Marketing is a numbers game.
X number of people will see your message, X percent of those people will remember it, X percent of those will take action on it, and X percent of those will eventually become sales.
We know this going in. Just like the above example, all of the visitors to your website will not take action on what you offer.
Some will- but you know you need X number of visitors to get that 1 or 2 who will.
What If Your Website Isn’t Bringing In Visitors?
For manufacturers a common issue is not getting regular, targeted traffic to their websites. Even with other marketing activities going on, the website may not be bringing in leads or getting many visitors at all.
You see, when you started a website years ago, it wasn’t difficult to make your website stick out. Not everyone had a website, so you were likely to show up in search results when someone was looking for a manufacturer with your expertise.
Today everyone has a website, in fact thousands of new websites are started every day. And each one of these websites are backed by a variety of budgets to bring exposure and visitors to their sites.
They have Adwords campaigns, offline marketing campaigns, large email lists to tell people about their new site and more. Chances are, you’ve been working in manufacturing- not in online marketing. And while you try to stay aware of the newest trends so that your company can get website traffic, your specialty is manufacturing.
You could talk about it all day, sell to leads all day and work on the machines in your factory until your fingers bleed.
But, you need website traffic. Your potential buyer is online, and they are looking for manufacturing specialist, just like you. The problem is, your website isn’t coming up as an option when they search.
Monthly Searches for Manufacturing:
- manufacturing companies 6,600
- additive manufacturing 12,100
- lean manufacturing 74,000
- contract manufacturing 5,400
- plastic manufacturers 2,400
These are all just a fraction (about 1/5th) of the total monthly searches from all search engines online.
With the high number of websites and manufacturers now online, it’s difficult to get your website to show up in search results.
Pay per click campaigns through Adwords are highly expensive, and if they aren’t run by a specialist your company can spend thousands per lead- not a great solution.
A Solution for Improving Website Traffic for Manufacturers
Over the past few years one strategy for internet marketing has become highly effective to manufacturers specifically- inbound marketing.
This method of online marketing for your business helps get your website to stand out in search results, increase the numbers of visitors to your website exponentially, convert a percentage of these visitors into leads, and nurture your leads while they are getting ready to become sales.
The process has been optimized over several years of online marketing research, and each step of this method is put into place strategically to address the issues many companies have when they lack website visitors, leads and sales.
Inbound marketing has a number of benefits, such as these:
- Regular visitors to your website
- Conversion from visitors to leads through systematic approach
- Faster sales process
- Education and transparency for the visitor
- Less need for prospecting
- Automated sales activities that save time
- Exposure in your industry as a leader
- Leads that cost, on average, 61% less than traditional marketing (tv, trade shows, etc)
Inbound Marketing Is Not the Holy Grail
While we definitely sing the praises of inbound marketing, it isn’t a method that works for everyone. This isn’t because the method doesn’t work but because some companies can’t handle the change it brings to both marketing and sales.
This method is similar to throwing out the rule book and starting brand new. It takes time to see results from inbound marketing, and if you are in a fragile state already, this may not be the best option for you.
With that being said, we’d love to help you decide whether inbound marketing is the right solution for your company.
Download our free ebook on inbound marketing for manufacturers and then give us a call, email us or leave a comment below.
We look forward to helping you make the best decision and potentially embracing inbound marketing for your success.
