Although 14 manufacturing industries reported growth in February, including Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Transportation Equipment; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Machinery; Chemical Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Textile Mills; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Paper Products; Wood Products; and Miscellaneous Manufacturing, the continued weak dollar is being blamed for the high cost of components and raw materials, particularly those obtained overseas. Representatives from Transportation Equipment stated “It is going to force us to increase our selling prices to our customers.” A similar statement was made by representatives from Chemical Products: “We continue to see significant inflation across nearly every type of chemical raw material we purchase.”  Nonmetallic Mineral Products, which is one of the 4 industries to experience contraction last month, along with Plastics & Rubber Products; Primary Metals; and Furniture & Related Products, stated, “Prices continue to rise, while business limps along at last year’s pace.” Plastics and Rubber reported, “Overall demand is off 10 percent.”

While the weak dollar has adversely affected the purchase of components and raw materials overseas it has had a positive impact on exports, which experienced a growth percentage point change of +0.5% with a PMI of 62.5%. Right alongside that of the overall economy, exports have experienced continued month-over-month growth at a faster rate of change for the past twenty months. Both Production and New Orders are up as well. Production experienced an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the January reading of 63.5%, registering a Production Index of 66.3% and continued growth for the 21^st consecutive month. Demonstrating a 20 month growth trend at a faster rate of change, New Orders were up 0.2 percentage points from January.  Thirteen industries reported growth in New Orders, including Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Wood Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Machinery; Transportation Equipment; Chemical Products; Paper Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Computer & Electronic Products; and Miscellaneous Manufacturing, while Primary Metals; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Furniture & Related Products; and Plastics & Rubber Products reported decreases.

Despite a +0.5 percentage point rise in Prices, and increases for the past 20 months at a faster rate of change, manufacturing and the overall economy continue to expand. And that is good news. Companies are challenged to find cost saving ways to attract new business to offset any decreases in orders from existing customers that may occur as a result of rising Prices. To manage marketing budgets set aside for new business development, industrial marketers must consider the changing landscape of search, social media, and lead/sales generation that occurs online and offline. Content presented on blogs, websites, text ads, emails, industrial directories, map sites, search engines, relevant 3^rd party sites, Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites, as well as all direct mail letters and brochures, must be current and highly focused on the specific interests of your target audience groups. Market research may need to be done to understand those interests and to uncover the specific language used by your target audiences to search for what you offer. Through careful research, planning, and implementation budgets can be intelligently and carefully managed to nurture leads, sales, and overall business growth, particularly as you strategize to offset the impact of increased prices.

For help with your marketing research, planning, creation and implementation speak with an Industrial Web Solutions marketing expert. Call (800) 399-9859.

Demonstrating value to customers is always a good idea. Even those with deep pockets are cautious about what they commit to. It is not enough to present marketing materials and information that merely let buyers know you sell certain products or services. From your website to your collateral print and broadcast materials, you are challenged with illustrating to your diverse audience groups the ways in which what your offer helps them to meet their specific goals.

This is where a little market research can go a long way. Whether it’s a simple questionnaire, an examination of your recent sales or inquiries, or some serious analysis of your website performance reports, it is particularly important to understand the needs, wants, concerns, and both long and short term objectives of those to whom you wish to sell.

Case studies, white papers, and even just some straight forward, well-written website copy will go a long way now and in the coming months to help you demonstrate the value you offer. Spell it out! Keep on point and make it compelling. Appease concerns and motivate buyers by showing them that you understand how to help them accomplish what they are after.

Believe it or not I still hear business owners say that a website does not fit into the way they do business. In today’s marketplace, a website fits into every business model. Your website does two very important things for you. First of all, it serves to reach a broader audience whether you are marketing locally, regionally, nationally or globally. People who don’t know you exist have the opportunity to find you on the internet. There are many ways to help people find your web pages, such as: search engine optimization, or the preparation of your web pages with language and code to ensure they are discoverable in the major search engines like Google and Bing; search engine marketing (AdWords, MS AdCenter, and other pay per click or CPM (cost per thousand impressions) search engine marketing programs); industrial supplier directories and search engines (remember to check out Industrial Web Search if you’re looking for more control to reach your targeted buyers or just a better way to search for suppliers with 100% accurate search results);  including your web address on your collateral print and offline marketing materials; press releases; writing articles that are posted to online journals; online white papers and case studies; blog posts; links from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Digg, MySpace, Delicious, Reddt, and others; and the list goes on. If you don’t have a website then these opportunities to reach your targeted audience groups where they are spending time online are lost to you.

Secondly, your website works as your 24/7/365 tireless sales person and customer service agent, ready to provide information, answer questions, and take orders or requests for quote at any time of the day or night, particularly useful when your ‘brick and mortar’ office or facility is closed. If your website is effectively designed with powerful copy, images and hyperlinks (calls to action) that motivate and guide your site visitors through the conversion process then it is ready to work for you to bring you measurable business results. Add website tracking such as Google Analytics and you also have access to actionable data to help you make informed business decisions that help you to reach or even surpass your business goals.

“Build it and they will come” does not apply here. You have to actively manage your website, including its content and its presence on the internet. The idea is to learn everything you can about your online targeted audience groups: where they are spending time online; the language they use to search for what you offer; what interests them today; as well as what you expect will be their need in the near future.  Keep your content updated, topical, and easy to interact with. Help your site visitors understand what they have to do next to get what they want from you. And do everything you can to help them find your web pages in the places they are spending time online, whether it’s in the major search engines, on specific blogs or social media sites, or even news sites.

Need help with your website or website promotion? Call (800) 399-9859 or visit Industrial Web Solutions.

Using Language that Reaches Your Audience

The deeper your understanding of your customers, and those target audience groups you wish to persuade to become your customers, the stronger your communications with them will be. Your target audience groups have very particular ways of communicating what they need from you. They use specific language to refer to those needs when they speak with your sales people on the phone or in person and when they search on the web. If this language does not appear in the titles, headings, meta data, links, and body copy (text) of your website pages, as well as your email marketing copy, or any of your off-site content such as blogs, newsletters, pay per click ads, social media sites, press releases, and banner ads, then they are not likely to be finding and interacting with your information.

Professional keyword research is important to your business because it provides you with the language you need to reach your audience groups who are actively searching for what it is you offer. An experienced keyword research professional utilizes industry tools and techniques to uncover the language your target audience groups use to refer to what it is you offer. There are many lists of valuable keywords that refer to the different aspects of your business that are needed. These include keywords and phrases referring to: your overall business; your specific products; your specific services; your specific brands; and any other marketable aspect of your business that is searched.

Whether you are establishing adgroups for your pay per click AdWords campaign or writing a blog post, your lists of researched and analyzed keywords and phrases provide you with the essential language you need to incorporate into your writings in order to ensure your content can be searched and found. Additionally, you will have more success attracting and maintaining the interest of your targeted readers by using language that is recognizable and known to them.

If you’re looking for professional Keyword Research & Analysis contact Industrial Web Solutions.

This type of personalized search can be used to reach targeted audience groups within your social circle. If you have organized your contacts according to industry, for example, you can publish searchable content that you know is of interest and value to each targeted group. If you are not comfortable emailing them directly on every post you make that you know would be of interest to them, you can search engine optimize and publish them online so that they have a good possibility of showing up in their ‘Results from people in your social circle…’

Building out your contacts to reach a larger number of your targeted audience groups is a really good idea for many reasons. With Google’s ‘Your Social Circle’ search results you are provided with yet another way to ensure your valuable information reaches those it is best designed to help.