Category: Blog

Are you struggling to find an effective landing page design for your eCommerce website? Landing pages play an important role in the consumer experience, offering relevant information in a concise and easy-to-follow manner. eCommerce website design experts like our Wisconsin based team at Marketing Metrics Corp. understand the importance of applying various marketing techniques to each landing page on a website in order to boost overall sales. With a few strategic marketing practices in mind, business owners can implement engaging landing pages that command the viewer’s attention and increase conversions.

With a combined 55 years of marketing experience, we have guided countless business owners in creating effective landing pages through website design techniques that have the power to significantly boost conversions. Here we have highlighted a few key website design practices that will help you optimize the landing pages on your eCommerce website.

eCommerce Landing Page Practices That Boost Conversions

• Guide your viewers with clear headlines

When designing a website, it is essential to make your landing pages easy to navigate so that the consumer can find the information they’re looking for with minimal effort. Clear headlines are a great way to let your customers know they are in the right place and prevent them from losing interest in your offerings. Website designers should assume that customers are visiting each landing page independently without having first visited the home page. This will allow developers to position headlines and logos accordingly so that the viewer feels engaged with the brand.

• Brand your landing pages

As previously mentioned, consumers could be directed to your landing pages from a variety of different web locations. For this reason, it is equally as important to create landing pages that are representative of your brand as it is to design an effective home page. This can be done by clearly placing your logo on each landing page and implementing a consistent tone, style, color, and font throughout all of the written content on your website. Your brand should be easily recognizable across all of your web pages, advertisements, and social media platforms.

• Use images to describe your offerings

Landing pages that feature large blocks of text with minimal imagery can be dull and disengaging. By using simple images to supplement long product descriptions, viewers will be far more likely to look into your offerings and make a purchase. Visuals can also bring your offerings to life and contribute to a consistent brand image. At Marketing Metrics Corp. we specialize in video marketing, which can be an effective addition to the text and images on your landing pages.

• Strategically place call-to-action lines

While call-to-action lines are easy enough to implement into landing pages, many website designers do not understand the importance of placing their CTA lines strategically. Visitors to your website should be able to briefly learn about your offerings before being presented with a CTA, however, if it is placed under a large bulk of text and visuals, it may be difficult to keep customers engaged long enough for them to seek out your offerings. CTA lines and buttons should stand out against other web content and be accessible even to those who rapidly skim through your landing pages. This can be done by using bright colors and large buttons surrounded by distinct borders.

• Use certifications and testimonials to build trust

One of the most effective ways to boost conversions through eCommerce website design is to prove your quality and reliability to the customer on every page of your website. Customers should be informed of a secure payment process, along with any relevant certifications or seals of authenticity. We also recommend featuring customer testimonials on each webpage to showcase the quality of your products or services. With so many options for eCommerce websites, visitors are far more likely to purchase on a website that appears to hold a high standard for security and authenticity.

• Space text and imagery out across the page

A crowded landing page can be overwhelming for website visitors. By organizing your text into concise paragraphs and spacing them out between relevant images or videos, your website will be much easier to follow and far more inviting for potential customers. Spacing your web content out will also make it easier for viewers to revisit specific pieces of information on the page without skimming through a large block of copy. eCommerce website designers should avoid filling all whitespace with flashy images and advertisements and allow their offerings to take center stage.

• Keep form fields to a minimum

Long-form fields can be irritating for new website visitors. If you wish to implement a form field into your eCommerce website, make the process quick and easy for the customer by requesting no more than two or three pieces of information. An email address is often all the information you need to boost conversions and keep the customer engaged once they have left your website. Form fields that take more than a few seconds to fill out can often drive potential customers away from your website.

Allow us to help you boost conversions on your eCommerce website with our excellent website design and development services in Wisconsin!

If you are looking to create a thriving eCommerce business, Marketing Metrics Corp. offers a variety of exciting digital marketing services that are proven to significantly increase conversions. Our eCommerce marketing service focuses on helping businesses develop an optimized online catalog, streamlining the online checkout experience, as well as integrating Enterprise Resource Planning, which prevents technical errors during transactions. Additional services include content marketing, SEO services, PPC display, lead generation, and much more!

Marketing Metrics Can Help

Our team has decades of experience specializing in industrial, employment, and manufacturing marketing as well as branding, consulting and website security in Wisconsin, and we are dedicated to helping businesses find success with our diverse range of marketing solutions. For more information on our services, contact us today through our online form or call us at (262) 691-9229!

In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the last few weeks have seen extreme chaos, fear, confusion, and massive disruption of life and business all over the world. Although every pair of eyes is tracking how soon we will ‘flatten the curve’, the last few days have brought a glimmer of hope. Politicians, economists, and even healthcare experts have started noticing a light at the end of the tunnel. Discussions have started at the federal, state, as well as county levels about how to strategically reopen the economy in a staggered and safe manner.

Some of you may have been “open for business” throughout this time. You may even be running beyond full capacity to support your end users in critical industries, such as medical, pharmaceutical, defense and food production. However, for the vast majority of you, the situation may be somewhat like this:

• Your front office teams are working remotely to comply with CDC and government guidelines but lack direction or motivation in an entirely virtual setup.
• Your business does not have a structured eCommerce platform, or a sleek website with adequate information and content.
• Current sales are cut by at least half, some customers are having difficulty making payments and your supply chain is unsteady at best. In addition, your sales forecasts for 2020 just became obsolete as new sales prospecting opportunities seem scarce. Yet, there is an urgent need to generate revenue and keep the business afloat.

