Industrial marketing: the complete list
If you are tired of reading generic marketing advice, then you’ll LOVE this guide.
99% of marketing tips and ideas out there don’t apply to industrial and manufacturing companies.
I’ve digested and tried a ton of content over the years to see what really works for them.
So I personally curated 103 articles that do work.
And you can filter through the list to find exactly what you want to improve.
Check it out:
CATEGORIES
STRATEGY
Pricing issues in industrial marketing : A good in-depth review on how pricing should be a cornerstone of industrial marketing as it is the main driver of long-term success.
Value in Business and Industrial Marketing : Past, Present, and Future : Here’s a very thorough model on how to derive value for industrial marketing activities, and how the last few years have changed the landscape.
The Role of Soft Factors in Implementing a Service-Oriented Strategy in Industrial Marketing Companies: Linking with the value in client relationships when it comes to industrial marketing, the authors here reveal how soft-touch tactics influence this dynamic.
Assesing response to industrial marketing strategy: This article proposes a model to evaluate the response to the industrial marketing strategy the company has deployed.
Economic geography and industrial marketing views on trade shows: Collective marketing and knowledge circulation: This paper highlights how industrial marketing uses trade shows as a mere promotional tool, when there’s room for more, such as remove constraints and learn without geographic restrictions due to the cluster of companies present.
Customer Value Change in Industrial Marketing Relationships: Value is at the heart of every company and is the lifeblood upon which industrial marketing builds its approach. This paper proposes a model on how to establish value in client relationships.
Supply chain management in industrial marketing – Relationships matter: We often focus on the buyer-supplier side of industrial marketing, but here’s a review on how more research should be put forth on supply chain relationships as well since it’s such a tight knit network.
What Is Business And Industrial Marketing?: We sometimes have a hard time trying to explain industrial marketing on a whim. Turns out the authors here did a hell of a job years back explaining it in detail.
How to Create a Buyer Persona : Another great resource by Christina Newberry in which she details the EXTREMELY important process of determining buyer personas, including a free template.
21 B2B Marketing Strategies That Will Deliver Success In 2021: High level strategies that take a step back from the trenches by Mark at Marketing Insider Group. Personally, I swear by them every day, otherwise you’ll fall into tactical hell.
4 B2B Sales Strategies Guaranteed To Bring You More Customers: Selling seems pretty straight forward. Vanhishikha proves us wrong and shows us 4 different selling models when it comes to B2B.
5 B2B Marketing Strategies Your Company Needs to Implement Right Now: Todd at EveryoneSocial explains 5 strategies to follow. I’m surprised to see Employee Marketing, in particular the bit: “Brand messages are re-shared 24x more frequently when distributed by employees vs a brand”.
A Simple Guide to B2B Marketing: Amazing guide by Chris at Roketto. He walks us through every step with delightful graphics that makes following it a breeze.
Definitive Guide to Top B2B Marketing Strategies in 2021: 18 concrete, actionable tips on how to execute a B2B marketing strategy.
How to Build a B2B Marketing Strategy in 2021 (With Examples & Case Studies): Extremely long guide, with details and case studies to build your strategy from scratch.
How to Develop a B2B Marketing Strategy (Instead of a List of Tactics): Kiera at Leedfeeder points out the difference between strategy and tactics, which is mind-blowingly frequent.
The Ultimate Guide to Developing Your B2B Marketing Strategy Framework : Andrei at Sales Hacker gives us a framework upon which we can build our own sensible plan
DIGITAL MARKETING
Artificial intelligence-based systems applied in industrial marketing: An historical overview, current and future insights: AI is here to stay, even for industrial marketing, and this research shows that the majority of AI-aided decisions have improved over the average. Quite remarkable, specially for the long-term view.
Marketing antecedents of industrial brand equity: An empirical investigation in specialty chemicals: Here is the data quantifying how industrial branding makes the difference between products and companies. A much needed backup when trying to evaluate abstract concepts.
The role of digital channels in industrial marketing communications: In this paper, the authors state that even though industrial digital marketing is the most important channel, it is used very sparingly even today.
Multivariate statistics in industrial marketing management:A practitioner tool kit: The differences between general B2C and industrial marketing might be zero in several methods, as this paper shows. It alerts about the pitfalls of assuming no B2C method will apply to B2B.
8 B2B Digital Marketing Strategies Marketers Need to Try: Cydney at Disruptive lists 8 true-and-tested strategies. I’m biased towards research and demographic targeting, as it is always relevant.
How to Create a B2B Digital Marketing Strategy that Drives Sales and Revenue: Great, in-depth guide by Mike Khorev about creating a solid strategy in a B2B environment.
