5 Manufacturing Sales and Marketing
Challenges that Obscure Profitability

The manufacturing industry leads other industries when it comes to digital transformation. Still, many manufacturing giants are failing to bring digital into their sales and marketing processes. Here are some relevant challenges which eclipse their sales enablement operations

The past few years have transformed the manufacturing sector into a dense and ultra-competitive landscape. Digital has given more power to the prospects, and they tread carefully before making purchase decisions. One tricky operational challenge is creating a standout messaging and getting the information in front of the prospect. This makes it extremely difficult to find the right target audience and generate leads. The answer to these challenges lies with a manufacturing database, it can help enterprises in scaling the marketing and sales game and grabbing a bigger market share.

Experts believe that all organizations need to leverage the full power of data and intelligence. Just having a CRM system is no longer enough for better prospecting and increasing commercial impact. Joy Nandi, Senior VP & Global Head – Intelligent Data Services at Denave says, “If you are manufacturing business, there is a wealth of analytical information that can be gleaned out of sales transactions or marketing campaign data to define a company’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). By analysing product and customer segmentation as per industry vertical, region, and company size (turnover and employees), enterprises can get insights on target prospects and significantly accelerate the revenue enablement path.”

Most Pressing Challenges Facing Manufacturing Marketers

Manufacturing was the fastest among all industries to embrace digital transformation. Trends like smart QR codes, protective maintenance, and advanced machine learning have significantly transformed the production floors. Still, most manufacturing companies are slow in bringing digital to their marketing processes. They are lagging behind in connecting the scattered processes to form a smoother symbiosis and missing out on many synergy benefits. Here are some relevant challenges:

Outdated Sales and Marketing Processes:

Most marketers have left behind their sales and marketing operations far behind in the digital marketing Armageddon. However, customers are fast enough to catch up with new trends. They spend a significant amount of time researching products and services on online platforms and contacting sales representatives. Relying on outdated spreadsheets or yellow page ads can suppress the revenue enablement goals of manufacturing organizations.

Manufacturing enterprises now need to ensure that their sales communication connects them with the global audience. They should have the digital foundations for coordinating campaigns from remote places, aligning team functions on personas, and promoting products for specific audiences.

Complex Products

The products that manufacturers produce are generally expensive and have a limited number of buyers who are very well-informed. The sales cycles are very lengthy, and the buying process is very complex. It takes a lot of time for buyers to make decisions, and even more time for the manufacturers to close a sale. The ability to identify potential prospects early in their decision-making process is critical to success.

In order to overcome this challenge, manufacturing enterprises need to target the right audience with the right message. They need to use data-driven marketing strategies to identify their ideal customer profile and map it against relevant buyer personas. It is better to have a segmented view of customers for each department and product. Proper segmentation of leads can help teams in cultivating leads and marketing them with personalized offerings.

Multiple Channels to Reach Customers

The channels through which manufacturers reach their customers are many and varied. They go beyond the traditional methods of advertising and selling. In order to be successful, manufacturers need to employ a multi-channel strategy that uses the right mix of marketing channels for their products and services.

They also need to access the right data which illuminates insights and help them identify the right channels to target and identify customer segments. Additionally, they need to use the right mix of marketing and sales channels to reach their buyers a. This requires considerable effort and investment in understanding where customers are in the buying process, what messages work best for each buyer persona, and which channels produce the best results.

Ineffective Lead Generation

The main purpose of any marketing activity is to generate leads that can be converted into customers. However, many enterprises struggle to generate leads that are high in quality and quantity. They also find it difficult to identify and qualify the right leads.

To climb this challenge, enterprises need to develop a well-defined lead generation process. They also need to use lead scoring and lead nurturing techniques to identify and qualify potential leads. Additionally, they need to employ marketing automation tools to help them in automating lead generation tasks.

Silos between Marketing and Sales Functions

One of the main reasons for the failure of many marketing campaigns is the lack of integration between marketing and sales functions. Most marketing and sales teams have legacy systems that do not work well together. This leads to a lot of duplication of effort and a lack of coordination between the two teams. The two teams often work in silos, with each team pursuing its own agenda.

Manufacturing enterprises need to develop a layered integration across all marketing and sales functions. They also need to use common systems and processes that will help in communication and collaboration between the two teams. Right manufacturing data can bring sales and marketing on one single page and allow them to set mutual goals around business strategy. It can enable a full picture of prospects and define lead activity at the account level. Aligning marketing with live sales data can help in setting a single, end-to-end process and streamlining customer journeys.

Conclusion

Manufacturing marketing problems continue to evolve and grow. To stay ahead of the curve, enterprises need to take the manufacturing database seriously. They need to identify their ideal customer and map it against relevant buyer personas. It is better to have a segmented view of customers for each department and product. Proper segmentation of leads can help teams in cultivating leads and marketing them with personalized offerings.

Denave has helped a vast majority of clients in the manufacturing sector to cross these challenges. Contact us! We will make sure that you’re not held back by marketing challenges.