With 3.48 billion social media users all across the globe, the phenom of virtual communication is hard to ignore. It’s like a goldmine for the businesses, as potential customers for all products dwell there. It should ring bells for the manufacturing segment which is struggling constantly to acquire and retain the customers. Moreover, the growing competition is making it even harder for manufacturers to stay ahead at the competitive turf.  That’s where digital marketing via social media and thereby acing the digital marketing trends for manufacturers can become their silver bullet. This is especially true when you get to know that 71% of people who have a positive social media experience are likely to share the brand with others.

However, the volatile terrain of social media is ever changing. To utilize social media to its maximum potential, it’s important to know every brick in its wall – and also from where the next bricks will come. The best way for it to look in the future and gauge where the wind is blowing. Based on our research and detailed conversations with leaders in manufacturing and marketing, these are the four key digital marketing trends for manufacturers to which you should pay attention if your goal is accelerated growth for the rest of 2019.

1) Content Will Still Be the King:

One of the founding digital marketing trends for manufacturers is content marketing will hold the role of utmost importance for manufacturers. There are two palpable reasons for it. Firstly, the more aware B2B buyers are making their purchase decisions before even talking to anyone at your company. Secondly, Gartner has found that main requests from B2B buyers are easier access to product, company, and industry information without talking with a salesperson. What it underlines is a clear cut need to establish a credible brand persona and thought leadership through insightful and informative white papers, blogs, e-books, and even videos that help customers answer questions and solve problems.  

How Manufacturers Can Do It:

● Regular, ongoing content like blogging, podcasting, social postings, and videos fuels customer behavior. Note that content resonates the most when it prioritizes the audience’s informational needs and values over a sales message. This is where non-promotional content becomes a vital cog in the marketing machinery.

● B-Manufacturers should develop a regular content calendar to make it easy for customers to engage on a regular basis. That’s the only way of turning browsers into subscribers

2) Laser Customer Targeting:

Personalized communication and targeting will become more powerful and necessary in the effort of driving qualified leads. Targeted customers are the individuals who have shown high interest in a product or service and the chances of making an effective transaction by them are higher. With customer behavior analysis and tracking, it’s possible to know the interest level of the prospective customers. Powered by this, lead generation can begin the process of closing a sale and provide your organization with significant opportunities and measurable ROI. That’s why this will emerge as one of the most prominent digital marketing trend for manufacturers.

How Manufacturers Can Do It:

With data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities, manufacturers can identify and target very specific audiences with fabled accuracy. Based on this, they can deliver the right communication with precision and provide a real-time, tangible opportunity to successfully engage with the exact audience for building a direct line to conversion and sales.

3) Automation for Instant Conversations with Customers: 

Since digital marketing has overtaken traditional marketing, customers now prefer frictionless methods throughout the buying journey. Though phone calls for early stage prospects are still in a nascent stage, if your brand isn’t anticipating and instantly answering the questions asked by your customer base, you’re quick to fall in the land of oblivion. That’s where automation will come to transform manufacturing marketing activities in a big way and thereby become among the most sort after digital marketing trends for manufacturers. From automatic email sequences to introduce an audience to your product, to scheduling regular communication, to tools like ManyChat and other chatbots, manufacturers have to establish newer communication lines with customers.

How Manufacturers Can Do It:

● Manufacturers should plan sequences to point interested prospects to key content and messaging that moves them through the buyer journey

● They can use the automation process to profile and personalize content to the individual customer level

● With the help of Manychat and other Facebook bots, they can respond to customers’ queries instantly and also build subscribers to their Messenger content. It will allow them to send tailored Facebook Messages to customers instead of an email blast

4) Analytics & Audience Profiling:

As opposed to the “spray and pray” approach of older marketing techniques, digital marketing analytics provides you with insight like never before into the mindset and interests of your customers. It lets you analyze the gaps in moving customers through conversion steps. Consequently, you can spend more judiciously by focusing money on platforms and messages that work. Since it can have a direct impact on your bottom-line, analytics and audience profiling will guide all the digital marketing trends for manufacturers.

How Manufacturers Can Do It:

● Learn what customers are saying about your brand through social listening and feedbacks that your sales team get. Look what keywords and search terms are being used to find you as well as the performance behavior on your website and in your marketing funnels. Through this continuous examination of your audience’s behaviors, you will build a system over time that grows your customer base and your business

● Manufacturers should consistently test how customers are responding to their marketing system. It helps in continually refining the content to move your audience along the sales path and planning marketing touchpoints all along their journey.