Fierce Advocate for U.S. Manufacturing + Passionate Brand Awareness Superstar + Dedicated Community Builder + Awesome Boy Mom…
Meet Whitney Koch – Marketing Communications Specialist at Welker
Fierce Advocate for U.S. Manufacturing + Passionate Brand Awareness Superstar + Dedicated Community Builder + Awesome Boy Mom…
Meet Whitney Koch – Marketing Communications Specialist at Welker
Do you want to learn how to build a vibrant community?
If you want to find out, join us for this MFG eCommerce Success show where we will be talking with Nicole Donnelly, Founder & President, Donnelly Marketing Group LLC, about building a vibrant community.
Here’s an exciting opportunity to hear from the amazing marketing professionals at the Industrial Marketing Summit.
THE Mascot of Manufacturing + Former Top Ranked MMA Fighter + Powerful Podcast Host + Killer Keynote Speaker + Lover of ALL Things Adventurous + Awesome Dad…
Meet Eddie Saunders Jr. – Marketing Manager at FLEXARM – Flex Machine Tools
A Superstar Story Teller + Manufacturing Marketing Strategist + Brand Evangelist + Prolific Podcaster…
Meet Julie Basello – Marketing Multimedia Manager at Radwell International
Are you a small B2B manufacturer wondering if LinkedIn can help your business?
If so, you should join us for this MFG eCommerce Success show to hear Paulie Rose, Owner, Paulie Rose Consulting, Marketing Director, RCF Technologies, talk about how small B2B manufacturing companies can use LinkedIn to grow their businesses.
With a new sense of urgency for manufacturers to create a strong digital presence, Purdue MEP is hosting a discussion on the necessary steps to implement a highly effective eCommerce strategy for your business. Please join us as we tackle how custom manufacturers can join the exploding eCommerce market. This is a FREE event – register NOW, space is limited!
Purdue MEP Delivers High Level Results
The Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) provides high value as well as affordable solutions to help businesses increase profitability. As advocates for Indiana’s thousands of manufacturers, our staff leverages resources in both the public and private sectors to help identify areas of improvement, streamline processes, as well as ultimately increase competitiveness.
Providing high value, affordable solutions for manufacturing challenges, Purdue MEP offers the following services through on-site training/analysis projects as well as workshops:
Energy Efficiency & Sustainability
Faculty Projects
Leadership Development
Lean Manufacturing
Lean Office
Quality Improvement
Quality Systems (ISO)
Six Sigma
Supply Chain Services
Top Line Business Growth Solutions
Training Within Industry (TWI)
Manufacturers Implementing eCommerce. Actually sounds quite interesting, right?
An “old-school” traditional business taking on new technology.
Well, eCommerce isn’t really new anymore.
It’s an active part of our daily lives now. At least it certainly seems that way.
Why?
The convenience, efficiency and speed that eCommerce offers.
However, manufacturers implementing eCommerce for the first time face many challenges.
Especially for custom manufacturers that do not produce a proprietary product or finished good.
Today, let’s explore two strategies for a manufacturer to implement eCommerce by targeting its proprietary process.
Related Article: 3 Step Approach To Scaling eCommerce for Manufacturers
Implementing eCommerce awakens exciting opportunities and opens new doors.
As a custom manufacturer, you produce amazing products for other companies.
You are the widget expert. No one knows your product better than you.
You have spent years perfecting your proprietary process.
Yet, one of your biggest challenges: how do you scale your proprietary process?
There must be plenty of potential customers searching for your products, services, and solutions.
Where are they?
How do you find them?
How can you narrow down the buying process to make life easier for you and more importantly, the buyer?
The answer: eCommerce.
Just a few years ago, many manufacturing clients claimed the internet wasn’t going to impact their company.
Now, most cannot move fast enough to plunge into the world of eCommerce.
“The Heat is On” (shout out to Glen Fry, God rest his soul).
So, how do you get started?
Let’s dig in.
Below covers two options for a manufacturer implementing eCommerce for the first time.
Related Article: A Minimum Viable Product Helps You “Get in the Game”
First, contact your web designer to start a dialog on launching an eCommerce store to your current website.
In a previous post, we discussed the struggles manufacturers face when jumping into the world of eCommerce.
Over the years, you most likely have created prototypes for your customers.
Let’s use that same concept on your website.
The assumption is that you already have a website. What platform are you using?
Have a conversation with your web designer and ask if you can easily add eCommerce to your site.
