Advertising for Manufacturing Companies: 6 Steps To Success

Whether you own or manage a small manufacturing business or you’ve started experiencing a lag in new and returning customers, you’re probably looking for ways to improve your advertising endeavors. In the past, you may have focused your efforts on traditional marketing techniques, like placing ads in your local newspaper, posting flyers and business cards in various establishments, or relying on word of mouth to draw customers to your company. 

Advertising, like many other aspects of running a successful business, has evolved to the point where far more is required to achieve the same level of success or facilitate standard growth. Many companies have embraced the need to adopt digital marketing techniques to expand their reach to a wider audience.

In today’s world, marketing online is essential for keeping businesses in the public eye and ensuring your brand remains available to the customers you need in order to remain functional. Assuming that your company is either new to manufacturing advertising online or you’re attempting to stay ahead of competitors in your field, it’s critical to have a plan for advertising your manufacturing company. 

Take a look at the steps listed below so that you can strengthen or restructure your efforts and continue to spread awareness of your brand to customers who are as interested in the services you provide as you are in growing your company’s success.

#1- Know Your Audience/Customer Base

Knowing who you’re attempting to reach through your marketing efforts is an essential part of advertising success. Your manufacturing advertising approach needs to be carefully catered so that it draws the attention of individuals and other businesses that want the services you’re offering. Being aware of the types of customers or audience members you’re talking to will greatly improve the quality of your advertisements, allowing them to speak to the needs of your customer base.

If you need to improve your familiarity with your target audience, take the following steps to perfect the way you advertise.

Have A Target Persona/Personas

A target persona refers to your company’s ideal customer, the exact personality or business type you’re designing your marketing for. To develop effective target personas or target audiences, consider the details surrounding those you want to serve.

• Audience Region
• Industry Type 
• Company Size
• Individual or Business
• Employment Level
• Service Need

Monitor Competitors

Every business has competition, and there is significant value in monitoring the way competitors in your industry function. Explore advertising methods and approaches used by other established companies in your field and learn from their wins and losses. By keeping an eye on the way other companies reach their target audience, your company can mitigate pitfalls and mistakes their advertising teams made throughout the company’s growth.

Review Customer Data

Collecting data from your customer base is beneficial for a number of reasons, one of them being the ability to evolve your manufacturing advertising based on what customer data displays. For example, you might collect surveys and customer feedback, or you might evaluate past purchases to look for buying patterns. 

Your company’s awareness of customer experiences can improve business procedures, enhance customer service, and create a more authentic relationship with individuals and businesses that trust your services.

#2- Clarify Goals and Plan Strategies

A well-designed business plan is not only necessary for company growth, but it can help focus the intent of your manufacturing advertising. Clarifying your goals as a business and planning your strategy to achieve those goals creates a clear trajectory to follow. 

Every manufacturing company wants to be the go-to brand in their industry, but a positive attitude and willingness to work will only propel the business so far. To become a big name in your industry, your company needs to embrace elements that make it stand out from others in the field. For example, if a manufacturer wants to be known for its green practices, positive work environment, or stellar product development, this pursuit requires effective planning to achieve. 

Additionally, having these goals defined can simplify marketing efforts, as these details can be implemented into your company’s ad content, illustrating the reputation you want to build

#3- Have a High-Quality Website

In today’s market, having a website is essential, but a simple page that displays your company’s contact information is not enough. Every company has some form of online presence, so it’s crucial to develop a high-quality website. Excellent, properly-targeted manufacturing advertising is only one factor in your company’s success. Even if an individual or business in your target market sees one of your ads and has an interest in your services, they might choose a competitor if your website appears outdated and unprofessional.

Your company’s website needs to showcase your experience and skill, reminding visitors why they should choose to become your customer instead of choosing a competitor. Essentials for a high-quality, modern business website include the following:

• Simple Web Design: Choose a design that’s neat but also aesthetically pleasing, free from sharp color contrasts and clunky text.

• Easy Navigation: Your information should be easy to find so that visitors can immediately access the content they’re looking for.

• Clear Contact Information: Contact information should be posted at the top of your web pages, in easy-to-read text.

• Mobile Capabilities: So many online searches are done via mobile devices in today’s world, so having a website that supports mobile users is a must.

• SEO Adherence: Follow SEO guidelines when creating content so that your information populates as close to the first search result page as possible.

