It seems that word’s gotten out about how inbound marketing can help those in the manufacturing industry get ahead, as I’ve had more and more manufacturing companies contacting me for help.  Their most common question:  how can I get more interest?  How can I get more customers?

Before you can make a customer a “customer”, you have to get visitors to your site, and then turn that visitor into a lead.  So before we focus on turning a customer into a customer, let’s focus on how we turn a person into a lead.

For more on proven ways to generate more leads, check out our FREE Ebook, “The Immediate Solution for Lead Generation.”

Step 1: Search Engine Optimization is Key

If you want to get leads, then you have to have an optimized website.  It should go without saying that if you don’t have a website, you need to start building one TODAY. But before you do, consider this…

Most companies go straight to a web designer or a web developer to make their website.  While they can make a website look awesome, they don’t know how to optimize it like an inbound marketing agency can.  My biased opinion is to always choose an inbound marketing agency for your web developments.  Not only can an agency give you a great looking website, but they’ll have tailored it so that it is optimized with specific and well researched keywords that will help get you on page 1 of Google search results.

Step 2: Start a Blog

As we talk about in our free Ebook “Website Redesign 101”, while you’re getting that website up and running, start creating blog entries and advise the person creating your site that you will need a blog linked or incorporated in your website.  Blogs help with a number of things.  They:

  • Will give you a huge SEO boost, especially if you’re blogging at least a couple times a day.  Leads will be able to find you more easily
  • Give you that more personalized, human touch.  This will help you build trust with potential leads.
  • Provide an easy way for you to upload and update information on your site
  • Allow you to boast and show off your expertise in your industry – and people always want to hire only the best.

Don’t underestimate the power of a blog.  As disinterested as you may be in writing a blog, it will play a huge role in helping you generate leads.  When people read through your blog and see you as a capable and competent expert in your niche, they’ll want to hire you over that other guy that doesn’t have as blog.

Also, check out our FREE Ebook, “How to Start a Business Blog,” to get your blog up and running today. 

Step 3: Add a Form to your Site

Make it easy for people to contact you with any questions they may have.  It’s important to have all of your contact information laid out in the open, but having an additional form for people to ask for quotes, turnaround times, and whatever else will help you for a number of reasons:

  • The easier you make it for people to get in touch with you, the more likely they will.  Having a form right there for them to quickly and easily fill out will encourage contact
  • Once you their email address, you can add it to your email marketing campaign, which plays a huge role in the lead nurturing process

Step 4: Email Marketing

There are a number of email marketing programs out there that will make classifying and arranging your leads super simple for anyone.  Your email marketing campaign can be tailored to send out personalized emails to any potential leads, dependent on where they are in the lead nurturing cycle as shown below.

What’s even more neat is that a lot of email marketing programs will actually track your leads’ behavior online, so it can send out personalized emails to that lead when that lead takes a particular action online.  For example, if you build tables, if that particular lead does a search in a month for “tables”, the email marketing software could be triggered to send an email to that lead when that search is done by that person.  That email will serve as a reminder to that lead that your company exists and that you’re more than capable of doing the job too.  You may even throw in a promotional offer in the email as an additional incentive.

Key Takeaways:

Your goal should always be to nurture the lead right to the point that they are a customer, rather than jump on a visitor right away and try to make a quick sale.  By using the tips above, as well as social media marketing and pay per click campaigns, you’ll go a long way in generating more leads and turning those leads into customers.

Need Help?

If you’re a manufacturing company looking to generate more leads online, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.