Manufacturer's Growth Manifesto - 3rd edition

MANUFACTURING MARKETING INSTITUTE ©2014 - 2016 @MMIMATTERS WEBSITE: MMMATTERS.COM

The Manufacturer’s Growth ManifestoFor Chief Executives in the Manufacturing Industries

8/7/2016

Who is this Fellow?

Who is this fellow you ask. Well that could be you; the unflinching, levelheaded, low risk and product focused type of CEO struggling to get even 5% organic growth this year and hoping (or even praying) the next new product will finally be the big one that propels your company into double digit growth over the next decade. Nah, probably not you – or is it?

8/7/2016 MANUFACTURING MARKETING INSTITUTE ©2014 - 2016 @MMIMATTERS WEBSITE: MMMATTERS.COM

New Way Marketing = Double Digit GrowthYou’re under pressure from owners, the board of directors, shareholders, Wall Street and others to grow your manufacturing business. You’ve tried increasing spend on R&D, commissioning market research studies, customer satisfaction surveys, changed out business unit leadership, and any number of other schemes to push your products in order to increase revenue. Nothing seems to work. Your shareholders demand double digit growth, but you only eek out 5% to 6% growth year-on-year. What is a manufacturing CEO to do? There is a way to get back to those glorious double digit growth days.

The answer is in the New Way to Market for Manufacturing!

Read on to learn how marketing can boost your manufacturing business back into double digit growth territory.


Times Have Changed, but You Haven’t.

Times have changed. At one time your products were unmatched in the marketplace and business was great. But now, due to massive globalization in all markets, your product has become commoditized and easily available from any number of competitors around the globe. Shipping costs are down and everyone wants a piece of what once were your markets.

Your customers have changed their buying habits but your go-to-market model remains steadfast in sales feet on the street, tradeshows and the annual Christmas gift. You’re thinking, “Hey, it worked in the 1970s, why shouldn’t it work today?” It doesn’t work anymore. The only reason you’re able to eek out your 6% growth is because your manufacturing competitors haven’t caught on to this new way to gain market share through New Way Marketing.

This book is about how to match your go-to-market model to your customer’s buying habits enabling growth and taking market share from your competitors with a marketing framework I call ‘The New Way to Market’.


https://www.createspace.com/6075123


Good News & Bad NewsFIRST – THE BAD NEWS


The bad news is… Economies around the world are stagnant. With the exception of China, the data shows the manufacturing industries in these major markets creeping along at less than 3%.

How can you grow your business at a double digit rate if the overall manufacturing industry is growing at less than 3%?

Read on to learn how it can be done with New Way Marketing.

Country Rank % Change*

China 16 of 202 +7.0%

United States 84 of 202 +3.0%

United Kingdom 121 of 202 +1.8%

Japan 156 of 202 +0.7%

Germany 133 of 202 +1.5%

European Union 134 of 202 +1.5%

Brazil 190 of 202 -5.0%

Industrial production growth rate compares the annual percentage increase (2015 est.) in industrial production (includes manufacturing, mining, and construction). Source: CIA World Factbook - see the entire list at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2089rank.html


https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2089rank.html

Bad news = Opportunity World Manufacturing Production – Q1 2016 - UNIDO

“World manufacturing growth continued to be sluggish in the first quarter of 2016 due to the fragile recovery process in industrialized economies and significantly weakened growth prospects in developing and emerging industrial economies. China, which has emerged as the largest global manufacturer in the aftermath of the protracted economic crisis, has entered a transition period and has adopted a more balanced pace, thus pushing the average industrial growth of emerging industrial economies downward.

World manufacturing growth has also been affected by the generally lower growth pace in the United States and Japan, the second and third largest manufacturers in the world. Increasing pressure associated with financial volatility and falling oil prices has contributed to the instability of manufacturing growth in industrialized economies.”

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)


http://www.unido.org/en/resources/statistics/quarterly-report-on-manufacturing.html

Try this excuse at your next board meeting.

If you think that will work, I’ve got a bridge for sale (see below). You had better have some other answers. Here’s a clue:

The answer is not new products

The answer is not more sales people

The answer is New Way Marketing – read on to find out the ‘what’ and ‘how’.

“Hey Mr. Chairman and Shareholders, we didn’t hit our numbers last quarter, but there was nothing we could do about it. These charts (show the last slide) prove that we’re only able to grow at about a 3% rate no matter what we do.”

