17 Marketing Problems Making Sales Harder for Manufacturers

If you're a manufacturer on a mission to make sales easier, here are 17 of the most common problems that are likely getting in your way. Solving any one of them is the fastest way to make it easier to find you, trust you, and choose you.

1.?Your company was founded over 50 years ago and has never really had a documented connected marketing system—you're the next generation in charge and you know you’ve got to have one now to make sales easier and more profitable.

2.?You’re suffering from the?WE-WE Syndrome—your website, social feeds, and emails are covered in?we do this, we’re experts in, we’ve been in business forever, we have a new product aka?your customer isn’t the hero of your story, you are.

3.?You’re not really sure what your?unfair advantage?is and you don’t have a crystal clear?Unique Value Proposition?that everyone in your company can recite.

4.?You’re a hero on a mission, but your mission statement is long and wordy and hard to remember and you’re not inviting customers into your story.

5.?You know you need to create content and you just don’t have the time or in-house capability.

6.?Your social media strategy is M.I.A. and you’re not seeing any real results from your reactive efforts.

7.?Overall your marketing efforts are reactive instead of proactive, making it harder to find you, trust you and choose you.

8.?You invest a lot of money in trade shows but have no pre and post-show strategy and you don’t follow up to know what your ROI was, but you keep doing this every single year.

9.?You’ve had a bad experience with an ‘agency’ before and now you don’t trust them. So you go it alone or rely on in-house DIY.

10.?You think you know what motivates your customers and what keeps them up at night but you haven’t done a voice-of-customer survey in 2-5 years (or never), so you’re basing your marketing messaging on assumptions and not getting measurable results.

11.?Your sales and marketing people are siloed and don’t play well together and this is hindering your growth.

12.?You feel like your existing marketing plan is too broad or vague, but you aren’t sure how to boost relevancy by targeting specific customer needs and segments.

13.?You don’t have documented customer personas for each audience type, complete with a face and a name, making it hard to visualize who you’re marketing for and on behalf of.

14.?Your customers need to find answers, how-to’s, and resources on your site and you haven’t gotten around to improving that experience for them yet.

15.?You think you’re everywhere your customers are and the volume is turned way up when, in fact, you’re actually only whispering and it’s hard for them to hear you, you’re lost in the crowd.

16.?You’re tired of being the best-kept secret in the industry because your product is truly superior, but you’re not sure where to start to change that.

17.?You don’t have an email opt-in and you’re not growing your ‘algorithm resistant’ email list to earn their attention in a personal way.

The good news is this—you're not alone!

You can make small adjustments that will help you change at the speed of culture, start getting a bigger return on investment, innovation, and influence, and make sales easier even while your salespeople are sleeping.

Unless you don't want that.

Which problem jumped out at you like a brick to the head? Leave it in the comments. Or, feel free to DM me.

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Allison DeFord is the resident Trailblazer and founder of?Felt Marketing, the only marketing retrofit company for manufacturers who want to be seen, heard, and?felt?to make sales easier. Co-host of?MFG OutLoud?— the podcast that starts courageous conversations about sales and marketing for manufacturers. And, subject matter expert on?Manufacturing Masters. Connect at 949-662-5777 or email [email protected]. Subscribe and look forward to expert advice, inspiration, knowledge, and know-how delivered straight to your inbox every other Sunday with?WTMFG.