Sales and marketing continue to evolve within the industrial manufacturing industry.
2018 saw a number of changes that will continue to influence what occurs in 2019 and beyond. With a considerable amount of analytical data at our disposal, here are 10 interesting and insightful statistics regarding sales and marketing within the industrial manufacturing industry. For more, check out our full 56-page report from our survey of over 150 manufacturers!
1. 75% of Manufacturers Plan to Use Video On the Company Website
Video has become an increasingly powerful tool to help not only connect with potential clients, but to educate them.
Visitors to a website are more likely to watch a three-minute video than read through a long educational post.
Video no longer needs to exist solely on social media platforms. With interested clients arriving at a website looking for answers, one of the best ways to do this is through the power of video. This is why such a larger percentage of manufacturers are planning on implementing video directly on the company website.
2. Only 26% of Manufacturers Believe Their Digital Marketing Is Ahead of the Competition
As the information presented by HubSpot and gathered by IndustrialSage points out, just a quarter of all manufacturers believe their company marketing is better than the competition. This offers greater insights into the psyche of the average industrial manufacturing business more than anything else.
We can now see that many businesses believe in the need to do more with marketing in order to expand their advertising footprint. The vast majority of businesses fall into a similar category of understanding the importance of doing more with marketing.
3. 59% of Manufacturers are Increasing Their Social Media Marketing Efforts
Social media has completely changed the way businesses and consumers interact with one another. As it allows for a more personalized connection while making it easier to connect with a key demographic, more and more manufacturers are turning toward social media to generate
leads.
4. 81% of Manufacturers Plan on Using LinkedIn in 2019
Not all social media platforms are created equal in the world of industrial manufacturing.
While having a strong presence on a number of services is important, industrial manufacturing typically focuses on a business to business approach, which makes professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn more desirable than what other companies might use, such as Snapchat or Instagram (although these platforms may have a place within the marketing approach of certain manufacturers).
This is why 81% of industrial manufacturers plan on using LinkedIn as a major tent pole of their marketing plan.
5. 45% of Manufacturers Are Not Sure What Percentage of Leads Convert On Their Website
This illustrates a fundamental problem with nearly half of all manufacturer’s approach toward lead conversion through the company website.
The only way a business can properly adapt its website to better improve its conversion rate…is to actually know the conversion rate. Yet 45% of all manufacturers are not sure what percentage of leads convert on their website!
This information is readily available, and while it does take some additional monitoring, this analytical data is extremely important and needs to be monitored and addressed.
6. Only 2% of Manufacturers Say Videos Are the Best-Performing Marketing Tactic Utilized
Marketing revolves around a number of outreach methods. Video needs to become a more utilized tactic for most manufacturers out there. This is because more traditional methods of outreach are starting to slow down.
Trade shows have long produced a larger percentage of company leads. However, as it is now possible to reveal a new product or service online (and often more cost effective) than traveling to a trade show, lead generation through traditional methods is slowing down.
This makes video presentations that much more important. Manufacturers need to begin turning toward video to fully showcase products offered by the company.
7. 30% of Manufacturers Say Marketing and Sales Departments Meet Just Once a Year
Marketing and sales need to remain on the same page to fully realize the company’s potential. The marketing department needs to know what is working and what generates sales, while the sales team needs to know what kind of material the marketing department is considering.
By not meeting on a regular basis a company handcuffs its full potential.
Realistically, the marketing and sales departments needs to meet up at least once a month to go over what’s working and figure out how the two departments can better align with each other.
8. Nearly 70% of Manufacturers Post 2 Blogs Per Month or Less
Blog posts provide companies with a number of positives.
First, a blog post is additional page sourced by search engines such as Google. This adds another link directing traffic back to your website and offers customers another way to find your business. This alone should point to the importance of creating more than just two blog posts per month.
Additionally, when a website blog is updated regularly, it is crawled regularly by search engines. This helps boost its search engine ranking, which again helps boost traffic.
A regularly-updated blog (at least once a week if not more frequently) helps establish regular readership, which in turn helps improve lead generation and conversion numbers.
9. 66% of Businesses Send 2 or Fewer Email Marketing Messages Per Month
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing approaches available to any business. While it is important to not exploit the method and spam your recipients, sending out two or fewer emails per month is not fully taking advantage of what email marketing has to offer.
From drip campaigns, to remaining in contact with current and potential customers; it is essential for companies to increase email marketing and to take advantage of a cultivated email list.
10. 59% of Businesses Do Not Use Videos in the Marketing Process
As other statistics have demonstrated, video is becoming more and more important for manufacturers. It gives companies a tool to showcase how products are made, address consumer questions, and offer behind the scenes reveals that weren’t previously possible.
Most major social platforms now allow for not only uploaded video content, but live-streaming video content. Despite this, nearly 60% of all manufacturers are not taking advantage of video. For a business to be successful and fully realize its marketing potential, video needs to become a major facilitator within its outreach plan.
These ten sales and marketing statistics provide just a glimpse into what will continue to unfold within the industrial manufacturing – not only in 2019, but in subsequent years to come.
To best solidify a solid foundation for any industrial manufacturing business, it is essential to take these analytics into consideration whenever implementing new sales and marketing changes within the company.
Otherwise, you just might get left in the dust.
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