Manufacturer Marketing ROI: 11+ Statistics Your Boss Will Love

The manufacturing industry is slowly coming to terms with the influence of the Internet. However, online marketing is throwing many small manufacturers for a loop. Some companies are purposefully resisting this status quo upheaval. Others simply don't know where to start.

Is your company still lagging behind the trend? Do you desperately need help to succeed online? Here are some stats that might convince your boss to seriously consider revamping your marketing strategy.

11+ Manufacturing Marketing Stats Your Boss Will Love

1. The best industrial sites only convert 3% of their traffic using RFQs and contact forms. Target conversion rates are 10% or more.
   
   
2. Average conversion rate through search PPC in Adwords for industrials is 2.58%, which is below the overall average of 2.7%.
   
   
3. A Forrester study found that using lead nurturing generates 50% more sales for companies at 1/3 of the cost, compared to companies that don't nurture leads.
   
   
4. Companies save an average of $20k per year by investing more in inbound marketing than traditional marketing.
   
   
5. Only 30% of manufacturing marketers believe they're effectively using content marketing.
   
   
6. The top marketing goal for manufacturers is brand awareness.
   
   (Related: Modern Ways to Increase Brand Awareness)
   
   
7. The biggest marketing challenge for manufacturers is lack of time.
   
   
8. The Weidert Group set up an inbound strategy for the Fisher Tank Company, with these results after 12 months:
   
   3,900% increase in lead conversions
   500% increase in quote requests
   $3.4 million value in new qualified sales opportunities added to pipeline
9. Ko Marketing Associates worked with John Deere on a B2B/B2C SEO & PPC optimization campaign. After working on content strategy, making the site foreign language-friendly, back end SEO, and other techniques, here were the results:
   
   A 400% increase in organic search traffic
   Exponential growth in indexed pages (a few hundred to ~50,000
   Dealers who list their equipment on the website found a tangible increase in direct inquiries
   
   
10. Bell Performance implemented a fully functional inbound marketing strategy with the help of Bluleadz and HubSpot software. They saw these results: 
    
    600 new online customers gained in the first year
    14x leads per month increased in two years
    700% increase in search traffic in one year
    
    
11. Finally, more than 90% of B2B buyers start their research on Google. 

What Do These Stats Mean for You?

Let's translate these stats into information you can work with. 

1. Overall, manufacturers are not succeeding with online marketing - and they know it.
2. You want your marketing to increase brand awareness, but you don't have time to make it happen.
3. With a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy, other manufacturing companies have seen exponential growth in website traffic, leads, and sales.
4. Manufacturers see more results for less money when they invest in inbound marketing over traditional marketing tactics.

You understand the power of the Internet. You want to start seeing results. That's why you need an inbound marketing strategy. 

To learn more about inbound, check out this article on the ROI of inbound marketing. Or, to see if your current strategy is inbound-friendly, download the checklist below.

Related: How to Give Your Manufacturing Marketing a Much-Needed Facelift