Industrial Marketing or B2B (business-to-business) marketing is the marketing of goods or services from one business to another. Because these businesses are often distributing goods or services earlier in the supply chain versus B2C (business-to-consumer) operations, they often need more specialized marketing approaches to help them remain competitive in a rapidly shifting market. Furthermore, the sales processes associated with industrial marketing differ significantly from those related to B2C purchasing cycles because they involve larger purchases, long-term partnerships, and greater regulation/compliance. These fundamental differences require advertisers to re-think their marketing strategies and focus on communicating the items that matter most to other businesses. Compared to consumer-facing.

Define The Current State

Before an organization can strive towards an effective industrial marketing campaign, it must first understand where they lie. This means having a robust understanding of existing marketing materials, resources, and long-term strategies. Using customer information and preliminary information gathered over the years can help to eliminate duplicative efforts. Most businesses have answered countless customer inquiries over the years, and they can use that information to inform their marketing strategies moving forward. Additionally, understanding what hasn’t worked in the past is an excellent way to avoid repeating it in the future.

In this phase, organizations should also be painting a clear picture of what their competition is doing. Using proven methodologies from the competition can show organizations where they need to improve to remain a key player in their industry.

Collaborate with Sales

While an organization’s current strategies may be capturing leads, the work doesn’t stop there. Collaborating with sales teams to ensure that leads turn into sales is essential for any successful industrial marketing initiative. Brands need to remain collaborative and well-organized, documenting the customer journey from attention-gathering to conversions. Having a holistic view of this customer journey can inform more robust campaigns in the future, or at the very least, identify where customers are falling off.

Identify A Target Audience

To sell any product, organizations need to understand who their target audience is. Market research or consumer studies often identifies a target audience and help companies plan to engage these individuals or personas. In industrial marketing, target audiences can vary significantly from organization to organization, so businesses need to identify target individuals or departments early to sell to them effectively. Determining the target audience and how a product helps them complete their job is vital in industrial marketing. This identification process will increase the likelihood of purchase and lead to greater leadership buy-in, increase customer engagement, and strengthen future marketing campaigns.

Establish Success Criteria and Metrics

Having a well-defined methodology for reporting and success tracking is essential when it comes to any marketing initiative. Organizations should establish documentation, metrics, and reporting systems at every stage of their marketing efforts to understand how they evolve and to learn what works well. Some of the most influential metrics in industrial marketing include website traffic, conversion rates, and cost-per-lead rates. These metrics can help quantify growth for year-over-year marketing efforts and establish success criteria to improve on over time.

Invest In New Solutions

Digital solutions are everything when it comes to B2B marketing. With so much of today’s workforce coming from a generation born into technology, organizations see a significant increase in digital conversions and sales rates. Establishing a lead-generating website, mobile solutions, or other digitally-integrated solutions is essential to operating a business in the modern era. Furthermore, tracking customer interactions, engagement rates, and campaign effectiveness through digital CRM tools help organizations grow traffic, increase conversion rates, and execute campaigns at scale. With the wide selection of digital tools to assist with industrial marketing, organizations may streamline their marketing initiatives by consolidating those efforts in a robust digital space.

Optimize Marketing Processes

In an ideal world, businesses will already have established their website and are ready to showcase their solutions to the world, but every scenario is different. When optimizing marketing processes, companies should focus on streamlining their website and conversion process, simplify the customer buying experience, and leverage tools to keep systems up-to-date, accurate, and efficient. In this process, organizations should focus on streamlining the experience for customers that they’ve already attracted. This ensures that industrial marketing efforts are helpful, and customers do not lose interest once they are close to making a purchase.

Boost Traffic

In today’s digital landscape, the most successful industrial organizations are guiding traffic to their websites through various digital tactics, including SEO content, blog posts, social media, and affiliate marketing. Leveraging these different platforms with a consistent message can get more eyes on a business’s product offerings and gather more valuable leads. To boost traffic in these areas, organizations must deliver concise messaging to their consumers outlining the value they provide. Online reviews are also a powerful tool for driving new traffic to an organization’s website. Leveraging the voice of the customer through genuine online reviews can provide substantial results with little to no cost, so businesses must provide high-quality service to all their customers – especially if they are engaging strictly through digital means.

Industrial marketing can mean the difference between success or failure for a B2B organization. Every company needs to allocate funds for their marketing efforts and have a well-defined plan for how they intend to market, sell, and deliver their goods or services to buyers. With a clear set of goals in mind, an industrial marketing campaign has the potential to boost sales, increase revenue, and heighten brand awareness. However, organizations that lack a clear set of objectives or marketing plans may struggle to succeed in their marketing efforts or waste valuable resources.

At SIS Global Marketing, your business is our business. We offer decades of combined expertise helping industrial organizations market to their customers and find tremendous success in their respective industries.

No matter where your organization stands, our experts form long-lasting partnerships that extend far beyond a transaction. Through our team of professionals, we offer industrial marketing services that include, but are not limited to:

• Marketing Plan Development
• Marketing Project Management
• Digital Marketing Consulting Services
• B2B Marketing and Sales Strategy Development
• SEO Optimization
• Website Development and Content Generation
• Lead Generation Setup
• Re-branding Strategies

Whether you’re looking to kick things off for your organization or strengthen current operations, SIS Global Marketing provides best-in-class partnerships to enable heightened success across your entire business. Contact us today to see how we can improve your industrial marketing strategy and help your organization reach its goals.