Market Your Manufacturing Facility Like a Five Star Resort
By: Curt Anderson
Tags: B2b Marketing, Entrepreneur, Ecommerce, B2B, Entrepreneurship

Market Your Manufacturing Facility Like a Five Star Resort.

Well, that’s certainly an interesting concept.

Many manufacturers found themselves in manufacturing due to the fact that their passion for creating and producing incredible products led them down this path.

The machinery, equipment, the burning desire to solve problems.

However, plenty of manufacturers did not enter manufacturing based on their savvy marketing expertise.

Especially when it comes to eCommerce and digital marketing.

Well, times have drastically changed.

Check out this interesting story.

Your website was SO bad, I almost did not come to visit

I had a client. An absolutely outstanding company. They employed well over 100 employees.

Manufactured massive welding products. In particular, for military and transportation projects. Their projects typically land in the six to seven-figure range.

However, they completely ignored their website. It just was not a priority. They were running at full capacity. Therefore marketing took a back seat.

They just felt in their industry, the website basically served as a business card and really did not matter. Until it did matter. A lot!

They had a potential customer from the midwest that stumbled on their website.

The potential customer contacted them. After long discussions, the customer was impressed enough to jump on a plane and make a site visit.

As you well know, discovering a solid new vendor is just critical to your success as finding new customers.

So this particular customer, he was extremely excited to connect.

During the site visit, this potential customer was “WOWED” with what he saw on the tour.

As a result, the potential customer eventually became a paying customer. Another major contract landed.

However, upon the site visit, the customer shared with my client, “I almost did NOT visit your facility because your website was SO bad”.

A disaster avoided.

Therefore, that is how this manufacturer became my client.

Related Article: Like It or Not, Your Website is Your 24/7 Sales Rep

New Sense of Urgency

A new sense of urgency developed with the thought of missing out on a six-figure customer simply due to the fact of owning a horrible website.

The thought hit them like a ton of bricks. What if that new customer never picked up the phone?

Ignoring your website which serves as the face of your business is certainly dangerous.

Can you imagine a single person missing out on their soulmate due to a lousy profile on a dating site?

A bad photo. Poor description. No passion.

In the same regard, missing out on a six figure contract due to a poor web presence definitely hurts. An Epic Fail of major proportions! Ouch!!

Though this particular client avoided disaster (this time), how many other potential customers simply never reached out?

Taking the time and spending the money necessary to maintain a healthy website is crucial.

No excuses.

Related Article: Seeking Soulmates: Does Your Website Attract Dream Customers?

Bring Your Manufacturing Facility TO the Customer

Business success relies on pleasing the customer.

Dedicating yourself to making your customer’s life easier, better and more efficient certainly creates a winning formula.

Considering the fact that trade shows are incredibly expensive and travel budgets are tight.

In addition, face to face visits or site tours are commonly not viable options.

Therefore, to build a healthy competitive advantage or even just to be in the game, your website needs to be an absolute top priority.

You need to BRING your manufacturing facility TO the customer.

In other words, make that incredible first Webpression.

So a question to ponder: what is your business?

In other words, what is the actual service that you provide?

Let’s think about this for an analogy.

You are a hotel. A five-star resort.

Wait, what?

Stay with me on this one.

Manufacturing Facility = Five Star Resort

Yes, consider your manufacturing facility as a five-star resort and that you need to market yourself as such.

At least we need to move in that direction anyway.

So, what actually occurs when you stay at a hotel?

The hotel has accumulated an arsenal of amenities that you “rent” during your stay.

You are basically renting a home for the evening or a short period of time.

Would you consider going on vacation without doing some due diligence?

It is hard to imagine staying at a hotel or resort without at least looking at the website.

Checking the amenities such as the:

Beds

Bathroom

Pool

Restaurants

Fitness center

A room with a view (beach, mountains, city landscape)

Sights in the surrounding area

Activities for the kids

Wi-Fi access

Parking availability

Provide a Magical Experience

Digital marketing and eCommerce play a critical role in the travel industry.

Especially with hotels and vacation resorts.

Therefore, a hotel or five-star resort works extensively to bring their property to you on your computer or phone.

It is certainly in their best interest to show you every amenity and benefit of their facility.