Sale Today only $2.8 million


You Can’t Rely on a Growing Global Economy to Grow your BusinessChances of manufacturing output to increase significantly any time in the near future are somewhere between slim and none.

This means the pie is not going to get bigger or the tide isn’t going to rise (choose your metaphor) any time soon.

The message is clear; the only way to grow your business in the double digit range is to outsmart the competition with the New Way to Market.


But Wait! Maybe it’s only bad news for certain industries (i.e. not yours).

Not bloody likely! Growth of manufacturing output will be meager at best in the Industrialized Economies in all major sectors. Developing Economies are faring much better than the IE in all sectors.


What’s a Manufacturing CEO to do?

The pie is definitely not growing enough to support everyone taking a 10%+ growth piece.

The CIA Factbook says the manufacturing sector is growing at around 2%. The UNIDO statistics show growth of manufacturing output in North America at less than 3%.

If you want to grow your business by double digits you have 3 options:

1. Purchase growth through acquisitions.

2. Sell more product in developing markets.

3. Take market share from your competitors

This is where New Way

Marketing comes in to play!


Finally, the Good News Your manufacturing company could be the one to take the market share.

Adopting a New Way Marketing strategy, tactics,

teams and technology is key to growth rates of 10%,

20% or even 30%. Gains in market share are

possible and will go to the firm in your competitive

market able to quickly take advantage of New Way

Marketing and adapt to the new buyer’s habits.


Opportunity is Knocking! Will you answer?

Most executives in the manufacturing industry are laggards with respect to marketing.

The progressive, savvy and bold manufacturing CEO willing to take a look at new ways of engaging with their target market will have a huge advantage over competitors.

The window of opportunity is open for those modern, bold executives willing to change the way they interact with their target audience.

Don’t wait too long. First movers into New Way Marketing will win, hands down.

Once your competitors catch on, they’ll try to copy your success. You can be the one to take advantage of the those laggardly CEOs.


The New Marketing Normal


Revelation #1 The Buyer is in Charge!

“The Digital Disruption is a fundamental challenge caused by the Internet and digital channels to traditional ways of doing business. The Internet has become the leading source for information throughout society and the industrial sector is no different. Engineers and other industrial professionals are spending more time online and using a variety of digital resources to perform work-related tasks, which has transformed their buy cycle and disrupted the marketing and sales process for suppliers and manufacturers.

And because engineers and related professionals have so many digital information resources available to them, they rely less on contact with vendors in making purchasing decisions and often don’t contact a vendor until they are ready to buy. ”

- IHS GlobalSpec 2013 Benchmark Report

“Empowered customers are disrupting every industry; competitive barriers like manufacturing strength, distribution power, and information mastery no longer create competitive advantage. In this age of the customer, the only sustainable competitive advantage is knowledge of and engagement with customers.”

- Forrester Report 2013

“Buying 2.0 is a better metaphor for the buying/selling interactions of today’s selling environment as the hunter has become the hunted. Buyers are more informed and seek information independent of sales. Buyers have access to overwhelming amounts of information, but seek intelligence they can trust to support their decision making process.”

- Sirius Decisions 2009


Revelation #2 - Nobody Cares about Your Product

Your customers, prospective customers and nearly everyone else in your target market audience just doesn’t care about your product, you (the CEO) or your company.

Sorry, it’s true, but they won’t tell you to your face, they only tell you with their decision to purchase or not purchase from your firm.

What do they care about? They care about what it

means to them.

WIIFMWhat’s In It For Me


Revelation #3 - New Products Don’t Grow Market Share

Your products; new, upgraded or old, will not grow your business.

Why? Because your product is perceived by your target audience as a commodity. Your messaging sounds just like your competitors messaging. You all sound alike and look alike with me-too products.

Be the one in your market place to use New Way Marketing to really understand what your audience wants or needs. Get to know their pain or passion and you win!


Revelation #4 - You No Longer Control the Information

You may be thinking, holy crap! If don’t even control the critical information how can I gain advantage over my customers and prospective customers? You can’t.

Embrace the realization that your technology, solution, service and even pricing is widely available to anyone at any time any place with a quick Google search.

New Way Marketing Hint: The manufacturing companies who help the people in the target audience by sharing expertise freely will win.


