Among all the functions involved in keeping your business going (and, ideally, prospering) 鈥� operations, manufacturing, finance, administration, customer service and support, and so on 鈥� you probably pay the least attention to marketing.
That is completely understandable. After all, those are either more tangible or immediate.
But one of the key functions that keeps your business going (and, ideally, prospering) is creating awareness of your business and the greater value your company offers 鈥� product or service 鈥揷ompared to the competitor across town or, more likely nowadays, across the ocean. And that function is marketing.
Yes, your company undoubtedly has a vice president of sales and marketing. But odds are, you view that person more through the lens of sales than of marketing (the former is both critical and tangible, while the latter can seem, well, squishy).
But today, while relationships between sales teams and potential or current customers are important, they are not wholly sufficient. This is particularly due to the economic impacts buffeting the industry, labor issues (according to HR consulting firm Mercer, turnover of sales professionals is 8.3%, so someone leaving can make a huge difference), and changes in how customers expect to get information about the products they鈥檙e interested in (think Google).
Your company and its products must be visible to customers and prospects, as well as to people who may want to work at your company because they like what they see. Assuming that they see it.
Marketing matters. But let鈥檚 face it: When a company must reduce spending, marketing is often one of the first things to get cut. After all, it isn鈥檛 that important, right?
Well, maybe not for the immediate future. However, if sales cycles last six to 18 months, at some point, cutting marketing will have deeper ramifications on revenues.
To better understand marketing鈥檚 what, how, and why, we interviewed three long-time practitioners who serve our industry.
They are:
Teresa Schell, president and owner, Vive LLC
Kyle Milan, CEO, chief revenue officer, and founder, Milan Media
Leslie Galbreath, CEO, DGS Marketing Engineers
While their observations differ, their approaches show a certain consistency: Marketing is more of a science than an art, more substantive than simply stylish.
Here鈥檚 what we gleaned that you may find useful for your understanding 鈥� and execution.
Measurement Matters
You likely have an operations dashboard that provides you with information regarding everything from inbound supplies to production operations to shipments. The data can show where things are working efficiently as well as bottlenecks and other opportunities for improvement. Similarly, tracking marketing performance is critical.
鈥淚 strongly believe that data has to support every decision in marketing, whether it鈥檚 a positive one or a negative one. This is no different than what executives track from their operational standpoint, right? If they want to make an adjustment to a process, they have to first identify data that supports that decision, and second, measure the results of their new decision.
鈥淪o, establishing KPIs [key performance indicators] for each marketing effort and implementing some way to track them and measure them and then making decisions based on that data is important.鈥� 鈥� Milan
Marketing = Business Goals
The goal of marketing isn鈥檛 to have a website or a series of clever ads. It is to help drive forward business goals and objectives.
鈥淚t always has to start with strategy. So, our approach is very strategic. It鈥檚 insight-driven, and it鈥檚 really built for that long-term impact because marketing should be aligned with business goals. It should be driven by the audience and understanding who the company is and really designed to create a memorable impact that can be measured with numbers.鈥� 鈥� Schell
Solid Approach
To develop a new product, you first determine whether anyone may be interested in buying it. Similarly, marketing needs to figure out the best way to help achieve business goals.
鈥淢y approach to marketing is rooted in substance over flash. Marketing should be substantive, not performative or decorative.
鈥淲e use the RPIE model: research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. We always start with research to understand what the objective is that we are trying to achieve.鈥� 鈥� Galbreath
Money Matters
If you invest in a new machine, the reason is to generate more revenue. If you invest in marketing, the objective should be the same.
鈥淢y goal, at the end of the day, is to make people money, and that鈥檚 what our purpose is here. The best way and the fastest way for us to make people the most amount of return on their spend is to have involvement in the different facets of marketing.
鈥淐reating content is one thing, but getting eyeballs on it 鈥� that鈥檚 what marketing is. Anybody can create an article, graphic, or social post, but turning that piece of creative into something that generates revenue 鈥� that鈥檚 what marketing does.鈥� 鈥� Milan
One Approach: Three Cs
There needs to be alignment throughout an organization in terms of what it does and what it will or won鈥檛 do to achieve those ends. This must be consistent, not ever-changing. And to help drive it home, it should be articulated in a clever way. Externally, it isn鈥檛 a whole lot different.
鈥淲e focus on building communication plans that revolve around what I call the 鈥榯hree Cs鈥�: clarity, consistency, and creativity.
鈥淚 think a lot of companies fall short because they don鈥檛 know what to say about themselves. So, the 鈥榗larity鈥� part comes in having a message foundation that clearly identifies what your core competencies are; what are those things that you do every day that might take for granted but set you apart?
鈥淭he 鈥榗onsistency鈥� is making certain that that message is delivered in all of the marketing channels on a consistent basis 鈥� your website says the same thing as your sales collateral, that says the same thing as your trade show booth. A lot of times, companies will have disconnected messaging 鈥� they put all of their energy into their website but don鈥檛 consistently have the same message for their sales tools or trade show booth.
鈥淎nd then the 鈥榗reativity鈥�: We live in a day where our eyes catch things that are attractive to us. And because things happen in short periods of time, having a creative messaging foundation helps with telling your audience in a short period of time what you do and how you stand apart from your competition.鈥� 鈥� Schell
How To Succeed
While it might seem that there is simply a universally accepted recipe that can be executed in order to achieve success, that鈥檚 not the case: Similarities notwithstanding, baking a pie and baking a cake are each done in their own way.
