Two major challenges that the UK manufacturing industry faces are global competition and the cost of production. Competition from global companies, especially in emerging markets, makes it difficult to compete with lower labour, material, and energy costs. The challenge is to highlight the benefits and unique selling points of local manufacturing, and therefore, marketing for the manufacturing industry is crucial.
The starting point for someone looking for a manufacturing company usually begins with a Google search. Depending on your specific area of expertise, you would want your company’s site to show up at the top of the search rankings, specifically for the searches related to you.
One key benefit of digital marketing is its measurability. This makes it possible to track the success of your marketing efforts, the increase in your visibility, and the number of leads generated for your company.
With so many rapid technological changes in the manufacturing industry, including 3D printing, a rise in automation and the Internet of Things (IoT), you must find a way to remain competitive and stand out.
Technological disruption: The manufacturing industry is undergoing rapid technological change, including the rise of automation, 3D printing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Manufacturers must invest in new technologies to remain competitive.
Google is the most popular search engine by far—so much so that it has become a verb when people want to know the answers to the “where to,” “who,” and “what to” questions; Google is the default go-to for most.
There are two ways in which a manufacturing company can ensure they get relevant traffic from Google:
This option is the long game. However, it is the one that results in steady and continuous growth in traffic to your site and leads generated. Your investment in SEO will remain steady, while your results will compound over time.
The key to a successful SEO campaign is consistently optimizing a website. As you start to catch up to competitors and overtake them, they will play catch up if you stay consistent.
There is just no quick fix to it. It is, however, an option that will give you long-term results.
On the other hand, PPC is a much faster way to get in front of people searching. Regular optimization of the ad campaigns will allow you to reach potential customers a lot faster.
The expenses will be higher, but the results will be quicker.
If used in combination with SEO, you will get the best possible results. As SEO grows, it will start to offset the PPC costs, and you will be able to reach a far wider audience.
The obvious first step would be targeting potential customers near your location. If done correctly, you can grow your digital footprint to cover the whole of the UK. After that, it would also be possible to start expanding with more of a global reach, should you wish to do so.
However, just focusing on the initial search would be a missed opportunity, especially if you want to ensure repeat business.
Digital marketing for manufacturing companies makes sense. Following that initial search with regularly targeted messaging to existing and past customers makes sense.
This regular communication can be automated via email and SMS marketing to ensure your company stays front of mind. Over the years, this increase in customer engagement has proven to result in far higher rates of repeat business.
People are bombarded with such a slew of information daily. Making sure your company differentiates itself by standing out at each step of the customer journey is often the difference between surviving and thriving.
