Overcome The Key Small manufacturing Business Marketing Challenges
Small manufacturing businesses face their own special set of marketing challenges. In this post, we cover the four key challenges and suggest some potential solutions. Not Products But Commodities It is becoming harder to differentiate products and, as a result,...
B2B Marketing Agency Client Relationships – What Changed?
The relationship between a B2B marketing agency and their client used to be relatively easy to define. Then along came the concept of inbound marketing and everything changed. The process used to be relatively simple and tended to follow the steps outlined below: A...
Engaging External Marketing Support – What Are The Options
For any business considering sources of B2B marketing advice and support, there are two main options. They are outsourcing and mentoring/coaching. Whatever option is chosen the supplier must be credible and effective. Beyond that, the choice is largely influenced by...
Simplify The B2B Marketing Strategy And Planning Process
For many manufacturing businesses, the B2B marketing strategy and planning process can be both time consuming and complex. This post suggests a process to deliver a top level plan that addresses key issues with less time and effort. Although the importance of a...
Websites And The Corporate Brand
When developing the company website a decision needs to be made on the focus. Is the goal brand or lead generation? We suggest it cannot be both. The first step before embarking on any website development exercise (be it a new website or an upgrade to an existing...
Are Manufacturing Business Marketing Plans Over Reliant On Digital?
When building manufacturing business marketing plans is there a danger of concentrating too much on digital at the expense of offline marketing? Most published marketing advice seems to focus on Brand digital marketing and inbound marketing. There is very little...
The Short Term Impact Of Reduced Marketing Spending
What is the real impact of reduced marketing spending? Many suggest it is a false economy but the truth is it can often have a negligible short term impact on a business. The actions of a marketing department can continue to have an impact several months after they...
In House vs Outsourced Marketing
With the ongoing demand for more quality sales leads and limited internal resources to achieve that goal, an outsourced marketing agency can be an attractive choice. But is outsourcing really the best option given an in-house team will always be closer to customers,...
B2B Marketing Strategic Planning – Why Bother?
The reasons for undertaking a B2B marketing strategic planning exercise are well established but too often I have seen the process hijacked or the result sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. Is it still valid to allocate significant resources to the...
5 Ways To Build Credibility In B2B Markets
Assuming appropriate promotional activity has built awareness in the marketplace then, in risk-averse B2B markets, credibility is a key distinguishing factor. This post suggests five possible ways for a business to build the trust of its potential customers. Five...
How To Set Up A B2B Lead Generation Team
How should a B2B lead generation team be organised? What tasks need to be completed? What can be covered in house and what should be outsourced? The first step is to identify precisely what is (and what is not) a lead. Next, decide how far marketing nurture leads and...
4 Advantages and Disadvantages Of Inbound Marketing
Before considering the advantages and disadvantages of inbound marketing a definition is appropriate. According to David Meerman Scott ‘inbound marketing is about developing marketing activities that ‘pull’ people into your site, generally through compelling content...