Is the small crack you had in your marketing efforts now a ravine? Here are a few suggestions to fix it.

I know you know marketing is essential, but I am realistic, it never gets the same attention as sales. In good times, it probably doesn’t need as much attention— unless you have really aggressive growth plans.

But now, with a struggling economy and more competitors stepping up to grab market share, it is possible that the lack of full attention to marketing efforts in the past couple of years is now rearing its ugly head.

Have the results from marketing disappeared or become only a slow annoying drip of so-so leads?

Then here are a few suggestions to improve results.

Are the things I am going to suggest you try going to solve your problems overnight?

No!

But they will help get you back in the game.

There is no way any manufacturers will have the time or the $$$ to do everything to turn their marketing efforts into an overnight success. However, if you consistently do these four cost-effective marketing activities, you will see an improvement in your results.

1- Content Creation- Content is still king of the mountain. Hire a writer or find someone within your organization that can produce content for you. Commit to producing at least one blog post a month. Post it on your website, then take the content and break it up into ten snippets. Use these ten snippets as the text for your social media post.

2- Social Media- It is best to be on every platform, but if your time is limited, stick to LinkedIn and Facebook /Instagram. Today it seems like almost every manufacturer is now posting regularly, so the competition for views is more competitive than ever. Plan on posting at least two times a week or more. Also, plan on creating some videos. With tools like Canva, it is easier today to put together a 20-30 sec video to share.

3- Email marketing- It still works and is inexpensive. The key to email marketing effectiveness is your list. A lousy list has a roster full of names of people you don’t know— but hope they might buy. Save those email addresses for a quarterly email. Concentrate on your core and potential customers first and foremost. Remember make it about them and their problems, not about your products.

4- Advertising- You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get decent results. It is best if you were smart about it. Choose the most influential publication in your marketplace. Then be sure to buy a directory listing and a few enewsletter banner ads designed to drive traffic to your website. Once again make it about your customers problems and how your company can help…don’t just force your products down their throat.

Let me know if you need any help with your marketing efforts for your company. [email protected].