For example, if you are on WordPress, your web designer can add the WooCommerce plugin. It’s FREE!
There are many other shopping cart options that are extremely inexpensive.
Many eCommerce platforms start at ONLY $19.99 per month (EX: Shopify, BigCommerce, 3D Cart, etc…).
Take several of your finished products and add them to your website.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE B2BTAIL.COM eCOMMERCE CHECK LIST
Adding an eCommerce store to your website offers tremendous benefits including:
Related Article: eCommerce Checklist: Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies
Another option for manufacturers to enter the eCommerce world, allows customers to build your products on your website.
How?
Well, what is your sales process when a new customer reaches out?
Does the new customer submit a Request for Quote (RFQ)?
If so, you then kick start the quoting process.
Of course, you were already busy when the RFQ arrived.
Now you need to set aside other top priorities to accommodate the new customer. You don’t want to make a bad first impression. Speed is key.
You look over the drawing. Check out the parts on the BOM (Bill of Materials).
Lookup component prices and availability.
Determine the labor units. Amount of time on machinery. The number of touches. Lead time for parts.
You’ve gone through this process probably thousands of times.
In addition, do you receive RFQ’s that drift off in areas outside of your expertise? Outside of your wheelhouse?
Odds are the answer is yes.
It really becomes a bit more challenging to determine the quote for a new customer especially for products and processes that fall outside of your expertise.
Now they are waiting.
What if you could streamline the RFQ process?
Just imagine if you could narrow the process into an automated system that was available to a new customer online, 24/7.
Where you could create a quote or estimate instantly.
Sounds like heaven, right?
First, create a starting point.
Narrow down your product line. Begin with limited options.
Focus on the most popular. The most profitable. The most simplistic.
You have a proprietary process that you perfected over the years. Well, pretty close anyway.
Can you take that process to guide a customer into your funnel?
Let’s go deeper.
Related Article: Hey Manufacturer, What’s on Your Menu? Perhaps a Plate of eCommerce?
Does your business experience the 80/20 rule?
Most businesses do.
For example, let’s evaluate the 20% of your products and processes that generate 80% of your sales and profits.
Your top selling products.
Provide this information on your website.
Offer a price right away to the user.
Well, though the system may not be perfect to start, this at least gets you in the game….immediately.
So many of my clients state, “If I can just get a customer on the phone, we can close them.”
Creating a customized instant quoting process removes the bottleneck on the front end of the relationship.
You can state that the price is based on a single unit.
This would be interesting for potential customers working on a prototype.
It opens a door to start an immediate dialog.
Allows you to show your experience and expertise.
You now have a warm lead.
This opens the door to express your passion for their project.
What are you doing at this point?
You are now engaging. Building a relationship. Showing off your expertise.
Revealing that you are capable of solving your customer’s problem. Quickly.
Showing that you are a person of trust. A valuable partner.
Lastly, implementing eCommerce to start the quoting process lends a tremendous competitive advantage for your company.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
For additional info, check out these helpful posts:
Go Deep with Your Keyword Strategy.
For example, let’s pretend that we sold shoes. However, we only sell one type. Pink Nike running shoes with purple shoelaces.
If we tried targeting or marketing our company for simply the keyword “shoes”, we would go broke trying to appear in search results.
Though, an argument could be made to target the generic keyword “shoes”. In hopes that thousands of clicks to our website would bring the remote possibility that buyers need our pink Nike running shoes with purple shoelaces.
Highly unlikely though.
For example, do a Google search for the word “shoes”. As of this post, if you search Google for “shoes”, nearly 5.5 billion web pages with shoes (yes, BILLION).
Our strategy to target the keyword “shoes” would fail miserably. We would never realize organic rankings and the paid ads are owned by major players such as Shoes.com (owned by Walmart) and Zappos (owned by Amazon).
Yet, if someone were to Google “Pink Running Shoes” or “shoes for breast cancer awareness” or “awesome running shoes for teenage girls”, that buyer might find our shoes appealing.
From there, we can implement a targeted search marketing strategy accordingly.
Our odds for conversions improve tremendously by focusing on specific keywords as opposed to broad terms.
When determining your keyword strategy, Google Keyword Planner offers excellent insight to assist with the process.
FREE still rules as one of our favorite words, right?
Well, you guessed it, Google offers Google Keyword Planner as a free tool.
Simply create a Google Ads account, which is also free.
Google Keyword Planner provides a section to “Discover New Keywords”.
When you type in a keyword, Google reports back with a large list of suggestions for you.
