As an industrial manufacturer, developing and running a content marketing program for your business isn’t exactly at the top of your to-do list. Yet regularly publishing and promoting useful content geared to your target prospects is one of the most effective ways you can quickly generate qualified leads in a niche B2B industry. In fact, about 56% of industrial professionals do not even contact a vendor until they evaluate their options by comparing supplier website content! (Source: GlobalSpec) So it’s time to take a good look at how you communicate the value of your company and the value of your brand online.
The first step to creating content for your industrial marketing plan is to identify your target audience (also known as your buyer persona). Best practice is to first pinpoint the person you’d like to reach, determine exactly what they are searching for, and then define the role they play in the decision-making process. By completing this critical preliminary task, you can more closely target your market and tailor your message.
Need some ideas to get started? A typical industrial manufacturing purchasing persona may look something like this:
Clearly, each persona has a unique perspective, and each has an influence in the decision-making process. But there is no one-size-fits-all message for the entire group. Just as engineers may not be concerned about per-unit pricing, manufacturing buyers may not be familiar with the differences in specs from one product supplier to another. Yet all have a role to play in finding the right product at the right price to move their products out the door. For more on buyer personas, here's the last article you'll ever need.
What’s the major takeaway here? A successful industrial marketing plan begins with an analysis of your buyers, followed by choosing the ones you want to target, and tailoring your message accordingly. Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out our free white paper – Content Marketing 101 for Industrial Manufacturers!
