“Most people check their emails once a day, and many check their emails multiple times throughout the day. The question is, are people actually reading your emails and engaging with them?”
During Manufacturing Month, we’re celebrating the manufacturers who serve our local communities, states, and country, with our new blog series of digital marketing strategies and tactics for industrial operations.
As U.S. manufacturers work to compete in today’s digital industrial marketplace on a global scale, many are asking the same question: Is email marketing still effective?
Email marketing is still effective for staying in contact with prospects and customers for your manufacturing business. It may be “old school,” but the ease of sending and receiving emails has kept the practice around, even as every other aspect of digital marketing has changed. Most people check their email once a day, and many check it multiple times throughout the day.
The question is, are people actually reading your emails and engaging with them? How do you know they’re not having the same effect as those annoying pop-up ads on social media?
The answer is yes, if you understand how email marketing works and if you’re using strategic messaging that targets your audience’s needs and offers value, and if you’re sending the emails at a cadence that won’t get them deleted from an inbox.
Many of us thought social media would spell the end for email marketing. With LinkedIn and other social channels, people could share messages, send articles, and pictures without needing an email address.
However, predictions of email marketing’s demise were incorrect. It remains an excellent way to communicate directly with potential customers. It’s an effective tool for promoting industrial events and trade shows, such as inviting people to visit your manufacturing company’s booth at IMTS. Email also supports customer retention and quick follow-up with prospects after a trade show.
Why does email still work? B2B customer journeys in manufacturing are long and complex. Email marketing remains a tried-and-true way to stay engaged with prospects and customers throughout the buying process.
Newsletters, case study shares, white paper downloads, and other email content that helps people solve a problem in an industrial facility have a much better chance of being read than blatant promotional emails.
Not every email marketing message will convert your prospect into a customer. Each email’s effectiveness is directly related to the content you send out. Does your message contain relevant information that your potential customer can use? What types of problems keep your prospects up at night? If your messaging fails to address these problems, you’re missing the mark with your industrial email campaign.
People sign up for a mailing list for many reasons. Aligning your messages with these reasons can create a connection with the recipient that can likely translate into — at the very least — a visit to your website.
The heart of a successful campaign can be summed up in a sentence: Create quality content on subjects that interest your customers.
You can use many methods to build a mailing list for your industrial email campaign. However, not all mailing lists will yield the same results. You want to ensure the people receiving your messages are not only interested in the content but also more likely to have a specific need your services can meet. (Your ideal “customer persona” should also have the characteristics and resources that make them a qualified potential customer.)
A newsletter is a great place to start! Your email newsletters should offer helpful information that your industrial audiences will find relevant. Promote your newsletter on social media. And of course, you should include a newsletter signup CTA on your website.
Offer something of value in your newsletter. Maybe you have a helpful white paper that solves a specific challenge in a manufacturing facility. White papers, case studies, fact sheets, and other helpful PDFs are known in our industry as lead magnets or HVAs (high-value action items). The higher the value of your HVA, the more likely the recipient is to provide their email address on a CTA form to download it.
Include your newsletter CTA on your blogs and throughout your website so visitors stay updated on your offerings.
People don’t read emails. They scan for important information, then decide whether it’s relevant enough to read. This isn’t the time to be verbose. Keep your copy between 50 and 125 words. Include a link to your website and flesh out the subject if you feel it needs further explanation.
Videos, interactive infographics, and other multimedia engage readers much more than simple blocks of text. They not only draw readers to your message, but also keep them longer. The longer a reader spends with your message, the more likely they are to click the CTA at the end.
Did your company just develop a new service or product that can help manufacturers produce more parts more cost-effectively? Put that in your subject line! Keep your email newsletter focused on that subject. The subject could be any new innovation in your industry as part of an “industrial news share,” or it could announce a new location for your business.
People sign up for your industrial email list for many reasons. How do you address those reasons? You can create a quick questionnaire after someone signs up for your newsletter to discover their interests. A multiple-choice form with a few options can separate these customers into overarching groups. Incorporate your messaging to directly target these groups and keep them engaged.
Are you regularly posting relevant industrial case studies and helpful blog content on your website? This type of content benefits your manufacturing customers and prospects and helps position your company as an industry authority. Use emails to promote blogs and case studies so your audience knows when there’s new information to read.
With almost every email marketing campaign, the goal is to get the reader to take action, whether it’s visiting your industrial website, signing up for an HVA or one of your company’s events, or reaching out to your company for more information. Include a call to action in every message that creates urgency and directs them back to your website. A CTA paired with relevant, helpful content can boost customer engagement and potentially increase sales.
Need help attracting and converting more industrial customers? Email marketing is a great place to start! Whether your focus is small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) or global industrial operations, Power Marketing can develop a marketing strategy for your next email marketing campaign to build trust in your brand, help buyers find your company, and keep B2B buyers moving through your sales process.
Contact us or call us at 615-257-0057 to learn how we can use email marketing and other digital marketing strategies and tactics to keep your industrial audiences engaged and lead them to the information they need.
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