The aim of business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing marketing, is to connect your manufacturing company with wholesalers and distributors, ensuring your customers obtain your product.
B2B marketing has become almost identical to B2C (business to customer) marketing due to the customer conducting more thorough research during the sale process, and more notably, expecting a more digital experience, especially in the industrial and manufacturing industry with 67% of purchases being influenced by digital marketing.
A model that B2B manufacturing marketing professionals can utilize is the RACE planning system, which covers the full customer lifecycle, including paid, owned, and earned inbound marketing activities.
(Plan) > Reach > Act > Convert > Engage
It can be used to identify improvements to your customer lifecycle by generating awareness to build your audience, encouraging interaction, lead generation, purchase, and then loyalty. Here’s how each component can be broken down and used to improve your marketing strategy.
With so much competition, you need to stand out. Use the RACE Growth Process to win more customersCan your Manufacturing business compete online?
The B2B manufacturing buying journey has become increasingly complicated due to the increase of digital buying methods, leading to anonymous prospects and little personal selling.
The ‘Future of B2B Buying Journey Report’ published by Gartner, states:
“B2B buyers report spending exceedingly little time with sales reps. Considering the average deal involves multiple suppliers, any given sales rep has roughly 5% of a customer’s total purchase time.”
The coronavirus pandemic has been seen to both advance and make this trend more permanent, affecting B2B manufacturing marketing and the sales process. There is an emphasis on the importance of analyzing the buyer journey, allowing you to generate better leads and convert them into sales. The initial planning stage of the RACE Framework therefore should include:
90% of industrial goods buyers use the internet to search, qualify, evaluate and select suppliers, and 84% say the experience during their B2B buying process is as important as the products and services provided. This highlights the importance of getting the digital experience right in a competitive digital manufacturing market.
The Reach stage of the RACE Framework can help to separate your business from the competition by increasing traffic to your website, utilizing social media channels, and using microsites, which will bring about awareness of your brand, products, and services. The following should be included to achieve this:
The effectiveness of your marketing manufacturing activities can be measured by tracking your unique website views, value per visit (‘goal value per visit’ in Google Analytics), social media followers, and opinions of your brand.
The early stages of a buyer’s journey are when you need to differentiate yourself from the competition, using a B2B manufacturing marketing content plan to build strong relationships and trust.
Product datasheets, specifications, downloadable CAD files, and online product configurators can only do so much for your business, so by investing in a content plan, your will position your company as a value-added partner, setting you apart from the competition.
Your B2B manufacturing marketing content plan should identify common pain points of your customer, followed up by a lead nurturing and scoring program with the aim of providing high-quality leads. This can be done by gaining the contact details of prospects in exchange for providing them with something of value.
To help with this, the Act stage of the RACE Framework should include:
Your B2B manufacturing marketing content plan should represent your knowledge and expertise of the industry, and be relevant to your target audience. Some examples of content include:
Our content marketing matrix details further how content can be used for a range of marketing goals across entertain, inspire, educate and convince.
With so much competition, you need to stand out. Use the RACE Growth Process to win more customersCan your Manufacturing business compete online?
For more industry-specific ideas, take a look at Digital Customer Experience Trends Manufacturing Leaders Are Embracing In 2021 by Thomas. Are there any opportunities you and your team could tap into in 2022?
The Convert stage of the RACE Framework focuses on increasing conversion to sale, which is why it’s important to monitor and measure the conversion rates of online leads to offline sales and online originated lead average order value. Some activities and outcomes to create are:
The Rodon Group, a custom plastic injection moulder, uses chatbot software to qualify leads and direct visitors to the information they need, driving almost 1000 sessions to their website pages.
They are now seeing a 17% increase in overall website sessions and a 53% increase in new contacts, improving their customer experience and providing answers to common support questions from customers.
Personal relationships can help to distinguish B2B markets as customers become more familiar with representatives from the business, build stronger relationships, and lead to long-term loyalty.
A staggering 66% of B2B leaders plan to invest in personalization in 2022, as profits have been seen to increase by 15% and 33% of customers are reported to have left a business relationship due to lack of personalization in the previous year.
A focus on personalization is crucial to the long-term reputation of a business, hence why face-to-face contact, supported by digital marketing such as website content, social media, and email campaigns with the objective of increasing lifetime value, is so important.
The Engage stage of the RACE Framework comes into play here, building and nurturing customer relationships to maintain their loyalty. To manage engagement successfully, businesses should administer:
The success of your B2B manufacturing marketing activities can be measured through customer satisfaction, repeat sales, and customer lifetime value.
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With so much competition, you need to stand out. Use the RACE Growth Process to win more customersCan your Manufacturing business compete online?
By Sarah Lindley
Thanks to Sarah Lindley for sharing their advice and opinion in this post. Sarah, Managing Director at The Yorkshire Marketing Agency, is an award-winning Chartered Marketer. Sarah holds over 10 years’ experience in implementing results-driven marketing and communications strategies, plans and campaigns. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
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