Mascola B2B Marketing Blog, B2B Advertising Agency
All posts by Emily Swet

Executive Branding for Manufacturers: Your Hidden Marketing Superhero

by

Executive Branding for Manufacturers

Manufacturing is a traditional industry. And traditionally, industry executives have stayed off the grid, focusing on marketing their products and brands. Companies were a brand unto their own, and there was formidable strength in remaining faceless. But trends are shifting. Today’s audience is increasingly accustomed to building relationships not only with brands, but the people behind them. Work this to your advantage, and unleash one of your best assets – executive branding for manufacturers.

What is Executive Branding?

Executive branding is when key players at a company build their profiles online for the benefit of the company. Their beliefs, opinions, and most importantly, their industry expertise are put front-and-center. For manufacturing brands, it’s a great opportunity to bring your brand to life and add a little personality. Especially if your key players are already blessed with great personalities to begin with.

Manufacturing marketers often struggle with how to present dry subjects in ways that make an impact. And they’re often marketing to other manufacturers or distributers instead of directly to a consumer. As one of Forbes’ top trends for B2B marketing in 2017, executive branding is an effective strategy to counter this. Breathe life into your campaign by putting your leaders at the forefront. By placing some marketing emphasis on your leaders, prospective buyers will have a human reference point in their decision-making process. Plus, they’ll know what the company culture is like and a little about what the brand is likely to stand for.

Same Techniques, Smaller Scale

Executive branding takes the same concepts you’d use to market your products or services, and applies it to your executive leaders. Build and market your individual leaders’ knowledge, authority, and humanity. Use your executive to answer they buyer’s “why” and build their trust. Seeing the company from the CEO’s point of view goes a long way – buyers want to know what they think, not the staff writer. And a strong executive brand can create a connection with your future buyers long before the first purchase.

Think of your CEO as a brand persona. Create an executive communication plan that addresses:

  • The kind of content your thought leaders (or the marketers behind them) will create
  • The kind of content they will comment on/interact with
  • How they present their persona digitally, as well as in real life

And when it comes to content, focus on knowledge, expertise, and personality. But – and we cannot express the importance of this – omit the direct pitch. A well-branded executive can guide your buyer into your funnel without needing an obvious shove. From LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to a personal company blog, there are plenty of opportunities to promote your executives as thought leaders. Even the humble email newsletter has a powerful impact when it comes from your CEO.

If you’re not interested in promoting yourself, we get it. A seasoned marketing company is a good place to start, both for devising a strategy and executing content. And consider the consequences of not participating on social media. Executives can come off either not technologically advanced or worse, not transparent. At a time when social presence, public relations, relationship building, and marketing are intrinsically linked, executive branding shouldn’t be considered an add-on, but a necessity.

 

Continue Reading


B2B Monday Myth: E-Commerce Is Too Complex and Unaffordable

by

e-commerce for b2b companies

The Myth: E-commerce Is Too Complex and Unaffordable.

The Truth: E-commerce for B2B Companies Is Easier Than You Think

E-commerce? Not for us. We’re a B2B brand, and it will take too much time and money to get rolling. Plus, our traditional sales techniques work better. Sound familiar? It might be time to rethink your approach.

A Growing Trend Among B2B Brands

E-Commerce on B2B websites is expected to grow twice as big as B2C by 2020. And with good reason. There are an increasing number of online decision-makers ready and eager to make a purchase online. Although the start-up cost of an e-commerce portal to your website may seem exorbitant, failure to adapt could be far more costly in the endgame. Think about it:

  • Your Buyers Expect It. Consumer brands have set the bar pretty high when it comes to e-commerce channels, and your buyers have become conditioned to it. In fact, Forrester predicts that 56% of B2B buyers will make half of their work-related purchases online this year. Also worth noting: millennial buyers are on the rise, and they’ve been acclimated to online purchases from the get-go. Having a high-quality experience across all channels drives loyalty and keeps your customers returning.
  • It Saves Money. An e-commerce portal can significantly reduce cost once it’s up. One company interviewed by Forester reported a whopping jump from $24.48 per transaction through a salesperson-driven ordering system to $1.50 per transaction through a customer self-serve e-commerce portal.
  • It Saves Time. E-commerce saves time for both your buyers and your company. You can appreciate how saving time appeals to your company – now consider how valuable time is to your buyers. Since buying decisions often require teams, making one element in the purchase process more streamlined significantly reduces time lost. If your buyers can make their decisions and purchases swiftly, they’re likely to become repeat customers.

With B2B companies, it’s often difficult to recognize what the competition is up to until you’re already behind. Considering the projected growth of e-commerce for B2B companies in the coming years, your competitors are likely already adding e-commerce platforms to their sites. So perhaps the question should be less about how much it will cost to set up an e-commerce site, and more about how much it will cost not to.

Continue Reading


Worth Their Weight: Marketing Videos for Manufacturers

by

Marketing Videos for Manufacturers B2Bs Marketing Videos for Manufacturers

Video content is king these days, and the manufacturing industry is no exception. If you’re a manufacturer and have passed on the video spend, it might be time to rethink. A quick glance at the stats, and you’ll see why marketing videos for manufacturers are an important sales tool:

Lower-cost technology like drones, the GoPro, and the high-def filming options on digital SLR cameras make it possible for your marketing partner to produce video with much lower spend. But because video is now relatively simple to make, it’s easy to overlook the details that count. A well-crafted video can position your company as a trustworthy authority and become a lead-generation workhorse. In contrast, a poorly done video can have the reverse affect; looking like an amateur never helped a bottom line.

Before you sink any money into video, here are 3 things to consider:

  1. The Importance of a Well-written, Professional Voiceover. The narration of your video has an end game: persuasion. A good voiceover sets the mood, whether it be light-hearted, trustworthy, or authoritative, to move the viewer to action. Don’t leave that to the amateurs.
  2. Rich Visuals and Clean Edits. In other words, for a video to reach its potential, don’t use your smartphone. You don’t need Steven Spielberg, but you do need high-quality production to look professional and gain credibility. (You can use your smartphone for live video though).
  3. Music Selection. There’s a trove of good-quality, inexpensive stock music available these days. A seasoned ear can match up the right sound for you at very little cost.

What kind of videos work for manufacturers? Lots.

  • Explainer Videos: These vids explain who you are and how you solve a problem. Tip: a simple animated short can simplify a complicated manufacturing process.
  • The How To: The beauty of a how-to video is you can position yourself as a trustworthy industry resource, and feature your product or service at the same time without taking too much of a promotional tone.
  • Facility Tours: Let your audience get to know your facility, and the people that work there. This gives your company credibility, humanity, and lives well on all the social networks. 
  • Products and Services: A succinct, digestible breakdown of your offerings is a great way to get in front of a busy decision maker, perhaps one that is a little further along on the sales cycle. Your salespeople can use these as a tool when trying to convert a lead.
  • Customer Case Studies: A strong case study is the proof of your value. Video gives more depth to your case studies, making them more impactful.

No matter what type you choose (and you should strongly consider producing several), marketing videos for manufacturers can live virtually anywhere. Video has a home base on your website, but serves well as an independent sales tool, in a company newsletter, and can be especially compelling on social sites. Need help building a video strategy? Give us a call.

Continue Reading