Fourth quarter is nearing, and it's time to start planning your marketing strategy for 2019.  The days of attending a few trade shows to connect with clients is long gone.  There are now many modern methods to engage with clients and potential customers all year round! 

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With the right manufacturing marketing plan, tools, and team - any brand can outshine the competition.  Not only is implementing a marketing strategy going to benefit your business, in the long run this will be best for customers.  You have the ability to provide them more opportunity to find the solution that meets their needs.  Did we mention a strong marketing presence is great for acquiring new employees too?

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Where should you start when building your strategy?  Here are a few must-haves:

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1. Video Content

Buyers and b2b decision makers are eagerly engaging with video content as an interesting and convenient way to get more information on products and services.  Video content is ideal for demonstrating physical products, industry trends, testimonial interviews, or executive interviews demonstrating thought leadership.

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2. Social Media

LinkedIn is an clear choice for a manufacturing social presence.  You can use the platform to connect with decision makers, answer questions, grow contacts, and distribute content like video!  Other social media platforms can be great resources, to ensure you aren't missing an audience.  Social media isn't just a great place to grow sales, it can be used to grow and build brand awareness, connect with people and other businesses in your community, and raise your business within it's respective industry - through connecting with trade associations, competitors, and suppliers.

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3. Email Marketing

When it comes to communicating with your target audience - email is still king and cost effective!  Email marketing data provides great information for your sales team, with the opens, click through rates, and engagement is easy to track and manage.

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4. Data Analytics

Once you've planned and executed your marketing strategy, it remains a series of tactics until you incorporate data analytics.  Analytics give you insight into how people reach your content, what they do there (or don't do), which allows you to  make inferences about what content they’ll respond to.  Setting up a system for collecting analytics across platforms makes it easy (plus we handle this for our clients and put it together into an easy to read marketing report each month).  

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5. Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Website

It should go without saying, but a responsive, easy to navigate, and MOBILE FRIENDLY website is necessary in 2019. 

Digital marketing for manufacturers has been evolving fast and more brands are starting to see the writing on the wall and consider proactive digital marketing a “must have.” When you dive into digital marketing,  you can unlock its potential – delivering targeted, helpful, and informative experiences to your audiences.

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Contact Lotus to develop the strategy, and implement these manufacturing marketing strategy pillars for 2019!

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