Marketing Basics For Manufacturing Companies

Guest post by Robbi Hess

How often do you look at your marketing and promotion plan for your business? Just as you track the

financial health of the organization, so too should you monitor the health and rate of return on your marketing efforts. It doesn’t matter whether you are a manufacturer, a pet groomer or an auto dealership you need to know whether the goals you set for your marketing being met. If not, it's time to revamp them.

Even if you’re setting a baseline of: increase walk-in customers by 10 each week, it’s something you need to monitor and rework if it’s not helping you reach your goals.

Here are some items in your marketing arsenal that you should look into and revamp if necessary:

• Do you understand your audience/your ideal client? If you don’t know who your client is, how can you effectively target him? In addition to knowing your demographic’s age and location, you should also understand whether they’re the “on-line” type or if they prefer their news/coupons offline in a newspaper or in a television or radio ad. If you’ve been targeting one section of media and not reaping results, refocus your efforts. Remember too that social media and print media work cooperatively.
• How functional is your website? Do you have a website? If not, we have professionals on trade that will work with you to build a new site. If you don’t have a website, you need to get one as soon as possible because your competition is well ahead of you if you don’t. Consider that your website is your 24/7 business card. Understand the key words you want to target for your business and use them judiciously throughout the site.
• Do you have a “sales funnel”? Do you know what a sales funnel is? One way to create a sales funnel is through a series of articles/blog posts on your website. Take a look at the goods and services that you provide and consider whether you have a case study you could use as an example for a sales funnel series. As an example, look at an individual that has decided she wants to become a business owner. Follow her trials and tribulations from the “a-ha” moment through to her throwing open her virtual doors. If you’re a website builder, that’s where you come in – the virtual doors. Talk about the steps in business ownership from accounting and bookkeeping needs to the need for marketing and promotion, hiring of employees, social media management and profile building, networking, etc. 

You’re not specifically telling the readers to “buy me” or pushing your product on them, you’re showing them a person with a dilemma and offering ideas for solutions. You will be known as the solution provider to a potential client.

As a business owner, it’s not enough to have a great website and stellar content on that site if no one is reading it. Harness the power of social media to spread the word about your site and the new blog posts you’re writing. Draw them to the site. Let them get to know, like and trust you and you will be looking at a potential client!