The pandemic has created challenges in practically any walks of life. For manufacturing operations, they can take the form of ongoing supply chain issues and simply new ways of working virtually. Manufacturers, like other industries, have been stretched and left no choice but to change the way they work in a digital world. Staying engaged with partners and the ecosystem of distributors has never been harder.
The manufacturing sector is traditionally dependent on in-person engagement. But like others in other industries, manufacturing companies are now bridging the gap between the physical and digital world to meet the evolving needs of today’s buyers, partners, resellers and distributors.
That movement, Industry 4.0 – the fourth revolution of manufacturing – refers to the digitisation of manufacturing operations. For nearly 95% of manufacturers, Industry 4.0 technology helped keep them afloat during the COVID crisis. What’s more, more than half say the technologies were critical to crisis responses.
While manufacturers adapt to Industry 4.0, digitisation is actually driving opportunities for marketing that never existed before. This is especially true when it comes to partner enablement. The digital landscape will continue to play an essential role in three key areas to further accelerate Industry 4.0 initiatives: enabling distributors; educating partners and customers on products and services; and scaling demand generation.
Check out some of the marketing opportunities below for manufacturers to accelerate Industry 4.0 initiatives.
Digital training and selling success for distributors across manufacturing
The in-person training that has historically been done in the manufacturing industry is no longer possible thanks to the pandemic. This has forced manufacturers to shift education and training online.
Digital technology has made remote training more accessible in the last two years. Brand and product information that help distributors successful can now also be accessed online. With digital solutions, manufacturers can now use repeatable training modules that can be easily recorded and shared. Those solutions can also be customised with thought leadership, product launch information, data sheets, case studies and subsequent content to drive business for your distributors.
Garage doors manufacturer B&D built an online group trade hub for its dealers, installers, specifiers, architects, residential and commercial construction. B&D also provides installation manuals and quick operations guide, including brochures of all of its products. With online training, people can return to the digital material to reference information whenever it’s convenient for them.
By investing in digital for its distributors and partners, the manufacturer filled the gap left by in-person events and made them more successful.
Another example is Caroma. The Australian designer and distributor of bathroom products runs CPD (Continued Professional Development) presentations for architects who would then potentially engage them to supply their products and solutions for new developments.
First-party data to personalise content for partners and customers
Digital transformation in the manufacturing industry focused on changes on the factory floor for a long time. Innovations like QR codes, predictive maintenance and machine learning helped streamline production. But companies are now shifting their sights to digital sales and marketing as a way to reach new audiences and nurture existing ones.
Marketing and sales teams can gain valuable insights on audiences by adopting new digital tools like sales force automation technology, customer relationship management software and marketing automation platforms. These insights can help marketing develop collateral that connects with prospects, while sales can better understand their interest levels and pain points. Ultimately, these digital tools help automate the mundane data collecting and analysis so teams can focus on streamlining processes and drive results.
Caroma boasts a unique space for industry professionals through the Caroma Specify website. It’s the Australian bathroomware brand’s one stop destination for all specification needs. The site features a number of great tools for architects, designers, specifiers, developers and builders. The application has solution packages, which assist in finding the right project solution. It makes it even easier by recommending products suitable for various commercial applications including accessible compliant bathrooms, aged care and many more. To ease the specification process, the website also incorporates an extensive new Building Information Models (BIM) library, enabling users to easily download multiple BIM models.
Demand generation efforts to scale your business
As marketing moves online, digital experiences can provide companies with the opportunity to learn more about prospects and “warm” them up to the brand. Through experiences, companies can engage with interested prospects, familiarise them with the company’s offerings and qualify them for sales, rather than spending time on “cold” outreach and hoping for the best.
In a digital-heavy world, being able to get qualified leads is more important than ever. Fortunately for them, there are a number of ways to collect them. For instance, by using keywords and optimising content, search engines are able to identify and index your website to make discovery easier and bring the right people to your content.
Being on local business platforms are also another great way you can drive more qualified leads to your business. These are platforms that list businesses within a particular niche, category or industry. It registers a business’ public information like contact info, address, social networks, images and more.
Top4 is a great location-based marketing platform for businesses of all sizes, designed to deliver to your target market using geographic, categorical and demographic targeting. This means your business can be found in the very suburbs your potential customers are searching. It’s a simple, cost-effective way to advertise your business, products and services.
Manufacturers should conduct keyword research into target audiences to ensure all of their content aligns with what your audiences are looking for. They also list their businesses on Top4 as it’s been trusted by over 200,000 companies to grow and scale their businesses. Sydney’s leading kitchen designer Kellyville Kitchen has optimised its SEO with a steady stream of content, and sharing them on its Top4 advert. As a result, the kitchen contractor company has seen an increase in organic traffic by 97%!
Leverage digital marketing for your manufacturing business!
Manufacturing businesses are slowly adapting their thinking when it comes to how they use digital channels to communicate and reach their customers and others in their ecosystem. And in doing so, they can achieve tremendous results and growth that are inline with other industries that have gone through digital transformation. Manufacturers can reach more people, transcend global boundaries with digital engagement. This helps create consistency with repeatable training programs that ultimately better educate and train their partners to be more qualified – and better informed – to ultimately speed up sales cycles that help accelerate revenue growth.
Top4 Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency with over twenty years of experience in the industry. That means we know the ins and outs of SEO, PPC and many other aspects of digital marketing to grow your manufacturing business effectively. Our digital marketing company can help you choose marketing strategies that fit your business, plan your budget and bring in more revenue than ever before. View our digital marketing pricings and packages or get in touch today to speak with a strategist about how we can help you.
To find out how we can help you with your Website + Marketing, using our unique location marketing platform called Top4, get in touch today at www.top4marketing.com
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