Even Manufacturers Are Embracing Online Marketing

The manufacturing sector has long been known as an elder in the industrial world. Characterized by huge machinery and antiquated processes, it continues to be a driving force within this country. Though many manufacturers have been slow to shed old processes and habits, an increasing number are beginning to put their marketing dollars toward online promotional efforts.

According to the GlobalSpec 2011 Marketing Trends survey, online marketing represents a larger portion of manufacturer marketing budgets. Of the 384 survey respondents, 49 percent committed to spending over one-third of their marketing budgets on online promotion. Social network marketing represented one of the largest increases, with more than double the number of companies using social media since 2010.

The reasons that these Internet-cautious companies are now embracing social media are interesting. Branding was the reason provided by 77 percent, with 59 percent using social media for online lead generation and 40 percent embracing its role in thought leadership. Since the 2008 economic crisis, many industrial marketers have been focusing on generating leads.

What is surprising is that only three percent of respondents claimed to use social media as a primary source for generating leads. Part of the issue may be that manufacturers do not know how to properly use social media for this purpose. Training will address this issue, allowing manufacturers to be more effective at lead generation using online techniques.

Approximately 38 percent of respondents reported an increased marketing budget in 2010 compared to the previous year. Fifty percent allocate a larger portion of this budget to online marketing in general in order to generate leads. According to respondents, three out of four of their best lead sources were represented by online marketing channels including the company Web site, which 78 percent noted as one of their three best lead generators.