Industrial marketing

It's long been a fact that marketing is an indispensable element of any company's business strategy. However, there is still a lack of understanding of its importance in the industrial context. Industrial companies need marketing just as much as consumer market enterprises. Undoubtedly, industrial marketing has its peculiarities and requires a different approach, but its importance and value are hard to overestimate

Industrial companies are 96% more likely to reach a competitive level of sales development if they implement a comprehensive marketing approach to create conditions for these sales (Aberdeen)

What is industrial marketing?

This is a complex of marketing work for industrial and manufacturing enterprises, factories, suppliers of industrial goods and services

Experience shows that often the task of marketing in industry is to solve all sales problems quickly and preferably without attracting additional funding. Alternatively, marketing falls as an additional function on the sales department, without anyone really understanding its function. In some other cases, industrial marketing is reduced to the preparation of printing materials and advertising leaflets, participation in thematic exhibitions, and other minor tasks. Even if a marketing specialist appears in the company, it often happens that the leaders of manufacturing enterprises simply do not understand what tasks and functions he should perform and what indicators to control

In fact, industrial marketing is a complex, comprehensive, and multi-stage work that affects the fundamental areas of the enterprise's activity

What are the tasks of industrial marketing?

Let's understand what the main tasks of marketing in the industry are and what sub-tasks they include

Organization of sales of manufactured goods or services provided and ensuring sales growth

The task includes:

• attracting new customers (quality lead generation)
• promoting new products/services
• analyzing and improving the customer journey and the path to the customer
• growth in sales of related products/services
• increasing brand awareness and trust
• forming the company's image
• building a communication strategy

Ensuring profit growth (sales margin)

The task includes:

• deeper segmentation and development of corresponding marketing materials (positioning, USP, industrial design)
• formulation of pricing policy
• promotion
• analysis and improvement of the sales system
• increasing LTV

Development strategy formulation

The task includes:

• determining the prospects for developing a new direction/product/service, including in new segments, on new markets
• analyzing market segment capacity before launching production
• developing and implementing a market entry strategy for a new product/service
• developing a competition strategy and increasing competitiveness
• developing an investment attraction strategy

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Features of industrial marketing

Industrial marketing has several fundamental differences from consumer marketing, therefore it requires a different approach and certain adaptation of traditional marketing tools

1. The target audience is quite narrow, which requires the development of more precise, personalized marketing strategies. Acting template here is simply unacceptable. Special attention should be paid to the product, pricing and distribution policy, principles of service, and think about the communication strategy for interacting with the client
2. Long sales cycle. In the industrial sector, it takes more time to make a purchase decision. This is related both to the specifics of goods/services, the presence of large volumes of information, analysis of competitors, etc., and to the features of the management structure. Accordingly, the marketing strategy should take this aspect into account
3. Business relationships are of key importance. Industrial marketing is about building long-term relationships with clients. Principles of partnership, trust, respect, honesty, etc., play a big role, which affects the success and longevity of business cooperation

Do not forget that marketing continues to move towards the concept of H2H (human-to-human), which is focused on human relationships and interests, so despite all the differences between consumer and industrial marketing, interaction still primarily occurs between people, and this should be considered when building marketing strategies

Trends in the development of industrial marketing

Global trends for several years indicate that industrial marketing is moving from traditional marketing strategies to digital marketing strategies, which is very natural, considering the global trend of digitalization. This means that approaches, principles, and methods of marketing in industry need to transform. Important tools such as personal meetings, phone calls, mailings, exhibitions, printed advertising materials, etc., remain important, but to interact more effectively with clients, it is necessary to develop and implement new strategies that include working on social networks and content management, using online advertising tools, working with the website and SEO-promotion, using video marketing, etc

Industrial marketing and digitization. A bit of statistics:

• by 2027, the global market for industrial marketing automation will reach $45.3 billion
• 43% of industrial marketers use email as the most effective content distribution channel
• 70% of B2B buyers search for online content during the purchasing process
• LinkedIn is the most popular social network for industrial marketers: 81% use it to distribute content
• 45% of marketers who work in the manufacturing sector report that their organization prioritizes organic search traffic (SEO)
• by 2025, industrial enterprises will transfer 56% of their internal and 42% of their commercial demand online
• it is expected that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales will occur in digital format
• it is expected that by 2030, industrial companies will spend more than $1 trillion worldwide on digitizing their supply chains
• 75% of marketers in the industry use video marketing as part of their content marketing strategies
• 45% of engineers and technical specialists visit at least 6 work-related websites per week
• 78% of marketers in the manufacturing sector use webinars and online events for marketing purposes
• industrial companies that invest in digital marketing will see a 20% increase in return on investment

As we can see, digitalization in industrial marketing is no longer an option, but a necessity. A marketing strategy that takes into account the digitalization trend will allow a manufacturing enterprise to remain competitive and also gain long-term competitive advantages

In summary

Do industrial companies need comprehensive marketing? The answer is a resounding yes, especially considering modern trends. Global practice clearly confirms that manufacturing enterprises should have long been applying a comprehensive strategic marketing approach, while also taking into account the key features of marketing in industry. Global experience in numbers unequivocally states that it is extremely important to use digital tools in the marketing strategy, which will not only increase sales and profits but also gain long-term competitive advantages

We at seven mountains perfectly understand entrepreneurs because we have personal many years of experience in industrial business. We know how industrial marketing works and are ready to help you. Contact us through the feedback form

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Source https://zipdo.co/statistics/industrial-marketing/