Marketing for Manufacturers: W hat Today’s CEO Needs to Know
Agenda • Introduction • Marketing in Manufacturing Today: Key trends • Marketing Effectiveness Research & Where You Stand • Your Brand: A Company’s Most Important Asset • Today’s Marketing Fundamentals
About Trefoil Group • Full service strategic marketing communications firm – Business/ strategic counselors – Solid understanding of both traditional and new mediums – Experience in attracting both customers and talent • B2B with 20 years of experience in manufacturing – Niche focus in plastics – Launching the Dream It. Do It. Wisconsin Campaign
Our Three Critical Success Factors • Partner with business leaders to distill complex environments and issues to advance their visions • Create meaningful differentiation through brand-based communications, grounded in research • Integrate communications to reach target audiences wherever they are – with information they care about
Marketing in Manufacturing Today: Key Trends
Marketing in Manufacturing Today • New opportunities. New technologies. New tools. – You can reach targets more easily & directly than ever before • Expanded focus – From lead generation to lead nurturing – Attracting talent as well as customers • Customer penetration strategies are critical – OEM decision makers are changing chairs and focus • Brand-based communications to create differentiation with customers & recruits
Key Findings: 2 0 1 1 Marketing Effectiveness Research • Conducted in partnership with Plastics News 52.90 % – A significant shift: 24.20 companies are investing % more in marketing than in sales – Feet on the street no Increased Increased marketing investments in longer enough: efforts the sales force • 50% report sales are reaching less than 50% of their targets
Key Findings: 2 0 1 1 Marketing Effectiveness Research • 72% of respondents claim unique expertise (in what they do or how they do it), but don’t communicate it well Above Average Excellent 22.90% 20.30% 5.60% 10.10% 44.10% 35.90% 28.80% 23.50% Sales Internal Website/ online Marketing conversations communications presence materials
W here You Stand • 73% of you believe you have a differentiating offer, but don’t communicate it well either 9% Above average Excellent 55% 55% 36% 27% 9% 9% Sales tools Internal Company comms. Digital website Customer marketing Social comms. media
Key Findings: 2 0 1 1 Marketing Effectiveness Research • 72% say recruitment is critical to success, but don’t know how to reach younger audiences 71.60% Important/ very important to 59.80% future success 40.50% 48.10% 31.70% 39.60% Ranked themselves as very 20.60% 18.70% good or excellent at the following Recruiting and retaining talent Equipping Getting your employees to be Using social message out via brand marketing new mediums ambassadors effectively
W here You Stand • 100% of you believe recruiting and retaining talent is very important or important to success, but don’t know how to reach younger audiences 100% Important/ very important to 73% future success 55% 55% 45% 36% 36% Ranked as excellent/ above 27% average Recruiting and retaining talent Equipping Getting your employees to be Using social message out via brand marketing new mediums ambassadors effectively
W hat This Means to You as the CEO • The risks: You can increase investments without a correlating ROI – Absent a strategic, brand-based approach (that includes measurements) it is an expense, not an investment • Marketing savvy, yet inferior competitors, can beat you more easily than ever before • The opportunity: To connect marketing to the goals and objectives of the business, creating measurable ROI – and a competitive advantage
The More Specific Opportunity • Be strategic in aligning marketing with sales strategies • Move the needle from lead generation to lead nurturing • Create meaningful differentiation that speaks to both customers and recruits • Own the leadership position where you can • Integrate programs to include face-to-face, digital, PR and social media • Equip your employees to be brand ambassadors in your marketplace and your communities
W here the Journey Begins: Your Com pany’s Brand
Your Com pany’s Brand • The brand is a company’s most important, yet most overlooked asset – As important in B2B as it is in B2C – Crucial in both customer and talent acquisition • Your brand is what you want people to think about you Your com pany = X
B2 B Branding Exam ple Moving | Building | Powering | Curing
Your Com pany’s Brand
Com m on Branding Pitfalls • Basing your brand on the category you’re in – Leading Plastics Injection Molders – Thermoforming Experts • Staking your claim to entry level attributes – Solutions Provider – Meeting or exceeding customer expectations • Relying on internal perceptions of your value • Mimicking what your competitors do and say
Your Com pany’s Brand • Good Brands: – Establish relevance, personality and connect emotionally – Specify the company's value proposition – Change the conversation – Reposition the competition as followers – Drive perceptions externally and the culture internally – Differentiate the company for a competitive advantage
Your Com pany’s Brand • Strong Brands Produce ROI By: – Sustaining differentiation in a crowded marketplace – Supporting premium pricing/ guarding against price-based competition – Accelerating entry into new markets – Recruiting and retaining top talent – Increasing enterprise value
Your Com pany’s Brand • Discover Your Brand – Answer key questions: • What do you do better than anyone else? • How does this align with what your audiences care about today and in the future? – Conduct research – information today is easy & fast • Internal interviews with leadership, sales and others • External research with customers, suppliers, industry experts
Your Com pany’s Brand • Discover Your Brand – Look at your competitors • Your value is a relative assessment against the value I can get somewhere else – Be different. Not the same. • Understand what your competitors are saying and determine the opportunity to say something better • If everything else is equal, all that’s left is price – Remember, if you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you
Create a Story People W ant to Be Part Of
Create a Story People W ant to Be Part Of
Create a Story People W ant to Be Part Of
Create a Story People W ant to Be Part Of
The New Marketing Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals • Your W ebsite: The # 1 B2 B Marketing Tool – Create your website as a marketing portal • Hub for both outbound and inbound marketing • Make it engaging and easy to navigate • Optimize your site for easy search engine discovery • Use on-line newsrooms to build awareness and leadership reputation • Use microsites and landing pages to reach specific target audiences with audience-specific messaging and to increase quality content for search engines to index
The New Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals • Create a robust online presence: – Customers are now their own gatekeepers • Active users of websites, social networks, search engines, product/ company reviews, news venues, industry bloggers – Video, frequently updated content and strong search optimization can immediately impact search engines – Job seekers are online and actively searching. Be where they’re looking with information they care about
The New Fundam entals • Make m arketing com m unications your supplem ental sales force – Deepen relationships, keep prospects warm, free sales to focus on more productive prospect engagement. – Use tools to help navigate this new buying cycle • Lead nurturing software • Content that’s relevant, meaningful and customized
The New Fundam entals
The New Fundam entals • Ow n the leadership position through strategic PR – Position business executives as thought leaders through • Leadership positions in industry and local organizations • Becoming a voice for your industry – Raising awareness and providing analysis of industry trends and topics – Demonstrate expertise and capabilities through – Leveraging PR successes to: • Build reputation with current and prospective customers • Build a sense of pride and commitment internally
Build Your Reputation as an I ndustry Leader
Build Your Reputation as a Local Leader
Use PR to Connect w ith Key Audiences
The New Fundam entals • Equip Your Em ployees to Be Am bassadors – Provide consistent messaging that they can take to the marketplace – Empower them to be confident in all their external communications, hold the promise of your brand – Distribute internal communications – Reward and recognize top performers
Recommend
More recommend
