Category: Industrial Content Marketing

To Gate, or Not to Gate, That is the Question in Manufacturing Content Marketing
Gated content is the most common way for manufacturers to generate leads from industrial websites. If you are not familiar with the term gated content, it refers to content that needs the reader to fill out a form and submit it before either downloading or reading the full version.

Obviously, you can’t gate all your content without seriously pi***ng off your readers. So, the question is, what content should you gate?

There isn’t a simple answer because what you may consider valuable, your readers may not perceive it the same way. So, they may not see it as a worthwhile value exchange.

What gated content do engineers and industrial buyers consider valuable?

If you use gated content such as white papers, e-books, etc., you know they usually work well at the top of the funnel for Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). However, instead of guessing, let’s look at the findings from an independent research study—2022 State of Marketing to Engineers.

Don’t miss the last item on the chart, some industrial professionals just won’t fill out a form, period.

Avoid increasing resistance in your sign-up forms

There is always the temptation to ask for all information you can get from a gated content. Don’t! The more fields you have on your sign-up forms, the greater is the resistance of your readers to complete them. Or they may just fill out garbage information just to gain access to the content. For example, don’t ask for a phone number for someone to download a PDF. Using progressive fields in your forms is a better solution.

Going back to an older research report from 2020, the increasing resistance of engineers to the number of fields in a sign-up form is very clear. (Source: 2020 Smart Marketing for Engineers).

“Engineers are most likely to complete the following form fields on a company’s website: work email address (84 percent); first name (82 percent); company name (70 percent); and last name (69 percent). Conversely, engineers are least likely to provide mobile phone number (20 percent) and purchase timeframe (17 percent).”

Challenges of creating valuable content in manufacturing marketing

In my previous post, Marketing to Engineers—Why Digital is the Dominant Strategy, I wrote about the value of product datasheets. In fact, engineers consider them the most useful when researching work-related purchases. However, your readers expect these to be freely available and not gated.

Most manufacturing companies I’ve worked with have a sales-oriented mindset. It is difficult for key decision-makers in these organizations to think about content marketing as setting the table for Sales.

That’s not just my experience with manufacturing content marketing for industrial lead generation. According to the 2022 Manufacturing Content Report published by the Content Marketing Institute, the top three challenges are:
1. Creating valuable content instead of sales-oriented content (51%)
2. Overcoming the traditional marketing and sales mindset (51%)
3. Accessing subject matter experts to create content (50%)
Using gated content as sales enablers

Refer to the first chart in this post—CAD Drawings are the second most valuable gated content for engineers. There are very good reasons for that. These are critically important to manufacturers of industrial components and parts. I’ll cite three of them from the report, 6 Digital Essentials for Selling & Marketing to Engineers & Architects published by CADENAS PARTsolutions.
1. 65% of engineers & architects see native CAD/BIM models as the #1 criteria for part selection
2. 80% of designers bounce before contacting a supplier with limited CAD or BIM data
3. 82% of CAD/BIM downloads convert into physical product sales
A robust online e-Catalog solution is a huge timesaver for engineers who are already time challenged. For more on this, read my earlier post, Using CAD and BIM Files in Manufacturing Content Marketing.

I have also seen other content assets that are used effectively as sales enablers. Not all of them are gated either.
- Online configurators
- Valve and pump sizing programs
- Part number guides for cross referencing
- …and many more
Another trend that I have seen is for some manufacturers and industrial distributors using e-commerce to sell directly. This works great for standard products. A combination of e-commerce solution with a configurator works well for custom engineered systems where you build a detailed RFQ instead of adding it to a cart and checking out.

Making sales teams more productive with the right content

This is more of an internal issue between marketing and sales teams. I’m sure you’ve heard and read a lot about how the two need to play together nicely. The reality is that it takes a lot of hard work and willingness for both parties to make that happen.

I recently downloaded an excellent guide called, The Complete Guide to Sales Content Management, published by Allego. Here’s a direct quote from their guide: “Your first priority is to deliver the best content that will move deals through the pipeline. But, too often, this content never sees the light of day. Research shows that reps spend 10+ hours a week searching for customer-ready material when content is scattered or lost in silos.”

The main reasons they provide for this underutilization are:
- Sellers don’t really like the content and think it’s not relevant, too long, too short, etc.
- Sellers don’t know there is new content and keep using old, familiar pieces
- Sellers can’t find new content when they need it
- Sellers don’t know how to use the content or understand its value in the sales process
The key takeaway is—Manufacturing marketers can’t focus only on lead generation; they also need to help their sales team use the content they create effectively to become more productive.

You should have a good overview of gated vs. ungated content in manufacturing marketing now that you have read this post to the end; I thank you for it.
March 22, 2022
How Manufacturing Content Marketers Can Reduce Stress on Engineers
Manufacturing content marketers can really help reduce the stress on engineers. I’m not being facetious or trying to be clever with my headline. Don’t believe me? Let me explain how.

