Understanding Short-Form Content
While there’s an ongoing debate around adult attention spans, it’s safe to say that in general our ability to devote attention to something is declining. As a result, marketing and sales professionals have to communicate powerful messages in less time — often half as much as a couple decades ago. Short-form content has proven to be the solution, but not necessarily because of attention span declines. It’s the reverse, in fact — short-form content driven largely through social media is the most-cited cause of shrinking attention spans.
While navigating the impact of that on mankind over time is best left to think tanks, health policymakers, and the like, marketing professionals have to work with — well, what actually works. With manufacturing being primarily B2B, is there a place for short-form content in this market?
The Short Answer: Yes
Just because manufacturing tends to be a more steely industry doesn’t mean that the people you’re trying to target aren’t interested in the same kind of content as one might find in a B2C or other B2B industry.
Leaders for plastics manufacturers, metal fabricators, flexible packagers, corrugated producers, labeling companies, pharmaceutical companies, and many others all have questions on a daily basis. These can focus on products, processes, technical problems, production guidance, and much more. Short-form content gives them the answers they need while positioning your business as a problem solver and thought leader.
What Does Short-Form Content for Manufacturing Look Like?
Short-form content comes in many shapes and sizes, so it ultimately depends on the manufacturing sector you’re working in, the persona(s) you’re trying to target, the most common questions or concerns you receive, and so on.
If you’re a marketing leader for a manufacturer looking to leverage this type of content to drive leads, be sure to involve your sales and account management teams in the conversation. They hear from prospects and customers every day and will have a great understanding of what kind of quick-hit content would help move the needle.
Examples of Short-Form Content for Manufacturers
- Video — This doesn’t have to be a massive virtual plant tour or capabilities overview. Instead, consider conducting a video shoot over a day or two and parsing the footage out where applicable to showcase certain capabilities or processes. This type of footage is great for social, embedding on key pages, sharing in emails, and more. Mobile and desktop tools today make video editing and formatting a breeze, and in no time you can have a library of brief videos to use in countless ways.
- Remember that most personal devices like cell phones and tablets are more than capable of capturing and editing great video. You do not need to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a high-level photo shoot to do this correctly. There are advantages to working with third parties for the distribution and sharing of those video assets, however. More on this shortly.
- Also, remember that YouTube is one of the largest search engines. Not every video has to be shared only on your site. Build playlists, YouTube shorts, and other video types on this platform and create a helpful channel that people refer back to regularly. Modify the videos with buttons, descriptions with backlinks to your site, and other additions that make your experts available.
- FAQs — The most common questions your sales and account teams receive should be turned into multichannel content that can be shared by marketing teams. For example, “which molding process is better for X product type?” can quickly be addressed with a 15-second video
- Case Studies — Case studies don’t have to be 2,000-word monstrosities. A concise problem-solution-result format using bullet points and a few images will make a great asset for sales and marketing teams to use in virtually every channel.
- Checklists — You’re an expert, and you know what needs to be done or used in many of the processes and projects in your respective industry. Creating a checklist, even the most basic variation, will go a long way in helping people view you as a subject matter expert, capture leads, and more. And, you can use these in countless ways in websites, social media, emails, and paid campaigns.
- Resource Centers — Do you have a sector that you serve more than others? Consider building a resource center on your website. This would be a longer page with multiple sections built according to the information that this audience needs the most. Links to longer blogs, downloadable content assets, guides, videos, and more should all be organized and presented here for people to explore, along with multiple calls to action to talk to your expert team.
A Cautionary Word About Using AI
While AI can be helpful in many ways, remember that you do not own any content you create using AI tools. Additionally, competitors could be using the same tools and getting the same outputs — how awkward would it be to put out a content asset such as a blog about metal fabrication benefits only to see that each of your competitors has the same thing — and suspiciously, it’s written in the same voice. AI is best used for research, ideation, tone development, light graphics preparation, etc. Learn more about the risks of using AI for marketing and sales efforts.
Build a Holistic Marketing Plan with Content That Your Audience Craves
Implementing short-form content into your marketing and sales plan is not as challenging as it might seem. And, you don’t have to hire a full team in-house in order to make it a reality. Partnering with an outside firm provides you with all of the expertise you’d need in one company — and at a rate that is less than the combined salaries of multiple content marketers, SEO strategists, videographers, and other specialists.
Athena SWC has been supporting manufacturers across numerous sectors for years, helping them leverage our holistic marketing approach and proven sales methodology to generate more qualified leads and increase revenue. We’ve helped dozens of manufacturers across plastics, metals, corrugated, labels, folding cartons, packaging, and more achieve measurable results — and we can do the same for you.