Our manufacturing marketing agency hosted a second #USAMfgHour Twitter chat to discuss content creation for manufacturers. Held every Thursday at 2:00 p.m. EST, the Twitter chat connects manufacturers from all over the world to discuss industry-related topics. We hosted this recent chat to offer a marketing angle and lead a discussion about how manufacturers can create compelling content that buyers actually care about.
While manufacturers are typically great at nurturing existing relationships, many of them fall short with building new relationships. Much of this is due to the fact that they continue to rely on outdated and ineffective content. We posed a number of questions to manufacturers to hear their take on which strategies are working for them and where they struggle with content creation.
Determining the Right Formats Require Trial and Error
To start, we asked manufacturers which types of content they create and whether they’ve seen success with their strategy. Answers included everything from white papers and email blasts to video and social media. A number of manufacturers said that they will take one topic or theme and repurpose it across multiple channels to leverage different formats.
With so many different options, how can companies know which formats to try? In our work as an industrial marketing agency, we encourage manufacturers to utilize a cocktail of different formats, depending on business goals and where prospects are in the sales journey. Social media can be great for early engagement, whereas case studies and white papers can be more effective when prospects are further down the sales funnel. The important thing is to experiment and look at the analytics to see which strategies draw the most engagement from your buyers. “Content evolves,” said Jennifer Wegman, a content professional from Insight Info Solutions. “Only through trial and error do you learn what works and what doesn’t. Then you can adapt accordingly. Being open and willing to change is so important!”
Manufacturers can leverage a number of different content formats, including:
• Articles
• Blog posts
• Guest blog posts
• Social media posts
• Case studies
• Sell sheets
• White papers
• Infographics
• Podcasts
• E-books
How to Overcome the Content Creation Hurdles
We also asked manufacturers to elaborate on the challenges they face with content creation and how they would advise other companies that are struggling. Some of the challenges included coming up with new material, looking at things in the eyes of buyers and allocating the necessary time to strategize and write content.
Regarding new material, one manufacturer suggested paying attention to what’s happening in the world and connecting it back to your products and services. Even if what you’re offering might not change all that much, the world around us is always changing. To make the most of your time when writing, another manufacturer suggested creating pillar content that can be broken down into smaller pieces of content. For example, while it might take some time to write a thought leadership article for a trade publication, you can use that same article to quickly create other types of content (blog posts, social media content, etc.).
When we asked what type of topics the content should cover, most of the answers fell into two categories: product-focused content and customer-focused content. Many manufacturers shared that their content revolves around their products and industry-related topics. When our industrial copywriters consult clients and help them develop content strategies, we encourage them to revolve their content around their customers’ pain points and concerns. This answer from Graphic Products was most in-line with what we tell our clients: “We focus on problems and solutions. What do our customers need help with, what problems do they face? How could they use our products and services? Case studies and reviews are helpful with this, too.” While it is valuable to discuss your products and capabilities, readers want to quickly understand what’s in it for them. They want to know that you understand their problems and that your company is best equipped to help solve them.
Leverage Sales Calls and Customer Interviews
Another great way to generate new topics is through sales calls and customer interviews. Your sales team is already talking to customers and having those valuable conversations, so use this information to your advantage. This is what will keep your readers most engaged because it’s about them rather than you. Customer interviews are another excellent way to come up with topics because you’re going straight to the source. When we asked manufacturers whether they’ve interviewed their customers before, most of them had not. They were, however, receptive to the idea and plan to incorporate it into their marketing strategies in 2021.
Part of our job as a manufacturing marketing agency is interviewing our clients’ customers to write various marketing pieces. We can’t emphasize enough how valuable these conversations are not only for writing the piece at hand, but for future content pieces as well. These conversations provide crucial insight that not even analytics can reveal.
To get the most out of these conversations, we suggest doing the following:
• Make the experience fun & positive. Even though you’re leading the interview, make the interviewee feel like the expert so they open up and contribute more.
• Prepare and share questions ahead of time.
• Schedule the session for 15-20 minutes, depending on who you’re interviewing. Even if time runs over, schedule it as a shorter meeting so people don’t feel like they’re allocating too much time out of their busy day.
• Do your research beforehand to skip through the basic-level information and get to the heart of the matter more quickly.
Sometimes, Less Is More
Most readers aren’t going to delve deep into your content, at least not initially. They’re going to skim through it and look for the main points before moving on. That’s why we always encourage manufacturers to create content in digestible, bite-size pieces. This doesn’t mean you need to steer clear of long-form content. But if the piece is longer in length, break it up with frequent subheadings and write in shorter, more digestible paragraphs. Here are some other formatting strategies to consider:
Part of our job as a manufacturing marketing agency is interviewing our clients’ customers to write various marketing pieces. We can’t emphasize enough how valuable these conversations are not only for writing the piece at hand, but for future content pieces as well. These conversations provide crucial insight that not even analytics can reveal.
• Address the problem and audience quickly in the headline, deck line and introduction.
• Use pull quotes and stats to create a quicker, more engaging read.
• Incorporate images throughout the piece.
• Include a clear call-to-action that makes it easy for customers to learn more or contact you.
Stay Tuned for More Discussions!
We had a wonderful time hosting these chats and bouncing ideas back and forth with manufacturers. We are always active on Twitter and plan on running similar events in the future, so stay tuned for what’s next!
