By Both marketing and sales teams now need to work together to generate greater revenue for their business. A joined-up approach means marketing can focus on targeting the right audiences online and offline, and sales teams can focus on those leads that are generated by marketing - not plucked out of the air or from purchased databases.
Here are some marketing ideas that manufacturing businesses can use to improve your sales now...
Target your customers by email
With a segmented database, you will be able to target previous and current customers by the products or services they have bought. If you have done this already, use this approach to send a targeted, personalised email to these lists. Emails like this can help to upsell to existing customers on new products.
USE YOUR SALES TEAM ON LINKEDIN
Your sales team are experts in the product they are selling and have many professional connections from working relationships. Encourage your sales team to be more active on LinkedIn by sharing company messages and getting involved in group discussions. This can help to consolidate your business as the 'experts' and generate more leads too.
Hold an open day
Invite customers and prospects to an open day at your main working facility. Show them product demos, take them on a tour of the shop floor and hold one-on-one discussions. This gives your sales team the ability to speak to people directly and secure additional revenue for the business. Never underestimate the power of facilitating face-to-face discussions.
Use remarketing adverts
Remarketing adverts target people who have been on your website already, typically ran through Google AdWords. For those website visitors who didn't find the information they were looking for, or simply are not yet ready to buy, these adverts encourage visitors to return to the website and look again. You can also use remarketing ads to target customers and prospects on your email database.
PUBLISH an ONLINE PRESS RELEASE
Press releases that are thrown onto the 'news' section of your website rarely generate high traffic numbers. A better way of distributing your news is to submit press releases to websites where your potential customers are looking. Online press releases are also beneficial as they sending readers to your website via a link, which generates more traffic and increases your search engine ranking too.
Share product videos
Products that are recorded in your facility provide a clear explanation as to how it works, and why it's beneficial. This gives your customer an easier way to understand how it could work for them, without having to read lengthy product information. Share these product videos on your website and exhibition stand, as well as your social media portals.
Change your button colour
If you have call-to-action buttons on your website that take website visitors to a "contact us" or "get in touch" page, consider changing the way they look in order to catch the eye. Change the size, font, colour and even position in order to encourage website visitors to get in touch and talk to you about their requirements.
Research keywords to use on your website
You need to understand what your potential customers are typing into search engines in order to reach your website and products. Use a free keyword tool such as Google's Keyword planner to see how many people search for various keywords associated with your product. Once you know what people are searching for, you can use these keywords in your website - making it more likely that prospects will see your website in search engines.
Schedule your social media posts
Social media posts take a long time do, but the rewards are reaped when you write posts regularly. Use a free social media scheduling tool to target your prospects. Think about when the best times are to target these prospects and schedule posts accordingly.
Want more ideas?
We've compiled some more top tips that will improve your lead quality and help your sales team close more deals. The eBook Sales-Ready Lead Generation For Manufacturing Businesses is free to download today.
Photo by Paulette Wooten on Unsplash