Effective Content Marketing Strategies for Manufacturing Companies

Understanding Your Audience

Content comes in a wide variety of different formats, from blog posts and videos to webinars and case studies. But the key to any great piece of content is thoroughly understanding the audience it’s intended to attract.

A buyer persona is a helpful marketing tool that combines all the characteristics of your ideal target audience into one fictional character. The ability to visualize your audience makes it a lot easier to personalize your content, which HubSpot research reveals can increase sales by up to 94%.

Personas for manufacturing content marketing

Before we get into how to create personas, it’s important to understand that there’s no need to stick to just one. It may be helpful to create multiple personas for leads at different stages of the buyer’s journey, which we’ll discuss more in the next sections.

With that in mind, creating personas for your manufacturing content marketing strategy largely comes down to asking the right questions. Create profiles that answer things like:

• Is your buyer persona an individual customer or a company decision-maker?
• What are their general demographics, such as age range, industry, values, etc?
• Where do they get their information online?
• What problems or pain points is your company in a unique position to solve?
• What type of questions or concerns might they have about making a purchase?

If you’re looking for a tool to help walk you through the process, check out HubSpot’s free persona creator.

Content Types and Formats

Understanding your target audience and how far they are along the buyer’s journey can go a long way toward helping you choose the right types of content to create. For example, if your company sells products directly to consumers, then you’ll want to use Business to Consumer (B2C) content marketing practices.

If your clients are other businesses, however, you’ll draw on Business-to-Business (B2B) tactics. For example, B2C content marketing for manufacturing companies often utilizes formats like:

• Display ads: Paid display ads are great for generating brand awareness. They allow you to serve ads to specific groups of viewers whose online search histories indicate an interest in the type of solutions you offer.
• Videos and blog posts: Both are awesome formats for sharing your expertise with customers in the consideration stage. Just remember, the goal isn’t to sell yourself – it’s to offer helpful information that earns trust and establishes you as an industry authority.
• Social media: Social media is an excellent place to boost brand awareness and engage with current and potential customers. Often these interactions can even help you generate great topic ideas.

B2B manufacturer content marketing tends to be more fact-based. Your audience isn’t just looking for a solution – they’re looking for the best possible solution. While it’s perfectly fine to use the same topic formats as you would for a B2C, it’s important to come up with content topic ideas that are more educational and informative.

You might also consider using formats such as:

• Thought leadership articles and expert guides: Both of these formats come with several all-in-one perks. They allow you to offer readers value, build trust, and establish industry expertise.
• Case studies and white papers: Landing a new major client often requires convincing multiple stakeholders that your company’s solutions are the best in the industry. Don’t be shy about backing up your claims with facts and figures.
• Webinars and videos: Webinars are a great way to show off your expertise and spread awareness among a larger audience. Videos can be an equally handy way to give virtual factory tours or demonstrate how your products work in action.