The Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Marketing

Industrial companies around the world are embracing new technologies such as the Internet of Things, robotics, and artificial intelligence. These new technologies can improve efficiency, accuracy, productivity, and safety, as well as other aspects of manufacturing processes.

But to take full advantage of the improvements and growth these digital technologies enable, manufacturers need to market themselves in new ways, too. Marketing is undergoing a digital transformation as well.

What does the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry entail?  Keep reading to find out!

At WebFX, our data-backed digital marketing strategies have driven more than $6 billion in revenue for our clients over the last five years. Contact us to learn more about our digital marketing services!

What is digital transformation in manufacturing?

Digital transformation in manufacturing is the adoption of digital and online solutions to replace traditional manufacturing processes to enhance business performance. It can include the use of digital marketing strategies, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to streamline production and sales processes, and more.

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Key technologies: 5 examples of manufacturing digitalization

Here are the top technologies and solutions that are supporting manufacturing digitalization in 2024:

1. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning

AI and machine learning use smart algorithms to mimic human intellect and ability to learn in its technologies to help manufacturing businesses streamline processes and operations.

One of the biggest benefits of AI and machine learning technology is that it can automation repetitive tasks for your business, such as inventory updates, sending emails, analyze purchase transactions, and more, making your company more efficient.

They can also help you spot trends in customer and marketing data, predict future trends, and improve quality control.

2. The Internet

The Internet is constantly changing, with more and more ways for people to find answers to their questions and purchase products.

As a result, manufacturing companies need to reach the people who are searching for their products online to earn more sales.

Digital marketing strategies like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, and more are extremely beneficial for reaching your audience at critical points in their buying journey.

These strategies are constantly changing as well, as search engines implement new algorithms and platforms add new ways to advertise to your audience.

3. Manufacturing software

There are always new software, platforms, and tools that can help your company better reach potential customers and improve your operations.

A few examples of manufacturing software include:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms
• Website analytics tools
• Email marketing platforms
• Accounting software

Manufacturing software can help you keep track of your current customers and leads, send data-driven marketing strategies, streamline your financial and accounting processes, and more.

4. 3D printing

3D printing is a process that creates objects from digital data. You can use to make entire objects or smaller parts of a large object.

Manufacturing companies can use 3D printing technology to innovate new products, streamline the production process, and improve existing products.

5. Big data and analytics

The digital transformation in the manufacturing industry means there’s more data out there than ever before. You can gather data from your current customers, leads, marketing strategies, product sales, and more.

You can then analyze all of this data to identify deep insights into your target audience, marketing strategies, and processes.

For example, you can use data from your PPC ads to determine which ads generate the most revenue for your company. You can then use this information to adjust your PPC campaigns accordingly, so you can sell even more of your products in the future.

The benefits of the digital transformation in manufacturing

How is the digital marketing transformation benefiting manufacturing companies?

1. Numerous strategy and channel options

Digital marketing includes numerous channels and strategies, so you can choose the best options for your business. These channels and strategies include:

1. SEO
2. PPC
3. Social media
4. Email
5. Content marketing
6. Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
7. And more

Having access to multiple channels enables you to reach customers wherever they are online. If your audience is using search to find businesses similar to yours, for instance, you can increase your visibility there. If your customers spend a lot of time on social media, you can create a profile and join the conversation.

You can also use different channels to interact with different people. A new lead might discover you through a YouTube video you created, for example, while you might keep up with current clients via email.

Bonus: Did you know that WebFX is a full-service digital marketing agency? We offer an entire suite of digital marketing solutions, including the strategies above and more!

Our team focuses on helping you funnel your marketing budget toward the strategies that will drive the highest ROI for your manufacturing company.

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2. Cost-effectiveness

Digital marketing is also cost-effective. You decide how much you want to invest and can change your investment level as you go.

For example, with PPC, you choose how much you want to bid for ad space and only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Traditional marketing channels, such as billboards, often involve advertising to a broad audience and hoping the right leads see your ads and contact you. With digital marketing, you can more easily focus your efforts and resources on only the prospects who are most likely to convert. This precise focus means less wasted ad dollars.

You can target PPC ads, for example, to people with specific demographic characteristics, interests, and search histories. If you write a blog post specific to the type of products you manufacture, only people interested in those kinds of products are likely to find your post through a Google search.

Digital marketing also provides excellent ROI. The average ROI for Google Ads is $8 for every $1 spent, and email marketing has an average ROI of $44 for every $1.