First, let me give credit where credit is due. I’ve used three resources for citations in this post. They are:
1. 6 Digital Essentials for Selling & Marketing to Engineers & Architects, published by CADENAS PARTsolutions
2. 2021 Pulse of Engineering Research Report published by GlobalSpec
3. Manufacturing Content Marketing, 2022 Insights published by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI)
Why are engineers stressed at work?

The simple fact is that engineers are time-challenged. I’ve written about this issue in my previous posts. Here’s a direct quote from the CADENAS report…

“Engineers in today’s environment are faced with countless challenges. For example, shorter production times coupled with an increasing in demand for unique solutions multiply the workload for engineers. To exacerbate the situation, engineers are constantly under pressure to cut costs in the design process as well as simplifying the manufacturing of their designs by sourcing off-the-shelf components (COTS).”

The data from GlobalSpec’s Pulse of Engineering report corroborates the above quote. They reported the following:
- 58% of engineers surveyed said that the competitive landscape is global and competes 24/7
- 73% said designs are becoming more complex/sophisticated
- 64% said time-to-market pressures have increased
- 58% report that design cycles are shrinking
The time-crunch problem is not new but has grown over the past few years. In addition, the pandemic has worsened the situation in the last two years.

How can manufacturing content marketers help alleviate the problem?

There are several things you can do to help engineers and technical professionals. One of the top items on my list would be offering a robust online library of downloadable CAD and BIM files. This strategy will save them time, improve design accuracy and eliminate some repetitive tasks engineers hate doing anyway.

Component manufacturers also benefit from offering downloadable CAD/BIM files. Look at this chart to see how they translate directly to sales. Hard to argue against these numbers.

Manufacturing content for educating less experienced engineers

Engineers and other industrial professionals regularly search for and want high-quality technical content they can rely on. They consider technical documentation, software and development tools, product specifications, and datasheets necessary in doing their work.

Younger and less experienced engineers have a strong desire to learn about the latest trends in their field of work and keep their technical knowledge up-to-date. Sometimes they also need mentoring since they lack the hands-on experience of senior engineers. In-house resources have become scarce because of retirements and cutbacks.

The GlobalSpec survey found that only 39% of manufacturers had formal practices for senior-level and specialized experts to train, transfer, mentor, or pass on their knowledge to younger engineers.

As a result, these younger engineers look to their suppliers to fill the internal knowledge gap. Manufacturing content marketers can help by creating online training courses, webinars, e-books, guides, and white papers.

See my post, Marketing to Millennial Engineers, for more on this topic.”

How can manufacturing content marketers produce results?

As a manufacturing content marketer, you need to prove ROI to get budget approvals. While reducing stress for engineers is a worthy goal, that alone won’t get you too far with upper management.

Downloadable CAD/BIM files are strong sales enablers, but what else can you do to generate results? Videos and webinars have proven themselves over the past 12 months. That was one of the key findings from the report published by CMI.

“Videos and virtual events/webinars were big over the last 12 months with the manufacturing marketers we surveyed. In addition, 85% expect continued investment in video in 2022, making it the top area of predicted investment.”

Videos and online events are popular for industrial content marketing because they are effective with the technical audience. Results speak for themselves. Look at this chart from the CMI report for proof.

As you can see from this post, there is a lot manufacturing content marketers can do to reduce stress on engineers while producing tangible and measurable results.
January 14, 2022
Technical Content Writing is Challenging for Manufacturing Marketers

You can’t avoid technical content writing if you are a manufacturing content marketer. Let me first differentiate technical writing from technical content writing. They may be used interchangeably, but they are not the same.

A technical writer is good at creating documents such as User Manuals, Product Descriptions & Specifications, Safety Procedures, Assembly Instructions, and a host of other technical documents.

On the other hand, a technical content writer creates content for manufacturing marketing such as blog posts, web page copy, case studies, and white papers, to name a few. These are used for achieving marketing goals such as increasing traffic to the site, improving SEO, generating Marketing Qualified Leads(MQLs), branding, thought leadership, and gaining trust.

Technical writers and technical content creators both play essential roles for manufacturers. I’ll focus on technical content writing for industrial and manufacturing marketing in this post.

A manufacturing content marketer is much more than a copywriter. S/he is capable of developing a content marketing strategy, creating buyer personas, knows SEO, understands how engineers and industrial buyers go on their buying journey, knows about email marketing, content promotion, social media, and tracking & measurement. I’ve only listed the important responsibilities, but there is a lot more that goes into content marketing.

It’s not just technical content writing that’s a hurdle

51% of manufacturing content marketers said they are challenged with creating valuable content instead of sales-oriented content and overcoming the traditional marketing and sales mindset. That’s according to the Manufacturing Content Marketing – Insights For 2022 published by the Content Marketing Institute.

As you can see from those stats, the problem is not an isolated issue, but it affects more than half of the manufacturing marketers.

