95% of manufacturers invest in digital marketing... But do they fall victim to the same marketing pitfalls we see all too often in manufacturing? Every business wants to succeed with their digital marketing but there's no magic bullet. We've seen the unwary make mistakes time and time again over the last 20+ years: - Mistakes that mean your marketing isn't achieving what you need it to achieve. - Mistakes that cost you money – and lots of it. Learn what those mistakes are...and how to avoid them. These slides will show you the 10 most common digital marketing mistakes we've seen manufacturers make over the last 20+ years, including: - how to spot if you're driving poor quality traffic to your site - how NOT to waste money on Google Ads - the cost of poor website user journeys - tips on why your Google Analytics implementation is failing - information on what a real SEO strategy looks like

1. Digital Marketing Boot Camp
For Manufacturers

2. Meet Josef…
Josef Siewruk
• Head of Marketing Strategy for Intergage clients
• 20+ year’s digital marketing experience
• Worked in B2B and B2C marketing
• Agency and in-house roles throughout career

3. Agenda
• What experience tells us
• The 10 most common digital marketing pitfalls
• How can you avoid the mistakes others make?
• What help you should look for?

4. What Experience Tells Us
We’ve seen a lot since we started
20
years in business
500k
hours digital experience
50+
MOAs delivered

5. There Are 10 Common Pitfalls
• Acquiring the Wrong Traffic
• No SEO Strategy
• Lack of Organic Visibility
• Poorly Managed Paid Search
• Weak Sales Messaging
• Bad User Journeys
• You Have No Marketing Strategy
• You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack
• Poor Google Analytics Implementation
• Lack of Competitive Intelligence

6. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic

7. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic
Bad Search Traffic
• Targeting the wrong keywords
• Not using your customers’ language
• Having a poor understanding of the questions your audience
ask and the content they’re looking for
• Being found for case study terms e.g. other business’ names
• Not optimising content well enough for target keywords
• Not producing enough unique content that is valuable to your
target audience
• Too much brand and navigational search

8. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic: Example
The client was experiencing brilliant organic
growth, but this traffic had a high bounce rate
and wasn’t generating enquiries as expected.
1/3 of organic traffic was coming in from one
erroneous blog that was for the wrong
audience. The blog had a bounce rate of 95%!
Whilst things looked good on the surface with
the increase of organic traffic, the client was
attracting completely the wrong audience!

9. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic
Bot Traffic
Symptom:
• Overinflated traffic levels and poor engagement
metrics.
Cause:
• Not having Google Analytics set up properly
• You haven’t got the right bot filtering in place.
Result:
• Misinformed marketing decisions.
We have seen this many times, especially with the
Twitter content distribution network.

10. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic: Example
A recent investigation with a manufacturing client showed that bots made up almost 50% of their
direct traffic.
Tell tale signs:
• High volume
• Low engagement

11. 1. Acquiring The Wrong Traffic: Takeaway
Stop using these metrics Start using these metrics
• Sessions
• Users
• Page views
• % New sessions
• Channels
• Engagement by channel
• Conversions by channel
• Demographics
• Site usage

12. 2. No SEO Strategy

13. 2. No SEO Strategy
This Leads to this
• Targeting the wrong keywords
• Not targeting any keywords
• Unstructured content
• Lack of top of funnel content
• Irrelevant traffic
• Lack of focus
• Limited results
• Unlikely to be found in search engines

14. 2. No SEO Strategy
Google’s #1 job is to show their user the
BEST result.
In most cases, the “best” result isn’t a piece of
keyword stuffed content, it’s a quality piece of in-
depth content.
This is what will give a Google searcher everything
they need in one place. From you.
Studies found that in-depth content tends to rank
best in Google:
• More content = higher rank in SERPs
• Higher volume key phrases benefit more from long
form content.

15. 2. No SEO Strategy: Takeaway
Focus your content efforts
Focus on targeting and tracking a small number of keywords and always keep the prospect in
mind.
Structure your content into hubs consisting of:
• Summary pillar pages
• In-depth clusters
• Link them to each other.
This model helps more pages on your site rank well in Google and helps searchers quickly find
information on your site.

16. 2. No SEO Strategy: Example
A client who previously had great results in search engines was experiencing a plateau in organic
traffic despite having a huge amount of content.
We worked with them to restructure and rewrite
content, forming pillar pages.
• 84% increase in organic search
• 49% increase in lead gen within 6 months
• Overtaking the industry body in search engines!

17. 3. Lack Of Organic Visibility

18. 3. Lack Of Organic Visibility
Two main reasons your business is found:
• Who you are
• What you do
A fine line…
• High volumes of brand related search demonstrate
high levels of brand awareness.
• Being found for non-branded search terms i.e.,
through product or service related terms such as
‘aluminium casting’.

