Manufacturers like so many others in the business world suffer from the challenge of marketing fragmentation, which means that there are so many options for marketing your manufacturing business, it can be near impossible to make a choice.

I have personally marketed hundreds of manufacturers and spent thousands of hours refining the best techniques for generating real leads that turn into large dollar figures. The following discussion compares various avenues that B2B companies can use for marketing. The metrics analyzed are cost, impressions, and conversions. 

Marketing Strategies for Manufacturing Companies

Manufacturing-Specific Directories

Cost:

$2,000 Per Month to $15,000 Per Month

Impressions:

200 to 2,000 Per Month

Conversions:

1 conversion Per Week to 1 Conversion Every Couple of Months

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Manufacturing directories are a very common way for manufacturers to promote themselves. The problem here is that a directory like Thomasnet is only going to gather a small percentage of the population that is looking for a manufacturing service.

As an example, someone Googling “metal stamping services” may or may not see Thomasnet ranked on the first page of search results, at which point the searcher may or may not click on Thomasnet over the other 10 organic options and up to 6 ads, at which point the searcher may or may not click on your sponsored listing on Thomasnet’s list of 25 companies on their first page. And that’s for only 1 keyword set (metal stamping)!

Now consider that a real conversion means the searcher takes meaningful action on your website, so after someone goes through the process listed above, how many do you think are actually going to take any action on your website? Maybe one every couple of days at the highest level of budget.

Compare this with search engine optimization which would allow you to rank for multiple services on the first page of Google search results, completely bypassing Thomasnet and allowing you to be on level 1 of the search process.

Billboards or Large Print Ads

Cost:

$1,500 to $30,000 Per Month

Impressions:

10,000 to 20,000 Per Day On Average

Conversions:

Undefined/Not Immediately Actionable

Advantages and Disadvantages:

If we were to analyze conversion rate, first we need to understand that all impressions are not created equal.

Consider the difference between seeing a relevant ad in search results after you googled a phrase versus driving past a billboard that you may have no interest in. Then, consider your opportunity to act on those impressions.

As you can see a billboard impression is likely hundreds of times less valuable than a digital impression because of relevance and opportunity. Overall, the cost of receiving a valuable lead from this type of advertising for a manufacturer is very high.

Quarter Page Ad in YellowPages

Cost:

$1250 Per Month

Impressions:

Unknown

Conversions:

Unknown

Advantages and Disadvantages:

It’s difficult to find much data on how many impressions or website visits you might generate but I’m also having trouble finding anyone that says they actually use the YellowPages these days.

Tradeshow Booth

Cost:

$25,000 On Average

Impressions:

A Diluted 1000 to 5000 (See Discussion Below)

Conversions:

1 or 2 Per Tradeshow

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Some manufacturers are successful at tradeshow marketing; however, in today’s global pandemic, this is somewhat of a moot point since nearly all in-person engagements like tradeshows are indefinitely shut down. When tradeshows again become a viable option, we can once again make the simple comparison of how many leads you might get from a tradeshow versus other means.

The term “diluted impressions” means that first, many individuals at a tradeshow who see your setup are salespeople themselves and will not be incredibly interested in what you have to offer. Diluted also means that just because thousands of people walk by your booth doesn’t necessarily mean they registered you or what you do in their awareness.

Tradeshows also have very timebound benefits, meaning, if you do not have a great way of getting back in front of those at the tradeshow after it’s over, you will only benefit from those contacts you made while you were there.

Outside Sales Staff

Cost:

$60,000 Per Year Plus Commission

Impressions:

10 to 20 Per Day

Conversions:

Around 1 Viable Lead Gained Per Week

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Clearly, the number of leads a qualified salesperson can bring in is contingent upon the quality of the salesperson. Next to SEO having an outside sales rep making connections is a very viable and effective means of marketing your company; however, there are a number of disadvantages to this method as well.

First, an outside sales rep is calling on potential customers hoping one of them needs what you have to offer, which can be a very time-consuming and frustrating venture.

Second, even when the rep contacts someone who may be interested, there is usually a very long lead time during which the lead must be nurtured. This is because not everyone who is interested is immediately in the market for your services.

Lastly, sales staff require training and supervision to maximize their value, and many companies are not equipped to provide these resources. 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Cost:

$1,800 to $3,000 Per Month

Impressions:

After 1 Year of SEO At Least 100,000 Per Month

Conversions:

5 to 10 Leads Per Week

Advantages and Disadvantages:

In addition to providing a much higher return in terms of leads and impressions, SEO has the huge advantage of sustainability, meaning that all of the other methods immediately cease their benefit when the investment stops. With SEO, if your site attains nationwide top three rankings in search results for a manufacturing service, even if you stop the SEO service, you will most likely remain in that position for a long period of time.

Here’s an example: Say you had a successful SEO campaign administered for a period of 12 months. Normally after that period, you could expect to have anywhere from 50-300 keywords or keyword sets on the first page of search results depending on your starting point. If you discontinue SEO after that period you would continue to maintain ranking for most of those keywords and be able to continue benefitting from the visibility in the form of leads on your site. Of course, if you stop SEO, over time you will run the risk of losing rank, traffic, and leads as your competitors continue to optimize.

Another advantage of SEO versus other methods is that SEO places you immediately in front of individuals who are searching for what you have to offer, which means that they are in the buying cycle. These searchers then have the opportunity to click on your site in search results and take immediate action, meaning that the leads you get from high search positions are hot.

Conclusion

All said, as an experienced marketer of manufacturers, I am convinced that SEO is infinitely more valuable than any other the other methods listed above. The biggest reason for this is that making a 12-month investment in SEO services will give you a sustained inbound lead generation machine that can last for years.