What is making the problem worse is the fact that 59% of manufacturing companies have a small or one-person content marketing team serving the entire organization. They just have too much to do and not enough time.

Finding qualified technical writing partners is another challenge

Lack of time isn’t the only problem. Internal content marketers have limited to little access to their in-house Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The one-person content creator may know marketing, but s/he may lack the technical knowledge to create content that the target audience of engineers and industrial professionals will find relevant and engaging. Learn more about how to work with SMEs for creating engaging content.

As a result, 59% of manufacturers outsource at least one marketing activity. Last year’s survey found content creation was the most outsourced activity at 80%.

However, it is not just a matter of finding freelance copywriters from one of the many services that are out there. The two biggest challenges were finding partners with adequate technical knowledge and understanding the target audience’s mindset.

Research findings are great when they validate your personal experiences. Most often than not, my conversations with manufacturing marketers start with something like this, “We need someone to create good technical content that will generate leads.” Therein lies another problem, a lack of understanding of the difference between content creation and content marketing.

Just writing technical content is not good enough. You need someone who understands and has first-hand experience in the full range of industrial marketing strategies and tactics. (Shameless plug coming up) That’s why you may want to consider my Manufacturing Content Marketing for Industrial Lead Generation service, which includes technical content writing.

December 9, 2021
Manufacturing Content Marketing—The Year It Was and Looking Forward

I just received an advance copy of Manufacturing Content Marketing Benchmark, Budgets, and Trends (Thanks, Amanda!) published by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). The timing couldn’t be any better, since many of my manufacturing and engineering clients are putting together their industrial marketing plans and budgets for 2022.

Refer to my post, Industrial Marketing: What Manufacturers Need to Know if you need a quick refresher.

Let’s first look back at 2021 to see what manufacturing marketers did during the year. As the saying goes, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana). Of course, I’m not talking about history repeating itself, but we do gain valuable insights by looking back.

Post-pandemic manufacturing content marketing

Let me start with a direct quote from CMI’s report because they’ve summed it up very nicely.

“This year’s research suggested that the pandemic awoke a sleeping giant – content marketing, that is. Without in-person events and face-to-face selling, many who had previously paid little attention to content marketing suddenly became aware of its power.”

What kinds of content did manufacturing marketers create in 2021? CMI surveyed manufacturers from a range of industries, functional areas, and company sizes worldwide. They found that 86% of survey respondents used videos for content marketing purposes in the last 12 months.

Using videos as part of manufacturing content marketing aligns very well with the way engineers and technical professionals use content in their daily work. The 2021 State of Marketing to Engineers reported that 96% of engineers watch videos weekly for work. (Work-related videos and not the naughty kind. 😉)

It is not just that videos are popular with engineers; they produced the best results in 2021 using content marketing, with how-to videos leading the way at 52%.

In 2021, manufacturing marketers used content to achieve a variety of goals. Lead generation was not the #1 goal, though I believe everything works together in generating better quality leads.

Budgeting and planning for 2022

Let’s look forward to see what manufacturing content marketers are expecting and planning for the next year. Of course, marketing budgets are always at the top of everyone’s mind. There’s some good news here – 64% expect their 2022 content marketing budget to increase over their 2021 budget. That is a significant change from 2021 when only 36% expected their content marketing budget to increase over the previous year.

Where will manufacturing content marketers spend their marketing dollars? Not surprisingly, a whopping 85% of the manufacturers will invest in videos in 2022. Events (digital, in-person, hybrid) is second place at 68%.

Here’s something you may not have expected, in a post-COVID-vaccine business environment, investment in in-person events is expected to increase by 56%, that’s more than the increases in Digital/virtual events (27%) and Hybrid events (31%). Have we come a full circle?

Manufacturing content marketers will face challenges in 2022. That has been the case for several years now, but the challenges have changed over the years. In the 2021 survey, manufacturing marketers who outsource at least one content marketing activity (Content creation was the activity outsourced most often at 80%) said their biggest challenge was finding partners with adequate topic expertise (61%).

That is an important finding because I’ve had conversations with manufacturers frustrated with the quality of technical content they get back when outsourcing to freelance copywriters. Another source of confusion is a lack of understanding between content creation and content marketing. Just publishing content won’t move the needle for industrial companies.

This is my summary of CMI’s report. Do download it for more statistics. Stay tuned for future posts where I’ll dissect and analyze important sections from the 2022 Manufacturing Content Marketing report.

November 17, 2021
The Industrial Buyer’s Journey—What Manufacturing Marketers Need to Know

The Industrial buyer’s journey can be complex and typically involves a committee of decision-makers. Sometimes the sales cycles may be as long as 12 to 18 months, for example, custom-engineered systems. Of course, not all industrial sales take that long. You may want to read my earlier post on the industrial customer journey.

The industrial buyer’s journey has changed

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 5 – 7 years, you’ve undoubtedly heard and read plenty about how most of the buyer’s journey is now done online while prospects remain anonymous. So naturally, these changes affect industrial marketing and the sales process. The pandemic has not only accelerated this trend, but some of the changes are expected to be permanent.