Revelation #5By the Time You Get the Call Their Choice is 80% Made

The manufacturing company that is able to engage with the potential buyers during their self-education phase will get the business.

Unless your helpful and useful information is found during the buyer’s self education phase, you and your competitors are left to fight over price after the 60% point. Do you really want to be the lowest price product just to get the business?

You don’t have to be the lowest price. You have to be the most helpful before they make the purchase.

Note: Latest data shows the figure is now closer to 70% complete before they contact your sales team or request specific information about price or specifications.


How it WorksOK, YOU’RE CONVINCED TO GIVE IT A TRY. THIS IS HOW IT WORKS.


Summary – Before we Get to the ‘How to’

Global manufacturing output is flat. Best case projection for industrialized economies is 2% to 3% increase.

You can’t grow your business (organically) by double digits without doing something different. We suggest New Way Marketing.

The only way to get double digit organic growth is to take market share from your competitor. New Way Marketing is how you will achieve it.

Only the top 2 firms in any one market will be able to grow. The rest will stagnate or be swallowed up by the winners. We’ll proceed based on the assumption that you want to be the one taking market share not giving it up.

The secret to being #1 or #2 is to engage with your target audience early in their buying process (before the 60% point) well before you even know they might be interested in your (or your competition’s) product.


You Must Know Your Target Audience

If you’re doing a good job choosing your target audience, it is likely they will need or want what you have to sell at some point in the future.

When that day comes around, your brand and your offering are lodged in their brain with strong feelings of credibility and a desire to reciprocate for all the great information you have provided over the past months or years.

These feelings, emotions and perceptions will give you a huge leg up on the competition who are still pitching their products.

These feelings could be so strong, that even your price won’t matter that much any more.

Knowing and really understanding the people in your target audience is critically important. Don’t rely on common or tribal knowledge. Do some real market research through an independent source to learn about the challenges, issues and problems they face on a daily basis.


Step 1 – Stop Pitching Products If you’re a typical manufacturing firm, chances are your success has always come from your product innovations. Your entire culture is built around the product. You must flip the group thinking and the product focused culture. Instead of talking about the products, talk about your expertise. Educate your target audience about issues they face. (this does not mean to try educating them about your products)

This will be hard for you to do: Acknowledge that your product is perceived as a commodity in the eyes of your target audience.

To repeat what I said earlier, “Buyers don’t care about you, your firm or your products. They care about WIIFM.”


Step 2 – Share your expertise freely

Help the people in your target audience to be better at something that matters to them.

Share your expertise to help relieve their pain or enhance their passion.

When you help the people in your target audience to improve their situation by sharing your expertise, you are giving them a gift. They want to reciprocate. This is the beginning of meaningful engagement and a subsequent customer relationship.

As the consumers of your expertise and information learn that you are helping them to improve their daily lives by showing them how to solve a problem, for example, they build a perception of credibility around your brand and your offering.

“Up to 95% of qualified prospects on your website are there to research and not ready to buy or talk to a sales person, but as much as 70% will eventually buy a product from you – or your competitor.”

- Brian Carroll, CEO InTouch

Hint: The company that gets the business will be the one that shares their expertise. Whether that is your firm or your competitor’s firm is up to you.


Step 3 – Build a Marketing Strategy Around Education and Knowledge

1. Stop pitching products and start helping people (in your target audience) to be better in their daily lives.

2. Start educating your audience utilizing your particular experts and expertise for FREE.

3. Stop advertising product features and benefits of a product.

4. Start promoting your useful, helpful papers, webinars, seminars, videos, etc. (not product information) to foster meaningful engagement.

5. Admit to yourself and your team that your products are perceived as a commodity and it will take more than product revisions, releases and enhancements to gain the attention of your target audience.

6. Without making these changes, you’re reduced to fighting for business by lowering your price.

Here’s what you get in return:1. Credibility and trust in the minds of the people in your

target audience.

2. Top-of-Mind Awareness (T.O.M.A.) in the minds of your prospective customers.

3. Reciprocity – they want to give back by purchasing from you.

4. Higher prices, more sales, more market share, higher growth rates.


You may now be thinking, WTF? You want me to give away my expertise for free?

How the hell will that help me grow?

My competition will steal all my good stuff!

