Industrial manufacturers and resellers are the biggest industrial users of Twitter right now. Unfortunately, they are using it too often as a “flyer” to promote what they offer. The power of Twitter lies in your ability to engage your target audience groups in a conversation about topics important to them. “One off” tweets that do not generate discussion are tantamount to two four year olds engaged in a parallel conversation where statements are made but nothing comes of them: “I have a race car. Look.” The other four year old looks and says, “I had cake for lunch.” Both pieces of shared information are soon forgotten. You get the idea.

So what do you do now? Here’re some ideas:

Identify a topic of importance to your target audience group. Ways you can do that:

• Ask your sales team to relate concerns raised by customers.
• Read the trade news for issues that concern them.
• Read their company news for issues that concern them.
• Select a topic from your company news about something you offer or have introduced that helps their business to do better.

Make a list of possible Tweets. Imagine how the conversation online might go and prepare thoughts and responses in advance. It may not go the way you plan but you will have thought about it and researched it thoroughly so you will be prepared to guide the conversation more effectively.

If you haven’t done so already, invite customers to Follow you. If you really want to spark interest and build your Followers, announce the discussions you have begun on your home page, in an email, or some place you know you can reach your target audience groups effectively. Learn how to integrate Twitter into your site here.

Start tweeting, beginning with the most provocative tweet designed to get the conversation going. Keep tweeting on the same topic with your participants so that it makes it to the Trending List (seen in the right column on Twitter).

If your efforts are working but you still haven’t made it to the Trending List, sign up for a Twitter ad campaign once the ad service becomes available to everyone (I’ll let you know so keep checking back). Select keywords that will structure your campaign around the relevance of your established topic.

To support your ad campaign, select from your existing tweets relevant messages that will be promoted during the campaign. Simply click on any of your tweets that are already an organic part of Twitter to make them a Promoted Tweet.

Users who are not yet Following you can learn about your topic from related hashtags in their own timelines or by searching relevant terms that have to do with your topic. Once a user interacts with your Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends they can opt to Follow you, Retweet it, or Reply.

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends can also be used effectively with regard to trade show or other sales and promotional event appearances or sponsorships your company is planning. One final point, remember to closely monitor, measure, evaluate and make adjustments as needed to ensure the best results.

While you are waiting for Twitter to invite everyone to start advertising on their ad platform, adjust your approach to how you tweet and what you tweet about. Whether it’s a policy issue, a new product your introducing, or an upcoming trade show you will be participating in, actively engage your target audience groups about what interests them. Twitter can be an effective channel to keep your company name in the thoughts of your existing and potential customers by demonstrating your knowledge of and interest in topics important to them.

Additionally, I encourage you to communicate with Twitter at this time about the specific needs of the industrial business to business (B2B) marketer. Typically last to embrace new media technologies, industrial marketers are not generally considered during development phases of ad platforms so their unique needs are seldom addressed. By voicing your requirements now, you may avoid having to conform to a system that was designed to meet the needs of business to consumer (B2C) enterprises.

Identify Performance-Based Metrics that Help You

Globalspec’s recent survey Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010: How Manufacturer’s Are Marketing Today doesn’t reveal any surprises but it points to the continuing trend to move marketing initiatives from offline where“25% are decreasing trade magazine advertising and 24% are decreasing use of printed directories,” to online where the “majority of manufacturers (51%) are increasing the online portion of their marketing budget over last year and 68% are increasing spending in online social media channels.”

The report reveals that the favored social media sites are LinkedIn and Facebook. It should be noted that Twitter’s popularity with many sectors of the industrial marketplace is on the rise, as indicated by the participation of a large number of industrial manufacturers and other industrial businesses who communicate via this channel. It appears that “email marketing using in-house lists” remains the online favorite, with 65% of respondents reporting this as their preferred online marketing channel. This is following by websites and online directories at 58% and search engine optimization at 50%.

With the top three marketing challenges in 2010 being “too few resources, not enough quality leads and a need to improve marketing ROI” industrial marketers need to start relying on the right kind of performance-based metrics, those that reveal the types of information that will help them to make the necessary adjustments that will improve results over the long run.

It is far too frequent a practice to be complacent with regard to online marketing assets like websites, landing pages, newsletters, banner and text ads, and email creative. When applied accurately, performance-based metrics provide insight into such things as:

• user/respondent behavior
• effectiveness of creative/message
• types of respondents
• where respondents are coming from
• cost of lead acquisition
• cost of sale
• return on advertising spend
• lead time to sale
• % of overall revenue
• Branding effectiveness
• And much more

Offline results must also be factored into what occurs online, which means you have to initiate consistent offline tracking mechanisms as well. If you don’t measure at all, or you don’t evaluate the statistical information that is important to your goals and business, you are reaching for something in the dark. Google analytics is free. There really is no good reason not to implement it and set your conversion goals. If you are unsure about how to implement it or use it effectively then hire a professional who can guide you. It will be money well-spent.

The internet provides many opportunities to generate leads and sales. But it isn’t magical. The concept of “build it and they will come” doesn’t exist here. It is not a “field of dreams” but rather an avenue of opportunity. Learn what your choices are. Budget appropriately. Enlist the help you need. Create a long term strategy with short term and long term initiatives that can be rolled out according to a set plan. And by all means, measure and make adjustments as needed – to your website, to your copy, to your images, to your text ads or banner ads, to your email and perhaps even to your mindset.