19. 3. Lack Of Organic Visibility
Why does it matter?
Most manufacturers we work with are highly reliant on their brand name, receiving anything
between 50-90% of their organic traffic from search terms that include it.
Before working with Intergage, their lead generation was limited to those who already knew their
business.
Non-branded search is where you can reach new users and incrementally grow organic traffic.
How? Content. Content. And more content!
But what content..?

20. 3. Lack Of Organic Visibility: Takeaway
Introducing the buyer’s journey…
You need to capture people here.

21. 3. Lack Of Organic Visibility: Example
This time one year ago, our client was receiving 265k impressions from searches that did not
include the brand name.
Since, they have seen
• A 260% increase in impressions without the brand name.
• a 112% increase in non-branded clicks!

22. 4. Poorly Managed Paid Search

23. 4. Poorly Managed Paid Search
How much could it cost you?
When investigating a paid search account recently, we
found 52% of the client’s yearly spend was being wasted
on sponsoring phrases that were not converting.
This cost them close to £21,000!
By getting Intergage to review their paid search, they
saved £21,000 on next year’s marketing budget.

24. 4. Poorly Managed Paid Search
How much could it cost you?
In another example, poorly segmented keywords
meant only 10% of the keywords sponsored in an
ad group were relevant to the ad shown.
This lead to the client spending 77% of their
budget on broad keywords that were not relevant
to the landing page.
How likely do you think users are to convert when
this happens?

25. 4. Poorly Managed Paid Search: Takeaway
Where to start? Causes to investigate:
• Targeting the wrong keywords
• Not taking into consideration the intent of the
searches you are targeting
• Not optimising ads for device, location and
geography
• Not matching search queries to ads and ads to
landing pages
• Poor landing page performance
• Poor conversion tracking
• Not reviewing ads from your competitors

26. 5. Weak Sales Messaging

27. 5. Weak Sales Messaging
Remember:
Your website is not YOUR website!
You also spend time and money driving people
to your website. And for good reason.
The worst thing you can do is alienate them once
they get there through:
• Inward facing content
• Poor understanding the audience wants/needs
• Bad segmentation
• Lack of differentiation from competition
• Unclear offering.

28. 5. Sales Messaging: Personas
Great sales messaging relies on having detailed buyer personas for your ideal
customer profile.
You need to understand your buyer’s:
• Problems and pain points
• Buying triggers
• Ideal “after”
• Common objections
• Channel usage
• Are they a decision maker or influencer?
• Options available to them – in-house, from you and your competitors.

29. 5. Sales Messaging: Personas Example
Example Persona - William
• Age 55+
• Educated to BSc
• Married with Adult Children
• Salary £70k+
• Full Budgetary Control
• Goal: to build the business so he can exit and retire.
William is typically 55 years plus. He’s a Baby Boomer
(born pre-1960) Started the business some 25 years ago
and has built it into an established business that is
respected in its field through hard work, leadership, and
teamwork and people management. He knows that a
penny saved is a penny earned.

30. 5. Sales Messaging: Example
Example of great website messaging

31. 5. Sales Messaging: Example
Example of great positioning

32. 5. Sales Messaging: Example
Example of customer focused messaging

33. 6. Bad User Journeys

34. 6. Bad User Journeys
What are they costing you?
67% of the B2B buyer journey is done online and
typically, buyers only spend 17% of their buying
journey talking to a sales person.
In today’s world, your website is your key sales
person.
But if it’s pointing people off to the wrong pages
or using confusing language you could be
missing out on lots of opportunities!

35. 6. Bad User Journeys
Common culprits
• Not optimised for mobile
• Slow to load
• Overwhelming menus
• Buried content
• Unclear CTAs
• Making the user work too hard

36. 6. Bad User Journeys: Takeaway
Data holds the answers
• Every change made on your website should
be based on data
• Split testing is your friend
• Always have the prospect/customer in mind.
You don’t want to end up like Marks & Spencer.
Following a 2014 website overhaul, the website
looked great but didn’t work particularly well.
The result?
Sales plummeted by 8.1% costing the company
£55 million!

37. 7. You Have No Marketing Strategy

38. 7. No Marketing Strategy
Nearly 50% of SMB
owners do not have
a formalised
marketing strategy
or goals.
Agility PR
90% of
organizations fail
to execute their
strategies
successfully.
86% of executive
teams spend less
than one hour per
month discussing
strategy.
OnStrategy OnStrategy

39. 7. No Marketing Strategy
Implications
• Lack of focus
• Things don’t get done
• Lack of differentiation
• No plan to overcome challenges
• No clear objectives
• No reporting
27% of manufacturers voted a lack of strategy and
planning as their most significant marketing
challenge!
Experience tells us it is likely higher than this!

40. 7. No Marketing Strategy: Takeaway
The Ideal Strategy Structure
Current Situation Business Objectives Challenges
Policies Responsibilities
Tactics

41. 8. You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack

42. 8. You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack
Sales and marketing has changed forever
• B2B buyers spend as little as 17% of their
buying journey meeting with potential
suppliers.
• You need to supply prospects with the
information they’re looking for 24/7/365
• You also need to report on your marketing
spend
• To do that, you need one centralised system for
all of your data.

