Marketing

Digital Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers

Industrial

<p>I didn&#8217;t always do SEO. In fact, there was a time where I was largely skeptical of the process. When I started my marketing career, I did a little bit of search marketing here and there. But my first role was as a copywriter, then a sales support team member, then an advertising manager. In the years since, my role&#8217;s continued to evolve to adapt to the changing tides of online marketing. And over the past several years, that&#8217;s required adding SEO to my toolbox. It&#8217;s just too essential to avoid.</p>
<p>In the early days, I made a lot of mistakes. That&#8217;s bound to happen. Part of the learning process, right?</p>
<p>Today I want to share with you what I learned, in the hopes you&#8217;ll make fewer mistakes than I did! Without further ado, here&#8217;s my top five lessons from working in <a href="/insights/top-manufacturing-marketing-agency-unlock-the-power-of-digital-marketing-services-for-your-manufacturing-business/">B2B industrial SEO</a>. May they serve you well.</p>
<h1>“Obvious” keywords won’t get the job done</h1>
<p>So your business sells model planes. That means your target keyword is “model planes for sale”. Just write about that. Boom. SEO solved. Next?</p>
<p>Of course that’s not how it works in practice. One of the lessons I’ve learned managing SEO for niche industrial clients is that the effective keyword strategy means going way beyond the obvious.</p>
<p>If we view SEO through our customer’s eyes, we realize that our top purchasing intent keywords aren’t bloggable. What value does a blog post about “model planes for sale” have for our customer? They want to arrive at an e-commerce store for model planes, or get directions to their nearest hobby shop.</p>
<p>Now, we can optimize the website for that purchasing intent keyword, but once we hit the limits for that keyword, we have nowhere to go… unless we get a little weird with it.</p>
<p>First we have the easy answers for expanding the model planes topic. “2023’s best model planes buying guide”. “5 great model planes to build with kids”. These are good, but likely competitive topics. They aren&#8217;t terribly specific, and make for pretty obvious marketing fodder.</p>
<p>What if we get deeper? What are the pain points that our customers experience? Maybe modeling glue is really finicky. We could write about the best brands of modeling glue, new kinds of applicators that are more precise and easier to use. Maybe we know that model plane builders tend to be older adults. Are there topics about making the hobby easier for people with impaired vision, arthritis, or other age-related ailments?</p>
<p>Provided your website does a good job of pushing people from blog content to purchasing pages, newsletter sign-ups, or other valuable actions, we can extract a lot of value from “purchasing intent-adjacent” content. Get away from the obvious, and add value for users by understanding their needs.</p>
<h1>Lead gen can improve… even when volume drops</h1>
<p>What’s the number one metric for SEO?</p>
<p>If you said clicks, page views, or website traffic, that’s the popular answer. It’s also wrong.</p>
<p>For B2B companies, it’s lead gen. Plain and simple. Leads attributed to organic search should be the primary goal pursued by every industrial SEO campaign. Everything else—click volume, click-through-rate, search impressions, even <em>search rankings</em>—are used by SEOs to optimize lead generation. For business owners and sales managers, they’re nice-to-knows at best.</p>
<p>That’s because not every click, nor each user, is created equal. Barely making the first page for an insanely competitive keyword can provide much more value to a business than getting the top spot for a low-competition informational keyword.</p>
<p>I’ll give an example. A former client worked with an SEO agency to increase website traffic, and traffic went up, big time. But the biggest increase in traffic was to a handful of articles focused on DIY repair. The articles they published actively undermined their business by teaching potential customers how to complete the repairs themselves. The client effectively paid an agency to teach their customers <em>not</em> to purchase from them.</p>
<p>Conversion data revealed that these pages never generated a single lead. Not one recorded conversion, despite tens of thousands of clicks. Literal negative value.</p>
<p>An SEO agency focused on your profitability may make changes that actually <em>decrease</em> your traffic volume while improving lead generation. Replacing irrelevant but high traffic content with low traffic, ultra-high intent content, for example.</p>
<p>SEO reports can feel like a shell game, where the objective keeps getting shuffled around. Keep your eye on the prize: how is SEO affecting your business goals? Everything else is window dressing.</p>
<h1>It’s dangerous to make assumptions about your audience</h1>
<p>One of the interesting things about SEO is that it’s (largely) untargeted, outside of keyword selection. Sure, there’s some targeting baked in by language selection, writing style, or location-based content (”best hvac company Detroit”). Regardless, SEO content can reach anyone on the web who searches your target term and clicks your listing.</p>
<p>As a result, unexpected users visit your website. We’ve had clients reach potential customers in entirely new and unexpected regions as a result of search engine marketing. And not just reach them—<em><strong>close them!</strong></em></p>
<p>I can think of specific examples: Colombia, Lebanon, the United Kingdom. Places they’d never targeted before where they found valuable new customers. SEO can actually inform other marketing activities, passively reaching people you’d never profile as a high-value prospect.</p>
<h1>Your competitors suck at SEO (but so do you)</h1>
<p>An SEO article wouldn’t be complete without an audacious claim, so here it is.</p>
<p>Particularly within the industrial sector, one of my biggest lessons was that SEO is not as competitive in this sector as it is in many others. Industrial and manufacturing companies often deal with niche topics that only their competitors and customers use. Perhaps as a result, most industrial websites just don’t take SEO seriously. They’ve never had to.</p>
<p>Until you, their competitor, decides it’s time to try something new.</p>
<p>The truth is, in almost every industrial SEO engagement we’ve ever done, the client’s starting from the ground up. That’s ok! I’ve learned that industrial SEO involves a lot of fundamentals before it ever gets that strategic. There’s a laundry list of technical issues to fix for most clients, followed by tons of content best practices to implement, conversion tracking to be set up, reports configured…</p>
<p>If you’re an industrial company embarking on an SEO journey for the first time, you can expect a long road of preparation and clean-up before your SEO performance really takes flight… but once you do, it’s entirely possible to own your niche outright on Google.</p>
<h1>5 hours of thinking beats 5 hours of writing (almost) every time</h1>
<p>Despite all the best-laid plans of marketers and the businesses they serve, generating winning SEO content can feel like gambling. Even following every best practice, some articles just don’t win—at least not immediately.</p>
<p>It can be tempting to view SEO as “content roulette”. The more spins you bid on (articles you publish), the greater the chance that one of them hits big. So, dedicate all resources to content production, targeting your top keywords. Go, go, go!</p>
<p>This attitude is understandable, but not very effective. Let’s go back to the roulette analogy. Spending all your resources on content production is like bidding on ten different numbers each spin. You could win big, but every spin costs so much that breaking even, let alone profiting, becomes difficult.</p>
<p>Investing that time and energy into planning and strategy means a lot less content gets out the door, but the odds of that content winning are far higher. It’s more like you’re counting cards at the blackjack table. Sure, you can’t guarantee wins, but if everyone else is playing straight, you’ve got a significant—and profitable—advantage.</p>
<p>So if you have five hours to spend on your SEO this week, try spending four of them on research, analysis, and generally understanding the issue. Find the right content gap, choose the right keyword, and publish one article—not five.</p>
<p>In the end, that’s the care and attention that produces content your customers want and need. More consideration equates to better quality, which is what the SEO game’s all about.</p>