Dozens or even hundreds of keywords.
Now once again, you might find a number of keywords irrelevant.
However, hopefully you also discover plenty of keywords that were not on your radar.
Google also provides monthly search traffic results for each keyword.
Most likely, you will be surprised by the number of searches for particular keywords.
For additional information, check out this helpful guide from Brian Dean at Backlinko: How to Use Google Keyword Planner in 2020
While exploring our keyword strategy at Falconer Electronics, an exciting opportunity presented itself.
Ground Straps kept appearing with our keyword research.
So we applied the “Scale Your Proprietary Process” concept to their Ground Straps.
Next, we implemented the 3 Step Approach To Scaling eCommerce for Manufacturers
If you search Google for “Ground Straps”, Falconer Electronics ranks extremely well for that keyword.
They show up in Google’s organic results typically in the top 3 (along with Amazon). Falconer Electronics also ranks in the #1 or #2 position on paid search for Google.
Their products show up on Google images.
The goal for this client: Dominate the keyword “Ground Straps”.
Related Article: eCommerce Checklist: Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies
So as we were implementing our 3 prong approach attracting new leads and customers with the Wire Harness Manufacturing category.
Dozens of customers submitted drawings, bill of materials (BOM) and requests-for-quotes.
This still created plenty of challenges.
So as we kept seeking opportunities within the company, one proprietary process suddenly stood out.
Within the Wire Harness department, the company manufactures Braided Ground Straps.
Thousands upon thousands of ground straps for just a handful of clients.
One day we asked the question: Can’t there be other companies that could use ground straps?
Especially with these ground straps that are Made in the USA.
The company had everything in their corner to exploit this market:
Experience + tools + equipment + staff + suppliers + raw material + resources = Your Proprietary Process
Then took it one step further:
Your Proprietary Process + eCommerce = Scaling Your Proprietary Process with eCommerce
A perfect Scaling Opportunity.
For example, below includes a wide range of targeted keywords (who knew there were so many names for Ground Straps?):
Most importantly, think about ALL of the keywords that a potential customer could use in order to find your company.
Going wide and deep with your keyword strategy dramatically helps improve conversions as well as reduces costs per click on these targeted keywords.
All it takes is one 6 or 7 figure customer to type a key phrase that you find as obscure to change your mind.
The more details on a dating profile, the more likeliness of finding your true soulmate.
Thanks for reading this post.
Hopefully you found this helpful for your eCommerce journey.
For additional information, please click links below:
The York SBDC teamed up with the the Merchant Association (MARLS NYC) to offer an exciting eCommerce workshop featuring B2Btail client, Falconer Electronics.
The eCommerce workshop takes place Tuesday October 20 at 7:30 est.
Click here to learn more about the York SBDC
Click here to learn more about MARLS NYC
With a new sense of urgency for entrepreneurs to create a strong digital presence, please join us for a discussion on the necessary steps to implement an eCommerce strategy for your business including:
First, topics discussed during the eCommerce workshop include:
In addition we cover:
Other topics covered as well include:
We also explore eCommerce Opportunities with Online Marketplaces including:
In addition, the program covers B2B Experts such as…
The NYSBDC at York College provides no-cost consulting services to entrepreneurs as well as small business owners. Our professional consulting emphasizes on finding practical solutions to the everyday business problems. The NYSBDC at York College is part of a statewide network of 24 regional centers located throughout New York State.
Vision
The New York Small Business Development Center (NYSBDC) at York College aspires to be recognized as a leading source of high business counseling as well as training to aspiring entrepreneurs and owners.
The Merchant Association (MARLS NYC) was founded in April 2016, by Annette Runcie and five Southeast Queens merchants when facing the painful reality of our residents in Southeast Queens earning approximately nine billion dollars, of which very little was being spent in our community. This lack of investment in our community by our very own residents contributes to the depressed economic situations that appear to exist in our local towns.
We realized if our merchants can grow from the patronization of our residents, then we would be in a better position to hire employees and contribute to the reduction of the unemployment rate in our community. Harnessed by that realization, we set out to create a merchant association whose mission is to equip and empower business owners with the critical skills, to sustainably grow and expand their business in our towns and beyond.
Check Out the MARLS Member List by clicking here
Thank you for reading & we wish you tremendous success with your blogging journey!
