Sales-and-Marketing-manufacturing-how-effective-is-your-website

Note: this entry is part of a series about using marketing to generate leads and enhance brand awareness. To see previous post, check out the Sales & Marketing topic.

83% of Internet users say that a company’s website has made an influence on their purchasing decision. 

Strategy-wise, you have to think of your website as a “digital salesperson.” As a California manufacturer, you may have sales representatives on your staff. Imagine if you gave your sales team one-year to generate new leads for your business. After a year goes by, you call your team into a meeting. Your team tells you that after all this time, they don’t have any new leads for your company and they’ve made $0.

My guess is that you would fire your sales team. The same thinking should apply to your website. If it’s not attracting new leads and converting sales, it’s not doing its job. It may be time to “fire” your website and develop a new website strategy.

The best sales representatives are “connectors.” They:

  • Identify qualified leads
  • Understand the main problems of their target audience
  • Don’t just SELL immediately and come on too strong  – they know there is a process
  • Answer all of their leads’ questions as they consider choosing your company vs. a competitor
  • Establish industry credibility
  • Come across as professional and convey your brand
  • Close the deal and increase sales

Well, your website should be doing the same thing! When a website is designed correctly:

  • Prospects researching for information online find your website on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing
  • The main challenges of your target audience are listed and addressed
  • Qualify leads are identified
  • Leads are engaged and nurtured
  • Your brand and credibility are established
  • Sales increase

And this should be the basis for your website strategy! Take a look at your website now and read through the main pages. Ask yourself:

  • Does it just try to sell immediately like an overzealous salesperson?
  • Do I have analytics that help me identify the sources of website traffic?
  • Does my website demonstrate that my company has industry credibility?
  • Could someone get a good feel for my brand based on my website?

Remember, the whole point of marketing is to generate leads and enhance brand awareness. If your company isn’t giving your team qualified leads on a consistent basis, it’s time for an update!

In Part 3 of the series, we’ll provide more strategy for developing website content. Stay tuned!

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