The internet is a liquid environment that is evolving at a fast pace. Uncover where your target audience groups are spending time, the language they use to communicate the kinds of things you offer, and what their specific needs are today as well as their anticipated needs three months from now, six months, or even a year from now. Then develop marketing assets that incorporate everything you know now about them; and be prepared to make the changes over time to reflect the ways in which they change, including changes in what they need, where they spend time, and how they communicate. You don’t have to “risk it all” by reaching in the dark. Performance-based metrics provide the light you need.

What the study uncovered:

“80% directly search for and visit the website for a supplier/manufacturer
70% visit publication websites, including business newspapers
68% land on a manufacturer website through a link on a publication’s website
58% navigate to manufacturer websites as the result of an ad within a publication”

With business professionals now relying predominantly on the internet for information sourcing it is more important than ever to ensure you are well-represented. That means having an information-rich website that organizes information to target each audience group specifically. Support your efforts to get visitors to your website by maintaining an interesting and topical blog and a monthly newsletter. Attach links to articles and blog posts to the social networking sites like Twitter to draw readers back to your information and to let them know you are a great resource for the kind of information they are seeking. And make sure you can found in other places where your targeted groups are spending time.

Some ideas of where your target audience may be spending time:

• It’s a great idea to submit an article to a well-known publication if you feel confident enough to pitch the editor of the section into which you fit. Not only does it offer you a very valuable “inbound link” to your website but it also aligns you with the top industry sources.
• Another way to be included on the web pages of a well-known journal or information site is by placing banner and text ads. These can be costly but may prove to offer you valuable prospects in the long run.
• Check out your trade organization’s website. See what kind of advertising programs are offered that may fit your budget and objectives. There is usually a substantial discount offered to members and a variety of advertising options from which to choose.

Take advantage of the internet by actively pursuing opportunities to be found by your target audience groups. A multi-channel approach casts the widest net and still gives you the control to select where you would like to be found. Then invite your audience back to your highly focused and well organized website where the information they seek can be accessed with ease.

According to the article, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., put medical device companies in front of Democrats in Congress to get the originally propose tax amount cut in half – down to $20 billion from $40 billion. Kerry does believe, however, that the new Health Care Reform Bill “expands the marketplace by 32 million people who will now buy products from them,” and that everything “is going to work out just fine.”  

Well, as you support the advocacy groups who are trying to get the tax reduced you may as well prepare for the worst case scenario and establish your share of the 32 million prospective customers anticipated by Sen. Kerry. Currently, “California has the highest number of medical device workers with more than 72,400 followed by Massachusetts with nearly 22,000, Florida with nearly 20,000 and Minnesota with more than 18,000, according to industry estimates. Other states with significant medical device hubs include: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Ohio.” Everyone is going to feel the pinch and everyone is going to have to adjust. So why wait? As the proverb says, “When one door closes another door opens.” Assume the “new world order” and be first to walk through that newly opened door.

Take the time to conduct strategic market research to uncover from where these 32 million anticipated customers will come. Examine where new opportunities lie. Take a look at niche markets, perhaps those represented by the customers of your customers. Make a list of where you could add value 1) just as you are and 2) with new innovations. Paint the scenario as best you can and use what you know about your industry to anticipate future needs.

This process of discovery may inject your team with a new found enthusiasm and open up a whole world of possibilities you had not previously considered. Once you have discovered the markets in which you want to expand or enter, work closely with your marketing team to develop a long term strategy that can be effectively rolled out in phases so as not to burden the budget during a time of increasing costs. Set up your plan so that shorter term sales can support revenue generating objectives that may have a bigger pay off in the long run but will take more time to realize.

Things never stay the same. The tax increase is just another challenge. Be angry if you must. Do what you can to fight it. But don’t hope that it goes away. Plan for it and make the change work in your favor. Assemble your marketing team now and start planning and building for the future before the increase takes effect.

The following 16 out of 18 manufacturing sectors have reported growth for May: Paper Products; Wood Products; Transportation Equipment; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Fabricated Metal Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Furniture & Related Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Plastics & Rubber Products; Primary Metals; Printing & Related Support Activities; Chemical Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Machinery; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; and Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products. Only Petroleum & Coal Products reported contraction during May; however, they were also one of 12 that reported growth in employment, which may indicate anticipated growth for June.

Although prices are still registering higher than usual, they have stabilized to some degree with 35% of respondents having reported paying the same prices as in April. Supplies are low in some sectors, particularly technology where, according to the report, excessive inventory de-stocking during the downturn has resulted in component shortages.

With industry growth there are opportunities for you. A targeted email marketing campaign may be your best bet right now to get the conversation started with your key audience groups. Start by contacting your existing client base. Remember to segment your contact list by interest, production timetable, or whatever allows you to develop highly focused messages that clearly identify the customer’s need and the solution. Uncover what their pressing needs are right at this the moment in time and what they may expect to need over the next eight to ten weeks. Don’t try to accomplish everything in the first email. Clearly define your goals and establish a schedule of highly focused emails that engage your audiences with compelling questions and messages relevant to their present-day objectives.  Try to encourage them to comment, answer questions or even ask questions. Writing effective emails depends on how well you understand your customers. Get to know them.

By demonstrating to your target audience groups that you keep abreast of the demands they encounter and the types of needs that may arise for them you establish yourself as a trusted partner with foresight. Oh how I love to hear a client say, “I never thought of that” or “thanks for bringing that to my attention.” Be prepared to adjust the content on your website to address current needs. Refreshing your website content with solutions that are relevant to current demands demonstrates your commitment to serving your customers as they need to be served, according to their present reality.

Both manufacturing and the economy are demonstrating continued growth. Now is the time for you to create opportunities for yourself by reaching out to your target audience groups to let them know you’ve done your homework and understand how to get them what they need to meet their goals.