“We Don’t Use Our Website To Develop Leads” ~ Really?
Many of the industrial and manufacturing companies whom we talk with about Internet marketing are underutilizing one of their greatest lead generation tools! It’s right at their fingertips!: THEIR WEBSITE!
These businesses are often reluctant to dive into Internet marketing any deeper than just having a website. But just having a website and not marketing it, is like storing a box of printed brochures that never get mailed!
Some business-to-business and industrial companies hesitate to test a new marketing channel that is unfamiliar to them, even though their target market is routinely turning to the Internet as their primary means of sourcing products and suppliers.
Perhaps this reluctance comes from a fear of the unknown or the yet to be tried, but the fact is, the Internet is one of the fastest growing B2B marketplaces. There are TONS of statistics* out there that prove that B2B buyers and industrial buyers DO use suppliers’ websites as one of their main sources of information when sourcing suppliers – and one of the main factors upon which they make their final decisions!
Many B2B companies, industrial businesses and manufacturers are very used to using traditional marketing channels — the same ones that they have used for the past fifty years. They use the traditional methods of printing brochures, attending trade shows, mailing out direct mail pieces, etc. These methods are familiar to them. They are comfortable and safe (well, they used to be a relatively safe bet). But are they still a safe investment for you? Fewer people are reading trade journals, and fewer people are attending trade shows.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering … are your father’s marketing methods still the most efficient, cost-effective and lean ones available? The world has changed. Perhaps your marketing should change with it. One thing is for sure. Internet marketing is the most track-able marketing channel that there is – bar none. Its success or failure can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Just like the Internet as a whole has changed the world and virtually everyone in it who has access to it and wishes to use it.
The Internet has infiltrated practically everyone’s lives. This fact is unavoidable. The Internet now greatly influences the way that most people shop – including engineers, buyers and distributors! Before selecting a supplier or entering into a contract, buyers are now performing their research online. They are researching product availability, visiting supplier websites, and reading reviews, all before making the first phone call to the supplier or manufacturer. Online search engines are the new #1 go-to tool for finding B2B and industrial products and services.
The masses have turned to the Internet as a resource for products and product information, news, and social input. When engineer/buyer/distributor type personas clock-in at work in the morning, they don’t ‘turn off’ their desire to use the Internet as a research tool. They USE IT to search for whatever raw materials or manufactured parts they are tasked with finding.
They simply search Google, Yahoo or Bing, or ThomasNet.com, GlobalSpec.com or MacRaesBluebook.com to look for the products and materials they need. This fact has drastically changed the way that industrial product sourcing is done in this day and age!
The same engineers and buyers that used to read through printed brochures and directories have adapted to a new age of unlimited information, easily digestible summaries and fast results. They are in more of a hurry now than they were fifteen years ago. They no longer have the time to go looking for and reading through lengthy printed materials. What they are doing instead, is using the Internet to find supplier websites, and reading those websites!
Let’s use polyurethane wheels as an example. There are a lot of industrial uses for polyurethane wheels, and one of our clients happens to manufacture them. This client came to us wanting to get more leads by way of their website. (Yes – they had indeed discovered that they were getting leads from their website!!) They were getting more leads from their website than they had when they first published it years earlier, and they wanted to see if they could get even more leads from it.
We have been working with them for over four years now. We got them ranking #1 in the top search engines for their top products within six months. We are bringing them such great results month after month, that they are having us continue their SEO Campaign non-stop! We are continuing to gain additional top positions in the top search engines for more and more of their most important products.
The Internet is where our clients get the vast majority of new business!
The great news is that it costs our clients less money today to bring in qualified leads, than it did ten years ago. They don’t have the need to attend as many trade shows. They don’t have to rent databases any longer. They don’t have to print and distribute as many brochures as they used to. They are getting their products and services noticed on the Internet, by those who are searching for them.
Engineers, buyers and distributors are quite pleased with the information that our clients’ websites provide. And more and more industrial companies are buying directly from our clients who are manufacturers, rather than going through a third-party distributor. This keeps more money in our clients’ pockets, as it saves on the expense of third-party deals.
Our clients are making greater profits using the Internet as a tool to get their products into the hands of those who need them.
My team here at Net Site Marketing can bring the same type of success to your manufacturing plant, industrial company or B2B business! Our focus is on helping businesses in the business-to-business sectors and the industrial sectors succeed. This is our first love – it’s what we do and we’ve been doing it for many, many years. Whether you sell business-to-business or to consumer, we are YOUR Internet marketing company. We have been achieving great success for businesses in these sectors, and we are confident that we can help you!
*Here are recent statistics to support the facts stated here — that the Internet has indeed become an industrial marketplace that cannot and should not be ignored. (Statistics found using search engines, of course!)
B2B and industrial buyers concur that supplier websites are where they get 73% of their information when sourcing products and materials.
~ 2012 Base One Team Buyersphere Report
According to the 2012 DemandGen report, 81% of B2B buyers start their research/buying process with a web search.
Supplier websites provide nearly 75% of the overall influence upon business-to-business and industrial decision-makers.
~ 2012 Base One Team Buyersphere Report
85% of B2B marketers said that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) was effective for gaining new leads.
~ 2012 B2B Marketing Guide/KISSMetrics
So, for those of you out there who are still saying, “We Don’t Use Our Website To Develop Leads”
— to that we reply: Really? Why Not?!?
Contact Us Now to turn your Website into a Lead-Producing Machine!