What Industrial SEO Teaches Us About Search Marketing

<h2>Unlock the Power of Digital Marketing Services For Your Manufacturing Business</h2>
<p>BlackBean Marketing is a full-service B2B marketing agency specializing in marketing for manufacturing and industrial companies. We provide website design, advertising, graphic design, and lead generation services to industrial businesses like yours.</p>
<h2>Why You Need an Industrial Marketing Agency</h2>
<p>Not all marketing agencies are created equal. Today&#8217;s manufacturers have slow and complex sales cycles. Many agencies specialize in B2C (business to consumer) marketing, which isn&#8217;t relevant to the needs of manufacturers. Digital marketing is a tool that can help you boost your manufacturing business to the next level.</p>
<p>BlackBean specializes in digital marketing for manufacturers and industrial companies. With decades of combined experience working with technical, industrial, and blue collar clients, we&#8217;re a trusted partner for manufacturers of all kinds.</p>
<h2>Digital Marketing for Manufacturers: Types of Manufacturing Marketing Services</h2>
<h3>Search Engine Optimization (SEO) For Manufacturers</h3>
<p>Many businesses rely on traffic from search engines to drive their online marketing. Improving your visibility in search engines is one of the best ways to accelerate your website marketing. For B2B manufacturing companies, SEO can provide relevant lead-generation at scale. By optimizing your website with targeted keywords, you can attract potential customers who are actively searching for products or services that your business offers. SEO can help build trust and credibility with your audience by improving the overall user experience of your website, including its speed, usability, and mobile responsiveness. This can lead to increased engagement and conversions, ultimately driving revenue growth for your business.</p>
<p><em>Check out our SEO article, <a href="http://blackbeanmarketing.com/insights/industrial-manufacturing-seo-what-you-need-to-know-about-seo-for-b2b/"><strong>SEO Explained for B2B Manufacturers.</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) For Manufacturing Lead Generation</h3>
<p>Pay-Per-Click advertising, sometimes called PPC, CPC, or search advertising, is a fast and effective way to scale online marketing performance. SEO takes time and long-term commitment to deliver value to your business. PPC is like a shortcut to lead generation. B2B manufacturers may use PPC campaigns to promote special offers, improve the visibility of new products, or even to leap-frog competitors in Google search by bidding on their top keywords.</p>
<p><em>Check out our case study on PPC advertising: <a href="/b2b-marketing-case-studies/caragreen"><strong>Distributor scales digital marketing to 7.5x ROI with search ads</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Content Marketing For Manufacturing</h3>
<p>Content marketing goes hand-in-hand with SEO. B2B manufacturers sell complex products with equally complex selling propositions. Helping your customers understand what you offer and why your product is the best fit for their business requires great content! Manufacturing content market extends past the blog page. Print articles, case studies, white papers, and brochures all fall under the umbrella of content marketing. Use attractive and well-written content to establish trust with your customers, explain complex offers, and increase the visibility of your business, both on- and offline.</p>
<p><em>Read about how you can make your content go the extra mile with <a href="/insights/b2b-omnichannel-marketing-use-your-brand-to-grow-your-business/"><strong>omnichannel marketing strategies</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Cold Outreach Marketing for Manufacturers</h3>
<p>Cold outreach is about more than just phone calls. Sometimes, you can&#8217;t wait for leads to come to you. Outbound marketing, such as cold outreach on social media and email, can be a cornerstone of your lead-generation efforts. By establishing a targeted outreach strategy, you can reach the right people at the right time to maximize the chances of making a sale. Through the power of marketing automation, follow-up and lead nurturing is a breeze.</p>
<h3>Trade Show Marketing For Manufacturers</h3>
<p>For many manufacturers, annual trade shows are their marketing mecca. Are you getting the most out of the shows you attend? Implement tools to track leads better, attract more visitors with exceptional booth design, and learn how to make your brand stick out in a sea of other exhibitors. Trade shows can offer incredible ROI or be a huge sink of time and money. Strategy makes all the difference, so <a href="https://blackbeanmarketing.com/insights/how-to-make-your-next-trade-show-a-success">make sure you make your next show a success</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-429" src="https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic.jpg" alt="how to nurture a lead at a trade show" width="2500" height="1315" srcset="https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic.jpg 2500w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic-300x158.jpg 300w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic-1024x539.jpg 1024w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic-768x404.jpg 768w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic-1536x808.jpg 1536w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/trade-show-infographic-2048x1077.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" />
<h2>Benefits of Digital Marketing Services for Manufacturing Businesses</h2>
<h3>Increased Brand Awareness and Visibility</h3>