This is the secret to New Way Marketing; RECIPROCITY. It’s a well documented fact that humans feel a very strong need to reciprocate. If I give you a gift, you feel the need to give me a gift. If you give away your expertise to your target audience through education, they will want to give something back to you such as credibility, trust, a place top of mind, a position on the short list or they might just place the order.


If you make these changes:1. Stop pitching products and start helping people (in your target audience) doing better

in their daily lives.

2. Start educating your audience utilizing your particular experts and expertise for FREE.

3. Stop advertising product features and benefits of a product.

4. Start promoting your useful, helpful papers, webinars, seminars, videos, etc. (not product information)

5. Admit your products are perceived as a commodity.

(Without making these changes, you’re reduced to fighting for business by lowering your price.)


You’ll get these benefits:1. Reciprocity, credibility and trust in the minds of the

people in your target audience.

2. Top-of-Mind Awareness (T.O.M.A.) in the minds of your prospective customers so they remember your firm first when the day comes around and they need to buy.

3. Higher prices, more sales, more market share, higher growth rates.


Important Message for the CEO• You’re not a professional

marketer.

• Your leadership team probably does not include a marketer.

• Do yourself a favor, get a professional marketer on your leadership team who knows about modern marketing technology, content marketing for engagement and has a strong business background.


Your current marketing function probably looks like this:

• A cost to the business• A group of people in the back cubicles who manage the brand, create brochures, set

up tradeshows, send some emails, and do what the product and sales people tell them to do.

• No idea about effectiveness of generating revenue, leads or opportunities. Your head marketer tells you about clicks, views, likes, exposures, cost per this and cost per that. All useless information for the executive team.

• A crappy, dirty database with more holes than a hunk of good Swiss cheese resulting in generic, intrusive, useless outbound messaging.

• Maintains a one-way website hosting nothing more than digital brochures and an e-store that sucks up more revenue than it brings in.

• Prepares messages about product features without any real knowledge of the positioning, value proposition or perceptions of the marketplace.

• Does whatever the sales or product people tell them to do without any thought, question, planned strategy or tactics. We call this ‘seat-of-the-pants’ or ‘ad-hoc’ marketing.

• No wonder you’re only growing 3-5% this year!


Your new marketing function looks like this:• A revenue generator. A revenue engine for the business. Gets you back to double digit

growth!• A written, current marketing plan.• A strategic partner providing high value in aligning New Way Marketing strategy, tools and

teams to the business goals.• Metrics obsessed to ensure it is known what works great, what works OK, what does not work

and what has failed in order to optimize and iterate for optimum spend and absolute growth.• A high value, clean and comprehensive database from which to market, cross sell, up sell and

analyze via relevant and timely messaging.• Maintains a website designed to have a conversation with visitors by delivering relevant

dynamic content tailored to the visitor.• Strategic positioning, value propositions that resonate, messaging about the customer’s needs.• Tactics that funnel large numbers of qualified leads who are ready, willing and able to buy.• Producing high value, useful, helpful marketing material, events and activities engaging early in

the purchasing process.• Understands technology and fully leveraging technology for efficient and scalable marketing

teams and activities.


One thing to keep in mind, the firm that gets there first wins in their market space!

First Movers Win!

Let me say one more time, this type of marketing works for manufacturing companies. I’ve used these strategies, tactics and tools to grow a boring electronics manufacturing business in the range of 10 and 20 percentage growth rates.


Ready, Set, Go! The 5 Big Questions to Ask and Answer Before You Get Started:

1. Is my organization ready to admit our products are perceived as a commodity in the marketplace? (not talking about the brand, just the products)

2. Do I have specific expertise within my organization with potential to help the people in my target audience do better in their daily lives? Am I willing to give it away in exchange for TOMA and credibility?

3. Do I have the people within my organization willing and able to implement and execute on a knowledge based strategy?

4. Am I ready, willing and able to support what may be a drastic change in our corporate culture?

5. Am I ready to support a 10%, 20% or 30% growth rate?

If you answer ‘no’ to any of these questions, are you comfortable with your competition answering ‘yes’ taking your market share?


New Way Marketing is Not Easy!You’ll need to devote or divert resources, time and money and it could be a rough culture shock.


New Way Marketing is a BIG CHANGE for a manufacturing company!

Your leadership team and managers will struggle and resist at first. This should be expected. They will need to see results. Your staunch support, persistence and perseverance will be critical to success.


