Cold calling is no longer generating any decent sales leads. The last four trade shows we attended delivered zero results. I have a website but I have no idea how it’s performing and I definitely don’t get any leads from it. These are some common difficulties we hear from our manufacturing clients. The way people are buying is evolving, traditional marketing is no longer working, so why not change your marketing plan? Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Social media may be unknown territory to those in the industrial space. Integrating social media into a marketing plan poses many unique challenges but also immense opportunities. Whether choosing to handle social media in-house or hiring an outside agency to take control, it is imperative to have a presence. If your experience in this area is limited and you decide to take this on internally, below are some tips about what not to do on your social media accounts.

1. Posting About Political Opinions and Statements

Keep personal opinions to yourself. Don’t alienate your followers by posting about political figures or topics. Feel free to share news about any legislation that may affect your industry, but refrain from posting about any polarizing topics.

It is no secret that YouTube is the most popular video sharing site online. Some astounding statistics: with more than 1 billion YouTube users, 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and the number of hours people spend watching on YouTube each month is up 50% year-over-year. These figures prove that YouTube is a necessity for companies that want to promote themselves via visual media and present their brand in a personal way that is just not possible with static content. 

It is becoming more important for businesses to not only have a website, but to have one that works as a marketing tool. In most cases, your website will be a potential customer’s first interaction with you. Your web presence has to be one that reflects accurately who you are, how you can solve their problems and provides the information they need to take the next step in their buyer’s journey. This is why you need to ensure that your website is up to par in terms of technology, usability and your competition. Does your current website meet all of these requirements? If not, it may be time for an upgrade.

As a blogger, you may think that your primary and only focus should be creating compelling and unique content for your own blog. Have you ever considered shifting some of that focus to developing guest posts for other blogs in your niche and/or industry? Believe it or not, some statistics claim that content you write for other blogs is 5x more valuable than content that you write for your own blog (if a back link to your blog is included in the post). There are a variety of reasons why you should try to reach out for guest blogging opportunities within your industry.

Below I will share 9 reasons why you should be guest blogging:

Some people may think that email marketing is a tactic that has become dated and obsolete in the world of social media and increasingly intelligent spam filters. However, email marketing is still an important and vital part of any digital marketing plan and should be incorporated into a company’s strategy. 

Why Organizations Should be Utilizing Email Marketing

1. Email marketing is extremely measurable. Unlike some other forms of more traditional marketing, emails can be measured in terms of open rates, click through rates, etc. This also makes it easy to test and refine them to improve performance.
2. Even with the popularity of social media, email is still the first and most frequently checked account by consumers on a daily basis.

One of the most challenging aspects of building and maintaining a website is creating compelling web content that not only satisfies your visitors’ needs but also helps drive leads and sales. One common misconception is that once your website is launched, your content writing comes to an end. That could not be further from the truth. Content, in the form of blog posts, new website pages, etc., will need to be a major focus if you want a successful website that generates business and meets your company’s goals.

There is no need to be overwhelmed about all of the content that needs to be written. Here I will share some tips on how to write for the web. These tips will help you develop content that:

• Is indexed and found by the major search engines
• Answers your visitors’ questions and provides what they are looking for
• Helps visitors convert into leads and eventually customers