The complete absence of in-person meetings, business travel, and trade shows or other avenues may have compelled you to question future revenues and the financial health of your business. But the good news is that it is entirely possible to re-calibrate your strategies and accelerate revenues, even in the current situation. Here are some sales and marketing tactics to jump start your sales process, until we return to business as usual, and beyond.

1. SEO, social media and PPC. As the most important component for lead generation, don’t underestimate the power of targeting. Be on top of where your prospects are, what they do, what they are saying, watching or surfing, and what problems they are experiencing. In the absence of trade shows or face-to-face selling, consider using SEO, Social Media and PPC in tandem, to create an effective digital strategy that supports your sales teams. In fact, you can implement a new PPC campaign in as little as 24 hours to give a quick jump to your sales leads program.

2. CRM and marketing automation: As you press the pedal on your marketing efforts, you will need a robust automated platform that integrates with your CRM, and boosts the performance of your sales team. With better “sales-ready” leads and a clear, real-time view of the sales funnel, your sales personnel (working remotely) could further reduce the lead conversion time and effort.

3. Strong corporate website: While focusing on the digital marketing strategy, don’t forget to beef up your company website with adequate, relevant, and up-to-date content and functionalities.
   • Whether it is about enhancing the user experience, creating brand awareness, improving customer service, or attracting and converting prospects, add or refresh content to build an informative and effective website.
   • If you are a product distributor or manufacturer, don’t miss out on the huge potential of eCommerce. A sleek website and an online store with user-friendly features will dramatically expand your revenue generating capacity.

4. Multi-format, multi-channel content marketing: Improve and track conversions by maximizing different content formats (written, graphical and video) through a host of different channels.
   • Direct mail and email marketing: Go all out on your BOGO offers, loyalty and reward points, or discounted deals by pairing your online display advertising with a series of direct mails. Depending on the nature of your business, try email marketing through relevant publications. For example, for OEM companies, Machine Design or Design World are relevant options. With blogs, case studies, success stories, or other articles, you can reach out to their vast network of subscribers, track website traffic and related RFQs, and even calculate ROI.
5. • Content syndication: Use content syndication to publish gated content, such as whitepapers on a network of over 15,000 web properties. With options to define your ideal prospects and pay only for leads that match your target market, this is an efficient and economical solution to further your lead generation efforts.
6. • Sourcing through Subscriptions: Get access to a sales prospecting databases such as a Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers . Acquire insightful data and information about target businesses and create more meaningful engagement on the direct marketing and direct sales front. Do you also want to target growth industries or companies – say manufacturers of medical or exercise equipment? D&B has contact names, titles and email addresses for over 34,000 companies in these two growing vertical markets.
7. • Targeted Prospecting: Use channels such as LinkedIn for prospecting at very specific levels of industries, geographies, and other demographic factors. Besides targeted ad campaigns, LinkedIn offers powerful features, including visitor tracking and personalized invitation and messages that have a better open rate than ordinary emails.
8. • Video marketing: The current lock-downs, shelter-in-place orders, and shuttering of businesses has led to an exponential use of video for daily meetings and huddles, as well as customer service and prospecting. This is the time to cleverly incorporate video marketing into your overall sales strategy. Conduct product demos, service offerings, or digital events and webinars to address queries or promote your products, all by harnessing the power of video. Tools, such as Go To Meeting, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc. offer different functionalities in this context. The latest YouTube’s Video Builder is an excellent, free DIY tool, for creating simple videos that convey key messages to your clients and prospects.

5. The ‘winning mindset’: The corona virus crisis may have temporarily affected your growth and revenues. However, with the right tools and approach, it could bring out the best in your organization’s talent and strategic capabilities:
   • At a leadership level, take detailed stock of your entire pipeline. Sort your products on the basis of ‘likely demand surge’, ‘stable orders’, and ‘uncertain’. This will help you build revised revenue potential scenarios and focus your sales and marketing efforts on the right portfolios.
   • Create a versatile and agile command center for providing clear guidelines, gathering real-time intelligence, rapidly redeploying resources or marketing efforts, and promoting speedy decision making. In the long run, when business-as-usual resumes, this win room could test new offers, increase renewals or cross-sale, and lead other such initiatives for enhancing the speed and agility of revenue generation.
   • There is no such thing as over-communication during the current crisis. Boost the morale of your sales and marketing teams by prioritizing internal communication and increasing the daily virtual touch points. Balance them carefully so that your teams still have sufficient time to multitask or focus on their core jobs. Train them for effective sales and customer service in a virtual environment and equip them with adequate collateral’s. Wherever finances allow, continue your leader-boards, incentives, spiffs (immediate cash bonus for a sale), or other motivational tactics for promoting lead generation and conversions.

COVID-19 may have swept your business into uncharted territories. However, many companies are thinking that we will have a so-called V-shaped recovery – a sharp slowdown and then a quick economic recovery. Once you are in the ‘win sales’ mindset, it will be easy to think of a speedy recovery. Invest in new remote selling tools, sharpen or re-purpose your existing resources, go all out on internal collaboration efforts, and use innovative marketing techniques to refocus on lead generation. If you need help in staying the course or executing some of these tactics, contact Marketing Metrics Corp.

