesting data related to content marketing for manufacturers provided by Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs, two highly regarded organizations that have tremendous experience and expertise in the field. Their Manufacturing Content Marketing 2019 report is now available, and I encourage you to check it out when you have some time to digest all the interesting information it provides on “Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends.”
One of the things I enjoy about working with folks in manufacturing is that they are very focused, very results oriented, and they truly understand the meaning of the phrase “getting down to brass tacks.” I believe that’s one of the reasons you see so many manufacturing websites that are getting a bit dated. The company feels that the site presents accurate information and therefore is serving its purpose just fine.
As a company that collaborates with manufacturers to develop content marketing strategies that attract attention, produce engagement, increase leads, and drive sales, we’re always interested in how this industry is capitalizing on (or failing to capitalize on, in some cases) content marketing. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs are two organizations that truly know their stuff when it comes to inbound marketing, and their 2018 Manufacturing Content Marketing Report is a rich source of interesting and thought-provoking statistics.
Manufacturers are, by nature, data-focused folks. You have to be. In order to be profitable, you must be able to continually fine-tune your processes. And in order to continually fine-tune your processes, you have to have an in-depth understanding of every aspect of every operation you perform. Consequently, when organizations in the manufacturing space hear the term “content marketing,” they may be a little skeptical. It’s a term that sounds like it might be all about creating pretty marketing materials and hoping people like them, with little or no hard data involved. As a top content marketing agency, we explain to our clients nationwide that the reality is quite the opposite.
When I talk with manufacturers who are new to the concept of content marketing, they are excited to hear about how powerful it is when it comes to attracting and engaging prospects and ultimately turning them into customers. They ask about what kind of results they can expect. They ask about how success can be measured. They ask all kinds of great questions. And then, as they reach the decision that content marketing is something they want to pursue, I can see the question in their eyes even before they verbalize it: “What kind of content can/should we produce?”
Although manufacturers are still significantly behind other B2B businesses, in the latest research report by Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs they showed a marked improvement in those documenting their content marketing strategy, i.e. 31% this year, up from 18% last year.
But what difference does it really make anyway? If you're vested in content marketing, and are making headway, is a documented content marketing strategy all that important? Well, let's see what the data says.
Can marketing automation substantially help manufacturing companies? Well, the short answer is ABSOLUTELY! But let's explore in more detail how marketing automation can help marketers in manufacturing companies be more effective or realize a better ROI by using the analytics and reports that HubSpot provides.
Sure, blogging makes sense for some companies, but is it really profitable for manufacturing companies? With 85% of corporate blogs having five or fewer blog posts, it's pretty clear that for most businesses, blogging just isn't a high priority. But SHOULD it be? I would contend that blogging should be one of the highest priorities for marketers in manufacturing businesses. And I posit that there are six compelling reasons why that is the case.
Outbound marketing works, especially for giant international corporations with deep pockets. For manufacturing businesses of all sizes, there is no question that implementing inbound marketing for manufacturing companies is an effective and affordable alternative or complement to outbound marketing. Manufacturing businesses, in fact, have a number of special attributes that make inbound marketing ideal.
