2019 Digital Marketing Strategy in the Industrial Sector

From IIoT to blockchain, AI, and machine learning, recent years have seen an epic transformation in the industrial sector. These changes have stimulated exponential growth throughout every aspect of the supply chain, resonating from the back office to factory floor to the cloud and back.

Marketing techniques in this space are no exception. The range of approaches is so staggering, it’s easy to get caught up in the zeitgeist. You read and hear a lot of things about what’s hot and what’s not in B2B marketing strategy, but when it comes right down to it, what you really need to know is what’s going to work for you.

Are you ready? Some caveats

It’s a common scenario: business is status quo for many years, but new competition is entering the space and changing the game. You know you need to get serious about digital marketing, but where do you start?

Keep in mind that technology is only as good as the people using it. If you’re not ready for it or if you don’t have adequate buy-in from your team, it’s not going to perform as well as it should.

Additionally, there are resources that you already have, such as your company website, that need to work with your digital marketing strategy, so optimizing to support your goals is a strong first step.

Industrial Sector B2B Digital Marketing Strategies for 2019

To guide you towards where you should focus your time, money, and other resources, this post will cover the digital marketing tactics that we feel are strong and effective in the industrial sector in 2019 and what’s just fluff.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning are gaining ground in digital marketing. However, before you dive in, you need to be sure you are ready to process all the additional data you are about to be handling.

On the plus side, these technologies automate a lot of repetitive processes, delivering insights into customer behavior and responding to that behavior. On the downside, if you don’t know exactly what you want to achieve with AI, you may be flailing about with a lot of data that you don’t know how to handle.

Identify the areas in which you believe AI can improve your processes and don’t go all-in until you have the systems in place to make use of all the data you are about to receive. Otherwise, you might find yourself overwhelmed by actionable data that isn’t being applied – and is therefore a waste of your company’s time and money.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Account-Based Marketing, or ABM, tools have evolved, allowing you to get laser-focused on the accounts and the people you want to target. However, it’s important to remember that these tools are here to support your marketing efforts, not replace them. Your results will only be as good as the people behind them. Invest in the real, live people who will be managing the ABM tools and make sure they’re trained and equipped to handle them.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM tactics, such as Google Ads, can be highly beneficial if campaigns are well-managed. Key to the success of this process is having optimized landing pages and a website that is designed to work with your ads. Google’s recent updates to their Ads platform ties analytic tools more closely together so that you can better manage your campaigns’ performance in real-time.

Big Data and Analytics

Analytics allows you to make business decisions based on actual data rather than just making assumptions about your customers and your audience.

The beauty of analytics is that you can access insights in real-time, so that you don’t get stuck in the mire of waiting for a report from your data scientist before making a decision. Today’s big data makes use of real-time insights so that you can act immediately. This is the only way you will actually be getting a jump on the competition, so be sure you choose an analytic platform that delivers real-time assets, and then structure your workflows accordingly.

SEO and Website UX/UI

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a foundational approach to digital marketing. It gives your online advertising a destination and drives qualified organic traffic while discouraging spammy traffic and bad leads. A well-optimized, beautifully designed, and easy to use website will attract new customers and delight your existing accounts, delivering a positive brand image and giving you a viable platform from which to deploy the technologies listed above.

In conclusion, these are just a few of the digital tools available today to support your B2B marketing efforts. While these digital marketing strategies for 2019 are effective, it is important to note that none of them will replace your own keen insight and vision.

If you would like to learn more about how we can help you optimize your industrial marketing strategy, reach out today.