When you’re a manufacturing company, it can be hard to differentiate yourself from competitors, and it’s even harder when you’re smaller than they are. In the past you would have been at a major disadvantage without the big budgets and ample resources of larger companies, but that is no longer the case. Manufacturing marketing has gone digital, and you can now reach your target audience more easily and cost effectively than ever before. Read on to learn how small manufacturers can look big with effective marketing.
It starts with good web design. Your website should be vibrant and colorful, with consistent, professional-looking branding elements. It may be worth it to spring for professional web design, because your website is going to become the cornerstone of your manufacturing marketing plan.
Your website should include a blog, and you and your team should contribute regular posts on a variety of topics. Although you can occasionally focus a blog post on how great your product is, most posts should be about something other than your product or company.
Consider writing about something happening in your customers’ industry. For example, if you sell to the automotive industry, write about the renewed emphasis OEMs are placing on supply chain risk management and then connect that with the advantage of doing business with local suppliers.
Once you have your blog, take to social media to promote it. Once again, don’t focus on your company’s products and services, concentrate on the value potential customers will find in your content. You will also want to follow thought leaders in the target industry and comment on their posts. Eventually you will gain followers of your own. The combination of valuable content on your website and using social media to attract people to that content is very powerful.
Small companies often try to save money by creating their manufacturing marketing materials on their own, but this is a false economy. If your materials look amateurish, you might as well use “Small Company” as your tag line.
Instead of spending money on hard copy brochures, work with experts in digital manufacturing marketing to come up with professional looking brochures and data sheets to send electronically. Using an electronic document makes it easier to update when your business changes, and you won’t have wasted money on hard copies that you will have to discard. This approach is usually more cost effective overall, even when you factor in the cost of professional design and copywriting.
Digital marketing is the best way for a small company to approach its manufacturing marketing. With very little cost, you can give the impression of a large, professional organization that can provide products and services on a par with much larger competitors.