Manufacturing Marketing - Tactics that don't add up

Manufacturing & Industrial companies from $500K-$500M in annual revenue are heavily focused on their own technology advancements, yet their marketing strategy and tactics are more circa 1998-2007...what gives?

Typically these industries have the smallest marketing departments, which is 0-3 employees (large companies included). A lot of it comes down to the level of respect/importance they place on marketing as a revenue source, and how much they pay attention to the evolving tactics.

Here's some things to ask yourself (and the harsh reality for most, not all):

1. When is the last time: Your phone rang off the hook from that $1,500-$2,500 1/4-page AD you did in that industry magazine? Yet, you will continue to "re-up" on the next distribution because it "has a good distribution reach" (disregard that one customer that you got 6 years ago that "paid for it all")   
2. When's the last time: The trade show that you spent $5K-$20K on, provided more than just the 30-50 "leads" (which ultimately resulted in 2 qualified leads), significant bar/meal expenses, sleepy legs from sitting in a chair the whole time at your booth, sore feet from pacing around like a caged tiger waiting for that next booth visitor OR the countless hours you spent thinking that you actually had a chance with the "Booth Babes" from aisle 505? Yet, you're stoked about next year because you will have a better location and had fun getting away from the office for 3-5 days.   
3. When's the last time: Your website was overhauled on more than only title change, copyright year or new photos? Continuing to think your 2 column theme that only takes up 50% down the center web page, with minimal changes won’t have an impact is foolish thinking. The styles, expectations, interactions, UX and content strategy have changed drastically over the past 5 years and you must be able to keep up with that to attract clients.   
4. When's the last time: When someone asks about your marketing strategy, your response was "Oh we're all set, my sales guy Carl manages our website, ThomasNet profile, print Ad's and stuff". Yet, you're confused why sales are down and your competition keeps getting new biz over you?   
5. When's the last time: You didn't use your Twitter account as a bull horn to blast out your services or to add #'s on industry events and "play in the space", and you did focus your attention to LinkedIn because that's where most of your customers and prospects have their attention? Yet, you still think that social media isn't a source for customers and people are too busy to pay attention to their feed. #attentionhasmoved   

If you haven't giggled at least once after reading so far (because you know it's true), then there may be no hope for you after all...Marketing should not be treated as an afterthought, it shouldn't be managed by someone that just has extra time to spare. It should be treated with the same respect you place on hiring the next sales hunter to boost your top line.

Common mistakes to avoid when "actively marketing" in manufacturing

• You put someone in charge that either has zero experience in your Industry, zero experience in Marketing or zero experience in Sales. The best marketing people are ones that come from a sales background, because they know firsthand how to overcome the daily struggles of Biz Dev, and how to get the attention of the prospect.
• Irregular/improper use of social media; Posting to Twitter and Facebook every 2-4 months is not a social media strategy. The platform that has the most attention in your space is LinkedIn and you should be posting content on your company page 3-4 times per week. This should be 75% interesting and industry relevant articles/links and 25% about your services…Don’t abuse your followers by always pitching your services to them. (side note: Twitter has been dying for the past 5 years, unless something drastic changes on that platform I wouldn't invest too much time into it)
• Not having a LinkedIn company page
• Not trying to connect with potential customers on LinkedIn every day
• Spending money on print advertising. It is NOT quantifiable, you can't see hard facts and often the once and a while phone call/email from a lead is your only indication people are reading it when asked how they found you.
• Not having seamless communication between sales and marketing, they have to work hand-in-hand to be the most effective.
• Too broad of a focus; industry events, networking events, associations, tech groups, etc. It's 2017, there are plenty of ways to network more efficiently and not spend a significant amount of money traveling around the country.

Treat your marketing strategy like you would any other department; Have a clear strategy, budget, goals and KPI’s to track the performance of different tactics. If you don’t already have an internal department in place, then bring in an agency to assist. Money can quickly be wasted down paths that will never be the most efficient ROI, and often times only a fraction of the previous spend is need to produce significantly more results.

Why take my word?

For the past 3 years my agency (5 Fold Agency) has worked on projects with over 100 manufacturing/industrial companies, but prior to that I spent 10 years as the VP of Sales and Marketing for 3 different manufacturing companies and 4 years in Project Engineering...so I have first hand experience.

What are your thoughts and experiences????

Kyle Milan is the CEO of 5 Fold Agency, a manufacturing & industrial marketing agency. With 12 years of sales, marketing and engineering experience in the industrial space, Milan designs and executes powerful strategies and is known as the "go to" source for all marketing strategy and tactics within the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Check out more from their Industrial Marketing Blog and be sure to follow their company page on LinkedIn.