Reference sources:

https://www.showpad.com/blog/4-ways-companies-are-shifting-their-selling-strategies-in-the-wake-of-covid-19/

https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/5-ways-sales-teams-adapt-covid-19/

https://www.bain.com/insights/preserving-revenues-in-b2b-markets-as-covid19-spreads/

Have you been trying to take your Wisconsin manufacturing firm to the next level? Perhaps you’ve invested in targeted marketing campaigns in the past that haven’t had the success you had hoped. No matter what your motivations are, video marketing is a fantastic way to showcase your company’s goods and services, connect with potential customers, and highlight the benefits of your brand. One of the best ways to implement a successful video marketing campaign is to invest in a reliable Wisconsin video marketing service, like the team from Marketing Metrics Corp.

We’ve helped hundreds of clients improve their bottom line by leading targeted video marketing campaigns that truly resonate with audience members. The right video marketing strategy can go a long way, so let’s take a look at some of the reasons manufacturers use it as a tool.

1. Videos Are Easy to Share

Are you looking for quality shareable content that will easily generate a buzz? Videos are incredibly easy to share and can generate big returns if shared in the right places. On sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, videos consistently generate higher rankings and more visibility than updates and text-based messages. This is because it’s much easier for users on social media to digest images rather than text, making videos a fantastic marketing tool.  Not to mention that Google owns YouTube.

Another advantage of creating unique videos that highlight your products and services is that your followers will share them, generating interest in your brand. This can lead to a boost in qualified leads and new prospects. Video marketing is a great way to organically increase brand awareness, as well as build trust among consumers and industry influencers. You can share new information about your business, highlight different products and pain points, and also answer questions about your company.

2. Industrial & B2B Buyers are Watching Videos

Nowadays, videos are everywhere, especially in the B2B sector. Companies all around the world are using video marketing as a tool to connect with potential and current customers – especially due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. This means that if you’re not doing some form of it yourself, you run the risk of being seen as behind the times or as a company that doesn’t keep up with current market trends. In many cases, studies have shown that users prefer watching a video about a product rather than reading about it. It’s not surprising, with today’s reliance on mobile devices, that video marketing has become such an invaluable tool.

According to Hubspot’s most recent report, approximately 85% of all businesses employ video marketing tactics. This number is expected to rise in the years ahead as consumers continue to rely on videos to learn about new brands and products. Even a short, two-minute video can provide a great return on investment, resulting in increased site traffic, leads, sales, and enhanced understanding about your brand.

Sharing videos that educate customers about processes, products, your company, and other insightful things is one of the best ways to demonstrate to them that your company is committed to remaining on the cutting-edge of consumer technology.

3. Videos are Highly Effective at Increasing Sales

Ultimately, every marketing campaign has one goal in mind: to bring in new business, right? Well, video marketing is no different. However, unlike other tools, it can have far-reaching effects for generating new sales. Videos enable you to connect with your audience members on a more personal level, giving them an idea of how your business works as a team. They’ll be able to get a better sense of your company’s personality, which in turn builds consumer trust that will eventually result in them choosing your company over competitors.

Videos can also be easily tailored to suit a variety of needs and purposes, strategically reaching out to customers at different stages of their buying journey, from the beginning to the end of the funnel. Another great thing is that your sales team can easily check to see who watched a particular video, the time of day a particular video had the most views, the geographic location of viewers, and other key data to help track down qualified leads.

Some examples of videos that cater to different stages in the sales funnel include:

• The How-To Video: Sometimes, explaining how to use a product or perform a process/service is simply too complicated to do with a simple text or tutorial; that’s where videos come into play. A how-to video is a perfect way to show your audience how they’ll benefit from a particular product, troubleshoot common issues, or go over the more technical aspects of industry-specific products and services.

• The Explainer Video: This type of video helps your audience get to know you a little better, by explaining precisely what you do and highlighting aspects of your brand and services. They’re also a great way to demonstrate how your brand can help solve their problems; how your particular product will make their lives easier.

• The Demo Video: These videos are similar to how-to videos but go much more in-depth, explaining and demonstrating more complicated aspects of a product. This is a particularly useful type for B2B businesses and those in the manufacturing sector who might offer more industry-specific products and services. These are also the videos that audience members are most likely to share.

4. Your Competitors Already Offer Video Content

As mentioned above, video marketing has become a sort of standard in this day and age, so if you want to keep up with the competition it’s important to follow suit. Without a video component as a part of your content marketing campaign, you could be losing out on valuable leads as customers go elsewhere to get what they need. For example, those in the manufacturing B2B sector can post videos on their Thomasnet.com or Google My Business profile page that can easily result in thousands of views from qualified customers.

Let us help you share your brand with innovative video marketing in Wisconsin!

Do you want to take your company to the next level? If you want to keep up with the competition in the manufacturing industry, one of the best ways to do so is to have a great digital marketing plan. In addition to our video marketing solutions, we also offer a variety of different internet marketing services in Wisconsin, like SEO, PPC, website design and development services, and more.

With over 55 years of combined marketing experience in the industrial and manufacturing sector, Marketing Metrics Corp. can provide your B2B business with the tools and insight to excel. For more information about what we do, contact us online today or call (262) 691-9229.

For those in the industrial or manufacturing sectors, aligning your company’s sales and marketing arms can be a great way to remain competitive and generate great returns. However, this can often be easier said than done, especially for companies that have been doing business in a particular way for decades.

Ultimately, both the sales and marketing department are trying to accomplish the same exact thing: generating more sales leads and revenue for your company. So why not have them work together to reach that common goal? Doing so will help ensure your staff is working efficiently and making all the right decisions.

Companies with aligned sales and marketing departments will generate more leads and higher returns than other traditionally-aligned businesses because of an aligned skill set. A combined marketing/sales team will always be able to offer better post-purchase communication with clients, a quality one-on-one experience, and targeted content.

