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Outsourcing some - or all - of your marketing initiatives to an agency is an enormous business decision. And while some agencies claim to have a focus on the manufacturing vertical, it’s rarer to find one that talks the talk and walks the walk.
Finding the right agency partner for your manufacturing business isn’t just critical to ROI. But it can make the difference between seeing tangible results this month versus next year.
At PMG, we’ve been designing and implementing digital marketing strategies for the manufacturing vertical for more than 15 years.
Recently, we were able to grow one of our manufacturer’s global businesses by 40% with digital initiatives. But we aren’t the only ones out there who know our stuff.
In this article, we’ll explore how to identify and choose the best manufacturing marketing agency for your specific business.
A manufacturing marketing agency is an outsourced organization that can take on specific portions of your marketing tasks.
Alternatively, a manufacturing marketing agency can work as an outsourced marketing department, owning the strategy, direction, implementation, and reporting of your entire marketing segment.
Manufacturing marketing agencies should have specific expertise, experience, and results in the manufacturing vertical in order to drive maximum results for your business.
There are several resources you can utilize to identify the best marketing agency for your business.
Resources to identify Manufacturing Marketing Agencies:
Once you have your list of agencies to evaluate, it’s time to consider exactly what it is you’re looking for in an agency partner. Here are some key considerations:
The first thing to consider is the kind of relationship you want to have with your manufacturing agency partner. Determining the level of service you need can help you segment out agencies that only work with certain retainer commitments, budgets, or services. Ask yourself:
Once you’ve determined how you want to work with your agency, you can use that as a baseline to evaluate your budget. $5,000 a month likely won’t get you an incredible outsourced department, but it could get you a team of awesome contributors to manage and own a particular segment of your marketing.
Not sure what a good budget looks like? Many of our clients are able to see incredible results with just $7,500 a month. But the more you spend, the more you’ll likely get in return.
If your business is using HubSpot, you’ll likely want to choose an agency that has extensive experience with that particular platform. But your tech stack is just one asset of your business you’ll want to evaluate against the agency. You may also want to consider:
Some agencies claim they work with manufacturers. But in reality, they are a jack-of-all-industries. Make sure you select an agency that is a true expert in your field.
Note: it's not always a great idea to disqualify an agency simply because they work with other industries. Oftentimes, things that work really well in other industries - like technology and saas - can be applied to manufacturing marketing. In fact, a somewhat varied focus in your agency's portfolio could be an advantage. You can benefit from trends that are working cross-industry instead of the same-old tactics. Just make sure they know your industry as well as the others.
Chances are, a highly-experienced agency can apply key strategies from other accounts to your business, which means you’ll see success -- fast.
One way to determine how manufacturing-centric your agency might be is to explore the content on their site. A great digital marketing agency will have a strong content strategy focused on the manufacturing vertical.
See if they have:
All of these can be a strong indicator that your agency knows their stuff.
The agency you choose can mean the difference between flushing $10,000 down the drain and maximizing your revenue operations this year. A critical component of seeing ROI is understanding their level of experience, service areas and focus, employee and customer satisfaction, and how your relationship will work.
Questions to ask your manufacturing marketing agency before hiring them:
Here’s a list of 34 questions you can consider asking (with a PDF you use to take notes).
Evaluating how the agency makes you feel after your sales calls is less measurable and tangible, but it’s just as important. Working with an agency partner requires a great deal of trust. Not only do you want to align with their services and pricing, but you also want to make sure they’re the right cultural fit for your business and existing team.
That’s why you may want to evaluate the following intangibles:
We get it. Choosing the right manufacturing marketing partner is a lot of leg work. It’s a lot of research, a lot of scheduling, a lot of googling, and a lot of hoops to jump through.
If you’re a B2B manufacturer looking to take your digital marketing strategy to the next level, PMG’s team of manufacturing experts can help get you there.
Click here to book a meeting to talk about your marketing strategy for this year.
With specialists in content strategy, design, sales, and marketing alignment paid service, email & social campaigns -- and much more -- your marketing will be in great hands.
In fact, we grew Kardex's business by 40% with a strategic and flexible marketing strategy.
We wish you the best of luck on your search for the right fit for your business.
