Ideas, insights and inspirations.

1. Digital Content Marketing Strategy – We know that Google and other search engines want to deliver the best quality content to their users. Top manufacturers recognize the need to produce the content “goods.” But creating top notch content doesn’t just happen; it requires a strategy, and it takes time. Blogs, white papers, and infographics are great ways for manufacturing brands to provide informative content. But it also helps to expand your portfolio of digital assets when considering a content strategy. Think about the results pages you see when performing a search. Often they include images, instant answers, news and local information. Ensuring your company’s visual assets and business information are optimized for search engines helps your content reach users. Now, think about the reason you perform searches. Usually there is intent involved: the need to answer a question. For example, the first time I had to board my dog while I was traveling, I couldn’t figure out how to … Continue reading

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When choosing manufacturing marketing tactics, one thing to consider is habits of target audiences. Here’s some data which shows how habits are changing.

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In a recent article, the National Association of Manufacturers reported on manufacturing statistics. Emphasized were the merits of pursuing a career in the industry. Some highlights of the post included: There are currently 12.3 million manufacturing workers in the United States. The average annual salary for manufacturers comes in at $79,553 — above the national average for all industries at $64,204. 92 percent of manufacturers are eligible for employer-provided health care benefits. These impressive statistics were in stark contrast to a recent survey by SME, a nonprofit organization promoting manufacturing technology. The survey painted a bleak picture of the opinions parents have of the manufacturing industry when considering it as a career path for their children. Revealed were the following sentiments: Upwards of 20 percent of surveyed parents perceived manufacturing as an outdated and/or dirty work environment. Half of all survey takers did not view manufacturing as an exciting, challenging, or engaging profession. Nearly 25 percent of parents surveyed did … Continue reading

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Mark Twain is rumored to have said: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”1 We believe the same holds for the U.S. manufacturing sector. Pundits would have us believe that manufacturing is dead in America, but we beg to differ. Working in a former “Rust Belt” city like Pittsburgh gives us a unique perspective on this. Clichés aside, manufacturing in Pittsburgh (and indeed in the rest of the country) took a big hit in the 1980’s and struggled for a while. But, we are all tired of hearing that American manufacturing is dead. It would seem that manufacturing has found a way to adapt and overcome. Quality at Scale Ford Motor Company, arguably one of the America’s largest manufacturers, realized that the old way of painting cars (by hand) was not working at scale. Rather than limit production in order to preserve the old way of doing things, they created robots to paint the cars, with human overseers ensuring that … Continue reading

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One of our clients, a small manufacturing company located in southwestern PA came to us with a problem of not getting enough calls for growing their business. Our initial response to their request was to help them with their website and grow their presence on search engines to gain more visibility. However, as algorithms changed, we suggested an updated strategy for the client, focusing on content and social media. The Updated Strategy Apart from the website, the client had no other content or social media channels. Our strategy focused on creating a content machine and gaining visibility on social networks through great stories and content. We created a blog along with supporting networks for social media on all major networks Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus. The Results The result was continual increases in rankings for optimized phrases, rise in organic traffic, and higher traffic from social networks. Here are some numbers to show the success of this campaign: Organic traffic increased … Continue reading

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I bet I can explain all the talk about the Internet of things (IoT) and the phrase “smarter planet” in a few short paragraphs. Thirty years ago, I co-oped at GE. Our goal was to improve the efficiency of a fluorescent lighting assembly line. We implemented a four-step process: Step 1: Install Sensors: we installed 200 tiny sensors at 200 different stages of the assembly line; the sensors detected whether the fluorescent tube on the assembly line was defect free or not. Step 2: Network the Sensors: we created a local area network that enabled connectivity between the sensors. Step 3: Let Sensors Share Intelligence: our sensors sent a signal to the next stage of the assembly line telling it whether the fluorescent tube was still defect free or not. If the signal said the tube had gone bad, it told the assembly line to do nothing to it and let the tube move on. On the last step of the … Continue reading

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Holding two opposing ideas in the brain at the same time is hard, but that’s what is required daily from all marketers, specially higher education marketers. Here are the forces that you have to be thinking about in 2014: Do you have another dimension to add to this? Lear more about our higher education marketing and manufacturing marketing services.

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No region in the world understands the countervailing forces of hope and despair related to the manufacturing economy more viscerally than Southwestern Pennsylvania. As a young adult, I witnessed first-hand the cataclysmic fall of Big Steel when the region added 124,000 new unemployed people — fathers, mothers, siblings — in a flash of economic destruction between August 1981 and January 1983. In the 30 years since, the United States remains undecided about the most fundamental questions. Can American workers and companies compete in a global workforce and market? Do our schools and education bureaucracies effectively prepare young people for advanced manufacturing careers? Will companies invest in American workers rather than reflexively seek cheaper labor? Elliance has seen the power of smart manufacturing marketing to make a difference for companies seeking bigger/better customers globally, and a stable, reliable workforce locally. We apply many of the same concepts of “right-fit” matching from our work in higher education marketing to the world of … Continue reading

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Not long ago, Abu wrote about how social media is being adopted by big name manufacturers. The GE and John Deere examples he shared show that some manufacturers are doing an amazing job with their digital marketing efforts. Data from a recent MarketingSherpa Benchmarking study shows that investments in website design, SEO and social on behalf of manufacturing marketing are all expected to rise in 2012. For success in these marketing ventures, it’s important to implement and integrate your strategies with a purpose. Let’s take GE as an example. GE is doing a wonderful job with its social. The website is well done, the visuals are great and GE is telling compelling stories about its products and services. Images and branding both on the website and associated social channels contribute to the seamless integration between the two. Let’s look at some different views of their homepage: An ongoing campaign — “GE Works” — is at the center of the whole … Continue reading

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When choices proliferate, branding ascends. The Internet has created a truly global marketplace. More national competitors and more international competition from Europe, India, China and Brazil are acting as a forcing function for the adoption of branding by B2B Manufacturers. When it comes to branding, the only way to see the world is through the hearts and minds of buyers, where the brand really lives. Here is how B2B buyers think and the role branding plays for B2B Manufacturers: Do I like them? (Emotions) Manufacturing buyers, like consumers, buy emotionally. Branding helps tie a company to an idea or an emotion through storytelling. Do I trust them? (Trust) With so many manufacturers producing good products, and buyers starved for time, how does a buyer decide who to pick? Branding simply builds trust. Is it safe to buy from them? (Risk Management) Manufacturing buyers instinctively reduce risk for themselves and their corporations. Branding – by making promises of reliability, dependability and … Continue reading

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