43. 8. You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack
Not having the right tech in place allows all sorts of marketing issues to
fester:
• Poor lead generation and tracking
• Lengthened sales cycles
• Gaps in pipeline
• Misaligned sales and marketing teams
• Poor customer relationship management
• Unclear ROI reporting
• No visibility of how you fare against competitors

44. 8. You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack
To plan a route to optimum visibility, you need to know:
• How many leads you generate each month
• Where those leads come from
• How much it costs you to generate a lead
• Lead to opportunity conversion rates
• Opportunity to sales conversion rates
• Average sale value
• Customer lifetime value
• ROI generated from marketing spend.

45. 8. Not Having The Right Tech Stack: Takeaway
The modern marketers tool kit
CRM
Marketing
Automation
Pipeline
Management
Website +
Landing Page
Builder
Ads Manager
Social
Manager

46. 9. Poor Google Analytics Implementation

47. 9. Poor Google Analytics Implementation
Have we mentioned data yet?! 😂
By now, you probably know that data is your best friend. It’s certainly ours!
Without a doubt, Google Analytics (or a
similar platform) should be your primary
source of website data.
Yet, all too often we speak to businesses
who have issues with their Google Analytics
set up.
What’s worse, many aren’t even aware there
is an issue!

48. 9. Google Analytics Implementation
What could this cost you?
• Not analysing the correct data could leave you
blind to issues that cost you like it cost M&S!
• Having contaminated data could be hiding
bigger issues such as poor engagement rates,
wasted PPC spend or inflated channel usage.
• Spending thousands without knowing if it’s
bringing you any business.
• Missed lead generation opportunities.

49. 9. Google Analytics Implementation: Takeaway
The most common issues
• Get access! Difficulty getting access to a Google
Analytics account – oftentimes this sits with a
marketing agency.
• Correct configuration: No filters excluding
irrelevant traffic.
• No goals set up to measure success
• Google Analytics not linked to Google Search
Console or Google Ads.
You’ve got Google Search Console too, right?

50. 10. Lack Of Competitive Intelligence

51. 10. Lack Of Competitive Intelligence
In business, two people will decide your success – the customer and the competition.
78% of B2B buyers start their journey with a Google search.
• Will they find your business?
• Will they find your competitors?
• Who is performing better?
There are two mistakes businesses often make when it comes to competitive intelligence.
1. They take no interest in what their competition are doing to attract and win leads
2. They don’t fully understand who their online competition are.

52. 10. Lack Of Competitive Intelligence
Implications
• You miss out on leads because you don’t show up
(your competitors say “thanks”, by the way).
• Your messaging blends in with everyone else’s.
• You don’t get the chance to even lose deals because
your competition get their first!
• You’re blind to growth opportunities.

53. 10. Lack Of Competitive Intelligence: Example
Getting out of the red ocean…
A manufacturer we recently spoke to was in an incredibly competitive marketplace and was being
outperformed by their competition.
Their competition all had broader product
offerings, ecommerce websites and lower cost
products. They found themselves in the red
ocean!
To remedy this, we are now working with them
on some strong sales messaging and a keyword
strategy to differentiate them from the rest of the
market.

54. 10. Lack Of Competitive Intelligence: Takeaway
You need insight into what your
competitors are doing!
That includes:
• Where they’re spending on advertising
• How they compared to you in Google search
• What your market share is compared to theirs.
You can do all this yourself, but if you’d like help you
can get started for free with one of our digital
marketing competitor reports:
https://marketing.marketing-engineers.co.uk/free-
digital-marketing-competitor-report-bootcamp

55. Those Are The 10 Common Pitfalls
• Acquiring the Wrong Traffic
• No SEO Strategy
• Lack of Organic Visibility
• Poorly Managed Paid Search
• Weak Sales Messaging
• Bad User Journeys
• You Have No Marketing Strategy
• You Don’t Have The Right Tech Stack
• Poor Google Analytics Implementation
• Lack of Competitive Intelligence

56. What is your #1 challenge?

57. How do you know?

58. What can you do about that challenge?

59. How Can You Avoid These Mistakes
There is no magic bullet…
• Always have the prospect in mind
• Do your research
• Make data your best friend
• Don’t make subjective decisions
• Test, test and test again
• Don’t sweat the small stuff
• Get a third-party view

60. Get started for free
https://marketing.marketing-engineers.co.uk/free-digital-marketing-competitor-report-bootcamp
Your report will show you:
• How and where your competition is
advertising
• How your organic search compares to theirs
• How strong/weak their sales messaging is
• How strong their SEO is and whether they’re
attracting the right traffic
• What your market share is compared to
theirs.

61. Q&A

62. Thank you