Having a strong online presence is important for every company, including those in the Denver OEM Manufacturing industry. Promoting your manufacturing business online needs to tie into your overall marketing strategy.
It’s important to remember that OEM manufacturing marketing is about your audience and not about you. Many business owners and executives tend to think about the engineering or product side of the business and think about features and products, instead of thinking about results and outcomes. In order to have a successful online marketing strategy, and a successful marketing strategy in general, you need to figure out your “why.” Why should your customers care about your business? Why is your business the one a customer should pick over the others? It’s not what you make, but it is often tied into what the product can deliver.
Once you have figured out your “why,” you need to figure out your “who.” Ask yourself who really wants the why of the business. Is there a segment or customer type that is the most profitable for you, or a customer type that is the best to work for? Do you know what they really want? What do they search for online? At what point in the buyer journey do they reach out to the sales team? Have you taken the time to talk to your existing customers and asked these questions? Do you know why prospects didn’t buy from you? Getting the answers to these questions can help you narrow down your target audience and really focus your online marketing efforts. For online marketing, it can be especially important to figure out what the potential customers are searching for online and the buyer journey as a whole. This way, you can utilize many different online channels to not only create leads, but also help customers along the way to get them to buy from you.
Social Media
Social media is one of the best ways to engage with customers in the OEM Manufacturing industry. It can also help you get more leads and make personal connections with other fellow industry professionals. By sharing well curated content on Twitter and LinkedIn, you can help establish yourself as an industry leader. If you interact with your customers, then you could be in the position to be a go-to source for tips and information. This will help you gain followers, as well as generate leads. Not only is social media an important tool to connect with purchasing managers, but you can also utilize it on the paid side.
Paid Social Media Advertising
Paid social media advertising can also help you boost brand awareness, since ads can be targeted to specific users. You can target ads based on people’s search and browsing history. However, you don’t have to have any prior connections with people that you want to target with your ads. If their profile will match up with the messaging and target parameters you have set, then your ad can show up in the news feed or as sponsored content.
Search Engine Optimization
If you have a website, you need to be optimizing for the search engines. You need to figure out what your target audience is searching for and use that to your advantage. For example, if a customer is searching the phrase “OEM Manufacturing in Colorado,” you need to have that phrase on your website in order for them to find you. You can add these phrases to your website by including it in title tags, meta descriptions, and in the content on the website. Be careful to not overly spam your website with too many keywords, which will have the opposite effective. The questions you ask yourself about your target audience and customer are important because this helps you understand what they are searching for and what keywords are going to be the most beneficial.
Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay per click advertising, or PPC, works by charging businesses a fee each time someone clicks on their ad. This is a way for business to essentially buy site visits and it can be very effective for getting leads and traffic. Companies can choose to have their ads appear in search engines alongside organic results. A lot of research has shown that users will click on paid search ads more often than other forms of advertising. If the advertisement is directly related to what people are searching, then people don’t mind advertisements. Starting a PPC campaign can take some trial and error to see what people are searching for. If you are going to use Google Adwords, the platform makes it easy to get started and businesses can flesh out a more targeted campaign based on where and when they want to advertise, and work on selecting the right keywords. Not only can businesses focus on keywords, but they can also add in negative keywords, which tell the search engine when not to display the ad. Some keywords cost more than others, but PPC campaigns can be customizable for different budgets and, with the combination of the right keywords, can be very effective for small businesses.
Email Marketing
Email marketing works for new customers and is a way to nurture and create bonds with current customers. Lists can be segmented so customers receive the content that is most important for them. Procurement managers and design engineers can receive different emails, and it allows you to target different people when they are in different stages of the buying process. Oftentimes businesses can receive email addresses at trade shows or on a website conversion page and not do enough with these addresses. With a proper email marketing campaign, you can keep these customers engaged with industry specific content. With advanced email marketing software, you can track emails and do A/B testing, in order to determine which strategies are more effective, and continue to tweak your messaging to get the most out of it.
Business Listings
There are a number of directories and online platforms that will allow you to list your business to attract leads. Since there are many niche OEM manufacturing websites, it’s necessary to find the ones that are most relevant to your target audience and list your business on those.
Creating content for all of these channels can be a challenge. It’s important to humanize the brand and it can be used as a way to edge out the competition. Many customers have seen a lot of corporate OEM manufacturing websites that are cold and want some value and conversation. Have content that will engage with customers, such as a Meet the Team page, and have company leaders share stories about why they are passionate about manufacturing.