<p>When it comes to brand awareness for manufacturers, there&#8217;s one goal every business should strive for: to become the Kleenex of their industry. What does that mean? It means being the brand associated with your category, the way John Deere means &#8220;tractor&#8221; and Dawn means &#8220;dish soap.” Through a combination of messaging, branding, and design, we can help you establish yourself as the go-to product for your industrial and manufacturing niche.</p>
<p><em>See how we took a manufacturing brand from outdated to cutting-edge with a brand overhaul in our<a href="/b2b-marketing-case-studies/emc-canada"> <strong>EMC case study</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Improved Customer Engagement</h3>
<p>Not all customers are created equally. The best customers are the ones that buy-in. They believe in what you do and connect emotionally with your products. These are the customers that share your product with friends and <span class="discussion-level-1 discussion-id-eeae180d-59c4-4aac-8c73-5aba94b46748 notion-enable-hover" data-token-index="1">spread your brand by word-of-mouth if you have a <a href="https://blackbeanmarketing.com/insights/6-ways-to-earn-more-reviews-for-your-industrial-business">process to earn reviews from those happy clients</a></span>. Digital marketing can help you find and engage these high-quality customers by connecting with them where they live online: on social media, through their inbox, or through videos and podcasts.</p>
<p><em>We helped a career readiness group engage more users through targeted website adjustments. Find out how with our <a href="/b2b-marketing-case-studies/skills-centre"><strong>Skills Centre case study.</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Increase in Website Traffic</h3>
<p>Website traffic isn&#8217;t the best measure of success for a business, but it&#8217;s a good place to start. Getting a high volume of the right users to your website fills up your sales funnel and keeps your team busy. Whether through SEO, paid search advertising, or social media campaigns, we can help you scale website traffic to new heights.</p>
<h3>Targeted Lead Generation</h3>
<p>All the traffic in the world doesn&#8217;t mean a thing if it&#8217;s the wrong traffic. Through careful content planning and marketing strategy, we work with you to grow the audiences that matter most. The ones that fill out lead forms and make purchases. We&#8217;ll also help you find the kinds of leads that help you grow the way you want to. Have a target industry you want to reach? A new position you&#8217;d like to test? We&#8217;ll consider everything to craft strategies that get the best leads through your door.</p>
<h2>How to Choose the Right Manufacturing Marketing Company</h2>
<p>Fit is important when working with an agency. The right agency will be a trusted partner that furthers your success through collaborative, cost-effective, proven campaigns and strategies. <a href="https://blackbeanmarketing.com/insights/how-to-hire-the-right-industrial-b2b-marketing-agency">An agency can be great and still be a bad fit for your business.</a> If you&#8217;re considering entering a relationship with B2B marketing manufacturing agencies, consider the following:</p>
<h3>Experience and Reputation of the Agency</h3>
<p>Reputable agencies will have an experienced team and a product focus. General marketing agencies may lack the B2B expertise required to grow your marketing performance. Inexperienced teams can end up spending your budget to educate themselves on the issue. BlackBean is a specialized manufacturing marketing agency with decades of combined marketing experience. Our team of B2B marketing experts understands the needs of industrial companies: long buying cycles, elusive audiences, and complex positioning. That experience pays dividends!</p>
<h3>Portfolio of Work For Manufacturing Companies</h3>
<p>Though every agency has to start somewhere, most great agencies will have a strong portfolio of similar work for you to explore. Check out the agency&#8217;s website. Consider the style of their own marketing materials and the strength of their portfolio. This is a good way to evaluate the quality of their design department in particular.</p>
<p><a href="/b2b-marketing-case-studies"><em><strong>Check out our portfolio of B2B clients here.</strong></em></a></p>
<h3>Pricing Structures and Best Fit</h3>
<p>Some businesses have champagne tastes but Diet Coke budgets. That can be a problem when it comes to finding the right agency! Higher-priced agencies can sometimes offer better ROI due to their experience and proven capacity to deliver. But if the agency&#8217;s pricing is way outside your budget, it may be a sign that your expectations aren’t aligned.</p>
<p><em>We offer custom engagements as well as powerful marketing packages. <a href="/process-and-pricing"><strong>Check out our pricing page for more details!</strong></a></em></p>
<h3>Get References from Other Clients</h3>
<p>Whether through reviews or direct outreach to known clients, try to understand how the agency operates and what their clients like and dislike about them. Both positive and negative reviews can provide context to help you determine whether the agency may be the right fit for you.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1495 size-large" src="https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-1024x996.webp" alt="" width="640" height="623" srcset="https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-1024x996.webp 1024w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-300x292.webp 300w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-768x747.webp 768w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-1536x1495.webp 1536w, https://partners.blackbeanmarketing.com/blackbean/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/wireframes-2048x1993.webp 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></p>
<h2>See What Services We Can Offer Your Manufacturing Business</h2>
