“We don’t market online because our customers aren’t online.” Does your CEO feel this way? Do you? The internet is an audience of billions of people from countless industries and backgrounds. Your customers (particularly your future ones!) are assuredly online. The shift in how customers, both B2B and B2C, search for products and services, and ever increasing internet usage and digital capabilities, presents tremendous opportunity for companies to market more effectively, more efficiently and at lower cost. Not to mention with tools that allow them to measure the ROI of their marketing efforts.
A case study on inbound marketing software company HubSpot’s website revealed the results companies can realize with inbound marketing. In just 3 months of use, Colt International (a Dutch manufacturing company focused on HVAC and climate control systems) experienced the following:
- A 13% conversion rate for their landing pages. Looks like more leads!
- A jump from zero traffic via social media to 900 visitors per month after 3 months
- Total monthly website traffic jumped to 10 times that of their start point
Results like these are why more and more companies, both those in manufacturing and across the board, are shifting their focus from outbound to inbound marketing. Their inbound marketing efforts include:
- Establishing strategic company websites
- Engaging in social media
- Blogging regularly
- Search Engine Optimization
Still not convinced? According to a recent analysis of HubSpot customers, inbound marketing achieves some pretty remarkable results. After implementing inbound and marketing automation software,
- 92.3% of HubSpot’s customers experienced an increase in traffic; 85% saw it within 7 months
- 92.7% experienced an increase in leads; 83.9% saw it within 7 months
- 49.7% experienced an increase in sales
Customers attributed the increase in sales to inbound marketing tools like landing pages and calls to action, better lead intelligence (data on page visits, views, conversions, etc.) and blogging.
So, why are manufacturing companies using inbound marketing?
Web Analytics
Not only can you keep track of the efficacy of your marketing efforts, but you can also keep an eye on the competition. You can track your competitors’ online strength with software that tracks metrics like Google page ranks and traffic ranking to help you gauge where you fall in relation to the competition, and your company’s analytics let you know what’s working for you. You can see if that email was received and opened, if it prompted people to click a link and visit your site or blog, if that blog post performed well, etc.
Reduce Marketing Costs
While enjoying a game of golf with important customers every once in a while isn’t a bad idea, extensive wining and dining and tradeshow attendances can get expensive very quickly. Integrating inbound marketing tactics in your overall strategy and moving some of those offline leads online opens up a whole new world of opportunities. You can create targeted content and automate many marketing processes to reach out to the right people in the right way, saving your valuable time and marketing dollars.
Being online doesn’t just connect you with dealers and distributors. It gets your brand in front of the demand generators – the end consumers. Distributors sell your product/services if it makes financial sense. It makes financial sense when there is demand. And there can’t be as much demand if individuals and businesses are unaware of your product’s existence. This is why brands that don’t sell to end consumers, like Skittles, have Facebook pages, and why it makes sense to connect with those end consumers, be they tradesmen or supermarket customers.
The internet doesn’t have hours of operation. It doesn’t take vacation or sick days. It works 24/7. Why not have it work for you?
About Digital Impact Agency
Digital Impact Agency is a creative firm specializing in interactive media and inbound marketing strategies for manufacturing and technology companies, professional service firms (architectural, engineering, construction, legal and consulting), nonprofits and enterprise companies. We are a team of innovative entrepreneurs focused on creating the most strategic and effective communication channels for our clients.