3. A more level playing field

With traditional marketing, smaller companies may struggle to compete with larger firms that have bigger marketing budgets and can pay to reach larger audiences.

The digital transformation in manufacturing marketing is helping to create a more level playing field. With the right content and strategies, smaller manufacturing businesses can reach potential customers located around the world and compete with large companies.

Google ranks organic search results according to your content’s quality and its relevance to the searcher’s query. So, if you write a high-quality blog post that answers a user’s question better than a large company’s blog post does, your post will rank above theirs.

With PPC, the amount you bid plays a role, but ad quality and relevance are also important factors in how Google ranks ads. So, if your ad is of a higher quality and is more relevant to the search query than an ad from a larger corporation, your ad may rank higher.

4. Advanced targeting capabilities

Traditional advertising channels, such as billboards and magazine ads, target broad audiences. With digital marketing, you can target highly precise audiences, making your strategies more efficient.

Thanks to digital technologies that collect valuable data about users, you can target your ads to people based on their demographics, interests, location, past online activity, and more.

You can also target people based on how they search online. With SEO, you can target keywords your customers might search by including those terms in your website content.

5. Detailed campaign and audience data

With digital marketing, you get detailed, accurate information about your campaigns and how users interacted with your websites, ads, and other online properties.

Tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and MarketingCloudFX track your campaign and website data and provide you with easy-to-read reports. You can access information about, for example, how visitors found your website, how many people opened your email, and the demographics of your website’s visitors.

Here is an example of a Channels report from Google Analytics. This report shows the channels users came through to get to your site.

You can use these reports and data to improve your campaigns and refine your audience targeting.

How to embrace the digital transformation of industrial marketing

How can industrial companies take advantage of the digital marketing transformation in manufacturing? Going through the following steps can help.

An Internet marketing agency can help you work through these steps. But even if you’re planning on working with an agency, understanding your digital marketing strategy is beneficial.

1. Set well-defined goals

Before you create a digital marketing strategy, you need to define your goals. These goals will guide the rest of the decisions you make.

Set SMART goals, which are:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Attainable
4. Relevant
5. Timely

Also, ensure that your marketing goals will help achieve your company’s overall business objectives.

2. Set your budget

Another important step in creating a digital marketing plan is setting your marketing budget. If you establish your budget early on, you’ll know how much you can allocate to each channel, enabling you to create a more effective online marketing strategy.

While you don’t want to overextend yourself, make sure you invest in quality services to ensure you get results. Research the companies you might want to work with and look for testimonials, reviews, and data about results.

3. Choose your channels

Next, choose the channels that will most effectively help you reach your goals. Consider which channels your target audience is active on and how you could reach them through those channels.

In many cases, you’ll use multiple channels to reach users in various stages of the customer journey.

For example, if you want to increase traffic to your site to increase awareness of your company, you might use content marketing, SEO, and social media. You could create content potential customers would want to read, use SEO to help it show up in search engine results, and share your content on social media to reach more users.

4. Create your strategy

Next, create your digital marketing manufacturing strategy. You’ll need to determine:

1. How you want to use each channel
2. How long your campaigns will run
3. How you will track your results and measure your success

5. Monitor your progress

Monitoring your progress throughout your campaigns is a crucial part of digital marketing for manufacturing companies.

If you’re working with an online marketing company, they may provide you with regular reports and a digital marketing platform for campaign tracking. At WebFX, our clients get access to MarketingCloudFX, which offers transparent campaign and ROI reporting.

6. Make improvements continually

The data you gather about your campaign’s progress will show you what’s working well and what areas you need to improve. Continually update your campaigns based on the information you receive.

For example, you might find that one of your PPC ads is performing much better than the other. You might then only use the high-performing ad or optimize your low-performing ad.

You might also see that users often leave your website from a certain page. You could then make changes to that page to improve its exit rate.

WebFX knows manufacturing.

“Working with WebFX, everything is very organized and strategic. We’re only a year into our partnership, and our expectations have definitely been met.”

— C.H. Reed, Industrial Solutions and Services

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Navigate the digital transformation of manufacturing marketing with WebFX

At WebFX, we’re at the forefront of the digital transformation of industrial marketing. We’ve generated real results for numerous manufacturing companies, and Clutch has named us the world’s top SEO company.

Our team of more than 500 digital marketing experts is ready to put together and implement a digital marketing strategy that helps you reach your goals. Contact us online or at 888-601-5359 to talk to a strategist today!

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