When you think about the types of companies you typically see ads for, manufacturing firms don’t typically come to mind. That’s because, historically, manufacturing companies haven’t invested a great deal in traditional marketing. They tend to be focused more on business-to-business (B2B) sales, than business-to-consumer (B2C). Their business focus has typically been on achieving operational efficiencies to drive down costs and increase profits. They set themselves apart from competitors by providing higher quality, faster turnaround or lower cost, and they haven’t typically spent much time thinking about the end user consumers of their products. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Should Manufacturers Think More Like Pharmaceutical Companies When it Comes to Marketing?
Thursday, February 22nd, 2018
Content Marketing and the Pathway to Purchase
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2018
Business owners know that bringing in new sales can be extremely challenging and often frustrating. More often than not, a potential prospect never makes it from sales lead to paying customer. There are a number of steps along the path to purchase and prospects can be lost at any one. But it doesn’t have to be this way! At least not in the world of online marketing. Great content generation can help move prospects through your sales funnel more effectively. (more…)
Content Marketing: A Wide Range of Options
Thursday, January 18th, 2018
At Strategic Communications, we are big advocates of content marketing. It’s crucial to offer something of value to your potential customers rather than simply advertising to them. Blogs and whitepapers can be great vehicles for this type of marketing, but there are many, many forms of content marketing, and some might not seem to fit that label at first glance. (more…)
All It Takes is a Little Nudge
Tuesday, January 16th, 2018
People may sometimes think about marketing as the process of convincing someone to buy something they may not be initially inclined to purchase. Maybe it’s luring a customer away from a competitor or convincing someone to buy something they don’t really need.
From a more marketing-friendly perspective, though, the process could be seen as (more…)
Best Practices in Defining Your Value Proposition
Tuesday, November 7th, 2017
The value proposition for a product or service is a foundational element in any sales and marketing activity. The value proposition responds to consumers’ question of “why” related to your products and services. “Why should I buy your product?” “Why should I subscribe to this service?”
A value proposition isn’t an off-the-top-of-your-head pitch to potential customers. It has to be carefully crafted, based on a solid understanding of your audience’s needs and values. Writing for Forbes, Rebecca O. Bagley recommends a three-step process for developing a value proposition: (more…)
How to Market to People Who Hate Marketing
Thursday, November 2nd, 2017
Millennials have changed the face of the world in so many ways: culture, technology and business to name just a few. As this group grows to represent an ever-larger share of the consumer market, one characteristic of this cohort, in particular, can be extremely vexing for marketing professionals: they—even more than previous generations—dislike and distrust marketing and advertising. So what can you do about that? (more…)
Do You Know When—And Why—Your Customers Have Left You?
Thursday, May 18th, 2017
Every business will gain and lose customers over the course of the business’s lifetime. Of course the hope is that there will be more gains than losses; however, sometimes businesses find themselves in the opposite situation and struggle to understand why their customers are leaving. While creative companies could come up with a myriad of creative and complex metrics and measurement techniques to try to gain some insights, one of the best ways to determine why customers are lost is to ask them! (more…)
The Power of Suppliers: Are You At Risk?
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework uses industrial organization economics to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry based on the overall level of competition within that industry. The more competitive an industry, the lower profits will be. Conversely, an industry with little competition is likely to be more profitable and, therefore, more attractive. We’ve already written on the Porter’s Five Forces generally. Now we’re looking at each of the forces individually and in greater detail. Today we’re taking a closer look at the supplier power. (more…)
Tips for Marketing Your “Boring” Business
Monday, March 27th, 2017
Let’s face it. Not all businesses are as flashy and exciting as manufacturing high-end sports cars, groundbreaking technology or exquisite luxury items. The marketing for some products is as simple as letting people know the product exists. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most companies, and this means they may need to work extra hard or be extra creative in making sales. As Ryan Holiday writes for The Huffington Post, (more…)
They Hate Your Ads! Creating Marketing Communications That Resonate
Tuesday, March 7th, 2017
41559931 – advertising word cloud, business concept
AJ Agrawal recently wrote an article for Forbes titled “Inbound Marketing: How To Advertise To People Who Hate Ads.” Agrawal correctly notes that successful marketing “all comes down to one principle. People don’t like to be sold to.” What do they want? They want to be helped to by. “In other words, you are a shopping assistant not a greasy car salesperson,” says Agrawal.
Agrawal offers three strategies for marketers to get their message across to those who hate ads. (more…)
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