<h3>Comprehensive SEO Strategy for Manufacturing Lead Generation</h3>
<p>SEO strategies for manufacturing businesses require insight into B2B lead-generating strategies and deep industry knowledge. Your customers have complex needs. SEO strategies for manufacturing involve speaking to those needs with relevant, high-quality content.</p>
<p>We can help your business develop holistic content marketing programs emphasizing SEO performance. You’ll receive more website visits from highly relevant users while building a portfolio of useful content to assist with sales and customer retention.</p>
<h3>Pay Per Click (Search Ads) Lead Generation</h3>
<p>Every sale begins with a lead. For many manufacturing sales teams, lead generation comes from cold calling and industry events. What about the power of inbound lead generation?</p>
<p>Our expert team of marketing strategists has a proven track record of delivering affordable leads through search campaigns. Whether your business operates locally or internationally, we can fill up your sales pipeline with inbound leads through the power of paid search.</p>
<h3>Trade Show and Event Marketing</h3>
<p>Trade shows and events are a huge investment of time and money. Ensure that investment is worth it by upgrading your trade show exhibit, marketing materials, and strategies. We offer trade show packages, including booth design, custom swag/merch packages, marketing document design, and trade show strategy. By working with us, you’ll offer each visitor a memorable branded experience… and capture more leads while you do so.</p>
<h3>Powerful Cold Outreach Campaigns</h3>
<p>Go beyond picking up the phone. Cold outreach can be intimidating but often essential for manufacturing/industrial companies. We make it easy. We can help you prospect relevant lead lists, run LinkedIn campaigns that actually convert, and get more out of your cold emailing tactics through superior design and tracking technology.</p>
<h2>Full List of Our Manufacturing Marketing Services</h2>
<p>Our agency offers a full suite of services for industrial companies, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>SEO for manufacturers</li>
<li>PPC and print advertising campaigns</li>
<li>Fractional CMO services</li>
<li>Graphic design for print and web</li>
<li>Custom lead generation websites</li>
<li>Landing pages and microsites</li>
<li>Booth and banner design and print management</li>
<li>Swag/merch design for trade shows</li>
<li>Marketing strategy for product launches</li>
<li>Marketing consultation packages</li>
<li>CRM training and management</li>
<li>Marketing automation services</li>
</ul>
<h2>Do I need a marketing agency, an in-house team, or a marketing consultant for my manufacturing company?</h2>
<p>If you&#8217;re wondering whether your manufacturing company needs a marketing agency, an in-house team, or a marketing consultant, the answer depends on various factors.</p>
<p>An in-house marketing team can be a good option if you have the resources to hire and manage a full-time staff with expertise in all areas of marketing, from SEO to email campaigns. This can be expensive and unsuitable for smaller businesses or those running as lean as possible. It&#8217;s also a long-term commitment. It&#8217;s harder to fire an employee than to fire an agency if you&#8217;d like to go in a different direction.</p>
<p>A marketing consultant can be a more affordable option for companies with more limited budgets or who only need occasional assistance with specific projects or campaigns. A consultant can provide expert advice and guidance on a project-by-project basis without the long-term commitment of hiring an in-house team. We offer consultation services for marketing and sales teams. We also offer fractional CMO services if you require expert marketing leadership for your business.</p>
<p>A marketing agency can offer the best of both worlds, providing a full suite of services and expertise without the overhead of maintaining an in-house team. When choosing an agency, look for one specializing in marketing for manufacturing and industrial companies, with experience in SEO, PPC, trade show marketing, and other key areas.</p>
<p><em>Want to learn more about marketing consultation and fractional CMO services? <a href="/b2b-marketing-consultation"><strong>Schedule a call with Laura today!</strong></a></em></p>
<h2>FAQs</h2>
<h3>What types of services can manufacturing marketing agencies provide?</h3>
<p>A manufacturing marketing agency provides an array of specialized marketing services tailored to the needs of manufacturers. This includes a mixture of design and print management services for trade shows and events, website design and development services emphasizing B2B lead generation, and advertising campaign services, both print and digital.</p>
<h3>What are the benefits of using a manufacturing marketing agency?</h3>
<p>When you work with a manufacturing marketing agency, you receive expert support from a marketing team that understands your industry needs. Many marketing companies focus heavily on B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing, which is ineffective for B2B manufacturers. Most marketing companies do not have the experience or passion for manufacturer marketing that we do!</p>
<h3>How do I choose a manufacturing marketing agency?</h3>
<p>If you’re reading those, we hope you choose us! Choosing the right manufacturing marketing agency is all about trust and fit. Read their case studies, explore their portfolio, and determine whether you’d enjoy working with their team. When in doubt, reach out for a no-obligation discovery call. Take your time and ensure you’re comfortable before you move forward with an agency relationship. The most effective agency relationships are long-term mutually beneficial partnerships.</p>


