Tl;dr - Changes in search optimization, buying habits and content consumption habits mean that manufacturers need to retool their industrial content marketing practices and content. Pre-awareness content, in forms that can be passively consumed, are increasingly important. Navigating this change may be even more challenging for companies than their initial foray into digital marketing, but it represents an enormous competitive opportunity.
An Industrial Content Marketing Evolution
Early movers in industrial content marketing had a huge advantage. Just creating webpages, blog articles, and infographics was enough to establish a significant SEO advantage.
Then things slowly shifted. Technical SEO became more important as content proliferated.
That was followed by another shift as consumers of content became more discerning. Simply satisfying Google was no longer enough, now you had to satisfy expert users. That meant it became important to answer the key questions people were asking, and to speak to their business problems and goals.
This last step has proved toughest for many industrial manufacturers who obsess over their products and define the world (and ideate their content) through that lens.
But now there's another step underway. It builds on the shifts in preference for content.
And no, it's not AI. In fact, AI is accelerating it.
From WHAT Content is Consumed to HOW it is Consumed
Sadly, many manufacturing firms have still not embraced content and digital marketing, and some who did with great success early on got lazy and have seen the value of their content asset significantly deteriorate as Google algorithms and user preferences have changed.
But even those who have adapted to create relevant content for their manufacturing marketing programs are at dire risk of losing relevance.
Nearly all industrial marking content is text based. Sure there are pictures....of the products. There are some diagrams....of the products. There are some videos....of the products.
But most of what exists is text. Most of what satisfied Google was text. Most of what prospects were conditioned to consume was text.
And as AI promises to make ideation and drafting easier (not to mention writing for those who are lazier), guess what.....there's more text.
At the same time, consumption habits are changing. For years we've heard that our attention spans are shorter than Goldfish, and therefore, any content we create must be brief, bulleted, and simple.
Maybe that was true. People used to consistently consume newsletter content and blog articles. As content exploded and preference for content of specific professional value grew, they were much more selective. Now most written content gets little engagement.
This is reflected in general trends of decreasing SEO results and falling website traffic.
However, for all the benefits of written content, there is a massive limitation.
People must exclusively concentrate on it. And then they must take action.
Today, people have two very different modes of consuming industrial marketing content.
The traditional mode is when they have a specific problem or need, and are therefore forced to concentrate. Well optimized, Google indexed, authoritative, relevant and well written text content still works (if they find it amidst a sea of noise.)
But when they find it, they also find your competitors'. They've probably self-diagnosed, and probably incorrectly. So while all the effort invested in that content and optimization may get your team to the table....they arrive at a pissing contest.
That creates a challenge. It's increasingly important to create pre-awareness content to engage prospects in thought-provoking experiences long before they're aware of a problem they feel pressure to solve. Yet they are unlikely to commit attention and deep concentration and almost certainly not consume text content that requires them to exclude all other activities while they read it.
That brings us to the new mode of content consumption - passively, for awareness, learning and entertainment.
That is how pre-awareness content is consumed. And if your content can't be consumed that way.....it won't be, regardless of how impressive your SEO, Google search rankings, headlines, URLs and meta descriptions are.
So content requires different media and channels. It must be passively consumable casually. That means while doing dishes, working out, waiting to pick kids up from practice, or while scrolling through social media.
It also means it must speak to them in a way that's broadly applicable. Of course that's not product details. Instead it's information about professional development, doing their job more efficiently, finding their next opportunity, etc. And that means it's often longer, more nuanced, and evergreen.
But that's not enough. Your content must do more, including:
- create a relationship of trust, authority, and familiarity
- create value in aggregate - individual viral posts or videos may have impressive stats but don't develop relationships. That means a long-term play with lots of commitment and patience, and lots of easily consumable excerpts that spark interest
- provide opportunities for deeper dives when something catches their interest and sparks their imagination (this may be text content on which they're now motivated to concentrate)
- create opportunities to connect with people who aren't searching on Google, or who might not find you as changes in search (e.g. AI answers and platform motivation to keep you from clicking away) make it harder to get found
The New Industrial Content Marketing Challenge
So, let's recap.
You must create lots of entertaining content that can be passively consumed.
That means it must be of broad and ongoing interest to your prospects (i.e. not about your products.)
It must be consistently published and of sufficient volume to help build relationships and also be discoverable as people now search (e.g. hashtags in podcast platforms, on YouTube, etc.)
There must be a large volume of graphics, excerpts, images, clips, etc. that are easily scrolled to attract genuine attention.
And then, as that content creates a relationship and eventually raises awareness of an important issue, you must have deeper dive options in various formats (video and text) that allow them to explore, concentrate, and connect with you.
Good News and Bad News - Your Industrial Marketing Roadmap
Here's the good news.
