If you have ever wondered why marketing is so important to manufacturing, look no further.
We did some research by asking existing customers and interviewing some of our key team members. Here we share some of this exciting information in this tutorial about why marketing is so critically important to virtually all manufacturing companies.
Marketing is important to manufacturing because marketing’s job is to promote the manufactured product. While manufacturing’s job is to create the product, marketing’s primary responsibility is to gain a customer, and keep a customer.
Every business has 3 key functional areas;
- Operations,
- Administration, and
- Marketing.
Marketing’s function in a business is a set of strategies and tactics that empower a company to:
- gain new customers and
- retain existing customers.
Manufacturing, on the other hand, has a sole job to do:
Produce products
Together, manufacturing makes the product and marketing sells the product. They are the perfect synergy.
Let’s now dig deeper into some common activities marketing does to support manufacturing, and provide you some simple guidelines you can use to sell your manufactured products.
3 Key Areas Where the Marketing Department is Crucially Important to Manufacturing
There are limitless ways the marketing department is important to manufacturing. But here, we are going to focus on the top three.
First, and most important is attitude. You see, the marketing department is the one department in the business that is literally forced to focus forward and stay “positive”, sometimes amidst what seems like a sea of doom and gloom.
Why is marketing forced to be positive?
Because it is literally marketing’s job to stay focused on the future, that is, to find customers and to keep customers coming back. After all, nothing else matters. Without customers, there is no business.
In our data-rich world, marketers have more opportunities than ever to review past performance in order to make better future decisions. Yes, its probably true many data-focused marketers stay stuck in the past data. But the best marketers use it, learn from it and focus forward: the next market, the next campaign, the next customer. This is part of the job of a quality marketer.
Is it always going to rainbows and unicorns? Of course not. Far from it. In fact, marketing is one the the most stressful jobs on the planet.And the best marketer's, ironically, usually see the negative trends in the company first, i.e.,
- Increasing cost per lead (CPL),
- Declining conversion rates,
- Skyrocketing cost per customer acquisition or cost per sale (CPA or CPS),
- Reliant upon too few sources of customers,
- Declining customer retention,
- Decreasing sales units sold, on and on.
But marketing has to focus on and strive for positive outcomes, sometimes in spite of poor past performances, in order to be successful. An intense focus forward, oftentimes in the middle of chaos, is at least one reason why marketing is so critically important to a manufacturing business.
Go here for an an excellent strategy to help you stay focused forward: What is the best marketing strategy in a competitive environment?
Second, marketing’s job is to build sales revenue. Again, marketing does this by focusing on what is truly important: 1) gaining a customer, and 2) keeping a customer. Here are two tutorials to help you right now:
- How does B2B get new customers? (Free strategy)
- Increase B2B sales with this marketing strategy (Works every time)
Third, marketing’s job is to gain circular feedback. One of the most important roles of marketing in a manufacturing company is to keep the manufacturing department on the right track as it is defined as,
“Is the customer happy with the product?”
This means marketing must get constant regular feedback from both the customer and from the manufacturing team and bridge the gap. This is a constantly moving set of dynamics. Here’s the exact strategy used by the biggest manufacturing companies on the planet, and how you can use it, too: What Do Your Customers Really Think About You? Here’s How To Find Out.
Ok, let’s now review five ways marketers can help manufacturing increase sales.
5 Important Marketing Strategies a New Marketer Must Do in Manufacturing
Depending upon the industry, manufacturing companies face tons of challenges in today’s environment. And it’s constantly changing. This is one of the areas we suggest you do a SWOT analysis each year.
From increased regulations, taxes, intense social pressures, constant HR issues, rising input costs and a regular focus on sales revenue, manufacturer’s have at least one rising star who is always on the same team. That star is the marketing department and here are five things they can manufacturing do to increase sales:
1. Feature your catalog of products online
An important part of your approach should be to feature a version of your product catalog in some digital format. This allows customers to browse through your products online, making their search easy and your products easy to buy. Focus on elevating the shopping experience. And make sure it is mobile-first, fast, and friendly.