Here’s a direct quote from the Future of B2B Buying Journey Report published by Gartner:

“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.”
Gartner

The norm is to think of the industrial buy cycle as four discrete stages—1) Needs Awareness, 2) Research, 3) Consideration & Comparison, and 4) Procurement. That hasn’t changed, but the B2B buyer doesn’t go on a linear journey from one stage to the next.

According to the same Gartner report, the B2B buying journey is much more complicated than that. It almost looks like a maze!

Does this mean salespeople are obsolete now? No, not in my opinion, not in industrial sales, but their role has changed dramatically. There will always be a need for consultative selling where the sales rep adds value to the process and helps the buyer make a more informed decision. However, the prospect doesn’t need to and/or want to contact your sales team for product information. They’ll interact with your salespeople only when they are ready.

The adage, “Buyer Beware,” has been turned on its head to “Seller Beware” because industrial buyers today are in self-select and self-serve mode.

There is a built-in skepticism about what buyers hear from sales reps, and it varies by age group. The following chart from the Gartner report underscores this point.

To understand the importance of the age difference among engineers, read my post, Industrial Content Marketing that Engages Engineers.

What do manufacturing marketers need to know to adapt to today’s industrial buyer behavior?

What can manufacturing marketers do to increase the effectiveness of their marketing given this shift in buyer behavior?

Needless to say, the industrial website needs to be the hub of your digital marketing strategy. This point is reinforced by a finding from the 2021 Industrial Buying Habits Survey published by Thomas™.

Pay close attention to the quote at the bottom of the chart from Thomas to understand what information buyers want from a vendor’s website.

Online product configurators and downloadable CAD files play essential roles for industrial components and parts manufacturers targeting design engineers. (See Using CAD and BIM Files in Manufacturing Content Marketing).

Product datasheets and specifications play a significant role in the early stages of the buyer’s journey. However, those alone cannot help you earn their trust and create a true differentiation when there is a parity in Value Proposition between vendors. That’s when you will need manufacturing content marketing to build strong relationships based on earned trust. That’s how your customers will begin to see you as a real “value-added partner” instead of just another supplier.

Manufacturing marketers must take the time to understand the industrial buyer’s journey as it stands today for them to generate better quality leads that turn into sales opportunities.

August 20, 2021
Landing Pages for Industrial Lead Generation
The importance of landing pages for industrial lead generation cannot be overstated. Why? That’s where conversions happen—visitors turn into leads. Landing pages are where your visitors first land from a marketing campaign or a social media channel.

Note, this is not the same as promoting your blog posts via social media channels for site traffic.

What is the job of landing pages for industrial lead generation?

Landing pages have one job to do—Convert site visitors into leads.

I remember reading an excellent description of a landing page using a golf analogy. “A landing page is the putting green that you drive the ball (prospect) to. Once on the green, the goal is to get the ball into the hole. Likewise, the goal of the copy and design of a landing page is to get the prospect to take your desired action.” (Source: Coppyblogger).

Your Contact Us page with a simple form may not be the best example of a landing page. Most site visitors are hesitant to contact you right away. In contrast, a landing page provides a specific offer that is of interest to your audience. It should persuade the visitor to take the desired action. Of course, it is not just a matter of aesthetics; read on for ways to avoid common pitfalls that can sabotage your lead generation efforts.

This singular focus of landing pages for industrial lead generation makes them different from web pages that may have different goals to achieve. The visitor provides their name and email address in exchange for something valuable. Downloading white papers and how-to guides, signing up for your newsletter, or registering for a webinar are typical applications in industrial marketing.

Refer to these two online resources to learn more about landing pages.
1. What Is a Landing Page? (Unbounce)
2. The Anatomy Of A Perfect Landing Page (LeadForest)
Common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid in landing pages

In this post, I’ll focus on talking about some of the common mistakes I have seen made by manufacturing and engineering companies. With a little bit of planning, you can easily avoid these pitfalls.
- Links from marketing campaigns got to the Home page instead of landing pages
- More than one call to action competing with each other
- Visitors leak out because of distracting navigation
- No compelling offer and visitors leave without submitting the form
- Complicated forms that ask for too much information on the first go
- Cluttered layouts that confuse instead of directing visitors to the sign-up form
Bounce rates of landing pages

According to research published by Instapage, “9 out of 10 visitors bounce from the average post-click landing page.”

Their definition of a post-click landing page is “…a standalone web page, disconnected from a website’s navigation, created for the sole purpose of convincing a visitor to act (to sign up, buy, download, etc.).”

Ouch, that isn’t very encouraging, so you need to optimize your landing pages for the best conversion rate possible. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does my offer match the visitor’s expectations?
- Could my audience feel deceived by the headline (clickbait)?
- Am I targeting the right audience or casting too wide a net?
Answering those questions will not only help you design more effective landing pages for industrial lead generation, it will also help you craft more compelling offers. Offers that your target audience will find valuable enough, to part with their essential contact information.

