I guess by Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours of deliberate practice” rule I am a “world-class” industrial internet marketer. Not sure, “world-class” is accurate, but I am confident that I offer more experience than most concerning the best way to leverage the web for industrial branding and lead generation.
Given my knowledge and experience I believe the advent of marketing automation for industrial offers our rust-belted friends a unique opportunity.
The folks that write the checks often ask me, “Tom, name the top business reasons why I should go down the marketing automation road.”
So…after much deliberation and consulting with others knowledgeable about marketing automation for industrial…here you go.
Marketing Automation Gives the Industrial Marketer a Competitive Advantage:
There is concept that I write about often and it is content saturation. My point is…the majority of industrial marketers have not deployed a lot of content…yet. Manufacturers and industrial suppliers that sell pneumatic pumps, custom hydraulic manifolds or quench oil coolers simply don’t have the skills and manpower to create a lot of quality content. Therefore, for most industrial marketers using marketing automation there is a clear path to online dominance.
I confidently predict that the industrial marketers that fully embrace marketing automation and the content that goes with it will build a very nice digital moat around their business. A lead generation dream.
“If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It”- Edward Deming:
Most manufacturers and industrial suppliers measure everything, except their marketing. For the most part, sales & marketing initiatives are launched and run by gut instincts.
Most are aware of marketing automation and how it works. However, I find that most believe it only measures web-marketing tactics.
Not so fast, Tonto.
A good marketing automation platform easily adapts to traditional channels such as trade journal ads, trade show events, direct mail…even cold calls.
As I explained in a recent post, marketing automation is not a one-trick pony. If set up properly, marketing automation can measure and connect ALL of your marketing assets…even the old channels that still work.
You can measure which web-based offer generates the most traffic and leads. You can measure which blog post generates the most traffic and leads. You can also measure which offer at your trade show generates the most web traffic and lead conversions. You can measure which email blast was the most effective at landing prospects at your trade show booth. And…yes, if attached to the right CRM, it also measures customer conversion rates.
I cannot think of any marketing asset that marketing automation cannot measure.
Don’t check your gut…check your marketing automation dashboard.
Edward Deming would love marketing automation.
Content That Resonates with Your industrial Buyer:
We all know your industrial buyer is now in control. She wants the right content at the right time, in the right format. Without marketing automation, it is impossible to greet your newly inspired buyer with the right content and in the context of their purchasing journey.
Using advanced features of marketing automation it is possible to segment buyers into all kinds of buckets and then market accordingly. For example:
- All buyers at a specific company
- All buyers that have downloaded specific e-books, product specs, etc.
- All buyers that have visited your website 30 times or more (These are GOLD)
- All buyers that watched a specific video
- You are able to define your own marketing qualified leads & sales qualified leads (MQL & SQL)
- Monitor specific buyers’ for social media activity
- Easily determine your industrial branding efforts by measuring market reach in multiple channels such as industry groups in LinkedIn, mentions on twitter, etc.
- And…the list goes on.
By using marketing automation, your ability to segment and manage your contact database based on buyer behavior is only limited by your creativity and time.
Ease of Use and Reduced Costs:
I have worked with many industrial marketers that have used web-based tools to manage online marketing. In my view, all have failed.
They have cobbled together and wasted vast amounts of time & money by patching together HootSuite, Yoast, WordPress, Google Analytics, Unbounce, LeadLander and Salesforce. All these disparate platforms, unique passwords, different interfaces, managed costs… still makes my head spin.
Without going into the weeds, my favorite marketing automation platform, HubSpot, manages everything…and then some.
IT Stays Out of The Marketing Loop:
For a skilled marketer, hosting a website on a marketing automation platform takes IT out of the loop. I have personally managed many content marketing efforts on HubSpot and the only IT folks I talk to is the terrific support group at HubSpot.
Take another look at marketing automation and determine for yourself the business advantages it offers.
