We’re Experts in Digital Marketing for Manufacturing Companies
Updated on 8/17/2023
Are you looking for the most effective way to get more relevant leads from your website? Whether your company is currently utilizing digital marketing or is just getting started, we can help. We have seen many organizations across all types of industries benefit tremendously from successful digital marketing campaigns. Sixth City Marketing has extensive experience helping manufacturers increase business by improving online inquiries through their websites.
Our goal with this page is to help. Below we offer tips, strategies, and services to help you either start, course-correct, or build upon what you are currently doing with your manufacturing company’s marketing initiatives.
What Makes Us Different? We Show Results
How We Can Help Increase Your Sales Revenue
We know your goal is to increase online leads or inquiries from your website. To achieve this, we formulate a custom manufacturing marketing strategy that is shaped by your target audience, your targeted geographic location, and your overall website goals.
Not looking for services but want help? Keep on reading to check out our free guide, or feel free to contact our experts below.
Talk With Our Manufacturing Experts“John and the team at Sixth City Marketing has delivered on everything they promised. From the time we started working with them until now, our leads have tripled. We’ve worked with them in many areas including PPC, SEO, website design and social media marketing. I would HIGHLY recommend John and the team at Sixth City Marketing.” – Lisa Calovini, Shini USA
What Is Manufacturing Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing for a manufacturing company is the process of identifying and reaching your target audience using various internet channels. The ultimate goal is to improve your potential customer’s awareness and understanding of your products or services. Long story short, when someone searches online for a product you make or sell, you want to be the result that shows up.
A successful digital marketing campaign will deliver revenue for the company in the form of sales from new customers. Here are some of the most impactful marketing channels you can utilize for generating a steady stream of new business:
- Search Engine Optimization for Manufacturers (SEO)*
- Paid Advertising for Manufacturers (PPC)*
- Web Design and Development for Manufacturers
- Conversion Rate Optimization
In our experience, digital marketing is underutilized in the manufacturing industry. This can present tremendous opportunities for companies looking to grow business both locally and nationally while getting a leg up on competitors. Next, we’ll present some more information about each of the channels listed above and share potential opportunities.
*These are the channels we have found to be most impactful for manufacturing businesses trying to grow revenue.
Why Do Manufacturing Companies Need Digital Marketing?
While we do our best to prove the importance of a digital strategy on this page, here are some statistics that may help reiterate our argument:
Quick-win Improvement Opportunities for Manufacturing Websites
– HubSpot
These are some common things we have observed when starting work with manufacturing companies:
- Homepage and “about us” page content: It can be very difficult to brainstorm and write content for your website. There are only so many things your team can do in a day to improve sales and leads, and this aspect tends to be lower on the list of priorities. If you have to pick and choose what pages of your website to add content to and optimize, it would be the homepage and the “about us” page. Make sure to internally link to deeper pages from these pages and also include the critical elements of your sales pitch. It’s critical to present why you are different and what your strengths are to prospective customers. Do you have quick turnaround times on in-stock parts? Do you provide custom prototyping and development? Be sure to highlight the things that set you apart as a manufacturer.
- Inner page content: We frequently find that there is very little content on key pages of manufacturing companies’ websites. This especially includes product category, service, and individual product pages. Adding keyword-rich and user-friendly content can help improve traffic and leads on these essential webpages. Make sure to add strong “calls to action” to the website along with complementary graphics to these pages. In some cases it may merit using stock photography. A positive user experience is critical.
- SEO keyword opportunities: If you have started an SEO campaign, you likely have a list of top keywords that you have targeted. We often recommend diversifying this list of keywords to focus on very specific topics, such as the granular details of your company’s services. Key opportunities center on writing content for industries that you specialize in, items your products are used in, or materials that your product is used in or associated with.
- Website development and technical structure: The typical quick-win opportunities for increasing your online presence revolve around technical changes to your website.These can be identified in a brief initial evaluation and analysis of your website. Here are a few things we typically uncover in a review:
- Limitations or opportunities with your website content management system
- Any kind of 404 errors or “not found” pages that Google is reporting (via the Google Search Console)
- Non-secure website (non-HTTPS)
- Missing calls to action and web forms
- Design: It’s safe to assume that you currently have visitors coming to your website, and a percentage of them are reaching out to you. Modifying the design of the entire website or key pages can lead to an increase in leads from the traffic you already have. Modifying can range from a complete website overhaul (not our typical recommendation) to adding small graphics with a call to action on key pages (more of our typical recommendation). Google Analytics is key to identifying opportunities for improving leads from the traffic you already have coming to your website. Since we are evaluated on how many more leads we bring to your website, our team will proactively make recommendations on how this can be improved.