Resistance to forms on landing pages for industrial lead generation

How often do you resist filling out online forms that have half a dozen or more fields? There’s a natural resistance to giving out too much information. Why would a phone number be required to download something?

The more fields you have, the greater the resistance to filling out the form. In the worst-case scenario, people provide junk information. What information are engineers and technical professionals willing to provide?

This chart is from the survey published by GlobalSpec, and it shows a significant dropoff after Job Title. The resistance is higher if you make more fields mandatory.

What content do engineers prefer?

Crafting a valuable piece of content is not an easy task, especially when targeting a technical audience. Use this chart from the 2021 State of Marketing to Engineers report, also published by GlobalSpec.

Notice that engineers are willing to fill out a registration form for technical content relevant to their work. White papers and CAD drawings are the top two most popular, with case studies, video tutorials, and webinars filling the top five.

I call downloadable CAD files sales enablers because they help manufacturers of parts and components get “designed in.” This is critical if your audience is Design Engineers. You are not likely to get to the RFQ stage unless your part is specified and/or included in the BOM. (See my post, Using CAD and BIM Files in Manufacturing Content Marketing).

Don’t underestimate the value of the tried and tested e-newsletters. Engineers have consistently considered this a valuable channel of information. The key is to win their trust with good content (Not overly salesy), to get past the spam filters and into their inboxes.

“92% of engineers subscribe to at least one newsletter. 43% of engineers subscribe to 3-5, and nearly one-fifth subscribe to 6 or more.”

It should be abundantly clear by now that landing pages can make or break your industrial lead generation campaigns.
July 20, 2021
Industrial Customer Journey and the Digital Experience
Understanding the industrial customer journey is essential to the success of digital marketing with content. Based on my conversations with manufacturers, I sometimes get the impression that it is just a marketing exercise to them and is not taken seriously. Why do I say that? Let me give you two examples.

Example #1: Conversation with the VP of Business Development of a manufacturer of industrial mixers and agitators.

Me: “How long is your sales cycle?”

VP: “Oh, it is just a matter of a week or two for us to get an RFQ or PO after we’ve talked to the right decision-maker(s).”

He was either clueless or chose to ignore the time it took for the prospect to go through his or her process or journey before deciding to contact this manufacturer. The concept of mapping the customer journey was alien to him, and he told me that it was a waste of time.

Example #2: Conversation with the National Sales Manager of a manufacturer of Butterfly and Control valves.

Me: “How do you define a qualified lead?”

Manager: “I don’t consider a prospect a lead until we have a serious conversation about putting together a quote.”

He couldn’t care less about top-of-the-funnel Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), nurturing them into Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) before handing them off to Sales. All he was interested in are leads that were ready to buy. (See my article, “SAL is the Glue that Binds Sales and Marketing in Lead Generation.”)

FYI: I published that article in December 2010, and it is still the third-highest visited post after more than ten years. Talk about the power of blogging!

Industrial buy cycle and the customer journey

The industrial buy cycle consists of four distinct stages, at least that is the conventional definition. The stages are:
1. Needs Awareness
2. Research
3. Consideration & Comparison
4. Procurement
According to the research done and published by THOMAS™ for industry (Thomas Publishing Company), the industrial buying process is now made up of 6 stages. Their version applies to all industrial buyers—Engineers, MRO, and Purchasing professionals in companies of various sizes and industries.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Okay, it has grown from 4 to 6 stages. No big deal.” Wait, things get a lot more complicated because engineers and buyers face many challenges at each stage, and they present new opportunities for the supplier. Look at this chart from another ThomasNet presentation.

Personal buying experiences influencing industrial buying expectations

Buyers of generators, pumps, motors, etc., expect the same kind of easy access to digital information, search capabilities, and comparison features that they are familiar with and similar to their personal online buying experiences. Anything less, and the visitor is off to another site with a click of the mouse.

I recently read a fascinating white paper published by Accenture. They defined this change in industrial customers’ expectations as Industrial Consumerism. I think that’s a brilliant and apt label.

Here’s a direct quote and an illustration from the white paper, which was published in 2016.

“By 2020, thanks to a seismic shift in customer expectations, B2B companies will need a completely different approach to driving growth. Is your sales and marketing organization ready?”

Conventional differentiation of the past where industrial companies relied on superior product features, may no longer be enough. Today, they must leverage newer technologies to better understand the customer journey and meet the digital expectations of industrial buyers who are in self-serve and self-select mode.

The Accenture report identified areas where digital technologies will have the most significant impact and where gaps exist.

Enter the 4th Industrial Revolution and the COVID pandemic

If the changes in industrial buyer expectations weren’t enough, the 4th Industrial Revolution has brought about significant digital disruptions in industrial sales and marketing. The COVID pandemic of 2020 has only accelerated some of these changes, and many will become permanent.

Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), introduced the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in his article which was first published in Foreign Affairs in December 2015.

Most manufacturers and engineering companies are playing catchup when it comes to digital disruptions. That extends well beyond just sales and marketing. Some companies have taken the lead and embraced digital initiatives in transforming their industrial sales and marketing strategies to better align with customer expectations.

I came across the article “Industrial Firms Need to Give Their Customers a Digital Experience,” published in the Harvard Business Review which cited several good examples. Here’s one:

“Linde, a global industrial gases and engineering solutions company, developed an augmented reality (AR) application to engage customers and facilitate the sales conversion process. Their tool uses AR to give customers a ‘live’ experience with the company’s cryogenic freezers by projecting an image of the freezer into the customer’s factory setup. While clarity on dimensions within the actual production space had previously driven a lengthy sales process, Linde’s use of AR has helped customers get over the conversion hump and improved the overall purchase experience.”

Also, read my earlier post, “Manufacturing Marketing in the Age of Industry 4.0.”

The importance of mapping the industrial customer journey

Google the phrase mapping customer journey, and you’ll get 245,000,000 results as of writing this post. Obviously, there’s a ton of information out there. However, information or someone’s opinion doesn’t easily translate into actual action.

The point is, there are no shortcuts when it comes to understanding the customer journey. Apply those insights to rethink your industrial marketing strategies and sales processes to deliver a better experience to your customers and align well with their expectations.

You can read some of my earlier articles on industrial content marketing to learn more about using this strategy for engaging with industrial buyers at every stage of their customer journey.
May 17, 2021
Using CAD and BIM Files in Manufacturing Content Marketing
CAD and BIM files are not the first things that come to mind when one talks about manufacturing content marketing. However, they are two of the most valuable and effective content assets to use for manufacturers of components and parts.

Why do I say that? Because 82% of CAD/BIM downloads turn into actual sales. They are so effective that I prefer to refer to them as “sales enablers.”

I didn’t pull out that statistic out of thin air. That’s the finding from the study, 6 Digital Essentials for Selling & Marketing to Engineers & Architects published by CADENAS PARTsolutions. I understand if you are somewhat skeptical about that stat considering the source (They provide eCATALOGsolutions and PARTsolutions). I have read similar statistics on CAD and BIM downloads from various other sources too. The sample size for this study is statistically significant; 128,000 engineers and architects, from more than 500 companies worldwide were surveyed.

CAD and BIM files are invaluable in lead generation for manufacturers

Manufacturers are understandably reluctant to just giveaway these valuable files, many of them maybe proprietary. At the very least, they want this content to be gated behind a simple registration form.

Engineers are willing to provide their basic contact information in exchange for what they see as a “value exchange.” According to the 2021 State of Marketing to Engineers report published by IEEE GlobalSpec, engineers are willing to complete a form that asked for their work email, first name, last name, company name, job title, and industry to access what they consider to be valuable content that will help in their daily work.

The multiplier effect of CAD and BIM downloads

An 82% conversion rate would be terrific by any measure, especially when it can be directly attributed to manufacturing content marketing. That is not an easy task when the sales cycles are long and require multiple touches with various stakeholders. I have written about the problem of incorrect attribution in industrial marketing. Also see my article, Content Marketing for Manufacturers: Are You Using its Full Power?

The same study from CADENASPARTsolutions found that an average of 20.9 components are purchased for each online CAD/BIM download. That is huge!

Keep in mind that’s only an average. A Design Engineer who specifies electronic components could result in thousands of those bought when it is an order for production volume. Whereas it may be just one or two if it is something like a motor or a pump for a skid system. Market directly to the decisionmaker with CAD and BIM

Market directly to decisionmakers with CAD and BIM

If you applied the traditional BANT (Budget, Authority, Needs, and Timeline) criteria, Design Engineers wouldn’t qualify since they have little to no buying authority. Yet, unless s/he specifies your component, the Purchasing Department can’t issue a PO or email you for a quote. This is something unique in manufacturing marketing where you are dealing with a Specifier (Engineer) and a functional buyer (Purchasing Department).

Understanding this concept is very important for your manufacturing content marketing to be successful. I consider it to be so significant that I had made it a key talking point in my presentation for the Industrial Marketing Summit at the 2019 Content Marketing World.

Conversely, a manufacturer could choose not to offer downloadable CAD and BIM files. What’s the worst that could happen?

Well, I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.

“72% will choose another supplier if native CAD/BIM data is not available online”

Partner with an established provider of digital solutions for marketing to engineers

I have seen manufacturers building online libraries of CAD files by publishing PDFs on their own website. That may have been good enough several years ago, but not anymore.

