SMB manufacturers face an uphill battle in using content marketing to build market share against more established brands. The process of building content to sway sales prospects in manufacturing is not as easy as simply dispatching a blog writing service to sling a few general blog posts to the prospect.
For example, a manufacturer of industrial equipment requires its buyers to make significant capital investment in its products. These large-scale decisions are likely made by the decision maker after several C-level meetings, crunching the numbers, and checking referrals from those in the buyer’s sphere of influence. It is in this circle that targeted content marketing can play a key part.
Using content marketing (aka inbound marketing) is the steady work process of creating true benefit-oriented content for sales prospects. Engaging prospects with targeted B2B content marketing to the close of sale can result in new sales leads and new business opportunities. Let’s explore some key ways to meet these business needs.
Meet Specific Needs
Manufacturers can create specific content to reach these buyers on their own terms. Let’s presume your buyer is a design engineer who has critical specifications for the industrial parts it needs to buy. Here are some ready-to-go content ideas for this example:
- Develop great content that shows how your manufacturing process eliminates some pain points for the buyer.
- Write a blog post that highlights the efficiencies in your manufacturing process.
- Create a video that outlines the cost-savings involved for buyers using your company’s tools.
- Create an infographic that shows numbers in your industry for others who are benefiting from this product’s long-term use.
- Use your email newsletter to show your prospects ways to ease maintenance data management.
- Develop videos that clearly show benefits of the products in large-scale manufacturing environments.
- Create visual maps on your site for prospects to find company service centers to repair your industrial products or offer 24/7 emergency service.
B2B Content Marketing
More than 90 percent of B2B marketers used content marketing in marketing plans in 2013, according to an industry benchmark survey compiled by the Content Marketing Institute. And about a third of those companies responded that they felt they were effective at using blog posts, videos, articles, e-newsletters and more in their mix.
B2B manufacturers can step up their efforts in their use of content marketing, with articles, blog posts and infographics helping their rankings in search engines. But more importantly, it’s about targeting specific content to match with buyer needs. Industrial equipment suppliers need to know their audience, where their prospects best lie, and use content marketing as a form of lead generation to increase sales.
Dave M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