Top Manufacturing Marketing Agency: B2B Marketing For Manufacturing

<p>Oh boy. We get asked that a lot! SEO is search engine optimization, a set of skills focused on improving how your website ranks in search engines for your most valuable keywords.</p>
<p>Think of Google as a phone book. In a phone book, you used to be able to get the top spot in the yellow pages for your service area by naming yourself &#8216;A1 Plumbing&#8217; and the like, because it was sorted alphabetically. This is kind of like the precursor to SEO.</p>
<p>Google doesn&#8217;t sort its listings alphabetically. It uses a robot to read your website, determine its quality and relevance for each search term, and rank it according to those two metrics. That&#8217;s what SEO does. It improves your website&#8217;s quality and relevance for specific, high-value search terms. The value of SEO is long-term. After the initial investment in SEO, high-ranking pages passively bring in qualified traffic. Over time, the cost of SEO traffic is a fraction the cost of traffic from advertising.</p>


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SEO Myths

<p>B2B SEO audits involve researching and selecting high-value keywords for your business, exploring your current search performance for these keywords, and identifying ways to improve rankings. Factors we look at include technical speed and performance, design best practices, mobile website quality, keyword density, code quality, and content relevance &#8212; the same factors Google&#8217;s search robot uses to rank your website!</p>
<p>At the end of an SEO audit, you&#8217;ll receive a document explaining your situation and outlining recommendations to improve your SEO performance.</p>


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