7 Steps for creating a B2B Digital Marketing Plan: Quick but effective infographic about coming up with a digital plan in 7 steps.
In pursuit of an effective B2B digital marketing strategy in an emerging market: Really intriguing paper about the importance of digital marketing when operating in an emerging market.
Digital Marketing and Business-to-Business Relationships: A Close Look at the Interface and a Roadmap for the Future: The authors of this research paper take a look at how digital marketing transforms relationships in a B2B context
B2B Online Marketing: everything you need to know: This guide by Bart Strijker, albeit short, touches on a ton of important points that many prospects ask about.
B2B Digital Marketing Best Practices to Succeed This Year: Very insightful guide by James here. Like him, I can’t really emphasize how important consistency is when it comes to content marketing.
CONTENT MARKETING
Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content marketing: Academic paper for the hardcore nerds like me. Joel Järvinen and Hein Taiminen elaborate on the importance and impact of marketing automation in the industry.
The Seriously Comprehensive Guide to B2B Content Marketing: As always, Wordstream has a great resource for all things marketing. I discovered the concept of “auditioning content” here!
How to build a B2B content marketing strategy: Brutally long guide on content strategy by Aaron Carpenter at Huble. Extremely detailed and focused on the importance of strategy rather than the nitty gritty of each piece.
2020 B2B Content Marketing: What the Successful Do: CMI is the north pole for us mere content marketing mortals. Here’s the latest research on what worked last year.
2021 B2B Content Marketing: What Now?: CMI again on forecasting trends post-COVID and how the players in the market are and/or plan to move. Hat tip to Stephanie for putting together another great piece of content.
B2B Content Marketing: Digestible, packed full of info, with data to back up the claims. Brian Dean walks the walk here where others just talk, as always.
B2B Content Marketing: How to Get the Right Strategy and What Other Companies Are Doing [Hands-On Examples Analyzed]: Great list of real world examples to draw inspiration and see the actual work in the field.
Why Is B2B Content Marketing Different And Challenging: Refreshing to see data backing up claims in an article instead of hearsay. Gaurav details why B2C and B2B are different.
Beginner’s Guide to B2B Content Marketing: The Tactics You Need To Know To Get It Right the First Time: SEMRush, my tool of choice, has a no-fluff, easy to follow guide for the beginner that is overwhelmed with too much info.
How to Create a B2B Content Marketing Strategy (Plus 20 Advanced Tactics): Short quick guide on content marketing for those eager to move fast. It includes 20 great examples on tactics to employ.
EMAIL MARKETING
The Definitive Guide to B2B Email Marketing: Doug Ridley at Vital wrote this no-fluff list of best practices to use when it comes to manage your lists. As he wisely states, “a B2B email marketing strategy is something your company should not only want, it is something your company needs”.
11 Tips For Effective B2B Email Marketing In 2019: Great article by John about one of my favorite channels to use. I totally agree with point 11. “When in Doubt, Repurpose Your Best Content”
5 Best-Practice Email Marketing Case Studies: Here’s five case studies with hard data backing up what can you accomplish by deploying a good email marketing strategy
21 High-Performing B2B Email Marketing Examples to “Steal” Ideas From: Martin compiled a long list of example to draw inspiration from for those times that we are stuck when creating a new campaign.
6 Innovative B2B Email Marketing Examples For 2021: Really thorough guide including 6 in-depth case studies written by Markus Beck at Tye. The Flevy case study is particularly relevant for us!
9 Striking B2B Email Marketing Examples: More examples on how to use email marketing for different purposes. The re-engagement email campaign is one of the forgotten uses and it is very powerful.
5 B2B Email Marketing Best Practices You Need to Try: Straight from the horse’s mouth, this article by Nathan at OptinMonster (email marketing provider) offers 5 not-so-obvious best practices for business-driven campaings.
21 of the Best B2B Email Marketing Examples (Hand-picked from 1,000 Subscription-Based Companies): Steven researched a ton of campaigns and distilled them into 21 examples that showcase many types of templates and goals for each one.
How to do effective B2B Email Marketing: A good bird’s eye view on how to approach email marketing as a whole from Shivani. In terms of industrial marketing, the snippet “Employ an Effective Lead Nurturing Process” is particularly relevant, since we usually have extremely long sales cycles.
16 B2B Email Marketing Examples for 2021 [How to Write Them]: Practical guide that gives examples not only in general, but also in types of emails and how to use them properly.
MARKETING AUTOMATION
B2B Marketing Automation: 5 High-Impact Tactics to Drive More Sales: 5 areas where automation really is worth it. Emma at Sendinblue shows us the way, I love these guys and use their service!
