Manufacturers are in the business of the tangible. From design to fabrication and installation, your customers can see and touch the results of your hard work. Your expertise and commitment to quality are on proud display with every piece, part, and component you fabricate. If you’re in the business of the tangible, why would it pay off to invest your marketing budget in something as immaterial as online content marketing? Your return customers know the value of working with your company. Content marketing is a great way to keep yourself top-of-mind with customers who haven’t placed an order with you recently. But it’s also an effective tool to building relationship with early-stage customers. These are the buyers who may have heard of your company, but are unsure you have the expertise, commitment to quality, or competitive pricing they demand. Content marketing is also a powerful recruitment tool. Your website is your next hire’s first stop in learning about your company. The content of your website can reveal a lot about your company culture. A website brimming with information about your products and services, features on team members, and helping FAQs and tips for potential customers shows that you’re invested in innovation, education, and developing a strong company culture.
Use Your Website’s Content to Tell Your Story At the end of the day, people buy from other people and people work with other people. Your website’s content jumpstarts your relationship with potential buyers and future employees. It should reflect your expertise, your company’s core values, and offer information that’s valuable and relevant to current customers, prospective buyers, and potential employees. If innovation is a core value of your company, your website content should reflect that. If you’ve built your business on long-term customer relationships, your content should speak to your expertise and your customer experience. The copy on your website is just one tool in your content marketing toolbox. Images of your shop floor and your team go a long way to building trust.
So do videos that explain your processes, showcase your latest investment in equipment, or present a case study of how you helped a recent customer. Don’t Forget about FAQs Companies started creating lists of frequently asked questions long before the Internet. FAQs provide a valuable opportunity to build relationships with your customers and convince them to work with you. They show that you listen to your customers and care enough to address their questions and concerns. FAQs also help you show you are aware of some of the issues that may arise while working with you and that you have a plan to prevent or deal with them.
When developing your list of FAQs, draw on the questions you’ve received from past customers. Fake questions stand out like sore thumbs. Include questions you get during the sales process to help potential buyers overcome objections. Whenever possible, include links to other areas of your website that may provide more information. Build Relationships and Your Reputation with a Blog Your website content and FAQ page provide the foundation for your content marketing efforts. Your blog is your opportunity to show off your expertise, feature recent projects, and elevate your staff. It’s also one of the most valuable tools for directing web traffic to your website. A blog post gives your website a boost in search engine r ankings in the first hours and days you publish it. But it provides residual results, too. A recent study by HubSpot found 70 percent of website traffic and 90 percent of leads from your blog come from posts that are months old.
Two important factors in successful blogging are consistency and frequency. A content calendar that identifies what you’ll post and when can keep you on track. Resist the urge to use your blog as a sales sheet. Instead, use your blog to educate your customers and provide them something of value. Explain how automation is affecting your industry or show them how you recently saved the day for a customer. Content is a powerful marketing tool that helps you build relationships with current and potential buyers. It can also help you attract top talent, whether you’ve been in business three years or three decades. Not sure where to start? Platinum Sponsor Balius Marketing & Web Design, LLC can help.