How to Improve Your B2B Industrial Marketing Strategy by Speaking an Engineer's Language

Summary

The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the industrial environment for effective marketing, especially when it comes to complex products. They discuss the need to engage with engineers and SMEs to ask the right questions and provide valuable, industry-specific content. The speaker highlights the value of product information, technical articles, and how-to videos in the decision-making process for engineers. They also suggest repurposing presentations into written content to overcome challenges in content creation and stress the importance of a documented strategy to align marketing efforts with customer needs and business goals.

Takeaways

• 🧐 Understanding the industrial environment is crucial for effective marketing, especially when starting out without a background in the field.
• 🔍 To market industrial products effectively, one must dig deep, ask the right questions, and learn from SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) and engineers.
• 🤝 Working closely with engineers in a manufacturing facility provides a unique opportunity to understand the products and their applications.
• 📚 Educating senior management and product leaders about the value of marketing is essential, as it can be challenging for them to grasp its importance.
• 🛠 Engineers seek knowledge and solutions, so providing them with the right information about product categories, industry applications, and systems is key.
• 📈 Offering tools that simplify comparison and decision-making processes for engineers adds value and can help push them through the buying cycle.
• 📊 Product information is highly valued by engineers, as it helps them determine if a product meets their specifications, especially in the early stages.
• 📈 CAD drawings are a key indicator of interest and potential specification, as they are often downloaded when an engineer is considering a product for a project.
• 🎥 Creating content such as technical articles, white papers, and how-to videos is valuable, but it's important to focus on the value provided to the audience rather than just meeting content quotas.
• 📝 Repurposing presentations from SMEs into written content can be an effective way to create detailed and informative material for engineers.
• 📋 Having a documented content strategy helps in understanding customer pain points, aligning with business goals, and prioritizing marketing efforts.

Q & A

What was the initial challenge the speaker faced when starting to learn about industrial products?

The speaker initially found it hard to understand the industrial environment and the products they were marketing, as they were just big boxes going into various applications that they didn't comprehend.

How did the speaker approach learning about the products they market?

The speaker had to dig deep, reach out to SMEs and engineers they work with, and learn how to ask the right questions to understand the products and their applications better.

What is the speaker's role in the manufacturing facility?

The speaker works in a manufacturing facility and has the opportunity to interact with two to three hundred engineers daily, which aids in their learning process.

Why is it important for an industrial marketer to understand the product they are marketing?

Understanding the product is crucial for an industrial marketer to be effective, as it enables them to provide accurate and helpful information to customers and stakeholders.

What was the speaker's strategy to educate senior management and product leaders on the value of marketing?

The speaker focused on educating senior management and product leaders by demonstrating the value marketing brings through knowledge sharing and solving problems.

What type of content do engineers typically value according to the CFE Media survey mentioned in the script?

According to the CFE Media survey, engineers value product information the most, followed closely by technical articles, white papers, and how-to videos.

Why is product information considered so important for engineers?

Product information is important because it helps engineers determine if a product meets their specifications, which is crucial in the early stages of their decision-making process.

What is a key indicator for the speaker when engineers are downloading CAD drawings?

When engineers download CAD drawings, it is a strong indicator that the product is either being specified or has made it onto the shortlist for consideration.

How does the speaker suggest capturing content from SMEs who are reluctant to write technical articles?

The speaker suggests recording presentations given by SMEs and repurposing the content into technical articles on their behalf, as a way to capture detailed and valuable information.

What is the importance of having a documented content strategy according to the speaker?

A documented content strategy helps in understanding customer pain points, aligning them with marketing and business goals, and prioritizing content creation effectively.

How does the speaker address the challenge of stakeholders requesting more content without a clear strategy?

The speaker emphasizes the need to show stakeholders the real priorities based on a documented content strategy, which helps in focusing on what truly adds value to the audience.