Lead Generation for Manufacturers — Chapter 6

Manufacturers Have a Product Problem

Most manufacturers make excellent, high-quality products. In fact, your products might even be better than they need to be.

But making great products are now table stakes.

When it comes to content marketing, most manufacturers need to stop talking about their products…first.

Bruce McDufee, author of The New Way to Market for Manufacturing explains:

"One thing that is fairly consistent across most manufacturing companies is the strong product culture that overpowers nearly all other functions, except maybe the sales function."

For many manufacturers, the center of their universe is, and has long been, their product

"In nearly all manufacturing companies, every aspect of the culture is centered on the product. Many firms have been building the same or similar products for 50, 100, or 150 years with great success up until a few years ago. Each and every employee loves that product. They understand that the only reason they have a job is because someone buys that product. They tell their friends and family about the wonderful product that is manufactured by their company. They attend meetings where everyone tries to come up with more reasons why people should want to buy that product. Their websites, brochures, and trade show booths tout the product. The power influencers within the company are those managers who own the product development, the employees who make the product, or the sales team who sells the product."

Manufacturers have long marketed themselves with product information. And not much else.

It makes sense. You make stuff, so you want to talk about that stuff.

But in marketing, talking too much about your own stuff is a problem.

In the internet era, taking a product-first approach is not how you become known, liked and trusted by buyers.

When buyers search online, it is first and foremost, a search for solutions to their problems.

Imagine you’re a manufacturer of farming equipment. You want to become known, liked and trusted by farming equipment buyers. Should your company produce content that focuses exclusively on the features and benefits of your specific products?

Or should you create content that helps farmers solve their farming challenges and become more successful farmers?

That’s what John Deere does with The Furrow.

Think about which group is larger: engineers who need to buy a product like yours today, or engineers who want to know how to solve a larger problem of which your product is part of the solution? If you lead with information for the latter, there will be more of the former who come to know, like and trust your company.

The key to building credibility and trust is to present information that is of genuine value to solving your buyer’s problems. That credibility and trust will lead to a sense of preference for your company and products.

As Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People outlined in Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.

Successful companies demonstrate an understanding of their customers by helping them BEFORE pitching their products. 

"Your customers don’t care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves, their wants, and their needs. Content marketing is about creating interesting information your customers are passionate about so they actually pay attention to you."

Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marketing: How To Tell A Different Story, Break Through The Clutter, and Win More Customers By Marketing Less.

In Chaos Lies Opportunity

After about 75 years of employing one-way, interruptive marketing tactics, many manufacturers are struggling to learn how to BE what people are interested in, rather than interrupting what people are interested in.

Why? Most manufacturers are risk-averse and yearn for a more “command and control” approach to marketing communications.

But, as outlined earlier, that approach is increasingly ineffective for reaching and persuading the modern buyer. There is no longer a captive audience. Buyers have the information advantage.

But for innovative manufacturers, the modern, eminently more successful approach to marketing provides a tremendous opportunity.

Embracing these new ideas can put you way ahead of peers who are hesitant to try new approaches. While they cling to their familiar product-first approach to sales and marketing, innovative manufacturers can realize double-digit growth if they are willing to embrace this modern approach to lead generation.

• Executive Summary — Are you a manufacturer looking for more qualified leads?
• Chapter 1 — The World Is Flat — Worldwide Manufacturing Trends
• Chapter 2 — How A Manufacturer Can Grow in A Flat Market
• Chapter 3 — Why Traditional Sales and Marketing Is Less Effective for Manufacturers
• Chapter 4 — The New Rules of Sales and Marketing for Manufacturers
• Chapter 5 — How A Manufacturer Can Be Known, Liked, Trusted and Preferred
• Chapter 6 — Manufacturers Have a Product Problem
• Chapter 7 — Manufacturing: Selling Through A Distributor
• Chapter 8 — How Much Should A Manufacturer Invest in Marketing?
• Chapter 9 — Manufacturers: Getting Started with Modern Lead Generation