Just like the classic ’60s hit song “Do You Believe in Magic?” by The Lovin’ Spoonful, I am wondering if manufacturers and industrial companies believe in their industrial websites.
I am not so sure manufacturing companies are fully convinced that their website is a real sales tool. My doubts stem from some of the things that I hear in my regular conversations with these companies. Here are a few actual sound bites:
It may seem like I’m being flippant but there is a serious message here. Today, it is imperative that you consider your industrial website to be as important as your star salesperson. That’s because the way your industrial customers interact with you during their buying cycle has changed significantly over the past few years.
They are online doing a significant amount of their initial purchase-related research long before they will contact or engage with your sales team. If you are not convinced, take a look at these two findings from two different research studies done by GlobalSpec:
Here is a quote from MarketingSherpa’s findings from their 2011 survey of 1,500 B2B marketers:
Organizations devote one-quarter of their online marketing budgets to their websites. Even the best marketing efforts are for naught if the website is not optimized (in terms of performance and design) to communicate the “offer” and trigger a “response.”
First impressions do matter; especially since today’s impatient industrial buyers are apt to make snap decisions about their preferred suppliers. You can’t expect your customers to take you seriously and do business with you if you don’t believe it’s worth investing more than a thousand dollars or two on your website, the very face of your company to the world. Your industrial website must be a true reflection of your company, its products and services.
I am not suggesting that you dive right into a site redesign or spend a bunch of money and expect the site to magically produce results. Designing an industrial Website for optimal B2B lead generation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires careful planning, paying attention to many details and first-hand knowledge of what engineers and technical buyers want to see on your site.
I suggest that you take the following steps to ensure that your redesigned industrial website produces leads and drives sales.
After going through these steps, you will be in a much better position to evaluate different web design proposals. You’ll truly be able to do an apples-to-apples comparison instead of looking at the price alone. Download our free Step-by-Step Guide to Web (re)Design guide to get a head start in the process of redesigning industrial websites that generate leads and drive sales.
Let’s chat to determine if this will be a good fit for both of us. It will be a friendly conversation to get to know each other better, not a high-pressure sales pitch.
Heather Steele says:
It can be such a struggle to get industrial companies to understand the importance of a good, strong website. Back in April, I wrote a quick blog post for manufacturer’s reps about moving beyond line card websites. It rings true for industrial manufacturers as well. http://blue-steele.com/blog/why-your-line-card-website-will-never-generate-new-business/
Emily Carter says:
Achinta, Thanks for the great article. At our firm we believe that the website is a company’s online salesperson, and it’s increasingly vital to implement inbound marketing techniques for business, especially in the manufacturing industry. We recently published a research study called “Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers,” where we examined the current usage of effective, online marketing tactics for U.S. manufacturers by comparing 113 typical New Jersey manufacturers along with the top 25 manufacturers in the state as determined by number of employees. It can be found at http://www.grmwebsite.com/inbound-marketing-for-manufacturers/ and showed a lot of interesting insights as to what the manufacturing community is implementing, in the state of New Jersey. Thanks again for the informative post!
Achinta Mitra says:
@Emily,
Thanks for your kind words and the comments. We share the same view about the importance of a website. Thanks for the link to your research study, “Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers.” Hey, you stole the title of my next whitepaper! 😉 Oh well, it’s back to the drawing board. I’ve downloaded my copy and look forward to reading it.
Regards,
Achinta
Emily Carter says:
Great minds think alike! Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to reading your posts in the future.
Barry Clifford says:
Thanks Achinta – great article. We’ve found with many of our clients that we are up against a long-term culture where revenue is perceived to be a function of sales, and that marketing is a luxury. One way that we’e been effective in opening up our clients’ minds to the new sales cycle reality is by showing them results of very simple social media audits (based both on their company name and their industry) and showing them how many of their relevant constituents and personas are engaged in online research and conversation. It’s easy to make the point then that if they don’t have a well thought out and executed digital strategy, they are missing the boat.
Achinta Mitra says:
@Michael and @ Barry,
Thanks lot for the kind words and your thoughtful comments.
The adoption rate of social media is pretty low among manufacturers and industrial companies. Of what little there is, it is mostly passive. This poses a challenge when it comes using social media metrics to show these companies what they may be missing.
Michael Bartholow says:
These points really hit on some of the challenges I’ve encountered in pushing B2B clients to look within and spend quality time on their web efforts. It’s always interesting to see which companies can’t quickly verbalize what they “do”. I pose that question as a lead-in to discussion point before discussing sales cycle.
Keep up the good work!