• Accurate, Updated Information: Keep your contact, location, and promotional information up to date, and double-check your content and web pages to ensure information is always accurate.

• Compelling, Organized Content: Your website’s content should be presented in ways that draw interest from your target audience, so ensure that your text, photos, charts, and other pieces of data are arranged in ways that support their key goals.

• Speed Optimization: Very few people will remain on a website when it loads slowly or crashes repeatedly. Take every possible step to optimize your pages for speed so that your visitors can find everything they need quickly and without hassle.

#4- Create Engaging Content

Part of creating compelling advertisements involves the provision of useful content. While you certainly want to convince the audience viewing your ads that you’re a trustworthy source for the service or information they’re seeking. 

Many times, when an individual or business sees an advertisement offering them something they want, they’re not immediately convinced that the company behind the advertisement is what they are looking for. These people will often research their options and explore the company’s website or online presence for evidence that points toward their authority. 

By creating engaging, expertly-crafted content and posting it on your business’s website, social media accounts, or as a guest on another industry professional’s site, you’re presenting potential customers with the information they need to help them decide to trust your company. 

To create engaging content, you might try one or more of the following:

• Create content that provides solutions to a common problem in your industry.
• Create content that showcases your expertise in your field.
• Create content that has a specific purpose and answers the questions your visitors seek.
• Provide data and statistics that support a claim you’re making about your services.

Engaging content can take on several forms, so don’t feel like you’re stuck writing constant blog posts. Try to mix up your content types by creating infographics, videos, FAQ pages, podcasts, social media posts, photo galleries, interviews, customer testimonials, case studies, ebooks, and much more.

#5- Develop Your Presence in the Industry

When your company has earned the trust of other professionals in your industry, it becomes easier to establish yourself as an expert in your field. While this can be done to some degree by creating and publishing your own content, there are other steps you can take to extend your presence and enhance your reputation. 

Creating guest content for other big-name companies in your field is one way to get your company’s name recognized. Finding one industry professional who engages with your content and trusts the information you present can be immensely beneficial in extending your reach. 

Collaborate with other professionals by writing guest articles, participating in studies, being interviewed about your work, or having another business promote your services on social media are endeavors that will strengthen your foothold in your industry. 

Additionally, if the knowledge you present in your collaborative efforts provides something to your audience that no one else can, you’ve created a unique situation where you’ve established yourself as the most reliable source on the matter at hand.

#6- Target Your Advertisements

Marketing your services and products effectively requires much more than simply posting an ad in a general location and hoping that the right people see it. Though circumstances might occasionally align to attract the right audience, casting ads out into the world at random isn’t a reliable way to handle marketing. Creating the target personas mentioned above will not only help keep your company’s customer service goals organized, but these behaviors can also be helpful when creating ads. 

Knowing exactly what your ideal customer is looking for can simplify the strategies you use to appeal to these groups. To target your ads to specific audiences, it will likely be necessary to examine your target personas and create subgroups within them. Compare the services your company offers with the services your audience seeks and if you find several places in which these pieces of information intersect, you’ve discovered a subgroup to target. 

With several subgroups in your target audience, it becomes easier to cater advertisements to them. You’ve become aware of exactly what these groups want, and rather than promoting general, blanket ads, you’re better able to create a unique collection of advertising tones, products, services, and phrases that draw the attention of people who are searching for the precise information covered in your ad. 

For example, if your company provides manufacturing solutions for medical companies, utility companies, and food service establishments, it’s wise to produce a selection of ads that target each group in your audience, rather than a single ad that will likely fail to attract your potential customers.

Instead of targeting manufacturing companies by offering operations management solutions in the form of a single ad, create three unique manufacturing advertising pieces that draw attention by offering to satisfy a need specific to the medical industry, utility companies, or food service professionals.

Remaining current with the changes and evolutions in your specific industry is easier said than done. If you’re new to digital advertising and your company has very little online presence, it can seem like a never-ending battle to garner the success your company is capable of. However, taking the time to develop your strategies and customize them to meet your company’s needs will surely produce results over time. 

Showcase your experience, discuss topics you’re familiar with, discover exactly what your target audience or customer base wants, and collaborate with other professionals and you’ll surely reach the renown you’re seeking for your company, brand, and team.