Let’s consider several differences between consumer marketing and industrial marketing. Consumer marketing preys on the impulses of individuals--setting up nets to collect traffic and optimizing websites specifically for conversion (orders or sales). They aim to capitalize on the short amount of time that they have you on their site. Because information takes time to consume, it eats up precious time that you will be using to talk yourself out of that purchase. Their goal is to reduce the amount of information that is presented, to get you to the impulse buy faster.
Enter industrial marketing--an infinitely, more complex and rewarding process. Its intent is almost completely opposite to its little sister, consumer marketing. Industrial marketing seeks to extend the time that someone spends reading about your products or services--providing more data and detail with a focus on the flow of communication rather than conversion. It requires that a customer is constantly engaged for months on end--not just a few minutes. During the long and complex sales process, industrial marketing seeks to keep the customer on the line.
Consistently, fostering trust in the mind of the customer--over an extended period of time, is not a simple task. It requires that you are continuously, educating and building additional value. For this reason, contact information is the currency that runs the industrial marketing machine. RFQ’s are great, but if your company can embrace the company that is reaching out for general information, while keeping them informed, you may have a future customer brewing--on autopilot. Industrial marketing companies get just as happy when they see websites collecting contact info. This is the ultimate web conversion for industrial companies--we all know that the sales will come later.
Companies need a tactical plan in place to ensure that they are culturing not only the collection of contact information, but also the long-term, mind-share of the prospect or established customer--leading up to the closed sale. Many companies got lucky in their earlier years, because they established some set-and-forget tactics that may have carried them through to the next sale--but the silent killer here is attrition. All established companies have to contend with this at some point.
If you are not consistently, fostering customers and prospects alike--with rich and current media to support your sales cycle, they will eventually start to wander. Content has to be the focus here. The goal should always be to create efficient systems and plans to ensure that every dollar you spend is wisely sent into battle. Educational content can be one of the best uses of marketing dollars when it comes to supporting your sales pipeline. For more questions about industrial marketing, please contact us at www.nesbitmarketing.com/contact
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