by Bob Grant

All indications are that American manufacturing is coming back and will lead us out of our economic doldrums.  According to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group wages are rising in China, and although significantly lower that US wages, when combined with other production costs and shipping the China advantage drops to single digits. This has encouraged manufacturers like Caterpillar, and NCR to bring back manufacturing operations to the US. While China and other countries will continue to manufacture many products used in the US, we will see lot more products “Made in the USA” in the next five years according to Boston Consulting Group.

According to a study by Global Spec,  20 of 23 industries expect higher sales in 2011 including paper, printing and textiles,  packaging machinery, chemicals, plastics and rubber, medical equipment and instrumentation.

Manufacturing companies of all sizes should be evaluating their sales and marketing strategies to take advantage of this new opportunity. According to the Global Spec study 75% of engineers and purchasing agents will spend three or more hours per week for work related purposes. These individuals spend time viewing supplier websites, online catalogs. They also do searches on general search engines, read e-newsletters, and subscribe to online events like webinars.

How can manufacturing marketers prepare and take advantage of this potential new business?

1.     Develop an online marketing plan – with the continuing increase of engineers and buyers using the Internet for research and locating vendors for products and services, be sure to develop an online marketing plan and strategy, including e-mail marketing, webinars, and social media.

2.     Build content on your website – Engineers and buyers will visit company websites that make their jobs easier. They are looking for resources to make decisions. If you have a catalog, make it online searchable. If you have engineering information, place it on your website. The more  specific content you have on your website will also help make it more popular with search engines, which will give your site more favorable positions for  certain keywords and phrases.

3.     Track activity for ROI – At a minimum, add Google Analytics to your website, so that you can track how vistors located your website and which pages converted them to leads. There are also other programs that can identify visitors and keep track of subsequent visits. Programs are also available for tracking phone calls from your website.

If you need help with any of these suggestions, contact us.

By Bob Grant

The recent article by Michael Barbaro in the New York Times about hundreds of condo owners suing Donald Trump because they bought into the lie that Trump actually stood behind and owned some “Trump” properties that the condo owners purchased. In fact Trump merely licensed the use of his name and brand to sell these properties.

This is not at all unusual as many famous people license their name and identity to sell products. Need I say, “Buyer beware.”? While it is certainly the responsibility of the consumer to investigate whether or not there is a sincere and valid connection between the brand and the product, product manufacturers have a responsibility to offer honest branding.

Consumers need to be more knowledgeable about branding. Branding goes back to the days when cattle ranchers branded their cattle so that you could tell which cattle belonged to the “W” Ranch and which belonged to the “XY” Ranch.  If you bought  “W” Ranch beef, you could count on it that it came from the “W” Ranch.

This brings to mind the whole notion of good brands, and bad brands and how they can easily shift from bad to good or good to bad. Remember when Tiger Woods was a good brand? American Express, Buick, and the very game of golf wanted to be linked to Tiger Woods. Then a little mishap with the misses, and the Tiger Woods brand quickly turns into the “untouchable.”

By Bob Grant

Condominium complexes that promote themselves as being Trump properties, when they are such in name only, do a disservice to the consumers who buy them, the real estate investors, and Donald Trump himself. As news leaks out, and condo owners feel duped and bring suit, all of a sudden the Trump brand itself begins to be tarnished.

Good brands are developed and stay healthy when their unique evidence of distinction and the ability to deliver on their promises to the consumers who purchase their products supports them.  Brands are developed from within an organization, company, or even a person. It is the very essence and quality of that entity that creates its brand.  The Tiger Woods brand was a good brand, when Tiger was playing golf like no other golfer before him, and Donald Trump was a good brand when he first developed a real estate empire in New York. They have not been able to maintain their uniqueness since.

Companies and organizations are the same. They need to constantly be vigilant of their brands and protective of that brand so that they continue to serve consumers with honest and dependable services and products, and prevent their good brands from going bad.