Website Content Tips For Manufacturers

Technology and the Internet have become dominant forces in the world of marketing. If you’re a manufacturer in New Jersey, you have to consider your website as a digital salesperson for your company.

Think of it this way – let’s say you hire a new salesperson to promote your company’s products and services. As the manager of your business, you give the salesperson a six-month trial period to increase sales. After the trial period is over, you call your salesperson into a meeting for a review. He tells you that he’s achieved $0 for your business and doesn’t even have any qualified leads in the pipeline.

My guess is – you would fire that salesperson. Now let’s think about your website. If your website isn’t consistently attracting leads and obtaining sales, it’s time to “fire” your website.

If your website isn’t helping with the sales process, a key reason could be your website’s content…or lack there of. Your website’s content can help you:

• Improve in search engine rankings (meaning when people search for products on search engines like Google, they find you)
• Attract website traffic
• Introduce new prospects to your company’s brand
• Bring prospects along a “journey” and turn them from website visitors into qualified leads
• Create inquiries or RFPs for your products / services
• Increase sales

Many salespeople reference the idea of a “sales funnel.” If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, the “sales funnel” conveys the idea that customers don’t just buy products in a two-second decision (oh how nice that would be!). Your customers go throughout a lengthy process before ultimately making a final decision – Do I have a need? How much am I willing to spend to address this need? How much of a priority is this? What vendors are available to help me? Who is the expert in this field?

The officially sales funnel is typically thought of as:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Research
4. Purchase

Like a salesperson would introduce your company and its brand to prospective targets, your website content needs to help attract visitors and boost awareness for your products / services. When it comes to your website, look to see if you have the following:

 Content for the Top of the Sales Funnel (Awareness)

• Keywords and phrases for SEO/SEM
• Basic / educational info

 Content for the Middle of the Sales Funnel (Consideration + Research)

• Info that conveys industry credibility
• Intro to products / services
• Ways to qualify leads such as forms and landing pages

 Content for the Bottom of the Funnel (Sales)

• Order forms
• Requests for demos / meetings with a salesperson

If you’re a manufacturer, website marketing is a critical part of your sales process. Great content can lead to great sales!

For more information about how NJMEP can help you with business development, click here or call 973-998-9801.