Showcasing all assets that they possess ensuring that you will thoroughly cherish and enjoy your stay.

If you are traveling for pleasure, what are you truly buying? An experience. Better yet, hopefully, an amazing experience and a trip full of lifetime memories.

For example, a child traveling with Mom and Dad on a magical trip to Disney or the ocean for the first time.

Spring break with college friends. Otherwise, a romantic honeymoon consummating a marriage and beginning a life together. Taking your family to a new city or an exciting adventure.

The hotel or resort are both just physical assets.

Yet, what are they actually selling?

The resort provides much more than just a roof over your head for an evening or short period of time.

Comfort. Restoration. A relaxing getaway. An escape. A bond with your family or travel mates that you will cherish for a lifetime.

Well, your potential customers are doing the exact same thing.

They go to your website to check out your “amenities” to determine if you are a worthy business to depend on and trust.

Your Customer is “Renting” You & Your Manufacturing Facility

So as a custom manufacturer, what does this have to do with you?

What is your customer doing?

A customer is basically coming to your facility to “rent” your manufacturing facility and everything that comes with it such as your knowledge, expertise as well as your years of experience.

Your amenities include:

Machinery

Equipment

Engineering

Tools

Testimonials

Customer Success Story

Meet the Team

Knowledge

Experience

Expertise

Access to vendors and raw material

Just like the five-star resort, take full advantage of your website by showing off all of your amenities and capabilities.

Brag a little here. Display your strengths and greatest assets.

Take the opportunity to reveal why you are the best at what you do.

Let the customer take a tour of your facility and operations while they are comfortably on their computer or phone.

Make it as easy as possible for a potential customer to make a buying decision.

Treat your website as if it is a booth at a massive trade show.

You need to make an incredible first impression (or as we like to call it, Webpression).

The more pleasant and comfortable the stay, the more satisfied the customer.

Demonstrate your experience and expertise. Share all of the strengths and assets that your company possesses. Tell the new prospect about your amazing staff.

Stop being the best kept secret.

You ARE the soulmate that your customer is seeking.

Related Article: Captain Your Ship! eCommerce Helps You Stay in Your Wheelhouse

My Manufacturing Facility as a Five Star Resort? Seriously?

So you are in a 100 year old factory building asking how do I market like a five star resort?

If you are located in Milwaukee and just received a sales lead from Seattle, what do you do?

Think about the vacation example.

Why do we take so many pictures and videos on vacation?

When you get home and tell someone about the trip, the other person will use their imagination based on your words and description.

However, showing pictures and videos drastically reduces the reliance on the other person’s imagination. A picture and especially a video makes you feel like you were there.

The same works here for your manufacturing facility.

Bring your amazing business to the customer.

What if you could walk the prospect in Seattle through your manufacturing facility with a video tour?

For example, do quick intros on key staff.

Show photos and videos of machinery and equipment in action.

This removes the imagination. A priceless opportunity to show your competitive advantages, company resources s well as why you are the best fit and most equipped to tackle this project.

You might be asking, “wait I’m in a dirty old warehouse. There is nothing sexy or exciting about my facility, equipment or machinery. We definitely not a five-star resort!”

Well, to the buyer, your “dirty old warehouse” might just be the dream vacation they are seeking.

Let’s explore further.

Selling a Trip of a Lifetime

So what do you offer? Do you cut steel? Bend metal?

Custom design products for others? Are you part of the process of someone else’s proprietary product?

More importantly, you sell and deliver valuable solutions that help increase your customer’s profitability.

A customer watching one of your machines in action could be a beautiful sight. Music to their ears.

You might possess just what the doctor ordered. The right equipment. The necessary tools and resources.

Your team might provide the necessary experience and expertise that this new customer lacks.

For example, let’s say you show a video on your website showing one of your machines running.

That video might seem like a minor move on your part but could represent major dollar signs for a new customer.

Especially if this new customer envisions you filling a critical order for them.

Better yet, they may view the video as you printing money for them. Pouring out profits.

Now you just demonstrated that you provide five star service!

Just remember, you’re selling a trip of a lifetime.

Wrapping It Up

Thanks for reading this post.

Hopefully, you found this post helpful.

Also, check out these helpful posts below as you continue your eCommerce journey: