Globalspec’s Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010: What This Means for Industrial Marketers
Posted By Industrial Web Solutions Marketing Team on July 1, 2010
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.
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