Engineers want much more than that. Here are the key benefits you can offer them with a robust and secured digital solution.
- 3D models for preview
- Real-time product configurators
- Downloadable CAD files that they can plug right into their designs
- Consistency and accuracy throughout the design process
- Save time for engineers who are already under a time crunch from shortened time to market and asked to do more with less
- Save them time from doing repetitive tasks that they hate doing anyway
Conventional 3D models and STEP for exchanging data between CAD systems are no longer enough. Instead of using dozens of words trying to explain this, let me quote directly from CADENAS PARTsolutions, “To add value to the engineering digital transformation process, digital components must have detailed data which goes beyond pure geometry. This data includes kinematics, direction of motion, degrees of freedom, acceleration, deceleration, nozzle, connection information, mass centers and more.”

NOTE: I’m not associated with CADENAS PARTsolutions or any other solutions provider. Neither am I trying to promote any company. I’m just a firm believer in the benefits of using CAD and BIM downloads in manufacturing content marketing because I have seen it working first-hand with my clients.
March 29, 2021
Content Marketing for Manufacturers is filling the Trade Show Void
Trade shows have always been a big part of manufacturing marketing for generating new leads that convert into sales opportunities. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has made in-person trade shows almost non-existent.

It is not surprising then that manufacturing marketers have turned to content marketing strategies and tactics in a big way. Hard data tell the story: (Source: Manufacturing Content Marketing Insights for 2021 published by CMI).
- Use of virtual events/webinars/online courses increased to 55% from 39% last year.
- In-person events decreased to 38% from 65% in the previous year.
- Nearly all manufacturers surveyed (91%) expect some of the changes to stay in effect for the foreseeable future.
My own experiences with manufacturing clients match this trend. They’ve either put more emphasis on manufacturing content marketing and/or those that were sitting on the fence in 2020, are now eager to get started in 2021.

A recent conversation that I had with a manufacturer of custom plastic parts, started off like this, “We’ve done very well in the past with trade shows. We depended almost 100% on that channel for new sales. That has completely dried up. How can you help us get our content marketing started and become successful at it?”

I’ve had several such conversations since the pandemic began in 2020, so this is not an isolated incident.

Types of content used by manufacturing marketers

There have been some major changes in the content marketing tactics used by manufacturers. In 2019, the top three tactics were:
1. Social media content at 92%
2. Videos (excluding livestreaming) at 81%
3. Email Newsletters at 74%
The chart below shows the trends in 2020. Not surprisingly, in-person events decreased and correspondingly, virtual events/webinars/online courses increased.

Where are manufacturing content marketers investing their marketing dollars?

Two specific areas that manufacturing marketers are expected to concentrate on in 2021 are:
1. Content creation—76%
2. Website enhancements—73%
All this positive news needs to be tempered with the harsh reality of the economic situation because of the pandemic. Most manufacturing marketers started 2020 with a healthy budget, but as the year progressed, things began to change. Most manufacturers expected their content marketing budget to remain flat in the second half of the year.

Take a look at these two charts from the CMI report that was published in November 2020.

Importance of email in manufacturing marketing

Email marketing is and has always been an important part of manufacturing content marketing. With more people working from home, email is the best way to communicate with customers, suppliers, and employees.

According to the research report, 2020 Smart Marketing for Engineers® published by IEEE GlobalSpec and TREW Marketing, 59% of engineers prefer to connect over email and 5% prefer online chat, as opposed to 24% engaging with a salesperson over the phone and 8% in person.

Email is second only to social media when it comes to the distribution of content by manufacturing marketers. This is important because you can’t rely only on organic SEO for your audience to discover new content published on your website or blog.

I’m sure you’ve received plenty of email invitations to register for webinars. Email is the most common and effective way to promote your online events. After the pandemic, when trade shows do become safe to attend in person, email marketing will be used for both pre- and post-show communications just as in the past.

For more on industrial email marketing, see my article, The Importance of Industrial Email Marketing for Targeting Engineers.

Size of content marketing teams and outsourcing activities

You would think manufacturers would need large teams to handle all the content marketing activities.

The reality is that 55% of manufacturers said they had zero to 1 person dedicated to content marketing and 36% had 2 to 5 full-time employees doing content marketing.

Manufacturing content marketers are outsourcing marketing activities to compensate for the smaller teams.
- 61% of manufacturing marketers outsource at least one content marketing activity
- Technical content creation is the activity most outsourced at 80%
This post should help you plan your own manufacturing content marketing strategies, tactics, and budgets knowing what your peers and competitors are doing.
January 11, 2021
Manufacturing Marketing in the Age of Industry 4.0
As I was researching the topic of manufacturing marketing for industry 4.0, I found a ton of online articles when I did a Google search for “marketing for Industry 4.0.” My search yielded 192,000,000 results to be precise. In short, there is a lot of information out there to the point of being overwhelming.

What I also found is a noticeable lack of information specifically on manufacturing marketing for Industry 4.0, which is a bit odd, since Industry 4.0 is all about the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This post is my summary on how to adapt some of the marketing strategies and tactics to manufacturing marketing, for engaging more effectively with engineers and technical buyers in this new age.

