Violent storms that do considerable damage to our property and ourselves force us to think differently about many things. Our lives, our family, our possessions.
So it is with the modern industrial marketer. A “Perfect Storm” has been forming for several years when it comes to industrial marketing. This is nothing new if you read this blog, but possibly a different perspective.
- First, your buyers have changed their behavior dramatically in just a matter of months. They source without you or your sales group. Your fantastic content must great them at Google’s door with the content they need to move through industrial buyers’ journey; awareness, consideration & decision stage.
- Second, Google has changed the rules of the road. No need to get technical here, but Google now says you must publish content that demonstrates you company’s expertise. Do not try to throw out crap. If your industrial audience does not find your content engaging and helpful, Google will ignore or penalize you. No BS here.
- Third, for the most part, industrial marketers lack content creation skills. The irony is that most industrial marketing departments have more documents in those lateral files than most industries, yet producing content with a message that resonates is culture shock for this technically perceptive group. Every industrial marketer must now acquire this new and creative skill set. Google demands it.
- Fourth, even if an industrial marketer were good at creating content that attracted more visitors to their website, managing all that helpful content (i.e. blog posts, email newsletters, white papers, product spec sheets, premium e-books, social media and even traditional trade journal ads) would be next to impossible. Cloud-based marketing automation makes that task manageable and accountable. Marketing automation platforms such as Eloqua, Marketo and HubSpot are to marketing, what QuickBooks Online is to accounting. You will need a knowledgeable operator to benefit from the automation.
Will the “Perfect Storm” in industrial marketing help you take a long view and invest in your industrial business or will you cower in your storm shelter (i.e. comfortable corner office)?
Changing the status quo in industrial marketing is difficult. A good place to start is A Beginner’s Guide to Industrial Content Marketing. DOWNLOAD NOW
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