7 Tried & True B2B Marketing Automation Examples: Rachael at Lake One gives us a behind the scenes tour in internal marketing automation. Lead scoring always seems like a dark art, and Rachael does a great job demystifying it!
The B2B Guide to Marketing Automation in 2021: Grab a coffee, adjust your glasses and buckle down for a complete guide on automation. Theresa at Ebq wrote a massive piece on practically every aspect.
Marketing Automation for B2B: A bird’s eye view on automation by Mike at Automation Ninjas. Like he says, “attract for marketing automation”, don’t expect it to happen magically!
11 Amazing B2B Marketing Automation Examples That You Should Follow: 11 real world examples on how automation can improve your business when done correctly, Shoutout to Ankit.
B2B Marketing Automation: The Good, The Bad, and The Reality: Eric brings up the topic that I usually make against automation, and it is the adoption by the team. The tools are inmensely powerful but team buy-in can be surprisingly hard to get.
Top 20 B2B Marketing Automation Tools to Level Up Your Business in 2021: 20 tools that cover pretty much everything you’ll need when it comes to automation.
5 B2B Marketing Automation Strategies That Work (With Examples): Emil at Sleeknote walks us through case studies on 5 ways to use b2b marketing automation
The Case for Marketing Automation in B2B: Debbie shows the relevance of distributor and industrial marketing automation
What should you expect from a B2B marketing automation platform?: We know what it does, but realistically, what can we expect? Pamela Parker explains it all.
LEAD GENERATION
5 Proven B2B Marketing Strategies for Lead Generation in 2021: There’s a myriad of channels and approaches when it comes to lead generation. Josh Fechter puts us out of our misery by showing us the data and the way
7 key website elements for B2B Lead Generation: 7 big picture elements to have in our website if we want to generate more leads than yesterday.
61 B2B Lead Generation Tactics and Strategies For 2021: A very detailed guide by Hassan on Leadfeeder about maximizing leads. I’ve been using similar outbound lead generation tools and it is an important part of any mix.
The New Rules of B2B Lead Generation: Eyeopening article on Harvard Business Review about the new business landscape post-COVID. I’ve been preaching to my industrial clients the importance of online presence for years, but now it is mandatory, not a force multiplier.
B2B Lead Generation – 11 Tips and Strategies for 2021: Marcus gives us 11 golden nuggets again to boost our lead pipeline. I’m biased though, my bets on content marketing have always paid off handsomely.
25 B2B Lead Generation Strategies That Deliver Marketing ROI: Michael is an content marketing authority and as such, wrote this great article on getting more leads from your content. I really resonate with creating evergreen content in every area, it is just worth it.
33 Lead Generation Statistics To Fill Your Funnel Faster: In case you need to back your claims with data to your boss, here’s a gazillion statistics on lead generation that will come in handy.
The role of social CRM and its potential impact on lead generation in business-to-business marketing: Highlighting the importance of social media, the authors of the paper coin the term “social CRM” for cultivating B2B relationships before the conversion. Definitely something underleveraged even today.
Online Lead Generation in B2B Marketing: This 190+ page master thesis tells you ALL you need to create a B2B lead generation website, with data to prove it, from general design, content to CTAs. Shoutout to Mathias Lehtinen.
10 Case Studies of Using Blogging for B2B Lead Generation: I’m a sucker for blogging, it feels like a superpower when it comes to improving lead generation. Aaron seems to think alike and shows us 10 b2b lead generation examples using blogging.
Lead-generating social media strategies using the social media performance model: The B2B connection: We often wonder if social media really moves the needle lead-wise. The authors set out to create a statistical framework to prove channels, signals and significant variables.
Use of predictive analytics in B2B sales lead generation: Very intriguing paper on a pilot case study where they fuse predictive analysis and b2b lead generation. It can be a superpower if brought to reality and become much more efficient resource-wise.
AGENCIES
How to choose a B2B marketing agency: “What to look for: innovative thinking, frank communication, accountability, a commitment to results, and a personable quality. After all, they are an extension of your work family.” PREACH!!
How A B2B Marketing Agency Can Help You Generate Sales: A great reminder on the “why” more than the “how” of choosing an agency written by Frank DePino.
Top 22 B2B Marketing Agencies You Should Know: Don’t want to lose time on short-listing agencies? Noah Landsberg put out a 22 agency list for you to checkout. Easy peasy.
The Ultimate Guide to Finding a B2B Agency: Extensive piece by Adam Smartschan, more focused on strategy, which is often overlooked amidst the tactical war.
