Inbound Marketing for Manufacturers Blog

Starting a basic Google Ads account is not difficult in the least bit. With a bit of research and a credit card, you can get account going pretty quickly.

However, maintaining an effective Google Ads account can be time consuming. Many small and mid-size businesses lack the resources and skills, so it's often better handled by a PPC (pay-per-click) ad agency.

Because we have been doing training seminars on Google Ads recently, we get to talk to many businesses about their experiences.

We completely understand that most business people won't have an in depth knowledge of Google Ads (formerly AdWords), and we wouldn't expect them to. What I have found in talking to them is the lack of knowledge of what type of service, value, etc. they are getting from their current Google Ads agencies.

In fact, some of these businesses are getting straight up taken advantage of.

Many sellers and marketers aren’t quite sure how to re-engage cold leads, especially when it’s been 6 to 12+ months since they were warm.

Google Analytics (GA) is one of the best free digital marketing reporting tools any business can have, hands down.

What is Google Analytics used for? Tracking nearly every action on your website, including the B2B lead generation metrics most important to CEOs and sales/marketing heads:

• How much traffic do we get?
• How are they finding our website?
• What actions are they taking once they arrive?

Google Analytics will tell you all of that and more.

Despite the importance of Google Analytics, many business owners and website managers don't even know whether their site uses it.

Today, even B2B buyers expect at least some level of e-commerce functionality from their vendors. Yep, even you, probably.

If you're here, you already know landing pages are a core component of capturing leads from your website. You know how to increase conversion rates on your website by offering valuable content (e-book, free consultation, etc.) in exchange for the visitor's contact into.

Now that you've captured your lead's information, what's next? 

It's hard to keep track of all your customer interactions, especially as your business grows. It’s even more difficult to manage that customer support manually. 

You attend trade shows to obtain valuable leads for your company. But do you have a plan in place for what to do once you’re back in the office from the trade show so you can move those leads closer to a purchase?

You’ve worked with the folks at Customer Y and Customer X for 25 years each, and they still provide a nice chunk of revenue.

Your business has been in the B2B/industrial game for 50-100 years, and the brand is already “well known” (somewhere, at least).

Trade shows and sales visits to the prospect’s facility are what your sales team knows and is good at. (Though that pesky pandemic sure made it hard.)

So, why invest in digital marketing?

What’s the most common cause of failure for a B2B digital marketing campaign? Most often, it’s either poor understanding of how inbound marketing works, or lack of commitment to a plan.