鈥淪uccess requires clear alignment on goals. It requires measurable objectives and an understanding that there鈥檚 no one-size-fits-all solution. We often get asked some version of
鈥榃hat will it take for us to be fill-in-the-blank?,鈥� whether it is market leader, increasing market share, or whatever is on the client鈥檚 mind.
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not always the answer they want to hear, but there is no magic bullet. What works for one organization won鈥檛 necessarily work for another.
鈥淚t comes back to having a research-based model and making sure that marketing is driven by strategy.鈥� 鈥� Galbreath
Don鈥檛 Jump
It鈥檚 like the old saying: 鈥淚f all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.鈥� Some firms are really good at creating websites. Some firms are really good at creating ads. And yet both are just creating tactics that may not coordinate with the business鈥檚 overall strategy.
鈥淚f someone jumps straight to saying, 鈥榊ou need social media鈥� or 鈥榊ou need paid ads鈥� without first going through the process of understanding the organization鈥檚 goals, challenges, and what the resources are, that鈥檚 a red flag.
鈥淓verything has to be grounded, researched, and strategized first; the tactics come after.
鈥淭he tactics need to be designed as part of a strategy that then supports objectives.鈥� 鈥� Galbreath
Know What You鈥檙e Getting
The point of marketing is not just creating awareness. It is about creating opportunities that can be turned into profitable sales. So, knowing whether those opportunities are paying off cannot be overlooked.
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 selling a machine or selling a service, you have to track where that opportunity came from and what was done to influence that person to find you. So, if it鈥檚 from searching, then what are your current rankings on the search engine? What optimization is being performed so that your specified strategic keywords show up? If it鈥檚 paid media, is your paid media strategy generating not just leads and conversions but actual deals in the pipeline? If it鈥檚 efforts on social media, are you getting more positive brand awareness from those efforts on social, or are you generating leads from it? And by 鈥榣ead鈥� I mean actual bodies that are qualified.
鈥淚f you exhibit at a trade show, are you measuring the results 12 months later? People will say, 鈥榃e got 140 leads.鈥� That鈥檚 great in the moment, but how many of those resulted in deals? Usually, the response I get is, 鈥極h, our sales cycle is so long.鈥� OK, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 track it. Even if your sales cycle is 12 months, you should be able to look back 12 months and say, 鈥榃here did that deal come from?鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to justify the marketing spend. You have to be able to track every single interaction back to some sort of source to justify why you鈥檙e spending money in those areas.鈥� 鈥� Milan
Consistent
Although some people expect instant gratification, most things of value take time to achieve. You don鈥檛 just buy a pair of Nikes and then run a marathon.
鈥淢arketing isn鈥檛 just a creative exercise with a checklist. It鈥檚 a disciplined process that needs clear ownership and sustained effort to deliver real ROI. Some companies will get impatient because they鈥檙e looking for immediate gratification, but when done right, an effective marketing program will build trust over the right period of time.鈥� 鈥� Schell
Executive Function
Executives who say 鈥淚鈥檝e got people for that鈥� and then relinquish responsibility may have an easy go of it 鈥� for a little while. There has to be commitment. This doesn鈥檛 mean execution. It does mean understanding. This is true whether it is achieving quality or getting value from marketing.
鈥淢arketing is an executive function. This doesn鈥檛 mean that a company president should be mired in the day-to-day execution of tactics. But they have to be invested in marketing as part of the value creation process. And without a seat at the table, so to speak, marketing will always fall short of its potential.
鈥淭o be effective, marketing professionals need direct access to the president and senior leadership team. Otherwise, you will find yourself executing tactics in a vacuum, rather than shaping strategy with the right inputs from the right people.
鈥淪o, marketing is an executive function. It shouldn鈥檛 be relegated to something that鈥檚 kind of done over here on the side. It needs to be championed by leadership to really give it its opportunity to work for the organization.鈥� 鈥� Galbreath
Maintaining Flow
While marketing can be iterative 鈥� as in repeatedly promoting a particular message 鈥� and sequential 鈥� a series of actions that follow one another 鈥� it also needs to be consistent. It is not 鈥渙ne and done.鈥� And while financial pressures from everything from supply chain disruptions to tariffs may necessitate spending cuts, taking a quick axe to the marketing budget may not be the way to keep business going in the not-too-distant future.
鈥淢arketing is not a faucet that you turn on and turn off. It鈥檚 something that has to continuously flow at some level, otherwise your pipeline is going to become dry.
鈥淲henever I train industrial salespeople, I tell them the problems that they鈥檙e facing today with their pipeline are from their actions from 60 days ago or from six months ago, something they weren鈥檛 doing six months ago. And now they鈥檙e paying the price because their pipeline has dried up. To start that up again, they鈥檒l need a three- to six-month runway.
鈥淪ome companies think they can turn off marketing, and then when they want more revenue, they鈥檒l turn it on again.
鈥淏ut not only is it going to take six months to build up, but maybe their competitors didn鈥檛 stop their programs, and they kept taking market share.
鈥淚t may be the fastest area to cut, but I think what people need to realize is that cutting your entire marketing budget isn鈥檛 a smart move.
鈥淏eing more strategic about how you execute it is the better play.鈥� 鈥� Milan
Your Marketing. Your Market.
Manufacturers interested in improving their marketing tactics through better data on markets, market direction, and customer base are invited to contact . While open to general manufacturing companies, 九色视频 membership benefits include complimentary research requests.
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