For additional information, please check out these helpful posts below as you continue your eCommerce journey:
Alibaba.com, the B2B business unit of Alibaba Group, announced the results of its Alibaba.com U.S. B2B Small and Medium Business (SMB) Survey and launched a new Digitization Sprint for U.S. SMB manufacturers digitizing – a traditionally analog segment of SMBs that has been digitizing at twice the rate of other industries during the pandemic.
Following its inaugural survey, which was disseminated in January 2020, Alibaba.com conducted a second survey of 5,015 U.S. B2B SMBs with the following key findings:
“We were happy to see the increasing digitization of US B2B companies and that many are increasing trade despite the pandemic, showing the resilience and grit of American business owners and entrepreneurs,” said John Caplan, President of North America and Europe of Alibaba.com. “Our research finds that digitization is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have for companies in every industry to bridge from surviving to thriving in the next era of business.”
SMBs are Optimistic in Their Business and Recovery
Even More U.S. B2B SMBs Digitized During the Pandemic and Are Hiring to Support their Online Growth
SMB Manufacturers are Confident and Accelerating to Catch Up Digitally
The Alibaba.com U.S. Small and Medium Business (SMB) Survey: Research Methodology
Alibaba.com commissioned leading global research firm, Ipsos, to conduct the second Alibaba.com U.S. B2B Small and Medium Business (SMB) Survey on behalf of Alibaba.com as a follow up to the December 2019 survey. The sample of 5,015 was collected using a double opt in online panel sample and conducted anonymously from September 4 – 20, 2020. The survey targeted decision-makers at U.S. companies that buy or sell physical goods and materials with other businesses. The study has an overall margin of error of ±1.39% at the 95% confidence level.
Additional data, analysis and insights from the second Alibaba.com U.S. SMB B2B Survey will be shared in future B2B Today content and events.
According to IBISWorld, there are 565,537 manufacturing businesses in the U.S. According to SCORE, an organization focused on mentoring U.S. small businesses, 98.6% of American manufacturing companies are small businesses, and three-quarters (75.3%) of those businesses have fewer than 20 employees.
U.S. manufacturers are well known for their technologically advanced production capabilities. However, until recently, they have been slower than other industries to adopt online sourcing and selling tools according to Alibaba.com’s survey. With manufacturers now rapidly turning to digital channels, Alibaba.com is launching its Digitization Sprint for U.S. Manufacturers. With the tagline “Let’s Get Digital,” the program accelerates the digitization of these businesses’ online marketing, selling and sourcing and ensure their long-term success. Alibaba offers this program to qualified manufacturers at no cost. The Alibaba.com team is bringing together experts and their ecosystem of collaborators, including the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Brooklyn Navy Yard and manufacturing e-commerce expert Curt Anderson, to give manufacturers digitizing a four-week masterclass in getting digital and going global.
“We were delighted to see in our research that manufacturing businesses are catching on and looking for ways to ride new waves of digital opportunity,” said Caplan. “U.S. manufacturers have huge potential to grow their online business and emerge from this pandemic better positioned for the future. Our first-ever Digitization Sprint will give manufacturers the curriculum, coaching, and community they need to accelerate their digital skills and access the $23.9 trillion global B2B ecommerce opportunity.”
Through the program, select manufacturing companies will gain access to:
The inaugural Alibaba.com Digitization Sprint for U.S. Manufacturers will kick off in mid-November with limited spots available. Interested leaders at manufacturing companies with fewer than 500 employees can apply for their companies to join the initiative at alibaba.com/digitalsprint.
Finally, thank you for reading our blog post on Manufacturers Digitizing.
For additional information, please check out these helpful posts below as you continue your eCommerce journey:
The mission at Manufacturing Marketing World is to provide education to manufacturers that helps them reach more prospects, as well as generate more sales. Through day long conferences, and webinars, MMW is dedicated to helping manufacturers grow.
protocol 80 is a B2B Inbound Marketing & Sales agency. We’ll help you reach today’s modern buyer
as well as generate quality leads that close.
In addition, strategies from protocol 80 turn your website into a 24/7 funnel-filling machine, while turning your company into an industry thought leader atop the Google search results!
Click here to Register for Manufacturing Marketing World
First, Inbound is a methodical approach to marketing and lead generation. It produces compounding results in a systematic way.
As an industrial manufacturer, you know all about processes as well as workflows. Especially since inbound marketing is a data-driven approach to marketing that produces a clear ROI versus other marketing channels.
Finally, thank you for reading our blog post on Manufacturing Marketing World.
For additional information, please check out these helpful posts below as you continue your eCommerce journey:
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