The Simple Formula for Humanizing Your B2B Manufacturing Brand

At one point or another, I’m sure everyone has stumbled upon boring B2B manufacturing content. You know what I’m talking about – an article or video talking up the company and ranting about how revo-lutionary their products and services are. Yeah, customers don’t really fall for that type of advertising anymore.

Even in the B2B manufacturing space, buyers are much more interested in what goes on behind the scenes.

Slowly but surely, though, manufacturing companies are realizing that their own personal stories are becoming the most important component of their industrial marketing strategy. This is where human-izing your B2B brand comes into the picture.

Why is Humanizing Your B2B Manufacturing Brand Im-portant?

1. It gives you a competitive edge.

There are probably a ton of other brands offering similar services and products. Your goal is to get no-ticed. Hard selling is an aggressive approach that can works if getting noticed first is all that matters, but at the end of the day people generally prefer something that they can relate to.

2. It creates connections.

Do not underestimate the connections that you make from humanizing your brand. In the B2B manu-facturing space, establishing connections promises long-term investments and relationships. This also opens many opportunities for collaborations that could expand your business circle.

3. It builds trust.

By humanizing your B2B manufacturing brand, you allow others to see the actual people behind the success of your organization. Show that everyone in your organization is there for a reason. Clients will develop a greater sense of trust in what your company does because they will have a better under-standing of who does it.

How to Make Your Manufacturing Company Relatable

So now that you have a clear sense of why it’s important to humanize your B2B manufacturing brand, let’s do a deep dive into the practical ways you can achieve that goal:

Tell a Story

Put a face to your brand and share your story

You are more than your products and services. There are a ton of other brands who could be offering the same things as you, and the only way to get noticed is to put a face to your B2B manufacturing brand. This means sharing your vision and your story with your audience. More than the products and services, what is your vision as a company? What difference are you trying to make?

According to B2B Content Marketing Research, 94% of top content marketers shifted their focus to customer-centric themes focusing on how they can connect their content strategy to the core busi-ness purpose of serving customers and creating an impact on the bottom line.

Use video content for storytelling

Storytelling through videos allows you to reel in and engage your audience. It is especially helpful for tapping into human emotions. Videos are also more effective in building B2B manufacturing brand awareness as compared to simple advertisements that plainly show your product or service.

Video marketing, let alone content marketing, might not be your cup of tea. But you can always seek the help of expert B2B manufacturing content marketing agencies like MFG Tribe who will partner with you in producing relevant and customer-oriented content for your manufacturing brand.

Focus on your Customers

Provide excellent customer service

Actual conversations and problem-solving are usually done when you are providing customer service support. This presents an opportunity for your company to converse with people and make them feel that they are important and valued. This will also help to build your B2B manufacturing brand reputa-tion and promote positive reviews or user-generated content. If your customers are vouching for you, it also gets easier to network and connect with potential clients.

Engage with your audience

Customer service is one way to engage with your audience, but there are a ton of other tools that you can use to improve your B2B manufacturing brand. For instance, answering questions or responding to comments on social media will show that you are indeed paying attention to the feedback of your cus-tomers.

Listen to their recommendations but also let your clients know that you are thankful for their input and it will be used to make your company better. Customer engagement shows that you are not a foreign and faraway entity. In turn, it also boosts brand experience, builds trust, and improves customer loyal-ty.

Invest in Your Employees

Show off your employees 

A company that has a healthy working environment yields the best and most promising results in terms of B2B manufacturing branding. As they say, your employees are your MVPs (Most Valuable Promoters). When your employees are happy and satisfied, they usually will promote your B2B manu-facturing business for free. You can also encourage them to share your posts within their networks and their own LinkedIn accounts or social media channels. It makes a good impression among custom-ers if the employees are also genuinely interested and enthusiastic about the company.

Showcase Employee-Friendly Policies 

Here’s the thing: how you treat your people says a lot about how the company handles things internally and externally. In essence, if you treat your employees right, people will assume that you’ll also treat them right.

Proudly display that you are informed and cutting-edge in every way. Promote yourself for the work you’ve done in establishing a diverse and empowering workplace. Highlight your female leaderships and display your values as an employer and as a brand. You can also highlight special programs, policies, affiliations, and other internal initiatives that celebrate healthy work-life balance.

At the end of the day, B2B manufacturing businesses cannot survive without the support of their peo-ple and their customers. And a truly successful B2B manufacturing business already has those things in place. It is a matter of highlighting those elements of who you are that builds your B2B manufacturing brand and fosters that sense of an authentic human connection.

Even though B2B manufacturing is not often thought of as a human-centric environment, it is created and facilitated by real people. Treat your customers and your social media following as the invaluable assets they are. If you don’t know where to start or you don’t have the time, you can always call on MFG Tribe to help you out with your manufacturing digital marketing strategy.