If your manufacturing company is doubling-down on digital marketing (and you should be) lead generation is probably on the brain. But you don't just want any leads — you want good, qualified leads who are a good fit for your product, and who are getting ready to make a purchase.
You're also going to need to measure those leads and the growth they deliver, so you can show management exactly how your digital marketing efforts are working, and why it's a valuable investment to continue in the future.
That's a big ask, but luckily, digital marketing is one of the — if not the — most measurable marketing methodologies out there. Here are four lead generation strategies that deliver not just the leads you want, but also growth you can measure for your manufacturing company.
01. Content Development
If you want to draw in more leads, you need more traffic. Content development gets you there.
Blogging on topics and keywords that your ideal buyer is already searching for is the best way to pull in more qualified traffic. The more you educate, the higher your manufacturing company will start to rank, and the more authority you'll gain in the industry.
Why do you care about authority? Because when you're the first place someone looks for an answer to their question, you're also the first place they'll look when they're ready to make a purchasing decision.
Boom — lead converted.
It's also good to consider that content development can mean a whole lot more than just blogging.
Developing interesting video content, helpful how-to guides, infographics, and downloadable content offers are all content development methods that work to pull in more traffic and convert leads.
And as long as you're measuring and analyzing the stats associated with your content (you are, right?), you'll be able to see exactly which pieces of content are driving the most traffic, converting them most leads, and delivering measurable growth for your manufacturing company.
02. Improve Your Website for Conversions
When it comes to lead generation for your manufacturing company, boosting your traffic is the first challenge. The second is sorting all of that new traffic into qualified leads.
If you're looking to support measurable growth, it's important to improve your website for digital conversions.
That means calls-to-actions, content offers, landing pages, and lead-qualifying forms.
Your site can have all the traffic in the world, but if it's not optimized to convert any of that traffic, you aren't going to see growth, and you certainly won't be able to measure it.
Implement buttons and calls to actions, like "Contact Us", "Ask the Experts", or "Talk to an Engineer" that make it easy for your leads to take the action that's most valuable to you. That might be:
- Making a phone call
- Filling out a qualifying form
- Sending an email
- Or even responding to a chatbot on your site
Take the time to figure out what methods are best for your sales team, and for your customers. Then, implement them!
Strategic conversion opportunities give your website visitors the gentle nudge they need to become leads, and they give you the data you need to accurately measure growth.
When you implement forms and CTAs, you get the contact information you need to nurture those leads into a sale. You also get all the data you need to better understand what your ideal leads are looking for, and what content is most valuable to them.
03. Invest in Smarter PPC
Manufacturers love PPC (pay-per-click advertising). Why?
It's easy. Not for your PPC team, but for you.
Put a little money behind a few campaigns and *bam* instant lead generation.
All you need is a budget, and you're ready to go. In general, content doesn't need to be approved, keywords don't need to be approved, you just set a campaign, and forget it.
Unfortunately, this approach to PPC isn't going to deliver the measurable growth you're looking for.
Like I said, manufacturers love PPC. In general, that means your ads cost more because there is significantly more competition. Take one look at the first chart from our Google Ad Benchmarks by Industry article, and you'll see manufacturers outspend every other industry significantly.
Having a big budget is great, as long as you're strategic about where you're allocating it. If you've been operating on a "set it and forget it" mentality, you can do a lot more to foster measurable growth. A few tips:
- Do a competitive analysis. See what your competitors are bidding on, and maybe more importantly, what they're not bidding on.
- Do keyword research. General keywords like "automotive manufacturer" and "fifth-wheels" are relevant to you, but they're expensive and don't signal buyer intent. Look for long-tail keywords that might have less search volume, but are likely to convert greater numbers of highly qualified leads. You'll spend less to get better leads.
- Create strategic, specific landing pages. If your PPC ads direct leads to your home page, you might as well throw your budget in the trash. If you're running ad campaigns about a specific product, send those leads to the product page, or better yet, to a landing page that funnels those leads into a conversion.
- Analyze, constantly. Finally, you can't just set your PPC campaign and walk away. Pay attention to how your ads are performing over time. Are you spending enough? Are you bidding on the right keywords? Is your ad copy effective? Are you pulling in the right leads, who convert to sales? If something's not working, change it.
In a competitive market like manufacturing, it's important to be strategic about paid advertising. Optimize your PPC strategy, and you'll find you're spending less to get greater numbers of qualified leads.
04. Track Contacts & Leads with a CRM
The point of this article is to give you lead generation strategies that will deliver measurable growth for your manufacturing company. All of these strategies will get you the lead generation you want, along with some level of measurability.
But, if you want to take your data to the next level, and get a clear picture of exactly which of your lead generation efforts are delivering growth, a CRM (customer relationship management system) is the way to go.
You already know we're here for HubSpot. It's affordable, it's functional, and it gives you data on literally everything, from who is on your site to who is converting from your paid ads.
But you don't have to go with HubSpot just because we say so. There are a number of CRMs out there — you just have to find the one that fits you best.
Find an option that is easy for your team to use, and that helps you measure, track, and analyze the contacts and leads coming to your manufacturing company's website. Here are a couple of tools to help you get started:
- 5 Ways a CRM Helps Streamline Sales
- 6 Key Qualities to Look For in the Perfect CRM
- What is HubSpot? A Plain English guide to HubSpot's Software
When you implement a CRM, you get instant cross-company data on every contact, lead, and prospect your marketing and sales teams are interacting with. You can see where they came from, what pages of your site they're interacting with, and what emails, sales touches, or content pieces are pulling them closer to making a purchasing decision.
That's the measurement you need to define and align around the marketing tactics that are delivering growth.
For manufacturers, finding and marketing to the right leads is often the most difficult part of the sales cycle. These strategies should help, but if you're looking for more answers, the Evenbound team would love to chat.