As one of today’s leading sales and marketing consulting firms, Marketing Metrics Corp. has helped hundreds take their manufacturing firms to the next level. So, let’s take a look at exactly what aligning sales and marketing looks like!

Your Ideal Customer is Identified & Clearly Defined

One of the biggest problems for many in the manufacturing industry is determining the right customer mix in terms of profitability and growth potential. A diversified custom base helps in minimizing the financial impact during a major economic downturn. Ultimately, we need to find the individuals (influencers and decision makers) that are most likely to use their company’s goods and services. Unfortunately, any misconceptions in this area or miscommunication between departments will inevitably cost you money. Unqualified leads are often ignored by sales or difficult to pursue, which is why communicating across all channels and settling upon a clearly defined target market and buyer persona is essential.

A great marketing/sales team will have no doubts about who exactly they are trying to reach.For industrial companies, performing research into the types of buyers searching for your products and services, as well as competitors who have similar offerings is a great way to lay the groundwork in determining your ideal customer.

We’ve successfully utilized Dun & Bradstreet to analyze clients databases, clean them up and find new prospective clients to actively pursue.

Sharing High-Level Goals Between Departments

Like we’ve already mentioned above, both the marketing and sales department are trying to generate new business and qualified leads. Ideally, working together is a great way to increase high-margin sales. But when doing so, both departments need to support each other; the marketing department by producing the right qualified leads necessary for new business and the sales department for shoring up those leads and turning them into a real profit.

The marketing team will drum up the right clientele through innovative content creation and other tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO) services, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and targeted social media campaigns. Then, once the potential customers have made it through the funnel, it’s the sales department’s turn to that lead into a customer.

Consistent Branding & Messaging

Do you think you’d get exactly the same answer if you asked every member of your sales team and marketing department to describe your brand, your clients, potential paint points with buyers, and what exactly you offer and to whom? If your answer is no, then there’s a big problem. Since all members of your marketing and sales teams will be communicating with clients either directly or through targeted campaigns, it’s essential to have consistent branding and messaging across the board.

By coordinating efforts between your marketing and sales departments, you’ll be able to make certain that advertising and promotional materials, your website, the print materials you give to clients, and all other channels offer clear and consistent messaging.

Clear Responsibilities

Having the responsibilities of every team member in your company clearly defined is important to ensure work is being done efficiently, especially when it comes to sales and marketing. Although the marketing team is generally responsible for attracting interest and the sales team for turning that interest into a dialogue, lead or purchase, there can be some gray areas and overlaps.

Outlining responsibilities and aligning your marketing and sales team will ensure that:

• There’s no confusion as to what criteria are used to qualify leads.
• Everyone knows who approaches newly-generated leads and how.
• There’s a clear understanding as to what type of KPIs will be used to measure success.
• There’s no confusion as to who is responsible for the development of sales-qualified leads.

Create a Dialogue Between Departments

Aligning your marketing and sales teams also means providing them with the right tools to help them easily communicate between departments. One of the best ways to do so is by investing in technology that enables team members to share key insight and data about leads, feedback, and opportunities for growth. Investing in a platform that enables employees to communicate such insight across channels is often the best way to do this.

In addition to the above, scheduling regular meetings and touch points for sales/marketing is also key. A good meeting agenda should look something like this:

• Reviewing & Discussing New Leads: Consider all of the leads generated in the past several weeks or months. Do they all align with your key consumer personas? How are these leads being engaged? Are there any obstacles to overcome on the sales or marketing side?

• Reviewing & Discussing Open & Closed Opportunities: Now is the time to take a look at everything that’s in front of your marketing/sales team. Take a look at how much newrevenue sales generated. Did they meet your expectations? Have you lost any sales opportunities due to paint points or competitors?

• Discussing & Adjusting Priorities: After touching on some of the points previously mentioned, it’s time to take a look at the approach of your combined sales/marketing strategy. Are there any pressing matters that need to be addressed? What does the next month hold for both teams?

• Assigning Responsibilities: This gives your teams a chance to assign clear goals, objectives, responsibilities, and outline marketing plans to put them into action. How will each department assist each other and provide support to one another over the coming months? What goals need to be accomplished before the next meeting?

Let Marketing Metrics Corp. help you align your sales & marketing tactics!

Do you need to generate more sales leads and revenue? The team from Marketing Metrics Corp. can help by providing key insight, as well as a variety of proven lead generation tactics. We can work in tandem with your sales team to drum up new qualified leads and help your manufacturing business grow.

With more than 55 combined years of marketing and sales experience in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, our team takes a unique approach that helps you increase your bottom line. Through the use of innovative technology, proven marketing strategies, and other solutions, we’ll help you stay ahead of the competition.

For more information about how Marketing Metrics Corp. can benefit your business, contact us online today or call (262) 691-9229.

 

Physical events like seminars, user conferences, training conferences, town halls and trade shows have been cancelled to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. News reports say that trade show cancellations, rescheduling of events and work-from-home requirements is causing business revenues and profits to plummet globally.  In the absence of opportunities to meet with new and existing customers through the physical events, marketing and sales executives and event planners are under immense pressure to find new ways to stay connected.  Reality has set in and now we have a challenge that we need to overcome.  What happens when you lose your audience and can’t get anyone to come to your physical event?   Can you still have an event strategy? The answer is “yes” but you need to change physical events to digital events.

What is the process for including promotional products during a Webinar, Digital Event or Virtual Trade Show?

You can still offer promotional products and apparel during and after digital events.