Introduction to Industry 4.0

If you need a primer on what Industry 4.0 is all about, let me direct you to an in-depth article on Industry 4.0 published by CADENAS PARTsolutions.

Here’s their infographic if you are more of a visual person.

(Infographic courtesy of PARTsolutions.com.)

Adapting digital manufacturing marketing for Industry 4.0

You’ve already got a head start if you’ve been doing manufacturing marketing with content, aka, inbound marketing. Digital marketing is a perfect fit for Industry 4.0. How, you ask? Let me explain.

Personalized content: Digital Manufacturing Enterprises (DMEs) are using advanced digital technologies such as AI and IIoT to shift their production processes from mass to more personalized production.

Does that sound familiar to you if you a manufacturing content marketer? You should be creating personalized content based on Buyer Personas, their roles and for different stages of the buyer’s journey.

The buyer is in charge: Today’s industrial buyers are in self-select and self-serve mode. They prefer to complete a large portion of their buying process online while remaining anonymous. You’ll be swimming against the tide if you force your sales team to spend their time in cold calling and prospecting at the top of the funnel.

This requires manufacturers to take a more blended approach where Sales and Marketing work together. Neither can do it alone because the buyer is in control for a larger portion of the sales process.

Customer-centric content: Here’s a quote from the report, Industry 4.0 engages customers published by Deloitte’s Center for Integrated Research, “Manufacturers can use Industry 4.0 technologies across their enterprise to transform customer relationships and create new value for both customers and channel partners.”

Datasheets and product catalogs still play an important role in meeting the content needs of Design Engineers and Specifiers. However, those by themselves cannot create true differentiation when there is parity in Value Propositions.

That’s why you need customer-centric content to address the needs and challenges of various stakeholders in the decision-making committee. This requires manufacturers to make a big change in their mindset from “what we have to sell” to one that is based on “how can we help our customers do what they want done?”

Earn trust: Engineers and industrial professionals want content that is technically accurate, presented logically and claims that are backed by evidence and/or proof of concept. Bring your Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to the forefront to earn credibility and trust. One engineer to another is a very powerful strategy for better engagement with your technical audience.

Importance of SEO and CRO: White hat techniques for Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) become more important for attracting the right audience to industrial websites. Don’t stop there though, converting that traffic into leads is a whole different ballgame.

This is referred to as Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Even though they are related, they are not the same. See my post, “Industrial Lead Generation for Sales – It’s Complicated!”

Industrial blogging: An industrial blog must be an integral part of your manufacturing content marketing strategy. Yes, it takes a lot of hard work and time to create technical blog posts regularly and promote them actively, but the effort is worth it.

Here are the key benefits of blogging:
- Improve your organic SEO ranking with optimized blog posts
- Posts published by in-house Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) highlight your company’s expertise and experience (Marketing can ghostwrite them but must remain in the background)
- Blog posts are usually more customer-centric than product-centric as is usually the case with product and services pages
- Create thought leadership, build brand awareness, and earn trust by publishing regularly on topics that your readers care about
- 85% of manufacturers use their website/blog to distribute content (Source: The Content Marketing Institute)
- Content distribution using social media channels depends largely on fresh content published on your industrial blog
- Marketers who prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI (Source: HubSpot, 2019)
Prepping manufacturing marketing for Industry 4.0

Of course, just talking about digital marketing is not going to help; you have to make some changes to get ready for it.

Here’s another quote from Deloitte’s Center for Integrated Research, “Creating digital customer connections typically requires strong coordination between the chief marketing and information officers to marry the customer knowledge and sales and marketing processes with the information technology capabilities required to design and build new platforms.”

It all starts with your industrial website—the hub of your digital marketing. Do an extensive audit of the website content, user experience and what you expect visitors to do after they land on your website. A complete industrial website redesign requires much more than just putting a pretty skin on an existing website.

Take stock of your existing content assets to identify gaps that need to be filled. Repurpose some and create new content as needed. Make sure you have or can create content for various stakeholders and for different stages of the buyer’s journey. This is a challenge according to the report published by the Content Marketing Institute—“Fewer than half (40%) of manufacturing marketers craft content based on specific stages of the customer journey.”

To get a better idea of what engineers are looking for from a supplier’s website, take a look at this chart from the 2020 Smart Marketing for Engineers® report published by IEEE GlobalSpec.

Does that mean every webpage must be packed with thousands of words? The short answer is NO!

The same report from IEEE GlobalSpec also found that, “Engineers overwhelmingly prefer reviewing concise product or service information with links to in-depth content, as opposed to multiple paragraphs with detailed information or bulleted lists. Younger engineers (35 and under) are more likely to value imagery/icons related to the content and scannable bulleted lists.”

You’ve heard this before, but worth repeating, digital marketing is more trackable and measurable than traditional forms of marketing. That doesn’t mean it is easy to prove ROI, but it is easier for sure.

This post should help you get your manufacturing marketing ready for Industry 4.0.
November 11, 2020