Avoid these industrial marketing misconceptions
Working in marketing for nearly 40 years, I have seen many manufacturers conduct their marketing under the burden of some common misconceptions. These industrial marketing misconceptions can cause growth to stagnate if not addressed. Let’s look at some of the top ones.
Misconception #1: Inconsistent marketing
Unfortunately, a sporadic marketing program is one of the industrial marketing misconceptions I’ve seen most often. Generally, manufacturers receive all their work from the same group of customers, waiting for business to come to them. Most of my new manufacturing clients have only put effort into marketing when sales slowed. When you consistently engage in proactive sales and marketing, you keep your sales funnel full by finding new customers and markets.
Misconception #2: Market awareness
Even after decades in business, don’t make the error of thinking every prospect in your market knows your company. Certainly, a company can grow for years before it hits a sales ceiling, where your sales stalls. In today’s business environment, people leave, and new contacts take their positions. Building market awareness is essential to growth, or you will lose jobs to more aggressive competitors.
Misconception #3: Brand management
Your brand is the image and message you send into the marketplace to attract new customers. Brand management is presenting a consistent image and message. The industrial marketing misconception that employees can create whatever they need to represent your company defeats having a brand. Brand uniformity is critical, from sales material to websites to social media to bid proposals. Without control over your brand, you send potential customers a confusing and unprofessional message.
Misconception #4: Winning a job comes down to cost
The industrial marketing misconception that you must be the lowest bidder to win the project is a profit killer. I have helped manufacturers create sales and marketing programs based on value, not price. Value is what you bring to the customer beyond a fair price. A low PPM rate or a high on-time delivery percentage often wins out over minimal savings.
Misconception #5: An industrial marketing misconception is permanent
The good news is that you can fix these errors by rethinking your marketing practices. First, implement an ongoing sales and marketing program. Be sure your marketing efforts will enhance your awareness in the marketplace. Develop a library of sales material, both digital and print, that your team can use. Finally, be sure you are promoting your strengths and services, not just your price.
Pappy
About the Author
Paul Kowalski (or Pappy as he is called around the office) spent over two decades working at other agencies before opening Conach Marketing Group in 2008. The early part of his career was working with Fortune 500 clients at different agencies. However, working with smaller clients was his preference. This choice was because of the impact on a client’s business growth and forming closer, personal relationships.
About Conach
When he was creating Conach, his goal was to bring those Fortune 500 strategies along with years of B2B marketing experience to small business marketing clients. As a result of focusing on business to business marketing, Conach specializes in construction marketing, financial marketing, and industrial marketing. Even though we are in Mid-Michigan, Conach provides marketing services to clients across the country.
For more information, visit conachmarketing.com or contact us or call 989.401.3202.