No sound marketing strategy? Then you have a losing one.
Gotham provides B2B marketing expertise exclusively to manufacturers. Founded in 1989, the company builds growth-focused strategic marketing plans. At the company website (www.industrialmarketingexperts.com), owner Woody Stoudemire declares, “If you’ll allow me to help build it, they will come.” Below he shares his thoughts with WJI on why having a strategy is essential.
WJI: Why should manufacturers—especially those whose products are often buried/unseen—invest in marketing?
Stoudemire: At one time, a niche product could be developed, and a company could survive without marketing. Early in my career and pre-internet, one primary source for finding products was the Thomas Register (big blue books), a voluminous directory. Today, niche products can be found with a five-second search on the Internet. Branding, SEO, and lead-generating tactics are essential to standing above the competition in this search.
WJI: What’s the difference between marketing and branding?
Stoudemire: Marketing is the big umbrella that covers internal and external sales efforts, branding, lead generation, customer service, direct marketing, SEO, web development, and more. Branding is the art of educating the market about your existence and should communicate the essence of your company. Branding tactics include many things, such as trade show presence, paid display advertising, print ads, direct mail, videos, and social media posts. Digital tactics can be measured and improved. Trade shows and print ads are more complex to quantify. The idea is to imprint your company in the prospect’s brain to recall it at the discovery or purchasing level of interest. Many companies that seek our services want a dollar-for-dollar ROI on their spending. That’s unreasonable. Branding must be done consistently over time to pay dividends. Simply put, they won’t buy from you if they don’t know about you.
WJI: Is marketing a science, an art or a mix of the two?
Stoudemire: Every case is unique, but building a strategic marketing plan is critical. A plan focuses a company and provides critical insights into market conditions, competition, prospect markets, etc. It should include multiple tactics and measure data like cost per sale, close rates, impressions, SEO rankings, and analytics data from the website. Many industrial companies exhibit at one or two trade shows a year, absorbing all their marketing budget. If they figured their cost per lead (or sale), dividing prospects into overall show costs—including personnel, lodging, space, booth, and ancillary costs—they would be shocked! Marketing is quicker, more effective, and less expensive from a cost-per-lead and per-sale viewpoint. I’m not saying not to exhibit, but understand that doing that alone likely will not work as well as having a more complete approach.
WJI: How big an impact has AI had on marketing? Is it more a tool for a staffer than a potential replacement able to create an entire campaign in mere seconds?
Stoudemire: AI is only as good as the information you feed it. Without marketing experience, I don’t see how it would help a wire and cable manufacturer. It can help strategically if one needs to do a quick market segment or competitor search. From a marketing agency standpoint, it could speed us up conceptually if we wanted a visual of a tiger driving a Mustang by Saturn. AI can render that in no time. I use it daily to proof and improve my writing. I’ve also used it as an information source to build strategic marketing campaigns. I’m old school though; I don’t believe companies should pay for canned ideas or a paragraph written by AI. What we provide is human experience, strategy, and creativity.
WJI: Should every marketing project have a specific plan and expected goals to determine the results?
Stoudemire: Every good strategic marketing plan should begin with end goals. The strategy’s contents should be a roadmap to meeting or exceeding those goals. It’s important to get that no single “switch” can be flipped to bring immediate results. Like most things, marketing requires investment, patience, and perseverance. Marketing goals could include KPIs like impressions, growth in number of followers on social media, monthly lead generation, email open and click rates, and time on site. Marketing brings prospects and existing customers to your doorstep; it’s critical to have sales aligned with marketing so branding and messaging are consistent. Customer service or sales must have a protocol for effectively closing deals. Understanding cost per lead, close rates, number of weekly outreach calls, and net profit is essential.
WJI: Is there a formula for manufacturer marketing?
Stoudemire: Marketing for an industrial wire and cable company should be funded by dividing annual gross sales by 0.5% to 6%, with 0.5% being minimal and 6% aggressive. Marketing well done should increase brand awareness and lead generation while lowering cost per lead and growing sales and net profits by attracting best-fit customers.
WJI: What can you say to companies that say their products can speak for themselves?
Stoudemire: If you’re not marketing and you are depending on existing customers to spread the good word, you likely will have a bad outcome. It may be cheap, but even without customer attrition, it’s a losing strategy.