• Pre-event planning: The pre-digital event planning process is exactly the same as a physical event such as discussing the type of event (seminar/roadshow, user conference, trade show, training conference, partner summit, town hall or internal event), event goals, target market, number of attendees, budget, timeline, etc.

• Promotional item(s): Based on our pre-event planning session, we will recommend the perfect promotional products for your target market.  The promotional item(s) will be purchased by you, the “event” host, and will be decorated with your logo/brand information.

• Digital Store: We will create a digital order form showcasing your branded apparel or promotional products. If you choose to offer branded apparel, the attendee will be able order exact sizes, colors and even personalize it with their name.During the checkout process, they will add their shipping information.

Below is an example of an online order form

• Free swag: Once a client/prospect has “attended” your event, they can click on the “thank you for attending” link and will be directed to your “thank you” store/order form.  You can offer everyone the same gift and simply have them fill out the info sheet or you can allow them to choose from two or more items.

• Close Date:On a predetermined “close date”such as two weeks after the event, the store is closed and a comprehensive spreadsheet will be sent to you with all of the attendees’ contact, order and shipping info.

• Shipping options:The items will be bulk shipped to you for distribution to all of the event attendees. We recommend that the event host does this so they can track “attendees” and if anything is returned it goes back to the event host. However, for a minimal handling and shipping fee, the promotional items can be shipped directly to the attendee.

What are the benefits for including promotional products during and after a digital event?

Like a properly designed physical event, a properly designed and produced digital event creates a positive user experience, helps communicate your brand and convinces participants to become customers. You can still have a great “experience” (connected, human, engaging) with a digital event.  Ways to make it more engaging: Social media, Q&A with polls, free swag, great content, special handouts, CTA’s integrated into webinar.

About Marketing Metrics Corp and HALO Branded Solutions

Marketing Metrics Corp. teamed up with HALO Branded Solutions, one of the largest promotional products distributors in the U.S.  HALO Branded Solutions has been an industry leader for over six decades by combining award-winning creativity, world-class customer service, and a guarantee of complete satisfaction.  As a HALO sales representative, we provide expertise in integrated marketing solutions that feature creative and cost-effective dimensional marketing products.

We deliver global product sourcing and distribution, online and traditional marketing support, company stores and incentive programs, art services and design creation and warehousing and fulfillment services — all with exceptional speed to help drive the hectic pace of your promotional efforts.

Promotional products are powerful marketing tools. They are useful, long-lasting and appreciated by the recipient. Put HALO’s creative expertise and product integrity to work for you on your next promotion. Over 40,000 clients nationwide trust HALO to share their brand vision with customers, employees and prospects. Make a lasting impression at a virtual event, trade show, demonstrate support for a fundraiser and attract new clients. Whatever your objective, we will work with you to power your brand —on-time, under budget, and beyond expectations—with every order.

There have been a lot of changes to how online marketing works in the last decade, but one basic fact hasn’t changed:  Inbound marketing, also known as content marketing, is still the backbone of online outreach.  Manufacturing businesses in Wisconsin, and around the world, should still be focusing on inbound as one of the primary pillars of their online marketing strategies.

However, specific methods of engaging in inbound marketing have shifted over the years.   So, in this article, we wanted to outline some of the most important tips and tricks for utilizing content marketing for your manufacturing business in 2020 and beyond.

10 Vital Tips and Suggestions for Improving Your Content Marketing

1. Your content must be good

The days when a website could successfully use Search Engine Optimization hacks to get ahead, like keyword stuffing or link rings, are long gone.  Google’s heuristic content analysis systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated.   Their goal is to see the cream rise to the top of search results, and they’re making it happen.

Simply put, a business cannot “cheat” its content anymore.  To succeed in content marketing in 2020, your content must be legitimately good.  If not great.  Hire better content creators – people with a manufacturing background and give them a sufficient budget to produce solid work.

2. Visual content is more widely shared

Blogs are super-cheap to produce, which is much of their appeal, but they’re not as widely shared anymore.  If you want to see your material popping up on social media, you will be much better off focusing on either infographics or videos.  

Infographics probably deliver the best (and safest) “bang for the buck” since they require significantly less effort than even cheap/quick videos.  However, a viral video will be much more widely seen than an infographic.  A single hit video can do more to boost a manufacturing inbound marketing campaign than a hundred blogs or infographics.

3. Invest in remarketing advertisements

Remarketing, (also called “retargeting”) is a great way to extend the investment you’ve made into website content.  These are a particular kind of pay-per-click ad, available through Google, which specifically targets people who have already been to your site.

For example, say a prospective customer visits an electronic components website, looks at a particular brand of capacitors, but leaves without making a purchase.  A remarketing campaign would then put an ad for those specific capacitors in front of the lead for the next week or so, reminding them of the product and the vendor.  These campaigns have been shown to be 10x as effective as standard banner ads in driving sales!

4. Host webinars

Thanks to the rise in affordable video-streaming technology in recent years, it’s now relatively cheap and easy to host your own online webinars.  These are an excellent outreach tool because they’re novel enough to attract a diverse crowd, plus they give you one of the best possible stages to display your thought leadership.  A manufacturing business known for hosting great webinars is also more likely to be invited to talk at live events and see other promotional opportunities.

Plus, webinars can be archived and redistributed like any other content, so every webinar adds to your pile of available content.

5. Engage in guest blogging/vlogging

Very often, content marketing is a situation where a rising tide can lift multiple boats.  Having guest bloggers (or vloggers, podcasters, etc.) on your site will automatically attract a new audience, while also putting them in front of new eyes.  The same is true if you guest blog for someone else.

