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- Category: Industrial Marketing
Advances in technology have dramatically broadened both the types of marketing channels available as well as the number of people those efforts can reach. Studies have consistently shown that implementing an omnichannel approach increases your customer reach, their engagement (by 19%), their purchase frequency (by 250%), your overall sales (by 13%), and improves customer retention (by a whopping 90%). So what exactly is omnichannel marketing, how do you pick which channels to use, and what should you keep an eye on?
What is omnichannel marketing?
Your customer’s needs change over the course of their buying journey and your marketing message needs to change in response to their needs. Today’s engineering customer is also looking for a very personalized, one-on-one, experience. Omnichannel marketing utilizes multiple marketing channels and connects them in a single, user-centric way, all while personally responding to the customer’s needs. Basically this means that all of your marketing efforts (both online and off-line) work together, with a unified message, voice, and brand, to create a single unified customer-centered experience.
How do you choose the right channels?
Your engineering customers are not confined to a single platform or type of information and neither should your company’s marketing efforts. Choosing the correct ways and places to market your company is essential for your omnichannel marketing to be effective. You need to know who your target audience is, what channels they prefer, and how they prefer to interact with companies. Each customer also has a preferred way of consuming information. Some of these customers will want written articles, others video, while some prefer straight audio podcasts, though most want a mix of all three.
You need to be sure that your content coincides with the way your individual customer consumes information then make sure that your channels post those types of content for them to consume. You should have at least one channel for each type of content consumption – written, video, and audio.
Once you know where and how engineers are looking for your products and services, you need to make sure that your entire company is on the same page to deliver a consistent message to them.
Where should your industrial company focus your marketing efforts?
Your omnichannel marketing should consist of a combination of popular channels, such as:
- Email campaigns
- SMS or text messaging
- Social media posts and ads
- Search engine ads
- Ads on association or vendor sites
- Content creation (white papers, blogs, videos, case studies, etc.)
- Search engine advertising
- Business directory advertising
- Webinars and podcasts
- Your company website
- Trade publication ads
- And more
What to keep an eye on while implanting your omnichannel marketing strategy:
No matter what channels you choose to utilize you will need to be sure that you are closely monitoring and reviewing performance data, such as:
- Shares
- Likes
- Opens
- Clicks
- Subscribes
- Unsubscribes
- Feedback
- Orders
- And more
Knowing what is working and what isn’t will allow you to finely tune your marketing campaigns to increase their effectiveness and reach.
How does omnichannel marketing help industrial job shops?
Omnichannel marketing is about providing an experience, not simply pushing information or a sales pitch on someone. As an industrial job shop, your primary objective is to be that optimized solution provider for your customers by helping them get their job done with the greatest degree of expertise that makes them look good. You are selling your ability to solve a specific problem for an engineer and their team using your particular products, manufacturing methods, and expertise. Utilizing an omnichannel approach gives you the opportunity to be where your engineering customers are in ways that will set you apart from your competitors.
Omnichannel marketing allows you to:
- Provide a unified customer-focused experience
- Easily control all of your channels
- Seamlessly integrate channels
- Provide consistency
- Increase awareness
- Improve your ROI
Quick tips for creating your omnichannel marketing strategy:
- Choose the right channels for your customers and prospects
- Make sure your channels are fully optimized
- Make it personal
- Emphasize content that highlight solutions and benefits to your prospects and customers
- Make sure your entire company is on board and actively working together
Need assistance? Let us help!
Start by downloading our free comprehensive digital marketing success guide to accelerate your Job Shop growth.
Grab your FREE copy now: https://www.thericogroup.com/industrial/
With over 30 years of experience, The Rico Group specializes in helping industrial manufacturers and job shops grow their business and diversify their customer base. We know how engineers think and what they are looking for. We know your processes, equipment, and materials. We also know that you have very little time to take away from your production and getting your customer’s orders delivered.
Grow your industrial business with better marketing with The Rico Group.
www.thericogroup.com/industrial/
(805) 497-7401