A digital catalog allows you to showcase your products in a better format, with videos of use, installation guides, galleries of the product at different angles and tabs containing detailed information. This sounds like a lot, and it is, but there is some great software that a marketing pro can use to polish a great customer experience.
2. Digital marketing basics are core to your manufacturing business
Digital marketing is far far more than just social media. Manufacturing companies should embrace digital marketing and invest significantly based on where the ideal customers are located.
If you are just getting started in digital marketing, here is a fantastic resource that can help you implement the basics: Digital Marketing Tips for Beginners.
Having an effective online presence will help you increase sales, and as already noted, the digital marketing platform has a high ceiling and numerous avenues that can give massive growth to your manufacturing business.
The advantage of digital marketing is its potentially high ROI and measurable results. You can use it to find new leads, provide customer service to existing clients, establish your brand and reputation, advertise your appealing attributes, etc. Here are a first places to consider starting;
- Social media marketing: set up active profiles on relevant platforms, use short videos and photos to create engaging content, respond to customers, take part in trends, etc.
- Search engine optimization: it starts with an excellent mobile responsive website, raking for keywords, providing useful information, and using Calls-to-Action, among others.
- Email marketing: use the latest email marketing software to personalize messages, send relevant newsletters to your audience, and nurture leads while upselling existing clients.
- Content marketing: have a blog on your website, write guest blogs, share them on social media platforms, etc.
- Digital ads: Google Ads, Instagram Ads, Facebook Ads, and more, paying either for impressions or clicks.
What's the first and most important action step here?
Without a doubt, build and properly maintain your email list. Go here to do that now.
3. Align your marketing and sales team
Often, it is easy to assume the marketing and sales departments are different teams contributing to different areas. However, that is not true as they are all involved in the customer’s journey. The marketing department provides leads that the sales team closes. On the other hand, the sales teams interact with the audience directly, usually in a qualitative format, and provides useful feedback and insights.
Aligning these teams and fostering relationships ensures you have effective marketing campaigns and high-quality leads. It helps you avoid wastage in marketing and increase your conversions while tracking performance down the sales funnel.
Go here to learn how to integrate your sales and marketing: Sales and Marketing Department in a Manufacturing Company.
4. Engage in E-commerce to sell direct to the consumer (DTC)
While not necessary for all manufacturers, this strategy is especially important if you are a new brand and have not developed your brand's story. This step is an efficient way to build your customer testimonials, which will help you improve your B2B sales. And finally, this step will help you to get some product feedback to ensure you are delivering what the market actually wants, further helping you to build your B2B sales.
Many manufacturers focus on distributors to move their merchandise, and while it may work, it potentially limits you to the locations of the distributors and the reach of your distributor network. On the other hand, e-commerce allows you to get to the consumer directly without extra physical infrastructure. You provide the customers with an easy buying process that is automated, and they can easily serve themselves.
Selling DTC potentially improves your efficiency and accuracy while cutting down on the expenses spent on setting up a distribution network or physical stores.Plus it gets you closer to the end-user who can give you better feedback in the form of primary research.
Here are two excellent starting points that can help you start making sales:
- How do I sell successfully on Walmart?
- Best Strategies for Ecommerce Marketing (Free template)
5. Choose a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
Customers are integral to your sales success, and you should center your marketing efforts around your customers and not the product.
For optimal results, you will need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It is a resource that helps you organize your interactions and relationships with current and potential customers. There are many platforms available.
A CRM helps you keep track of your customers and their sales while streamlining the sales process, often through automation. The result is a better experience for your customers while you gain new insights on where to improve and an understanding of the market demand and your supply chain. The goal is to get better closing rates and higher sales performance, and identify new business opportunities.
Once you have a customer base, you will want to master of this important principle: Recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) | Marketing analysis.
These five steps provide an effective starting point for manufacturers to expand their target market, optimize their marketing efforts, and improve efficiency. They also provide avenues to offer better customer service and generate more quality leads. These are also simple to adopt and align with your current goals, and as always, if you need assistance, Your Strategic Marketing Partner is happy to help!