Guest blogging is fine for people within the same industry, but you can see the best results if you can involve people in related or associated industries, so there’s less direct competition.  Then it’s truly a win-win for everyone involved, as well as helping build bridges between you and potential professional partners.

6. Put more emphasis on your social accounts

Social media is coming to be seen as one of the main ways that buyers interact with businesses, so social needs to have a prominent place in your industrial content marketing strategy.  Our advice is to focus on quality over quantity.  Don’t try to maintain a dozen different social accounts; drill down and focus only on those sites that host your best potential customer base.

Also: remember that social is increasingly about two-way communication!  Many buyers now regard Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn as viable ways to initiate a conversation with businesses.   If they aren’t already, your social managers should be empowered to respond to customer comments, complaints, and questions as though they’re part of your customer service teams.

7. Monitor – and utilize – popular memesand hashtags

If your business image at all relies on being seen as trendy, or at least trend-aware, you need to spend some time keeping an eye on memes and hashtags.  Businesses who can successfully utilize popular memes and hashtags in a timely way can potentially get a lot of exposure and social sharing.  Arby’s, for example, are excellent at jumping on meme opportunities as they happen.

In general, your social accounts should be set up to be as agile as humanly possible.  Big news, internet trends, and other such pop culture moments can come and go in the span of hours.  If your social managers have to spend days getting content approved, you’ll always be missing the bandwagon.

8. Contests and giveaways are still popular

Here’s a trend that hasn’t changed, and maybe never will: people still love contests and giveaways.  If you ever want to quickly pad out your email or social contact lists, a giveaway will almost always deliver.

Better yet, thanks to the increase in use of digital media over the years, often you can get away with only awarding digital goods.  However, don’t completely discount the value of promotional products – people still enjoy receiving free swag!  Smaller businesses and content creators, in particular, can benefit from investing in some promotional products.

9. Integrate “freemium” options

Content marketing has traditionally been free (as in ‘gratis’) but that’s starting to change.  Websites are now starting to adopt freemium models, where users can pay small fees in exchange for better service.  This could include fewer advertisements, early access to content, or other goodies.

This model won’t work for everyone but give it some thought.  When it works, it’s an excellent way for your content marketing to directly generate revenue.

10. Create buzz with beta tests

In software, a “beta test” is when the software is almost finished but needs to go through one last round of testing and refinement.  Having a semi-public beta test, where certain people within the public are given an exclusive chance to try out the software prior to release, is a great way to build buzz for that software – assuming it’s actually good, of course.

This same principle can apply to a lot of products!  For example, electronics manufacturers are increasingly sending engineering samples to popular YouTubers for exposure and feedback.  Look for ways to utilize the “beta test” concept for your own product.

Get Content Marketing Services Today

Do you want to take your manufacturing business’s content marketing and outreach to the next level?  Marketing Metrics, Wisconsin’s #1 industrial marketing firm, can make it happen.  Contact us to learn more!

If you own a manufacturing company, keeping your website up-to-date is essential for many reasons. Firstly, an easy-to-use, informative website will help your potential and current clients find the information they need in the quickest manner possible. It can also communicate your brand and message to clients, showing them what you’re all about and why they should choose your company over other manufacturing firms. For this reason, many invest in Wisconsin website design services for their manufacturing firm.

However, if you’re not a web expert yourself, it can be difficult to determine precisely what makes a great website stand out from the rest. That’s why the team from Marketing Metrics Corp. is here to help.

Below, you’ll find our in-depth website redesign guide for 2020, explaining some of the most important website components to make note of as well as how to make certain you have the very best website in your industry. Let’s take a look!

Responsive vs. Adaptive Web Design  

What is Responsive Design?

When it comes to web design, responsive and adaptive design are two distinct ways you can organize your site. Nowadays, many web design platforms will be optimized to look good on any device, whether it be a tablet, phone, or desktop computer. This easy adaptability is referred to as responsive web design because it responds in kind to whatever type of device it’s being viewed on.

When viewed on a smaller screen, a responsive website will adjust its size accordingly, tweaking images and text to their optimal viewing size for whatever device is being used. This will make the website look sleek and streamlined no matter how or where it’s being viewed.

Through the use of special coding and CSS3 media queries, a web page can be used in any situation because it automatically adjusts itself. This eliminates the need to create a webpage then reformat it for every possible size.

What is Adaptive Design?

Much like responsive design, adaptive design also enables your website to adjust accordingly for various screen sizes. However, there’s one key difference between the two: rather than having your content automatically repositioned on screens of various sizes, adaptive design employs different static templates based on a page’s pixel width on a given device. Once a screen reaches a certain width, it readjusts to the next level.

What’s the Best for Your Manufacturing Web Design Project?

When it comes to standard web design for the industrial or manufacturing industry, often a responsive design will work best because it’s the standard for most of the content management systems out there. Responsive design will often allow for more flexibility for webpages. This is because it can automatically adapt to nearly any size or device, making it a clear winner when it comes to functional and user-friendly web design solutions.

When is Adaptive Web Design Used?

Although responsive web design is often preferred among industrial and manufacturing web designers, there are some scenarios when adaptive web design might be more in line with your needs. For example, if you have a niche audience that will be accessing your particular site from a specific device. Is there a standard for field technicians or manufacturing managers in your industry? Quite often tables will be used to place parts orders, fill out online services, forms, and reports, as well as receive instructions and refer to product manuals.

