In an ever-growing industry, a marketing strategy is crucial for industrial and manufacturing companies. Your marketing strategy must address your business goals and adapt to your company’s niche and consumer types. To stand out and separate your company from the competition, you must know how to find your target market in the manufacturing industry.

Manufacturing Marketing Metrics

Reach can sometimes be an overrated metric in marketing. You may get a significant number of leads from a non-targeted campaign. But are they relevant? Are they interested in your products? How willing are they to buy at this point?

It is essential to know your target market to be able to execute your marketing strategies.

Moreover, a defined target market will also help you trim down your marketing budget. This ensures that each marketing dollar goes to the intended audience.

Knowing Who Your Market Is Matters

Your message is always important. But if you’re delivering it to the wrong audience, it won’t convert to any sales. If you can identify your target market, your marketing tactics will connect to your buyers at a human and emotional level.

When marketing your products and services, the goal is not to reach the broadest audience. You want a relevant audience and qualified leads that convert into sales.

Industrial Marketing Statistics

A 2020 report by Content Marketing Institute identified that only 53% of manufacturing companies create compelling content that appeals to multi-level roles within their target audiences. This is 15% less than the previous year’s 68%. In other words, you have the opportunity to do what your competition isn’t doing.

Before your manufacturing company rolls out its marketing plans, identify your target market first. Efficiently communicate your message. Ensure your goals are aligned with your marketing strategy.

Finding Your Target Audience and Manufacturing Customers

When identifying your target audience in the industrial market, there are some steps that a company must follow. It is not enough to say that you have great products. And you can’t decide who your audience is based on a hunch.

Instead, follow these steps below.

Identify Why A Customer Would Make a Purchase

What product or service are you selling? What are the features? A more important question is How do your consumers benefit from your capabilities?

Your product features and the benefits they have on your buyers are not necessarily the same. Your features are the innate attributes of your capabilities. On the other hand, benefits are what motivates people to buy.

For example, a company that fabricates machine components may feature precision welding, but the benefit is how long the weld will last.

You can improve the accuracy of this step by talking to your top customers. This is a chance to establish a connection and get to know them on a deeper level to gain insight into your buyers’ motivations.

Gathering these reasons for purchasing will help your manufacturing company identify the shared values that your current customer base has.

Segment Your Overall Market

Market segmentation is the process of segmenting your target market into smaller groups. The division is commonly based on characteristics that your market may share. Market segmentation will allow you to have a highly focused campaign that is cost-efficient.

Some characteristics that are considered during this step include:

• Demographic
• Geographic
• Psychographic

Digitally transform your marketing strategy for higher ROI with the team who knows your industry. Start reaching the right buyers and close more deals.

Research Your Market

As previously mentioned, your target market cannot be based on hunches. There are resources that your marketers can check to fine-tune the selection of your target audience.

1. Use company collected data from previous periods in your business.
2. Use industry such as studies and third-party research.

Build a Customer Persona

Once you have all the attributes, segmentation, and other data, it is time to build your customer persona or profile. Your customer profile is representative of your ideal buyer. While it is hypothetical, it should reflect your data gathering and research.

Additionally, your customer persona must be very specific. Once you have this, your marketing team will have a solid foundation for implementing your company’s marketing strategy.

Examples of Target Markets in the Manufacturing Industry

Since the B2B approach is utilized in the manufacturing industry, companies should target decision-makers in other companies. The following are the specific target markets in the manufacturing industry:

Decision-makers of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and original design manufacturer (ODM) companies:

• CEOs
• Purchasing managers
• Engineers

Distributors

• Wholesalers

In the end, B2B industrial marketing is complex, but identifying and targeting the key decision-makers can help shorten the long sales cycle.

As the leader in industrial marketing, MFG Tribe has been helping Industrial companies from $2 million – $3 billion dominate their competition with the most aggressive marketing tactics that work in today’s competitive environment for over five years. Our strategy adjusts based on what’s most effective for YOUR company, and we only work with industrial companies. If you’re looking to set up your marketing efforts with the Industrial Marketing leader, schedule a discovery call today.