Industrial Marketing in 2010 and How to Market Smart

by Bob Grant

If you make widgets, you know… gaskets, nuts and bolts, electronic components, stampings, motors, tools, machinery (big widgets!). If you survived 2009 and maybe even thrived, but your half way through 2010, how do you end the year with increased sales?

Grant Marketing conducted a survey with a handful of industrial companies and compared it with other surveys from Global Spec (GA) and Thomasnet (TN) to get a handle on industrial marketing and what smart marketers need to do next. (Full GM Survey Results follow the conclusion of this article).

A resounding 93.1% of respondents indicated that they are planning to introduce a new or improved product this year. In Global Spec’s “2010 Economic Outlook Survey” the top three areas that companies were devoting their time and investments was in entering new markets, new product design & development and researching future products. I think this bodes well for continuous economic activity for industrial manufacturers barring any unforeseen economic disasters.



This increase in new and developing new products also means that industrial marketers need to be sure they are using the correct branding and marketing strategies to make potential buyers aware of the new offerings. 50% of Grant Marketing respondents said their marketing budgets will increase this year, while 43.3% will stay the same, and 6.7% noted it will decrease.

According to the Grant Marketing survey industrial marketers will promote new products and services through email marketing, their website, and press releases. These tactics differ slightly from how companies regularly promote their products and services by email marketing, catalogs & brochures, and trade shows. In addition to these top 3 communication tactics, marketers are also using press releases, search engine optimization (SEO), trade publications, and industrial websites like Thomasnet and Global Spec.



Email marketing appears to be a very strong tactic for reaching buyers and engineers. GM’s findings are supported by GS research that shows 60% of industrial engineers receive three or more e-newsletters a week and 55% of this audience reads e-newsletters daily or several times a week. E-newsletters provide a means to keep the industrial marketers company and products visible even when customers and prospects are not ready to buy or specify.

The GM study shows industrial marketers rank catalogs and brochures as one of the top 3 means of promoting their products and services. While the GM study did not differentiate between online or printed catalogs and brochures, most activity is happening online, 64% of respondents (GS) visit six or more or more work related web sites each week, and on the marketers side, 71% (TN) feel an online marketing strategy is important in 2010. Both GS and TN promote online catalogs as an important marketing tool for their advertisers.

While the GM study showed trade shows as one of the top 3 marketing tactics in 2010, 59% of GS respondents (engineers and technical buyers) claim they did not attend a trade show last year. Trends that may be replacing trade show attendance are online webinars of marketers presenting directly to engineers and buyers online and globally, podcasts that allow buyers to view important information as they need it, and also the increased usage of video, which allows the industrial marketer to show an in depth view of capabilities and products.

When asked which efforts were most important in marketing their products and services, GM respondents in the following order stated email marketing, redesign of the company website, and new brochures and catalogs. Bottom three were direct mail, trade magazine advertising, and industrial website advertising. “Previous ThomasNet research shows that 9 out of 10 buyers select one supplier over another based on their website, but these suppliers have historically been slow to provide these buyers with critical decision-making information.” It appears that industrial marketers are much more aware that buyers are making decisions about their company based on their website, so it is not surprising this the redesign of the company website is a priority in 2010.

From the GM study and the findings of GS and TN we can see that online interactive marketing is the key to industrial marketing strategy. Companies are utilizing email marketing to keep in touch with their customers on a regular basis with product and company updates. Companies still find catalog and brochure content important, and that the product and service information must be incorporated into rich content websites that provide the kind of information and data that engineers and industrial buyers are searching for in order to make smart purchasing decisions. The process of buying and specifying has not changed; it is only the means and media that have changed. One of the most surprising findings for me is the number of companies introducing new products and services. I would like to think this is part of the American manufacturing experience that continues to be innovative and leading the way in technology and science.

Web Analytics

As noted in the GM, GS, and TN studies, a recent study by Forrester Research also sees a continuing trend of shifting marketing budgets to interactive marketing channels. Industrial marketers now have the tools to measure the success of their marketing efforts. In the Forester Research study, 73% of businesses are currently using or piloting web analytics. Many companies are using free analytic tools like Google Analytics or other analytic tools such as Web Trends, HubSpot, and Urchin. However, the Forrester research found that there is a gap between between the technology itself and the understanding and the resources to translate that data into marketing action. According to the study 36% of web decision makers surveyed agreed that tin-house web analytics expertise is more valuable than the technology itself. Marketers interviewed by Forrester are hampered by staff reductions, constricted budgets, and wide spread scrutiny on all spending. Marketers will need to turn to third party marketing experts who can help translate web analytics data into insight and marketable action.

Conclusion

It is clear that many smart industrial marketers are utilizing an integrated and interactive marketing approach to market their products and services.
1. Adopting Email Marketing as part of the marketing strategy
2. Increased web content with new product information or online catalogs
3. Embracing press releases as a pro-active marketing tool
4. Integrating both online and offline marketing tactics for increase visibility

Smart marketers are also monitoring those interactive marketing tactics through web analytics. The trend toward interactive marketing and web analytics will continue to rise. Those companies embracing

 

Grant Marketing "12 Month Plan" Survey Results

1. During the next twelve months, are you planning to introduce
a new/improved product?
Yes = 93.1%
No = 6.9%

2. If yes, how will you promote it?
Email 88.9%
Website 85.2%
Press Release 77.8%
New Brochure/Catalog 74.1%
Trade Shows 70.4%
Advertising in Magazines 51.9%
Social Media 44.4%
Direct Mail 37.0%
Not Sure 3.7%

3. How do you regularly promote your product/service?
Email 86.7%
Catalog/Brochure 80.0%
Trade Shows 80.0%
Press Release 70.0%
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 60.0%
Trade Publications 60.0%
Industrial Websites (e.g.Thomasnet, GlobalSpec) 50.0%
PPC (e.g. Google Adwords, Yahoo) 26.7%

4. Other than the above, how do you generate sales?
Sales Reps 89.7%
Referrals 51.7%

5. For the next 12 months, do you expect your marketing budget to:
Increase 50.0%
Stay the Same 43.3%
Decrease 6.7%

6. Please number in order of importance to your marketing efforts: (#1 = most important)
1 Email
2 Redesign Our Website
3 New Brochure/Catalog
4 Press Releases
5 Trade Shows
6 Industrial Website Advertising
7 Trade Paper Advertising
8 Direct Mail

 

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