How to Maximize your Marketing Budget, Part 1

Part of the challenge of a moldmaker’s capability to attract new customers in today’s market is the stunning reality that most have no formal marketing plan in place, and the vast majority has no Internet marketing established. The reality is that even if a potential buyer did manage to find these manufacturers, most of the websites are inadequate in terms of establishing compelling ways and reasons to contact your organization.

However the Internet is not the panacea of marketing. A successful marketing plan must consider all aspects of promotion—both online and offline. Offline marketing, when executed and tracked properly, demonstrates very good results. A modern industrial marketing plan must have both a robust online as well as offline marketing strategy.

Consider this, most industrial businesses do not market to past customers or to prospective buyers who have previously requested a quote. Win or lose the bid, this prospective buyer is many times the person who must be contacted on a regular basis for future project opportunities. Marketing tactics such as combined email and direct mail marketing are very effective ways to convey messages to past customers such as “Have you seen us lately?”. Most importantly, moldmakers have worked hard to earn the business they have and cannot afford to take it for granted.

Mold manufacturers of all sizes face the challenge of not having much needed marketing expertise available to them, and hiring a dedicated marketing person is many times not viable for a smaller organization, while others who have the resources must take a lot into consideration. Any marketer coming into an organization will require resources to do their job. The fact is that most of them will need to source for vendors of key marketing functions such as design and web development. They will also need the technology software and suppliers to fulfill whatever their marketing plan calls for.

So the question becomes, what resources and expertise are required? For some companies that have the financial resources to hire marketing specialists, the answer is to bring on key marketing, web and creative personnel. A lower overhead answer is to outsource marketing, as a number of industrial marketing-focused organizations are popping up to serve specific needs, including search engine marketing and optimization, trade and direct marketing. The complexity of executing online and offline marketing strategies has made the decision to build a team or outsource to marketing specialists an interesting one.

The challenges facing today’s moldmakers put them in a position where they must decide how marketing will or won’t play a role in their business. Those who make the decision to have a marketing game plan and effectively execute it will see results and will sleep knowing they have established mechanisms to consistently position their organizations to attract new business. Only when the decision is made by the shop executives to make marketing a core component of their business will they see the tremendous sourcing opportunities that are available.

For More Information
Industrial Strength Marketing
(866) 529-8908

www.marketstrong.net/