Web strategy for manufacturers
In the recent shift to online trading, manufacturers have often been left behind due to a lack of understanding of how to leverage a website or online platform to drive growth. In many ways we approach this similarly to other sectors, but manufacturing has a few key differences.
Information is key
The majority of manufacturing and engineering clients will know a lot, if not all, about what their requirements are. Manufacturing equipment and capabilities need to be very easy to find and high in solid technical detail, and this information has to be maintainable. Factories are constantly upgrading equipment and adding new capabilities and if the website doesn’t stay in sync, new leads aren’t going to know.
In order to manage this information easily it is important that the data is correctly structured and easy to update.
Order management
Scaling a manufacturing plant is sufficiently difficult without having to scale up the administrative work. Most manufacturers will have an ERP, but the real savings come in when you expose your ERP to the outside world and allow customers to view and manage their own orders online. This takes staff out of the loop for a lot of the more basic issues and queries and frees them up for more productive work.
Staff
The factory team is the single most important asset that a factory has and this means that they need to be an integral part of the website. This doesn’t have to mean a “Team” page, but can involve interviews, video, photography or even sketches and illustrations. The key thing here is to show the human side of the business.
If you are looking to improve your presence online, book a free consultation.
Whether you are an industrial manufacturer, distributor or a service provider, we can help you build a B2B online presence online that supports your business and converts visitors into leads.