To paraphrase Finley Peter Dunne: Manufacturing marketing ain’t bean-bag.”

While it goes without saying that manufactured goods like spindles, ball bearings, and wires make up an important part of everyday life, actually marketing these products presents a unique set of challenges. Manufactured goods don’t tend to have the broad target market of things like potato chips or beer, nor do they have the exciting sex appeal of the latest summer blockbuster.

Rather, most manufactured products face the dilemma of being wildly important to a small but very significant portion of the population. Dynamics like these make common marketing tactics like TV commercials or newspaper ad buys the equivalent of going after a fly with a bazooka. Instead, the practitioners of manufacturing marketing must leverage internet and digital resources in order to achieve the scalpel-like precision needed to reach their targets.

Be Where Your Consumers Are

In many ways, the internet has been a democratizing force for medium to niche crafts like manufacturing marketing. Reaching your target market once called for an army of traveling salesmen or presence in a slew of obscure trade publications. But now, the internet (specifically social media) has allowed manufacturers to build up digital presences that simplify customer outreach.

That being said, location and strategy remain key to success.

There’s an ever growing list of social media services, but the odds of each and every one of them being useful to reaching your clientele is slim to none. For example, while a Facebook page may be a great way for a manufacturer of brake rotors to reach their desired consumers, Pinterest would probably be a colossal waste of time. Rather than wasting good money after bad on a full court press of every social media brand under the sun, manufacturers should begin by doing their homework and seeing where their customers (and competitors) have already set up shop. From there, you can begin to establish presences on the relevant sites and build up a network of followers and competitors who are relevant to your area of manufacturing marketing.

Constant Content

While social media sites are constantly tweaking and adjusting their algorithms, the keys to brand success have remained more or less the same: Content is king.

The game is quite simple. Producing quality content that conforms to the standards of any given site increases your chances of showing up in the feeds of those you with to engage with. Showing up in feeds more frequently makes it more likely that your content will be clicked on, liked, or shared — thereby further increasing the likelihood that your brand will attract more attention from likeminded consumers.

While this digital game of telephone is important for all brands, it’s all the more vital to the practice of manufacturing marketing, which depends almost entirely on fierce competition for an exceptionally select number of consumers. A good first strategy to take would be to review the practices of those you compete with: How often are they posting new content? Is that content being engaged with by others? More importantly, does the manufacturing marketing content feel authentic to your slice of the industry.

By beginning with a firm grasp of the market, you can better set to the task of outpacing your competitors with more frequent and creative blog, image, and video content makes it all the more likely that you’ll gain the attention of the elusive eyeballs of your consumers.

Keywords Are Key

Take it from us here at Millennium: you can blog all day until your brain is creative pulp and your fingers are permanently locked into the shape of your keyboard, but every single word of it will be wasted effort if you aren’t crafting your content around the keywords that your customers are actually searching for. Looking for evidence? Well, why not take this blog? If you stumbled upon this blog via a Google search for a certain set of terminology, congratulations! You’re living proof of the importance of keywords to manufacturing marketing.

While this practice can seem complex for writers who are used to conforming with SEO practices, in reality it’s quite simple. To begin with, put yourself in the mind of a purchaser who would be in the market to buy the goods you manufacture.

• Who are they?
• Where are they located?
• What sort of terminology or jargon do they use when they talk about their business?

If you can answer questions like these, you can begin to put together a shortlist of terms and phrases that your consumers would be most likely to use in a Google search. From there, you can set about the task of crafting web content structured around those manufacturing industry specific keywords.

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Linda A. Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Integrated Marketing (www.mill.agency ) located in Boston and Manchester, NH. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 ext. 201 or lfanaras@mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business.  Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.