B2B Marketing Agencies: How to Choose the Best Fit: Great pointers on how to select a good fit for your needs. My favorite is “They Should Be Interviewing You as Well”, remember, it is a partnership!
8 Things to Consider In Choosing A B2B Marketing Agency: I strongly agree with Luke here with the T-shaped concept, both personally and when it comes to choosing an agency.
Ultimate Guide To Hiring Top B2B Marketing Agencies In 2021: Really well researched guide on how to find your agency. The higher-level thinking and all the data added to back their arguments is a pleasure to read in a sea of bland content.
How to choose a B2B content marketing agency: With the focus on content, this article by Josselyn Jara will help you navigate the waters when it comes to choose a content champion.
MARKETING PLAN
Marketing Orientation and Company Performance: A Comparative Study of Industrial vs. Consumer Goods Companies: Article demonstrating the importance of strategy and positiong, even more so in industrial marketing
How To Create A B2B Marketing Plan: Marcus Svensson wrote a really strong, no nonsense approach to a marketing plan. I hate when plans have unnecessary fluff that don’t reflect reality.
10 B2B Marketing Plan Examples To Help You Stay Organized: There are as many plans as companies. Jesse at Directive has compiled many examples, both general and by areas, for you to choose the most adequate for your case.
15 Key Components of a Solid B2B Marketing Campaign Plan: Instead of a closed plan, Shaye Smith gives us 15 points to focus on your b2b marketing plan.
How to Build Your B2B Marketing Plan for 2020: Really in-depth guide on how to write you plan by Ben Crouch. Once again, like him, I cannot emphasize customer research and profiling enough.
How to Create a B2B Marketing Plan that Drives Results: Wendy at Trew Marketing offers us a great guidebook on how to do a 12-month plan and follow through.
7 Ways to Build a Winning B2B Marketing Plan for 2021: Austin focuses in a very neglected area of planning, which is actually following through. Most plans get made and then shelved, which is totally nuts.
An Agent-Based Fuzzy Cognitive Map Approach to the Strategic Marketing: Planning for Industrial Firms: Industrial marketing plans are specially tricky as there are tons of variables out of control. This academic paper proposes a fuzzy cognitive map to better approach it.
B2B Marketing Strategy: Create a B2B Marketing Plan [2021 Guide]: Macy at WebFX wrote a very detailed guide on putting up you plan. Goals are often forgotten in the plan, believe it or not!
Why Your Q2 B2B Marketing Plan Might Be A Waste of Time: Really good post by Chris a G2M about the pitfalls of mindless planning. Beware short term scrambles!
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Antecedents of social media B2B use in industrial marketing context: customers’ view: A good view on how to use social media within industrial marketing, since most consumption is done privately, not by the business.
How to build a B2B social strategy (that isn’t boring): Brent Barnhart gives us a bird’s eye view on how to set your social media foundation right from the start. I like the “No surprises here: don’t talk like a robot.” bit, it’s so true it hurts.
How to Create a Social Media Strategy in 8 Easy Steps (Free Template): Even though is not B2B focused, this guide on Hootsuite by Evan LePage and Christina Newberry give us some really good examples on how to apply B2C tactics on B2B.
Social media research in the industrial marketingfield: Review of literature and future research directions: Extremely thorough paper on how to evaluate social media in industrial marketing and the shortcomings compared to other areas.
The Best B2B Social Networking Channels To Grow Your Business: It’s no surprise that LinkedIn is #1 for B2B, but I was really surprised to see Twitter and Facebook so close behind in this article by Shane Barker.
Linkedin as a marketing tool for lead generation in B2B organizations: A 90-page thesis on how to plan and use LinkedIn as a lead generation engine. Awesome work by Beatriz!
Essential Tips and Tools for B2B Social Media Marketing: Both tools and strategy are paramount when it comes to B2B social media. Katie at the widely known Hootsuite goes into excruciating detail.
9 B2B Social Media Examples To Inspire Your Strategy: Here we have 9 examples of B2B social media to steal ideas from. IBM is my favorite here.
10 Tips for Your B2B Social Media Strategy: Great tips by Ellie at New Breed. Classifed by platform since the medium shapes the message.
B2B social media strategy: don’t be Boring2Boring: Matt makes a great point when he says “Don’t be boring”. Engineers have a huge sense of humor and it can be a great hook done properly.
15 eye-opening B2B social media statistics: Hard data by Simon Collins at Articulate. “84% of C-level and VP-level buyers are influenced by social media” should be the title of any B2B social media proposal!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
That was a lot of info.
Is there anything else you’d like to be covered.
Let me know by leaving a comment below.
