Those of you that know me and have followed this blog for the last year know that I have been one of the lone voices in the woods for the use of content marketing (some call it inbound marketing) to improve traffic and brand awareness for both industrial manufacturers and industrial suppliers.
I have found several others that are as enthusiastic about the use of content marketing for industrial as I have been:
- Bruce McDuffee at Modern Marketing for Industry published The Manufacturer’s Growth Manifesto, a brilliant summary of the window of opportunity industrial manufacturers have using content marketing to improve brand awareness.
- Jared Fabac recently published The Industrial (Marketing) Revolution and I wrote a post about Fabac’s ground-breaking book in August on my blog. In a few days I will publish an interview with Jared. Stay tuned. It will be very informative.
- Achinta Mitra writes a very good blog at Industrial Marketing Today and is a huge proponent of content marketing for industrial manufacturers and industrial suppliers. Achinta’s articles are always well researched and supported.
I have always said that the web allows truthful & authentic content to bubble to the top. The use of quality, helpful content that expands on your company’s real strengths, products and USP (unique selling propositions) can only help your top-of-mind, brand awareness in your specific market…especially as your customers get younger.
Obviously you don’t need to convince me content marketing and inbound marketing works for industrial marketers.
However, I do get a lot of questions from our customers that, sort of, believe in content marketing. Naturally, because of the pace of change, they want to know the future of content marketing for industrial businesses.
Personally, I believe it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for industrial marketers to improve their brand and top-of-mind awareness.
There was also a recent blog post at Business 2 Community: by Vignesh Subramanyan titled The Future of Content Marketing: 50 Experts Share Their 2014 Predictions.
For the skeptical industrial marketers, I thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the best minds in content marketing and marketing in general.
I have read the entire blog and all 50 predictions and here is my summary of important quotes for the industrial marketer from the rock stars in marketing.
- Due to the most recent round of SEO updates, content marketing will only get more vital for businesses. Any businesses who were on the fence about the value of original content will officially convert, and any who don’t will be left in a vortex of third page Google searches- Kim Lombard, Founder of UPRISE Media – @UPRISEmedia
- Limited attention spans plus an abundance of new content formats suggest that higher quality, visually rich pieces of content that communicate concisely will give marketers an edge over those solely relying on text-based content to communicate their messages- Derek Merdinyan, Founder of VideoIgniter.com – @VideoIgniter
- Businesses will take content production seriously by investing in experienced or especially talented professionals that can connect the dots in a respective industry like no other- Frank Strong, Communications Director at LexisNexis – @Frank_Strong
- In 2014, smart content marketers will segment their messaging to reach distinct target markets. No more one size fits all.- Diane K. Danielson, Chief Platform Officer of Sperry Van Ness International Corporation – @dianedanielson
- Content marketing will go down in flames unless businesses aren’t taught how to use it properly. The secret is to publish material that’s useful. Content marketing is not just another place to advertise. People will not consume content unless it’s pertinent, helpful, and well-constructed. As we like to say, “Your content will either get read, or get lost.”- Wayne English, President of WebContentRx – @WebContentRx
- Content marketing is all about the consumer’s needs and user experience. It is a key part of capturing a consumer’s attention — which is at an all-time premium in this digital age- Emily Long, Online PR Specialist at Web Talent Marketing – @webtalentmktg
- Content Marketing is just a fancy/trendy way to refocus marketing efforts on orienting everything around the customer viewpoint – and then using content strategies to create engagements that take THEIR view of the world and help shape it to enable them to see the value in the product or service your company is offering. That’s a long way of saying that content marketing is becoming the marketing department- Derek Slayton, CMO of NetProspex – @NetProspex
Need more information about content marketing? DOWNLOAD NOW our recently published, A Beginner’s Guide to Industrial Content Marketing.
Any thoughts on the future of industrial content marketing are certainly welcome. Want to chat with someone right now? Give me a call at 269-375-0349 or click on graphic below.
“By Tom Repp”
