Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) often find themselves struggling to figure out why their marketing efforts aren't bringing in the ROI that they expect. There're a few reasons for this, but one of the most prevalent is a simple lack of emphasis.
Shockingly, it's estimated that as few as 20% of manufacturers have taken the time to put together a comprehensive, and cohesive marketing strategy. In a world where the competition for customers becomes increasingly fierce by the day, an OEM who doesn't invest the time and resources required to implement a winning marketing strategy will quickly fall behind.
Learn About the Top Marketing Strategies in 2018
And yet many companies still hesitate to take the plunge, keeping adoption from becoming a reality. There are two main reasons for this. First, they fear that even if they believe inbound can work, it will mean abandoning their outbound efforts — and destroying their pipeline in the process. And second, they fear that they simply won’t be able to execute it properly regardless.
Inbound Marketing — A Part You Can’t Afford to be Missing
While this may sound nice or even intuitive, one of the major problems with this idea is that OEM’s often struggle to have an OEM marketing definition that will lead to success — much less how to implement it.
Fortunately, the solution is not nearly as difficult as it may seem. Good OEM’s certainly understand the value of superior technology — superior marketing is no different. And just like in manufacturing, marketing strategies require excellent technology backed up by proven, iterative, processes.
An OEM would never try to put an outdated product to market and expect it to sell. In the same way, they should never rely on outdated marketing tactics either.
Inbound marketing — driven by a value-provision approach that drives qualified leads into all stages of the sales funnel — is that state-of-the-art mix of marketing technology and process. OEM’s looking to remain ahead of their competition simply cannot afford to miss out on.
What is OEM Marketing?
Below, we look at what an inbound OEM marketing strategy is, and some of the reasons why OEM's can
benefit greatly from inbound.
A Chance to Highlight Your Expertise
Inbound marketing is the strategy of creating content that provides value to your potential customers. It's effective precisely because it allows OEM’s to highlight their expertise without coming off as giving a ‘hard sell’ to leads.
For example, one classic inbound tactic is for an OEM to create content offering an insight into how the manufactured parts can solve a specific problem its customers often have. By demonstrating competence and knowledge in the manufacturing process and tools, the OEM is able to show future entities with the same problem where they should be going for help.
Easy to Target Key Industry Phrases
The more specialized content is when it is created, the more effective it will be in driving sales. Through tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO) and long-tail keyword research, inbound allows OEM’s to pinpoint the exact types of problems that customers are looking to solve — and what the demand for each kind of solution is.
In other words, inbound allows OEM’s not only to create quality content that provides solutions but to create content that solves the problems that will result in the most ROI for its marketing spend.
Quality Leads Ready to Buy
The beauty of an OEM broadcasting their expertise out of the market in highly specific areas is that ultimately, it makes it easier for people who are actually looking for a solution to come across it.
In other words, the leads generated by inbound marketing are by definition highly qualified. These are leads that were attracted to quality content offering the solution to a specific manufacturing problem, showing that have a specific need they are looking to solve.
Once you fill your sales funnel with these types of leads, it's much more likely that you'll also start making a lot more sales.
Your Customers are Already on Digital
But of course, having quality content is only one part of the equation. You also need to be able to get that content in front of the people most likely to find it useful and ultimately purchase the product.
Inbound marketing uses the distribution channels that are currently frequented by manufacturing companies around the world looking for solutions. One of the most potent of these is social media. Traditionally thought of as a place strictly for business to consumer sales, that misconception couldn't be farther from today's reality.
The manufacturing industry is already embracing social media as a means of connecting with potential customers. Inbound marketing is all about maximizing the effectiveness of that tactic, going to where the consumer's attention is in order to drive leads into the pipeline.
Manufacturing is Going Digital — And so is Marketing
Original equipment manufacturers are certainly no strangers to digital disruption. Manufacturing is changing, and keeping up requires constant innovation and shifting tactics. The same can be said for marketing.
By embracing the targeted, value-added tactics of inbound marketing OEM’s can take advantage of the newest technology and strategies to reach an audience of highly relevant and motivated leads most likely to turn into sales.
Bottom line, using an inbound OEM marketing strategy to find your voice and get your message out to the places where it can generate business leads is critical to building the most successful business possible.
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