Fierce Advocate for Manufacturing + Chief Curiosity Officer + Motivational Keynote Speaker + Awesome Mom…
Meet Gail Robertson – Chief Curiosity Officer Robertson – Marketing Consultant and Keynote Speaker at GailNow
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!
- Receive an eCommerce Checklist for manufacturers
- Learn to capture first page rankings on Google
- Create effective landing pages that convert into RFQs as well as sales
- Target customers with Google Ads as well as Google Shopping
- Take advantage of online marketplaces including Amazon as well as Alibaba
- Explore a step-by-step eCommerce success story with Falconer Electronics
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
Manufacturers Implementing eCommerce Opens New Doors
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”
Option #1) Manufacturers Implementing eCommerce
Add an eCommerce store onto your existing website
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:
- Customers access your business 24/7/365 = round the clock customer service & a powerful sales tool
- Find Soulmates (aka Ideal Customers)
- Eliminate the cumbersome RFQ process
- No A/R = Credit card payments means you are paid before you ship! YAY!!
- Lower cost marketing and sales strategy
- Market Research (eCommerce becomes your R&D department)
- Stay in your Wheelhouse
- Network = Cross Network with other vendors targeting the same market
- International opportunities
- Implementing eCommerce allows you to Scale Your Proprietary Process
Related Article: eCommerce Checklist: Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies
Option #2) Custom Manufacturers Implementing eCommerce
Allow Customers to Customize Your Product
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?
80/20 Rule
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.
- Take the raw material, parts and components that go into that product
- Calculate the labor units
- Add in machine time that goes into each unit
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.
Implementing eCommerce Gets 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.
Wrapping It Up
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
For additional info, check out these helpful posts:
- Top 13 Reasons Why Manufacturers Struggle with eCommerce
- 25 Blog Topics for Manufacturers Eager to Start Blogging
- 19 Tips for Curing “I Hate Change” (Plus a Healthy Dose of eCommerce)
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.
Google Keyword Planner
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
3 Step Approach
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
- Make a Great Webpression
- Dominate Search
- Get Offensive
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
Scaling Your Proprietary Process
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.
Ground Strap Keyword Strategy
For example, below includes a wide range of targeted keywords (who knew there were so many names for Ground Straps?):
- Bonding Straps Electrical
- Braided Bonding Strap
- Braided Copper Strap
- Flat Braided Copper Ground Strap
- Braided Earth Strap
- Flat Braided Ground Wire
- Flat Copper Ground Strap
- Ground Strap Wire
- Neutral Bonding Strap
- Ground Straps Flat Braid
- Ground Wire Strap
- Braided Ground Strap
- Braided Ground Strap Wire
- Copper Ground Strap
- Braided Ground Straps
- Braided Ground Wire
- Tinned Copper Braided Ground Strap
- Braided Grounding Strap
- Braided Grounding Straps
- Flat Braided Ground Strap
- Ground Strap
- Ground Strap Cable
- Grounding Straps
- Heavy Duty Ground Straps
- Braided Copper Ground Wire
- Braided Copper Ground Wire
- Ground Wire Strap
- Braided Copper Strap
- Braided Copper Strap
- Earthing Straps
- Braided Ground Strap
- Earth Straps
- Braided Ground Straps
- Electrical Grounding Straps
- Braided Ground Wire
- Braided Ground Wire
- Tinned Copper Braid
- Braided Grounding Strap
- Braided Grounding Straps
- 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.
Wrapping It Up
Thanks for reading this post.
Hopefully you found this helpful for your eCommerce journey.
For additional information, please click links below:
- Hey Manufacturers, Fighting to Dominate Search is the Name of the Game
- You Have Only One Chance to Make an Outstanding First Webpression
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
York SBDC eCommerce Workshop
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:
- Receive an eCommerce checklist as well as additional resource guides
- Also Capturing 1st page rankings on Google
- Creating effective landing pages that convert into RFQ’s as well as sales
- Targeting customers with Google Ads as well as Google Shopping
- Taking advantage of online marketplaces including Amazon as well as Alibaba
- In addition, explore a step by step eCommerce success story with Falconer Electronics
First, topics discussed during the eCommerce workshop include:
- Make a Great First Webpression
- Dominate Search
- Get on the Offensive
In addition we cover:
- Persona Exercise
- Creating consistent content: (Ex: Wire Harness Wednesdays)
- Google Snippet – Wire Harness Manufacturing – Electrical Ground Straps
Other topics covered as well include:
- Let that dream customer – Soulmates make a buying decision on Friday night at midnight
- Scale Your Proprietary Process
- Configurator – Quotebuilder
- New customized product populates into the eCommerce store
We also explore eCommerce Opportunities with Online Marketplaces including:
In addition, the program covers B2B Experts such as…
- Growth Experts Podcast
- Manufacturing Happy Hour
- MFG Out Loud
- Exit Your Way
- protocol 80
- True Focus Media
- Bowman Digital Media
- Voice Express
York SBDC
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.
MARLS NYC
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
Wrapping It Up
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:
- You Have Only One Chance to Make an Outstanding First Webpression
- 25 Blog Topics for Manufacturers Eager to Start Blogging
- Hey Manufacturers, Fighting to Dominate Search is the Name of the Game
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