Cut Through the Static: Three Channels To Help Your Manufacturing Company Master Digital Marketing

In a world powered by technology, it seems only fair that consumers now expect businesses to offer seamless online experiences and have a presence on the channels that they use most – and your manufacturing company is by no means exempt from this. But having a digital marketing strategy in place won’t just please your customers, it will bring a range of benefits to your business, too! 

For manufacturers, having an effective digital marketing strategy can be hugely beneficial in terms of lead generation, sales, brand awareness, customer loyalty and brand credibility (to name just a few). So, for those ready to jump on board and start your digital journey, here are three key channels to get you headed in the right direction:

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

With 81% of consumers now starting their search for a new service online, if your site isn’t ranking highly in the search engine results pages, you will be missing out on a lot of opportunities. But of course, securing the top spot for key search terms is easier said than done: so, how can you ensure your manufacturing company is presented as a solution when someone asks the search engines for help? 

A great place to start is by reviewing (or creating) a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy for your business. Typically, this will involve reviewing three key areas of your website: on-page, off-page and technical aspects. Starting with on-page optimisation; this involves looking at the content and related HTML source code of pages on your website, with some of the key ranking factors including:

1. 1. • The page content
      • URL structure
      • Title tags
      • Alt text

As the name suggests, off-page SEO refers to factors impacting your rankings that are external to your website. This includes things such as inbound links, social media marketing, influencer marketing and guest blogging. 

Lastly, technical SEO involves optimising your site for crawling and addressing technical processes to improve your search visibility. Forming part of your on-site (or on-page) SEO, technical optimisation focuses on elements such as sitemaps, site speed, internal linking and site security.

Your website

Going hand-in-hand with SEO is your website; after all, it’s all very well driving consumers to your site, but if you want to see conversions, you really need to nail the design, content and everything in between. Your website is the virtual home of your manufacturing business, so it’s highly worth investing time and money into ensuring it creates the right first impression and delivers a positive experience for your current and prospective clients. 

Unlike a physical location or customer service phone lines, your website remains open 24/7, allowing your audience to access the information they need on-demand and make their enquiries as and when they please, meaning they won’t get frustrated and leave to visit one of your competitors. Other benefits of having a website include building trust and relationships with clients through information exchange, reaching wider audiences cost-effectively, boosting sales, generating leads and gaining access to invaluable data. 

So, now you understand the importance of having a website, you are probably wondering how to make a good one. As with all marketing channels, there are numerous areas that must be addressed, which includes:

• • • Clear site navigation
    • On-brand design and content
    • Compelling calls to action (CTA) 
    • Informative content (including everything from blog posts and customer testimonials to service information and contact details)
    • Quality imagery and videos
    • Responsive design

Email marketing

If you are looking to get big results from a small investment, email marketing is the channel for you. Great for building and maintaining relationships with new and existing clients, generating leads and driving conversions, email marketing is arguably one of the most powerful digital channels available, boasting an ROI of up to 4400%. Aside from your website, it is the only digital channel you have complete ownership of – so you need to ensure you take control and make the most of its power. 

When it comes to creating an effective email, there are a number of areas that must be considered, including: 

1. Goals: to maximise the effectiveness of your emails, you need to start by defining a clear goal for each. You should start by defining the purpose of the email and tailor your content and calls to action (CTA) to help you achieve this. 
2. Subject lines: the first (and sometimes last) impression of your email will be based on your subject line, so you need to ensure it packs a punch. Demonstrating just how important they are, research has found that a good subject line can increase open rates by up to 90%! 
3. Quality content: the better your content, the more likely people are to read and subscribe to your emails. Yes, that’s pretty obvious, but did you know it helps to increase your reach, too? A massive 72% of B2B consumers say they share useful content with others via email – after all, it really is as simple as pressing that forward button! 
4. Personalisation: if you want to increase your open rates and drive conversions, then personalisation is key; the more relevant you can make your emails, the more appealing they become to your audience.
5. Segmentation: going hand-in-hand with personalisation is segmentation. Whether you choose to categorise your audience based on interests, demographic information or their stage in the buying process, having some form of segmentation strategy is essential to allow the creation of unique and relevant content that is tailored to each group. 
6. Mobile optimisation: with over half of all emails now being opened using mobile devices, if your emails aren’t compatible, you risk them being deleted, or worse, marked as spam. It also significantly increases your chances of your audience unsubscribing from your mailing list.
7. Automation: with the help of technology, you can send powerful emails at the touch of a button, leaving you with more free time to focus on other areas of your business. 
8. CTA: every email you send should include a clear and compelling CTA. Whether it’s directing readers to your blog, encouraging them to download a resource or driving them to contact you for a consultation, you should always ensure to make the most of having your audiences’ attention and tailor your CTAs to help you achieve your goals.

If you want to learn more about how to create email marketing campaigns that convert, be sure to check out our ultimate guide to email marketing here.

Naturally, the success of your marketing channels depends on the strategy surrounding them. If you don’t have a plan in place, you are unlikely to succeed – no matter how promising the industry statistics may seem. So, if you are ready to take the next step, why not contact us for a free consultation to see how we can help take your manufacturing business to the next level? Or head over to our digital marketing for manufacturers page to learn more about the services we can offer to your business.