References
- https://strategicmarketingpartner.com/sales-and-marketing-department-in-a-manufacturing-company/
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jimk.9.4.82.19944
- https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/08858620410524016/full/html
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1684378
- https://peer.asee.org/a-study-of-mainstream-features-of-crm-system-and-evaluation-criteria
- https://strategicmarketingpartner.com/best-strategies-for-ecommerce-marketing-free-template/
FAQs
Why is marketing important to manufacturers? ›
Not only does marketing build brand awareness about your brand, but it can also increase sales, grow businesses and engage customers. There are so many core business functions that stem from a good marketing plan that any SMB would be silly not to give it a shot.
How is marketing used in manufacturing? ›Marketing is a crucial part of a manufacturing organization because it connects manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors, ensuring your product reaches its end-user. Determining the best ways to market your manufacturing company, on the other hand, can take more time and effort.
What is importance of marketing strategy? ›Why is a marketing strategy important? Put simply, a marketing strategy sets out your business goals, including who your ideal customers are and how you intend to reach them. It's your plan of action and the blueprint to the marketing activity you will do in the coming months and years to grow your business.
What is marketing can a marketer be a manufacturer support with relevant examples? ›Answer: With its focus on the customer, marketing is one of the premier components of business management. Marketing means saling or purchasing things on large scale. No, a market can't be a producer ,producers are only the farmer ,factories etc..
What are the main importance of manufacturing? ›Importance of the manufacturing industry
The manufacturing sector is regarded as the backbone of both social and economic development. They aid in the modernisation of agriculture and the reduction of people's significant reliance on agricultural income by offering jobs in the secondary and tertiary sectors.
The 7 functions of marketing are promotion, selling, product/service management, marketing information management, pricing, financing and distribution. Understanding the core functions of marketing can help you better focus your efforts and strategies to support your business.
What is importance of manufacturing 5 points? ›Manufacturing industries not only help in modernising agriculture, they also reduce the heavy dependence of people on agricultural income by providing them jobs in secondary and tertiary sectors. Industrial development is a precondition for eradication of unemployment and poverty from our country.
What are the 4 manufacturing strategies? ›Four primary strategies were found: waste minimisation; material efficiency; resource efficiency; and eco‐efficiency. The literature was analysed to determine the key characteristics of these sustainable manufacturing strategies and 17 characteristics were found.
What is a manufacturer in marketing? ›What is a Manufacturer? A manufacturer is a person or company that produces finished goods from raw materials by using various tools, equipment, and processes, and then sells the goods to consumers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, or to other manufacturers for the production of more complex goods.
What is the most important marketing strategy? ›Knowing your target customer is the single most important job of any marketer, and it's a job that never ends. While it's something you should work on every day of the year, it's critical to document what you've learned about your customer over the course of the year.
What is a good marketing strategy? ›
The most effective marketing strategies are those that are targeted toward a specific audience, focused on key benefits based on the audience's point of view and interests, and delivered at an appropriate time – when the audience is most likely to be attentive to and interested in the message being delivered.
What are the 5 main marketing strategies? ›The 5 P's of marketing are part of what is often referred to as a “marketing mix”. A marketing mix is the actions brands take to market their products and services by using a specific framework with the five biggest components of successful marketing: product, place, price, promotion, and people.
Do manufacturers need marketing? ›Why Marketing is Important for Manufacturers. Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two basic functions – marketing and innovation.” Manufacturers are often so focused on product innovation and what a product can do, that they forget they need to market how it can benefit customers.
Which marketing is basically a medium of marketing that manufacturers use to expand their sales? ›Network marketing is basically a medium of marketing that manufacturers use to expand their sales. Manufacturers use them when they have to deal with several distributors to push out their products. Sometimes, these distributors might have sub-distributors.
What is an important role that brands play for manufacturers? ›Strong brands enable consumers to distinguish your products from that of your competitors. Brands cultivate affinity, trust and customer loyalty. Brands allow your company to charge a premium for its products. And brands play a key role in making products stand out in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
What is the most important thing in manufacturing? ›1. Timely Fulfilment of Orders. One of the biggest mistakes many new manufacturers can't quite come to terms with is the importance of filling orders timely.
What is the most important part of the manufacturing process? ›Planning
The planning component of production scheduling is by far the most important. This component pertains to deciding what will be done in the future.