You've got an opportunity to leapfrog ahead of competitors even if you missed the early landgrab to establish search dominance through well-optimized written content. The impressive advantage some of your competitors' captured is now waning, and most are simply working the old playbook harder.
And the bad news.
This is going to take a lot of work. It's going to feel very uncomfortable and foreign. You're going to have to invest in it, and withstand naysayers, for a long time (maybe one to two years) before you see a payback - and even then it's going to be somewhat anecdotal.
There's going to be a lot of experimentation. There will be some "crazy" ideas. You'll have to establish a personal executive presence on social media and insist that many of your executives do the same.
Your company will have to produce content about topics and themes that aren't near your core competencies.
Nevertheless, you can do it.
It's time to start to think like a publisher and media brand.
Seriously.
What to Expect? To Do? Not To Do?
Lots of "extra" work. None of this is in your current workflow. And you're already overextended. Some things are going to have to go.
Lots of learning. That means reading, scrolling, watching videos, and maybe taking some courses.
Lots of discomfort. You're going to have to swallow your reactions repeatedly. (not us, not our industry, not our buyers, etc.)
Lots of experimentation - with creatives and with KPIs. That means A/B testing, etc.
Lots of humility and outreach. You'll have to work to expand your LinkedIn connections, and engage directly, one:one with people who engage with your content.
Lots of exposed belly button moments. This will require authenticity. That means honesty. That means unvarnished.
Lots of time spent after the creation. You'll need to repurpose, reformat and share content in different ways and different places, and then engage with those who react.
Lots of critics.
Lots of competitors sniffing around. Don't worry. They won't "get it."
What Should You Not Do?
Don't hire someone's nephew because "they're really good with social media." Of course, you're probably not going to task your CFO with this post-retirement. Generationally and personality wise that's not going to work. But you will need to engage outside resources.
Don't hire just one person/group. Recognize that everyone comes with biases. You'll find people and agencies who will say that LinkedIn (or Instagram, or YouTube, or TikTok, or **) is where you need to go all in.
Don't start it all at once. It won't work. But start with a roadmap for how it all eventually might fit together. You're going to need focus for the now, and a plan for then. You're going to need outside help. And you're going to need a variety.
Don't obsess over production quality (remember authenticity) but spend some money (with professional advice) on some software, cameras, microphones, lights that are decent quality.
Don't do all the production yourself and don't hand off all the production. You need to understand a bit about what's involved. And only you will know exactly how something should be rough cut/what key messages are. This will take work to strike this balance.
Don't be impatient.
Don't be satisfied.
Don't assume that B2B is different than B2C.
What Should You Do?
Obviously to some extent the inverse of those things above.
You'll need knowledgeable and diverse opinions and expertise - including some who are willing to start doing some for you, explain and teach, and then help so that you can gradually bring functions in house and hire a blended team of full time, part time, contractors, consultants and agencies. That means across tools and platforms, video and audio, graphic design, AI, etc. And you'll need dirt under your fingernails.
You should spend money....gradually.
Question consistently. For instance, how do you know your videos are working well? What could help them do better? YouTube SEO optimization consulting? Better thumbnails or thumbnails that match today's best practice? Better sound or lighting? Multiple camera angles? Different editing styles? Different well optimized play lists? A variety of people from your company? Or just one person who builds "relationships"? More guests who bring their own following? And that person who tells you to completely skip X or TikTok, is that because it really isn't a fit? Or they don't know how to use it? Or their personal political bias is clouding their judgment.
Establish a framework of brand expectations for consistency and propriety - but not to be uptight. Consider not just look and feel, but clear policies on copyrights, video release for guests, time frame for responding to comments, etc.
Understand what's trending - whether you use it directly or not. Styles and current events will change.
And perhaps most importantly, expand what you consider reasonable options. These should include - and you know the rest - not limited to:
- video and audio podcast
- community (slack, discord, telegram)
- knowledge graph
- lots of video in different formats (vertical and live while doing something else, traditional and carefully produced, recorded discussions, live across platforms, etc. etc.)
- social media tailored to platforms including LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube
- long and short form
And most importantly, back to the original premise, large volumes that create value in aggregate and that can be consumed passively.
The Irony of a Text Post About the Shortcomings of Text Posts
I get it.
It's kind of silly to write almost 2,000 words about how written content is of diminishing value and needs to be supplanted with more readily consumable alternatives.
How do I square that circle?
Two ways.
First, codifying ideas into a position requires writing in my experience. The process of writing forces the development and organization of thoughts. So writing is a precursor to other content. Additionally, as noted above, you're going to want to give people someone to dig deeper is teaser content catches their interest. So written content is helpful and important - it's just not the primary, much less only, approach going forward.
Second, I created the industrial content marketing video now embedded above, and some clips from that for shorts and sharing across platforms. I'll host a LinkedIn live. Perhaps I'll think of a way to create a meme. And I'll try to remember to return to this post to add links to those posts as I create them.