If the majority of orders from your firm are coming directly from technicians or managers using tablets while they’re out in the field, it may be beneficial for you to create an adaptive website specifically designed for such devices and platforms. This way you can always be sure that online content will be displayed consistently on that particular device every time.

Mobile-First Indexing

Nowadays, with so many people using their smartphones to locate businesses, search for services, and buy products, mobile-first indexing is becoming increasingly essential for manufacturers that want to remain competitive. In fact, last year Google implemented mobile-first indexing for all new websites, meaning that sites specifically designed to be compatible with mobile devices will rank higher than others that aren’t.

Google states that it’s monitoring older sites that aren’t compatible with mobile and ranking them based on best practices but don’t be surprised if, in the near future, your site stops ranking at all because it’s incompatible with mobile indexing. Often, implementing mobile indexing can be a great way to give your site a facelift, make it more competitive, and prepare for a successful inbound marketing campaign.

Wisconsin Website Design Solutions for Marketing Metrics Corp.

If you own a business in the industrial or manufacturing industry, enlisting the services of a company that can tailor their solutions to meet your specific needs is essential. At Marketing Metrics Corp. we use all of our industry experience and insight into helping you create a website that will generate maximum returns. Whether you want to build a website from the ground up or optimize your old site, we have the experience and expertise the generate the maximum possible returns.

Our Wisconsin website design team employs responsive tactics to ensure that your site looks fantastic on any device. We’re also experts in every type of development language, including .NET, PHP, Javascript, Node.js, React, AngularJS, and Vue.js. We also have experience working with a variety of content management systems including Drupal, Joomla, ModX, Magento, and WordPress.

One of the benefits of working with the team from Marketing Metrics Corp. is that we have the tools to easily integrate your website with whatever CRM software solutions you’re using. We can also ensure it functions properly with ERP software and other applications, creating a streamlined, one-stop-shop website with a wide range of capabilities.

Contact us for innovative web design technology in Wisconsin!

If you’re searching for a marketing and website design firm that can help improve your bottom line and attract more customers, contact Marketing Metrics Corp. We also specialize in industrial and manufacturing marketing, employment marketing, branding and promotional solutions, and website security.

After you’ve had a new website designed or your old one optimized and updated, Marketing Metrics Corp. can provide your industrial or manufacturing firm with a host of solutions to generate new clientele. Our industry experts have extensive experience heading successful digital marketing campaigns, SEO services, PPC solutions, innovative E-Commerce solutions, and more.

For more information about our services, contact us online today or call (262) 691-9229.

The last decade saw e-commerce grow into a dominant form of business, and there’s every reason to believe the next ten years will see just as much growth and change – if not more!  At Marketing Metrics, we’re looking forward to the 2020s being very exciting, with plenty of new ideas that you’ll want to follow and adopt.

There’s no telling for certain how things will shape up in the years ahead, but these are a few predictions we feel good about making.  Or, at least, they point towards trends that everyone should be keeping an eye on.

Ten Predictions for Ecommerce In 2020 and Beyond

1. Amazon-style B2B purchasing experiences

A major side effect of Millennials and Zoomers becoming responsible for purchasing decisions is that they increasingly expect a simple streamlined approach to e-commerce, even when making corporate purchases.  They have no time or patience for the more traditional “wooing” process where one salesperson makes themselves a single point of contact for making purchases.  Even Gen Xers are often annoyed by this process.

If they can hop onto Amazon and buy a box of pencils for their home in two minutes, they will want the same experience when they’re buying a case of pencils for their office.  B2B and even B2C vendors will want to look into offering do-it-yourself shopping experiences that emphasize speed and ease of use, even if that means restructuring how sales staff get paid.

2. Greater bleed over between online and physical presences 

Extreme pendulum swings always tend to equalize over time.  Across the past two decades, we saw e-commerce become huge, with an urgent push to move all interactions online.  However, as time went on, the problems with this approach – on both the supply and demand sides – started becoming clear.  Customer service and experience were difficult to maintain.  Online transactions are distancing and impersonal.  Logistics became more of a problem.  Buyer loyalty was hard to maintain.

So, it’s hardly a surprise that in the last couple of years, we’ve started to see a hard push from previously online-only retailers to move into the physical space.  Amazon is the most obvious example of this, but it’s a trend that we suspect will continue.  However, as Amazon has shown with their grocery stores, it will be a new online-enhanced physical shopping experience.

QR codes and Bluetooth beacon messages will guide customers and track their activity.  Checkout-less stores will become more common.  Promotions will cross over between online and offline to encourage more engagement.  This field is wide open for innovation!

3. Predictive “AI” systems will improve engagement

The current tech gold rush is in the realm of heuristic “AI,” predictive learning algorithms that go far beyond the simple “If you liked this, you’ll also like these” recommendations of the past decade.  Heuristic systems will be increasingly observing customer behavior, and making strong predictions about behavior – who’s likely to buy, who’s likely to abandon their cart, etc.

This will open up entire new avenues to engage with these customers directly with pitches, offers, and other opportunities meant to encourage sales.

Of course, this must be tempered with an awareness of how creepy these systems can seem to the public when their influence is too visible.  Most likely, there will be a lot of work put into trying to disguise these observation systems and discouraging customers from thinking too hard about them.

4. Increased adoption of chatbots and other conversational systems

“AI” won’t only be powering storefronts – it will also be powering customer interactions.  We’ve already seen a big boom in online commerce sites deploying chatbots mimicking human service reps, and they seem to have a positive effect.  Few buyers are fooled into thinking they’re human, but these bots can still function as interactive FAQs or handle basic requests such as scheduling callbacks from human reps.