- Business ROI.
- Keep Pace with Customers.
- Quality of Leads.
- Customer Acquisition (audience/list growth)
- New Business Development.
- Segmentation. Your existing and potential customers fall into particular groups or segments, characterised by their 'needs'. ...
- Targeting and positioning. ...
- Promotional tactics. ...
- Monitoring and evaluation. ...
- Marketing plan.
- Branding – Highlight Uniqueness Of Your Brand. ...
- Unique Selling Point – Make Your Product/Service The Best Thing About Your Business. ...
- Media Channel – Choose The Right Channel To Reach The Target Audience.
What are 6 main points of marketing strategy? ›
The building blocks of an effective marketing strategy include the 6 P's of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people, and presentation. The effective integration of the 6 P's of marketing can serve as the foundation for an effective growth strategy.
What are the 7 factors of manufacturing? ›The 7 factors which influence the decision of establishing an industry are: availability of raw materials, labour, capital, access to markets, availability of abundant power supply, modes of transportation like railways, roadways for transportation of finished goods, and raw materials; and availability of land.
What are the important features of manufacturing industry? ›- Master Production Scheduling (MPS) ...
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP) ...
- Quoting. ...
- Order Configuration/Estimating. ...
- Purchasing. ...
- Supplier Managed Inventory. ...
- Multi-Level BOM's. ...
- Lot/Serial/Batch Tracking.
Manufacturing means producing goods in large quantities after processing from raw materials to more valuable products. Manufacturing helps transforming the raw materials into finished goods on a large scale and thus helps earning profit as finished goods are costlier than raw materials.
What are the 6 main manufacturing processes? ›- Repetitive Manufacturing.
- Discrete Manufacturing.
- Job Shop Manufacturing.
- Process (Continuous) Manufacturing.
- Process (Batch) Manufacturing.
- 3D Printing.
Manufacturing strategy is defined as “a sequence of decisions that, over time, enables a business unit to achieve a desired manufacturing structure, infrastructure, and set of specific capabilities” (Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984).
What are common manufacturing strategies? ›Three common types of manufacturing production processes are: make to stock (MTS), make to order (MTO), and make to assemble (MTA). Such strategies have advantages and disadvantages in labor costs, inventory control, overhead, customization, and the speed of production and filling orders.
How do you stand out in manufacturing? ›- Showcase STEM Skills. ...
- Don't Overlook the Value of Soft Skills. ...
- Embrace Any Multilingual Ability. ...
- Earn a Manufacturing Certification.
- Step 1: Product Concept. ...
- Step 2: Research. ...
- Step 3: Design. ...
- Step 4: Create the Final Design. ...
- Step 5: Testing. ...
- Step 6: Manufacturing and Assembly. ...
- Step 7: Feedback and Testing. ...
- Step 8: Official Release.
The industrial market (also called the producer market or business market) is the set of all individuals and organizations that acquire goods and services that enter into the production of other products or services that are sold, rented, or supplied to others.
What is the most important part in marketing? ›
Although the product is the most important part of the marketing function, it needs other elements intertwined in order to succeed, such as promotion, place, and price.
What is the most important thing when marketing for a company's brand? ›“Create a unique, emotional connection…”
In conjunction with a brand's purpose, creating an emotional connection with your audience is the most important ingredient to creating a strong branding strategy.
- Start with a goal.
- Do your marketing analysis.
- Know your customers.
- Know your product and resources.
- Further define your objectives.
- Outline techniques.
- Set a budget.
- Create a marketing plan.
Marketing strategies
For example, if your marketing plan is to promote a new product or service, you might have a strategy dedicated to how you're going to use email marketing to support these broader goals. Every marketing plan will most likely produce several marketing strategies as part of the broader plan.
New skills. Entrepreneurs are constantly looking to refine their skills and a skilled industry like manufacturing encourages that type of thinking. Manufacturing has the ability to impact every other industry, so a little creativity can do a lot when it comes to finding opportunities to add value.
How can manufacturing companies increase sales? ›- Invest in your online presence. In today's digital world, increasing sales begins with online marketing. ...
- Become easy to buy from. ...
- Automate your sales process. ...
