Inbound marketing for manufacturing companies is rapidly changing. The process by which people choose products and spend their budget has changed dramatically due to the Internet, and manufacturing is increasingly affected. Marketing methods for manufacturing businesses must continue to shift as well in order to connect with target markets effectively. When crafting an inbound marketing plan, manufacturers must keep in mind the the tools available, technology powering those tools, and the ways in which decision makers increasing interact with businesses online.
Tool #1: Social Media Manager
Use a free social media tool like Hootsuite to manage all your social media posts in one place. This can greatly simplify the process and save a lot of time. Hootsuite is currently the most popular social media platform, allowing you to access your account and post to such social networks as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+, among others.
ther social media management platforms with free plans include socialoomph, TweetDeck, and Social Pilot. Decide which features are going to be most useful for your marketing endeavors before choosing a tool for your business. For those with only Twitter accounts, there are several options ideally suited to the platform, but if you plan to publish on other platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, make sure the one you choose is powerful enough to run them all.
Tool #2: Blog Platforms
Blogs are an often overlooked, but easy and free inbound marketing tool for manufacturers. They allow you to communicate key factors about your services and products and how they make you unique from your competitors,, build your brand, and educate your prospects in how to make a buying a decision. When hiring writers for the blog, you should seek a voice that effectively represents your brand and speaks well to the manufacturing industry as as whole.
Blogs can generate return traffic to your website, allowing you to target the same people again for advertising goals. Blogs can also personalize your manufacturing company in a way that may be otherwise hard to do one. This allows you to establish your authority and expertise in the industry, a key factor that can help you stand out from competitors. Perhaps most important for manufacturers seeking to generate more traffic, it can generate inbound links. Blogging platforms that have free options include WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr. Your current website may also support a blog depending on how it was built.
Tool #3: Image Editors
A free image editor can be one of the most useful free tools for inbound marketing of your manufacturing company. You can use image editors to add your company’s logo or watermark to images that you plan to use for social media marketing or simply edit images that are going to be used in other marketing endeavors. Some free image editor websites that you may want to consider include Seashore, Pixlr, Fotor, GIMP, and Image Tricks.
Finally, keep in mind that inbound marketing needs for manufacturers will continue to evolve. As new tools reach the market, you should experiment with apps and software to find additional tools that save time and money. Technological advances should continue to make inbound marketing easier and provide you with more options to simplify the work that needs to be accomplished. These tools are ultimately here to help you produce content, promote it to your target audience, and generate traffic to your website as efficiently as possible.