This is a trend that will only grow over time. We’re absolutely going to see more advanced customer-facing AIs which will have increasingly sophisticated capabilities to parse natural language and autonomously handle complicated requests.  There will still always be a need for human representatives and overseers, but in truth, we won’t be at all surprised if “Tier 1” customer support is almost entirely robotic by the end of this decade.

5. Growth in regulation-compliance services 

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation sent shockwaves through e-commerce by implementing highly restrictive regulations on data-handling that applied to any company with any presence in the EU.  While the Americas haven’t seen any legislation as far-reaching, there are similar headaches when dealing with regulations like the HIPAA laws covering medical records.  And now, we have the new “Article 13” copyright laws about to come into force in Europe, further making electronic compliance a hassle.

What this strongly points towards is growth in services designed to help guide companies through increasingly complicated global e-commerce laws.  It’s simply becoming too complicated for many businesses to keep up with, so a push from the service sector is almost certainly the inevitable result.

Companies may end up handing over more and more control of their data to third parties, just to keep themselves protected.

6. Increased reliance on social influencers for outreach

This is another trend that’s been going on for a few years, and we see no reason to think it will change any time soon.  Social media influencers will become the new pitchmen (and women) of the 2020s, and one of the primary ways buyers in all segments will hear about new products.

As things stand, this is an excellent opportunity for companies to get in on the trend early.  The nice thing about partnering with social influencers is that as long as you keep your expectations realistic, it’s a relatively inexpensive venture with huge potential for returns.

What’s important to remember is that even mid-tier influencers still reach many thousands of people.  It’s not necessary to try to get onto the radar of the biggest influencers in your sector.  Find B-listers, even C-listers, and butter them up.  They’ll eat out of your hand and tell their audience all about your products.

7. Increased product personalization or customization

Manufacturing trends have made it easier than ever to produce variations on existing products, with little or no retooling needed.  This has already given rise to closet industries of custom manufacturing work, and this trend will undoubtedly continue.  Consumers already expect customized product offerings online, so it’s only natural that this desire will start to expand into physical products as well.

This is a trend that can take many, many forms.  The main takeaway here is simple: no matter what field of business or industry you’re in, determine what types of customization or personalization might appeal to your buyers, and look to provide it.

(Personalization will also almost certainly be a driver of buyer loyalty as well!)

8. Less reliance on “clickbait” and other sleazy tactics

A “sucker” may be born every minute – but they’re wising up.  The Millennials and Zoomers have grown up online and are very familiar with all the typical sleazy tactics and tricks used to push engagement and purchases.  There’s already a backlash building, as and the online generations continue to move into positions of responsibility and power, they will be less and less influenced by cheap tricks.

Racing towards the bottom, and only targeting low-information buyers, can also backfire in numerous ways.  In the short term, it can damage your brand image.  In the longer term, we’re talking about some of the least-loyal buyers in the market.  They won’t stick around.  Those who continue to pursue low-hanging fruit will be devoting huge amounts of time just maintaining market share.

Marketing Metrics

Marketing Metrics Corp designs and develops e-commerce websites.  We’re the top online marketing firm in Wisconsin, and we put a particular emphasis on the industrial and manufacturing sectors.  If you want cutting-edge outreach in e-commerce, website design, and more, please contact us to discuss the details.

 

Can you add a 9^th one for On-Demand?  Here is some copy ideas.  At the end of this section, please tie in the need to integrate e-commerce with your ERP software.

On-Demand Ecommerce Becomes the Norm

On-demand ecommerce is the expectation to buy and receive goods whenever and wherever wanted – including delivery on the same day. Orders will be placed from phones, from vehicles, and numerous Internet of Things (IoT) devices (think Alexa, Siri, Google on steroids) that will be integrated into everyday lives.  This order convenience will not only impact how and when products are ordered, but also when they are delivered.  The desire for convenience and our growing impatience has started to create more and more expectation for same-day delivery of goods.

This spring, Amazon announced it had invested $800 million in narrowing Prime shipping to a one-day window, rather than two days. Amazon is already capable of next-day delivery to about 75% of the total U.S. population – and already has a huge head start in fulfilling its promise to shorten the current two-day free shipping plan to same-day.

Amazon has already changed the game and set consumer expectations in the ecommerce market, and this plan will continue to raise total consumer expectations and force other retailers to keep improving their logistics infrastructures in order to compete.

Most retailers are only recently starting to offer two-day shipping.  They will be forced to spend even more on improving their logistics infrastructure to try and keep pace with Amazon. To be relevant, they will have to build more, smaller distribution centers (DCs) in population hubs to keep delivery windows short.  We are already seeing this trend and we will continue to see the expansion of smaller DCs throughout the 2020s.

 

A 10^th should be: Manufacturers are selling directly to customers via online platforms.  https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/advanced-electronics/our-insights/the-coming-shakeout-in-industrial-distribution

Other manufacturers are selling directly to consumers on online platforms. For example, Dow Corning recaptured cost-sensitive customers by establishing Xiameter, a low-cost web-based brand. Within ten years of launch, online sales accounted for 40 percent of Dow Corning’s revenues. Kohler, a major manufacturer of plumbing products, has invested in direct-to-consumer and builders’ channels with a state-of-the-art e-commerce platform and supporting organization structure despite an extensive network of distributors and retailers who sell its products. The list goes on: prominent manufacturers across industries are looking for ways to capture a larger share of the overall value chain.

Conclusion: slower-moving distributors (that don’t adopt or embrace e-commerce) will struggle—and some to go the way of Blockbuster and Borders.