- Increase the order size by improving product knowledge. ...
- Prioritize a good customer service.
The importance of marketing for your business is that it makes the customers aware of your products or services, engages them, and helps them make the buying decision. Furthermore, a marketing plan, a part of your business plan helps in creating and maintaining demand, relevance, reputation, competition, etc.
What is the difference between marketing and manufacturing? ›Marketing is one-to-many. Marketing tells the stories (of the company, product, etc.) to many people. manufacturing is about one-to-one. manufacturing is where our business becomes real for the client.
Why is it important for a manufacturer to have a good relationship with their wholesaler and retailer? ›Strong relationships with suppliers impact the entire procurement process. It'll increase the quality of service you get, reduce cost, and bolster your supply chain—minimizing disruption to demand that could result in shoppers being unable to buy products from your store.
Why it is important for a manufacturer to build his own brand? ›Understanding the importance of manufacturing branding is the first step to growing your business. Without it, you will find yourself lagging behind competitors who will find it much easier to retain customers over the long run.
What is the responsibility of a manufacturer? ›
Manufacturers in general have the following responsibilities
designing and manufacturing products in accordance with the essential health, safety or any other objectives of all product legislation applicable to the product. by carrying out (or having it carried out) the relevant conformity assessment procedure.
- It Increases the Sales Volume: Advertising increases the sales volume of the product. ...
- It Increases the Net Profit: ...
- It Stabilizes the Sales Volume: ...
- It Controls Product Price: ...
- It Helps in Opening New Market: ...
- It Maintains the Existing Market: ...
- It Creates Reputation: ...
- It secures more Dealers:
Marketing channels are important because they: Identify the best channels to distribute to a target audience. Ensure products reach their intended audience. Save time and money by having a channel do the work.
What are the advantages of sales promotion to manufacturers? ›A sales promotion often becomes an event for the firm and then allows a company to focus all its channels of marketing. A focused approach can force a brand to change the way they market themselves thus creating brand identity through those changes.
What important things should be considered by a manufacturer? ›- Demand for your product. ...
- Setup costs. ...
- Competition from other manufacturers. ...
- Previous experience, knowledge and qualifications. ...
- Finance available and finance options. ...
- Business location. ...
- Rules and regulations.
- Good planning. According to 60% of respondents, thorough planning was the top factor in their successful growth. ...
- Hard work and determination. ...
- Agility and response to market demands. ...
- Right technology in place. ...
- Staff with the right skills.
Workers in manufacturing tend to earn 7 percent more per hour than their counterparts in other industries. Highly-valued benefits – Manufacturing workers are more likely than any other workers to have significant employer-provided benefits. This includes medical insurance and retirement packages.
What are the benefits of manufacturers? ›The brand manufacturer has stocks of all their products, whereas retailers have only a few selected products to sell to the consumers. The customers will choose to shop directly through the manufacturer as they can select more from the collections and explore more about the respective brands and their updated products.
Why manufacturers should use direct channel? ›Using direct distribution, companies can eliminate the high markups and costs associated with hiring intermediaries to distribute their products. Companies that sell directly to their customers enjoy higher profit margins on their products.
What is the most important marketing channel? ›- Email marketing. ...
- Social media marketing. ...
- Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) ...
- Influencer marketing. ...
- Offline advertising. ...
- Online advertising. ...
- Partnership marketing. ...
- Community building.
What is marketing channel and why is it important for any businesses? ›
A marketing channel is a tool that helps companies distribute information about products and sell them to the target audience. It enables brands to connect with customers who wish to purchase.
What is the importance of marketing promotion? ›The importance of promotion are: It increases the speed of product and service acceptance. Aids in the sales of goods and services in imperfect market conditions. It provides effective sales support.
What is an advantage of marketing? ›Marketing is fundamental to growing a brand. It tells you why customers should choose your brand, including the benefits, price, and unique selling proposition of your product or service. Marketing also helps strengthen customer relationships and builds engagement, which leads to word-of-mouth and referral marketing.
What are the benefits of promoting a product? ›Using promotional items strategically — by building a campaign around them or matching the item to a theme of an event — can help you increase leads, sales, customer loyalty and brand awareness.