Manufacturer marketing campaigns have often flown under the radar in the public mindset. After all, it’s the business-to-consumer manufacturers — think fashion or lifestyle brands like automakers and sneaker companies — that tend to get the most marketing attention (and to see marketing as most critical to their growth).
B2B-focused manufacturing firms traditionally view lead generation as a core role of the sales department. The inside and outside sales professionals are the ones performing direct, account-based outreach with potential customers on the phone, at trade shows, and in the office, supplemented by tightly targeted advertising in niche, industry publications.
Why would a manufacturer in a historically sales-dominated B2B space benefit from a robust marketing automation platform? The truth is there’s just less time for labor-intensive strategies (trade shows, direct mail, physical collateral, or catalogs) that hold less sway over buyers than they used to. We live in an increasingly digital, buyer-centric world. Most of the buyer’s journey now consists of independent (often internet-based) research on the part of the buyer themselves, without any input from a salesperson. This is where effective marketing does its best work.
Thomasnet laid out this excellent breakdown of the long and complex modern buying cycle for B2B manufacturers: