Here are some tips for effective DIY Websites: - Focus on content, not design. Hire a pro for complex layouts. - Use simple navigation and clean formatting. Avoid clutter. - Optimize for mobile. Most traffic is from phones these days. - Include calls-to-action on every page to engage visitors. - Use images, videos to break up text. Visuals help engagement. - Consider outsourcing content creation if writing isn't a strength. The key is creating an engaging user experience, not flashy design. Focus on quality content to attract and nurture leads over time.

1. FINDABILITY
Get Your Manufacturing Business
Visible on the Internet
Presented By

2. Agenda
9:00-9:50 Manufactured in North Carolina
9:50-10:00 Break
10:00-10:50 Effective Websites for Manufacturing
Companies
10:50-11:00 Break
11:00-11:50 Internet Marketing Strategies for
Manufacturing Companies

3. A Free Listing Service and Marketing Program
MANUFACTURED IN NORTH
CAROLINA

4. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

5. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

6. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

7. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

8. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
90% $4K - $12,000
Of all industrial The estimated cost
buyers go online to to create a small
search, qualify and website for a
evaluate suppliers manufacturer
50% 0
Of industrial suppliers The amount of exposure
are chosen based solely you may receive even
on the supplier’s after spending that
website much money
References: (ThomasNet, ThomasNet, Parker)

9. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

10. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

11. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

12. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Catawba County EDC
• NC Rural Center
• NC State University Industrial Extension
Service

13. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

14. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA

15. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
20 50 100 300 500
Site Expanded Site Expanded
to Include to Include All
Neighboring NC
Counties Manufacturer
Beta Site
Launched for Goal of 1,000
Catawba Signed-Up
County

16. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Provide a free “listing service” for North
Carolina manufacturers
www.ManufacturedNC.com
• Strengthen your company's online presence
and expand your visibility to the world
• Better sell your manufacturing capabilities to
prospects
• Generate new leads and sales opportunities

17. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
Typical North
Carolina
Manufacturer

18. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina
Manufacturer with
MNC

19. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Currently more than 500 North Carolina
manufacturers listed
• Fortune 500 to “Mom and Pop”
• Since January 1st, more than 13,000 unique
site visitors
– 126 countries
– All 50 states

21. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
 How can you participate?
 Enroll online now
 Connections – talk it up, show it off
 MORE connections – link your existing website
with www.ManufacturedNC.com or even their
profile on MNC
 Suggestions/Improvements – you know what
would best benefit your company

22. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Beginning to see individual MNC company
"profiles" showing up on the first or second
page of Google Search results
• Searchers are beginning to make real
connections with North Carolina
manufacturers
• Listed companies engaging with one another

23. Security surveillance equip. Composite watercraft Custom printing
Custom manufactured signs
Industrial/Automated Industrial/Automated
Labels/Packaging machinery
Industrial filtration machinery
Architectural
metals/frames
Aerosol spray cans
Custom cabinetry
Custom upholstered
Custom printing
furniture
Sport/Casual hosiery
Plastic packaging
Spiral paper cores
Artificial flowers/trees
Hydraulic hoses Packaging/Bottling
products
Custom machine shop Upholstered leather
furniture
Custom machine shop:
workholding Electro-magnet:
Sheet metal fabrication workholding
Water treatment chemicals
Custom printing
Extruded components
Industrial/Automated Industrial wheels/casters
Fiber optic components machinery

24. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Highly optimized site ranks profiles high on
Google, Yahoo, Bing
• Invest $400,000 in Internet advertising to
promote the site and the companies listed

25. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Takes about 10 minutes to sign up and build a
company profile on MNC

35. MANUFACTURED IN NORTH CAROLINA
• Participation requirements:
– Manufacturing or manufacturing-related company
– Physical manufacturing presence in North Carolina
– MNC does review all applicants to ensure they
meet these criteria
– Willing to expand the meaning of “manufacturing-
related” to a reasonable degree, but will not
include retail, restaurant or consulting services

36. Beyond the On-Line Brochure
EFFECTIVE WEBSITES FOR
MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

37. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
100
90 < $1 MM
80 < $100 MM
70 $100 MM +
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2000 2005 2010

38. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• The majority of manufacturing companies –
even the very small ones – have a website
• The majority of these website – even sites
associated with very large companies – are
Web 1.0 technology… an on-line brochure
• Lead generation is the number one objective
of most manufacturing and industrial
company Websites…

39. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• A vast majority of your site visitors are not
ready to buy on their first visit
• Visitors are not likely to interrupt their online
activity to pick up the phone and call you
• Very few visitors if any will take the time to fill
out a complex RFQ form, or even a RYSM form

40. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
But, their existing
Websites have little to
no lead generating
capability

41. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
“Well, we don’t want to
waste our time with tire
kickers.”

42. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Studies show the vast majority of those “tire
kickers” will go on to buy from someone else
within 6-10 months
• Have a mechanism in place to weed out
unqualified prospects and move qualified
ones into some kind of a lead nurturing
program

43. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Add a “live chat” feature
– This can be a static button throughout the site but
should pop open when a visitor has been on a
product’s page for 30 to 40 seconds
– Do they need help finding the right part number?
– Do they need assistance with an application?

44. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Add a big button to download your online
catalog
– Try to put this above the fold
– You can make this content ungated (doesn’t
require registration) to help visitors specify your
products long after their first visit
– Add a simple order form if you publish a printed
or CD version of your catalog

45. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Use a mix of free and gated content to qualify
and nurture your visitors
– For example, product catalogs, datasheets and
application notes can be ungated
– Technical articles, white papers and case studies
would require basic registration information –
name, company name and email address
– Online demos, samples, and webinars should ask
for more information (progressive profiling)

46. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Try adding an option to your Contact Us form
for someone to call them
– Monitor how many visitors select that option
– Test to see if your conversion goes down if you
make that field mandatory

47. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
Engagement

48. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
“Can we do it ourselves?”

49. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Free or very low-cost Website options for small
manufacturers
– Google Sites – Surprisingly powerful and full-
featured, but difficult to get professional-looking results
– Wix.com (HTML5) – Easy “drag-and-drop” design, good-
looking, difficult to customize, integrated blog
– 1and1 – Easy “drag-and-drop” design, very difficult to
customize
– GoDaddy – Easy “drag-and-drop” design, very difficult to
customize

50. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Websites based on a dynamic blog content
management system (CMS)
– WordPress
– Joomla!
– Drupal

51. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
Building or redesigning a
company Website as a blog
site is increasingly becoming
the preferred method for
many industrial and
manufacturing marketers

53. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Creating a fully integrated blog site would
mean maintaining and updating just one
online marketing asset versus two or more
• With a built-in content management system
(CMS), it is much easier to add new content
and pages

54. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• On-site search engine optimization (SEO) is
much easier to do by adding new posts using
long tail keywords and deep linking to specific
product pages within your company’s site
• The value or authority of your domain
increases whenever another site links back to
the blog that is part of your main domain

55. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• User experience is significantly improved
when they can move seamlessly between your
site pages and the blog
• Monitoring, tracking and measuring is a lot
easier when you use one set of Web analytics
for both the site and the blog

56. EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
• Organizing content in a searchable format is
much easier using blog categories and can be
set up to offer related content for more up-
selling and cross-selling opportunities

57. The Engagement Approach to Effective Internet Presence
INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES
FOR MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

58. INTERNET MARKETING
Outside
Sales
Inside Print
Sales Advertising
Sales/Marketing
Mix
Online Customer
Marketing Service

59. Internet Marketing
• How is your Internet presence structured?
• What are your objectives?
• Who is/are your target audience(s)?
• What Internet tools allow you to most
effectively engage with that audience?
• What role will SEO and PPC play?

60. INTERNET MARKETING
Twitter LinkedIn
Blog Email
Facebook Website YouTube

61. INTERNET MARKETING
LinkedIn
Twitter Email
Facebook Blog YouTube
[Website]

62. Internet Marketing
• What are your objectives?
– General information source
– Build your brand (confidence)
– Sales
– Customer Service (after-sale)
– Investor relations
– Employee relations/Recruiting

63. Internet Marketing
• Who is/are your target audience(s)?
– Based on your objective
– Will most likely have more than one
– Don’t forget industry sectors; not all alike

64. Internet Marketing
• What Internet tools allow you to most
effectively engage with that audience?
– Blog (centerpiece or pointer)
– Social media
– Email marketing

65. Internet Marketing
• Blog Tips & Techniques
– Be sure your company has the time and talent
before committing to a blog-centric Internet
presence
– Absolute minimum of one post (300-500 words)
weekly; two recommended (2-3 hours)
– Don’t forget relevant pictures
– Process screening procedure – Edgy gets views;
but edgy makes management well… edgy

66. Internet Marketing
• Social Media Tips & Techniques
– Not all types of social media are effective for all
types of business
– Most manufacturing companies will want a mix
– Done correctly, not as time-consuming as you
think
– At a minimum, should be monitoring

67. Internet Marketing
• Facebook
– Most effective for manufacturers who are closer
to the end-user
– Can be effective for brand-building and public
relations
– Tends to skew younger and with less substantive
content (lifestyle)… but that is changing

69. Internet Marketing
• Twitter
– Can be used as either a “broadcast medium” or as
a tool for lead, prospect and customer
engagement
– Broad range of demographics
– Short, concise entries; but needs to be carefully
monitored
– Visual capabilities improving, but still primarily a
text-based format

71. Internet Marketing
• LinkedIn
– Has become the domain of choice (but not
exclusively) for headhunters, job seekers and
consultants
– Best suited for individuals, not companies
– Company profiles/Groups

73. Internet Marketing
• YouTube
– Most business people think of YouTube as a
repository of music videos and clips of cats
– Actually quite a lot of business-related content
– Although there is some interaction; primarily a
broadcast medium
– How-to videos, Product demonstrations
– Somewhat cheesy production is okay, where it
might not be for a Website or sales presentation

75. Internet Marketing
• Email Tips & Techniques
– Can be a great automated lead nurturing tool
– Can also be your worst enemy
– Easy to do; Easy to do wrong
– Constant Contact – Powerful, expensive
– Mail Chimp – Good, free

76. Questions?
John B. Marek
John@StatesvilleRegion.com
704-657-7007

77. Thanks Your for Your Participation
ThunkTank Corporate Training is a joint venture of Mitchell
Community College and Stateville Regional Development