Be ready to share amazing success stories!You will have success with New Way Marketing. The more you share the success, the better it will work. The better it

works, the higher your growth rate. If you’re the VP Marketing, you might be running the company before too long!


Sounds interesting? How do you learn more and investigate the New Way Marketing concept for yourself?

You could buy my book. The book contains everything you need to get started.

Or, you could do one of the following…


In appreciation for reading through the Manifesto, use this code for 40% off the cover price: WEPUX7P4


You could try one of these…• Investigate for yourself. There are tons of whitepapers, webinars, etc. in the webosphere.

– Some good search terms are ‘New Way Marketing’, ‘content marketing’, ‘B2B marketing’ or ‘modern marketing’

• Check out these progressive websites:– ‘Marketing Matters for Manufacturers’ (MMI podcast) http://mmmatters.com/marketing-for-manufacturers/– ‘Industrial Marketing Today’ http://www.thereppgroup.com/– ‘Content Marketing Institute’ http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/– ‘Industrial Marketing Today’ http://industrialmarketingtoday.com/

• Bring in a consultant.– There are a lot of consultants out there. Some are great, some are poor and there are many in between. As with any

vendor, there are pros and cons to consultants. If you do bring in a consultant, I’d be careful to assess if they have actually been on your side of the desk as a sales and/or marketing leader. Otherwise, you get a lot of theory, but not much that has been tested and proven by their own actions in a corporate manufacturing business environment.

– At the Manufacturing Marketing Institute (MMI) we offer a manufacturing marketing services, educational services and useful resources.


http://mmmatters.com/marketing-for-manufacturers/

http://www.thereppgroup.com/

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/

http://industrialmarketingtoday.com/

http://mmmatters.com/



Or try this out for size…• Hire a new head of marketing with experience in implementation and execution of New Way

Marketing, one who has done it already in a manufacturing organization.– The danger here is that you’ll no doubt want someone with years of experience in your industry because that’s what you’ve

always done. Or you’ll want someone from a similar manufacturing industry who has run a marketing team in the past.– Big mistake! There are a lot of senior marketers like this out there. They know about branding, marketing

communications, public relations and running a reactive marketing team designed to serve, not designed to think about the new age of marketing.

– You’ll need a tech savvy marketing pro who not only understands modern technology and a knowledge based strategy, but also understands business, finance, leadership and management on a global scale.

• Turn it over to your VP Marketing/CMO– This is a tricky one and depends much on your relationship and the position of the senior marketer.– My experience is that if you were to ask your CMO about New Way Marketing or any ideas or concepts from this

presentation, there will be one of two reactions; one is to defend the status quo and claim they are already doing these things. It may be true or it may not be true. If your top line is growing at a healthy rate, pleasing most stakeholders, you might conclude, ‘yes’ she is doing a fine job. If you are not growing at the rate you desire and your CMO claims to be executing on these principles, strategies and tactics, I suggest skepticism. The second reaction might be to embrace the fact that he is operating in the Old Style Marketing 1.0 mode and wants to learn about modern, knowledge based marketing. Second reaction is better and it would be up to you if you think he can pull it off or not.


Still not sure?

“Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”-Albert Einstein

New Way Marketing is not the same thing and you will get different results!


Who the hell is this guy and why did he write this Manifesto?

For more information:

Bruce McDuffeeManufacturing Marketing Institute (MMI)

[email protected]. 303-953-4361

Website: mmmatters.com

Podcast: Manufacturing Marketing Matters

Book your free 30 minute consultation.

Hello, my name is Bruce McDuffee. I’m the Executive Director at the Manufacturing Marketing Institute (MMI). At MMI, we help manufacturing companies increase their organic growth rates by creating and implementing a marketing strategy built around the New Way Marketing framework.I'm passionate about New Way Marketing simply because I know it works. It's an amazing way to go to market and I want to share my expertise and knowledge with your team. Together we can advance the practice of marketing in manufacturing and grow the entire sector!

How do I know it works? As the Marketing Director of a global electronics manufacturing company, I increased the AMER growth rate from 6% to 24% with this New Way Marketing framework. I was able to work out most of the kinks, problems and issues over a 5 year period in this test bed. Now I'm ready to help you realize extraordinary growth in your manufacturing business.Are you ready? Book your free consultation call now!



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Manufacturer's Growth Manifesto - 3rd edition

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Transcript of Manufacturer's Growth Manifesto - 3rd edition