- Behind-the-scenes code: Do you have all of the proper JavaScript on your website that configures with all the major digital marketing platforms? With Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and more, you could be missing out on key data from not having these codes implemented on your site.
- Data/measurement In order to achieve your digital goals, it’s critical to know how you are doing right now. If you don’t have both Google Analytics and goal conversion tracking set up right now, you’ll want to do that right away. Here are a few other aspects to consider:
- If you are running any paid campaigns, are they correctly synced up and filtered correctly in Google Analytics? If not, you could be evaluating inaccurate data.
- Are you tracking leads such as form submissions, phone calls, and more? If not, you may not be able to track the metrics of your current campaign.
A B2B Internet Marketing Approach for Manufacturers
Most of the clients we work with target other businesses with their digital marketing efforts. Knowing that you have a B2B-type of marketing approach, you’ll want to configure a few things ahead of starting or evaluating your overall marketing initiatives. The typical evidence of success in a B2B digital marketing campaign is producing leads or phone calls from your website, so presenting those elements and making them stand out visually is critical to capitalizing on the traffic you are getting to your site.
Our Approach to Digital Marketing for Manufacturing Companies
The reason why digital marketing has grown significantly over the last decade is because everything is measurable. The effectiveness of a campaign can be easily determined based on a host of measurable data. As an experienced manufacturing marketing agency, we live and die by this data.
As proof of this, many of our current manufacturing clients have been with us since we started the business in 2010. They’ve stayed with us because we’ve been able to regularly produce results for their businesses. These results can be seen through increases in:
- Online form submissions and phone calls to a site year over year (YOY), measured via Google Analytics
- Sales attributed to SEO or PPC via HubSpot
- Overall traffic YOY (via Google Analytics)
- Search engine traffic YOY (Google Analytics)
- Increases in targeted keyword positions (in an SEO campaign)
“We have been working with the Sixth City team for about six years now and they have really helped us build our online presence. We work monthly hand in hand to come up with new campaigns and strategies. They are always thinking of new ways to generate leads and they are there for anything we need. They are also in the process of building our new website and I am so excited about the launch. It looks great! I love working with Sixth City and look forward to it for many more years to come!” – Sarah Wentz, Valco Valley Tool/Die
The Types of Manufacturers We Help
We’ve strategized and worked with so many different manufacturing niches, from air filter suppliers to custom tank manufacturers to industrial chillers, laser marking manufacturers, and more. Some other unique types of manufacturing companies we’ve helped include:
- Heavy machinery
- Metal part manufacturing
- Electronics/computers
- Chemical
- Food/beverage
- Plastics
- Textile/apparel
- AEC
- Transportation/automative
- Printing
- Packaging
- General industrial
- Oil/gas
- Aerospace/aviation
- Woodworking
- Many more!
The Sixth City Marketing Difference
- Our manufacturing digital marketing campaigns are 100% unique and tailored to your goals and target audience
- All of our work is done in-house, including the writing; nothing about us is outsourced
- We are a full-service digital agency that can offer a variety of essential digital marketing services
- Customer satisfaction and service is one of our top priorities
- Showing you your ROI is a major priority
Manufacturing Marketing Case Studies
Through the proven marketing strategies provided by our manufacturing marketing agency, many of our manufacturing clients have seen direct results and significant boosts to their business.
Some of these results include the following:
Valco Valley Tool & Die
- 114% increase in visits per month YOY (2,910 vs. 1,362)
- 543% increase in online inquiries per month (135 vs. 21)
- 6% site conversion rate vs. 1.54% previously
How Did We Do It?
Customized SEO
We researched how their main products were being identified across the web, who was looking for them, and what exactly these products were being used for. We discovered that their customers used a variety of terms to search for their main product line (snap buttons).
Once determining exactly how to best serve the needs of Valco customers, we optimized accordingly, driving more visits to the site than ever before.
Keyword Optimization and Conversion Design
We modified key pages within the existing design to create greater calls to action for users to contact Valco.
We also supplemented key pages with both photos and videos to reinforce the company’s branding and manufacturing capabilities.
You can take a look at some of these changes and improvements at Valco’s website.
Shini USA, a Division of Budzar Industries
- Monthly visits increased 28% (1,464 vs. 1,142)
- Monthly traffic from search engines increased 632% (564 vs. 77)
- Monthly online leads increased 129% (39 vs. 17)
How Did We Do It?
Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Optimization
We determined how customers searched for the company’s products through keyword research, and took measures to make sure Shini USA was highly accessible. We then used keyword optimization, both on-site and behind the scenes within code that is recognized by search engines, to boost Shini USA’s SEO equity.
We also optimized existing content and wrote new pages to target specific keywords, increasing Shini USA’s web presence and competitiveness in the industry.
Conversion and Website Design
Once visitors came to the site, we wanted to make sure the site was as conversion-friendly as possible, so we redesigned the internal pages to have strong calls to action and a more visually pleasing look.
We also implemented a Google Ads management campaign (PPC), overhauling their existing campaign with the goal of reducing the cost per lead and increasing their total number of inquiries.
You can take a look at some of these changes and improvements at Shini USA’s website.
Tips for Choosing a Manufacturing Marketing Agency
Choosing a marketing agency can be extremely difficult. Since online marketing isn’t formally taught at a college level, digital professionals have to learn through experiences at organizations or agencies. Seeking a reliable agency that is well-versed in marketing for manufacturing is hard, so we recommend you keep these aspects in mind:
- References
Talk to current customers and ask them about their experiences with a manufacturing marketing agency. - How They Show Results
Ask about the type of metrics and reporting they provide you with on a monthly basis. A lot of agencies produce robust monthly reports with pages of data that can be overwhelming and confusing. Your time is valuable and your digital partner should be able to provide you with an overview that helps you understand what’s going on consistently and succinctly. - Location
A lot of things become transparent in face-to-face meetings. If you can find a solid local vendor offering SEO for manufacturers, this tends to help streamline the working relationship and curb the learning curve. If they aren’t local, a face-to-face video chat can do wonders as opposed to a conference call. - Services Offered
Does the agency specialize in online marketing, and do they offer other online marketing services? It can be critical to make sure that your social, PPC and SEO campaigns are all in sync and utilize the same high-level strategy. - Adaptiveness
Research some recent trends or updates to see if they are knowledgeable about what’s going on in the industry. You will want to make sure they are on top of their game and can keep up with changes that can affect your website. - Flexibility
Ensure they are flexible with the type of services you sign up for, and that you don’t get roped into paying for things you are not interested in. On the flip side, some agencies also offer only one service, so be sure you don’t settle for anything less than what you are looking for.
“I’ve worked with Sixth City Marketing for multiple years now for my PPC and SEO needs. They have consistently delivered a high-quality product, are professional, and deeply care about their customers. They listen to my business needs and work with me to help my business grow. I’ve seen a massive improvement in the quality of leads, website visitors, and click-through rate. My website has experienced immediate positive results from suggested website changes, with increased forms completed, increased phone calls, and increased pages per visit. Other PPC companies I’ve worked with just waste ad spend, while Sixth City Marketing makes use of every penny.” – Jennifer Hristovski, SprayWorks
Common Questions on Digital Marketing for Manufacturers
When talking to prospective clients, we are often asked a handful of questions throughout the process. To help, we’ve answered some of our frequently asked questions to give you a few insights:
Do I have to invest in all of your services?
Unlike other manufacturing marketing agencies, we work with you to see what combination of our marketing tactics will bring your business the most success. It’s all very tailored. And if you ever want to expand into other channels throughout your campaign, we’d be happy to help and develop a plan.
What if I don’t know what services I want?
From our free website evaluation and speaking with you about your goals, budget, targeting, and more, we will be able to give suggestions on which of our digital marketing tactics would fit you best. If you want to learn more about the differences between everything we offer, we recommend you head over to our services page to get a better understanding.
What sorts of things do you do during an SEO campaign?
There are numerous manufacturing SEO strategies we implement during the time we work with your business. Some tactics you may or may not be familiar with include:
- Keyword research
- Competitor analysis
- Content optimization
- Blog creation/writing
- Link building
- Citation management
- Internal linking
- Metadata optimization
- Schema implementation
- Design for conversion
How do you manage accounts during pay-per-click campaigns?
When you work with us for PPC, whether through Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Bing, we strategize based off various aspects we monitor, including:
- Search terms
- Negative keywords
- Cost per click
- Cost per acquisition
- Spend
- Scheduling
- Targeting
- Much more
“Sixth City has done an excellent job in keeping our digital strategy ahead of the curve. Through a consistent evolution of our channel driven content and measurement we have been able to optimize (and even reduce) our spend over time while continually increasing quality lead generation. The team is extremely knowledgeable, personable, and responsive and a pleasure to work with.” – Scott Eagle, LORD Corporation
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Contact us today and we can start finding ways to boost your company’s online presence across the country. We look forward to hearing from you!