You Need to Be Where Your Prospects Are Searching
Manufacturers across multiple sectors understand that, today, businesses need to be where their prospects are searching for solutions. Traditional methods of new business development and marketing have taken a back seat to digital solutions, and budgets are realigning to accelerate and expand those efforts. One of these is manufacturing content marketing — the creation of written assets that include blogs, ebooks, web content, emails, social media, and more.
Traditional sales and marketing teams that are used to growing pipelines and building relationships may resist adopting this avenue, but consider: when you last had a question or wanted to learn how to do something, where did you turn to find the answer? Most likely, you searched for it online. Your prospects are doing the same thing when looking for a partner to manufacture their next component or product. That means your organization needs to be investing in resources where prospects are active.
And while a manufacturing content marketing strategy is just one component of a broader, holistic outbound–inbound marketing and sales solution, it’s an incredibly valuable and effective one. Here, we’ll explore several reasons why content marketing, SEO, and related services must be in your revenue growth toolkit for the years ahead.
Why Use Manufacturing Content Marketing for Growth?
It Answers Prospects’ Pressing Questions
Again, prospects are actively searching for solutions providers online. They’re also searching for information about materials, processes, equipment, capabilities, and more. They’re not only looking for specific solutions, but they’re also asking questions about them. They want to know what the best material is, why one component or process should be used over another, what the advantages of a certain production process are, and countless other questions. The goal of manufacturing content marketing is to answer those questions, provide recommendations, and otherwise delight your audience.
It Positions You as a Thought Leader
Remember, “delight” is a key term with manufacturing content marketing. As visitors engage with your content (and that content answers their questions), you solidify your position in their minds as an organization that knows what it’s talking about and has the capabilities, expertise, and capacity to support them. The more you help them, provide the information they need, and delight them in the overall experience, the more they’ll remember you and be more likely to turn to you when they’re ready to move forward.
It Helps You Capture Valuable Search Rankings
We recently touched on the importance of SEO in manufacturing. The value of ranking highly in Google search results and in other search engines is crucial today. With prospects looking for information digitally, it’s a battle to win those rankings. But with an investment in manufacturing content marketing and SEO, you can begin to work toward winning those valuable positions. The more you target your content toward the types of searches and queries that people are making, the more you’ll begin to win rankings — thereby increasing your site traffic and pushing people toward conversions.
It Complements a Paid Search Strategy
Closely related to the above, manufacturing content marketing supports paid search. While your content is helping you to rank organically, you can simultaneously run a pay-per-click program to automatically win higher-ranking positions. These aren’t organic spots, but running paid search gives you access to key positions that are highly visible and often clicked by searchers. Properly executed, you can win paid positions as well as organic positions — giving your site greater exposure to searchers and driving even more traffic and conversions.
It Supports Outbound Sales Efforts
Manufacturing content marketing works best when it’s part of an integrated, holistic marketing and sales strategy. While content is helping you expand your online presence, that content can also be utilized in targeted outbound efforts. We’ve explored outbound and inbound in-depth here, but think of content and SEO as the “pull” of a broader strategy. It positions your business where people are already looking. Outbound is the “push” — it targets specific contacts that meet your most desirable criteria for a prospect and engages them consistently until a decision is made.
Put Manufacturing Content Marketing to Work for Your Organization
At Athena SWC, we provide manufacturers across a broad range of markets with the content marketing, SEO, and outbound sales and marketing support they need to achieve their new business development and revenue growth goals. Our holistic approach helps you build a list of the most ideal target prospects, engage them repeatedly, and attract additional opportunities via inbound marketing capabilities.
This combined approach has produced significant results for our clients, and it’ll work for you, too. Learn more about what manufacturing content marketing and outbound strategy can do in our case studies. When you’re ready, get in touch with our team to learn more about our holistic solution.