TL;DR: Manufacturing buyers often complete most of their research before ever contacting sales, spending time in the “dark funnel” through private conversations, reviews, and independent research. To generate more qualified leads, manufacturing companies need a structured strategy that defines target buyers, maps the buyer journey, creates stage-specific content, and nurtures prospects with marketing automation. By offering clear next steps, capturing information gradually, and tracking engagement, manufacturers can build trust earlier in the buying cycle and create a consistent pipeline of high-quality leads.
Introduction
Wouldn’t it be nice if the sales team at your manufacturing company had not only more leads, but higher-quality leads? It’s a common ask, but without a solid system for generating them, results can be lackluster or inconsistent at best. However, when you figure out a framework for creating leads on a regular basis, and in a way that doesn’t overtax your already busy team, you can make both marketing and sales happy.
But it’s not always easy to know exactly where to start, which is why we’ve shared a lead generation strategy for manufacturing companies that makes your sales team excited without overburdening your marketing team.
More Research Is Happening in the “Dark”
An increasing number of manufacturing buyers are spending time in the “dark funnel,” where they research solutions through untrackable channels such as private discussions, review sites, or word-of-mouth conversations. In fact, research shows that B2B buyers are nearly 70% through their buying process before they ever reach out to a sales team.
Recent marketing trends for manufacturers point to even longer sales cycles. If you can reach buyers earlier in the buying cycle, you can get a head start on building trust long before your competitors even know a prospect is shopping for a solution. And with any luck, they’ll never find out, because the prospect will already be sold on your solution. But to make this happen, you’ll need stronger manufacturer lead generation, which starts with:
Lead Generation Strategies for Manufacturing Companies
1. Define Your Target Buyer Profiles
You’ll want to get very clear about your top buyers. Are you speaking to maintenance managers, design engineers, or executives? Once you answer that question, you can dig deeper to understand each buyer persona, their largest pain points, where they go for research, and the factors that influence their decisions.
2. Map the Buyer Journey
Next, you’ll want to understand exactly how buyers move from recognizing a problem to making a final decision. Here’s a quick breakdown of each stage of a buyer journey map:
- Awareness. The prospect recognizes a problem or need.
- Consideration. They research options and compare different approaches.
- Decision. They shortlist suppliers and request quotes or demos.
For each stage, make a list of the questions a buyer asks. If you’re not sure what those questions are, connect with your sales team. They can usually rattle them off pretty quickly. You’ll also want to note what types of content buyers consume at each stage, and the action they’re likely to take next.
3. Create Content for Each Stage
Once you’ve mapped out the stages, focus on creating helpful resources that support prospects at each stage of their journey for manufacturer lead generation. Content marketing for manufacturers has its nuances. To succeed, consider:
- Awareness content, answering broad questions. Examples include blog articles, educational guides, industry trend overviews, or problem-focused explainer pages. This content helps buyers understand their challenges more deeply before evaluating potential solutions.
- Consideration content, comparing different approaches and potential benefits. Examples might include white papers, comparison guides, solution overviews, or webinars that help buyers evaluate their options.
- Decision content, supporting choices with strong proof. For example, you might create detailed case studies, customer testimonials, or implementation guides that help buyers feel confident moving forward.
At every stage, aim to create resources that offer so much value that prospects begin to trust you and look to you for answers as they work to solve their challenges.
4. Offer Clear Next Steps
Every piece of content you create for manufacturer lead generation should point to a clear next step via a call-to-action (CTA). For example, an awareness-focused blog article might offer a deeper guide to solving the problem in exchange for an email address. After reading a case study, you might invite readers to download a white paper that outlines how to address the same challenge. Or, for a technical comparison blog, you could provide a downloadable checklist or tool to help evaluate options.
5. Capture Interest with Progressive Forms
Have you ever been on the cusp of downloading a resource, only to see a 10-field form and quickly hit exit? You can avoid this with your prospects by keeping forms minimal and only asking for what you truly need. For example, you might limit your questions to:
- Email address
- Role
- Industry
Some marketing automation tools support progressive forms, which means leads only see a few fields on their first visit. Each time they return, they’ll see a few new fields. Over time, this approach helps you gather more profile information so you can segment leads for future manufacturer lead generation efforts.
6. Create Nurture Sequences
As you capture information about your prospects, you’ll want to create email nurture sequences personalized to their specific needs and interests. For example, after a prospect downloads a guide about solving a specific problem, you might create a sequence that includes:
- Email #1. Additional tips related to the core problem they downloaded.
- Email #2. A strong story showing how others solved similar issues connected to the problem your prospect signaled interest in.
- Email #3. A comparison guide or ROI checklist for a potential solution.
- Email #4. A helpful webinar related to their problem.
Horizon Distributors is a great example of this strategy. They used segmentation to create more personalized campaigns and ultimately attracted and captured 200% more leads.
7. Track Engagement Behavior
You’ll want to understand not only who your prospects are but also the actions they’re taking. For example, you might track content downloads, pages viewed, repeat visits, and email opens and clicks.
Marketing automation for manufacturers can help you track these metrics and double down on the actions driving the most success. It can also provide clear breadcrumbs that show which topics and asset types prospects care about most at each stage of their journey.
Automate Your Manufacturer Lead Generation
As sales cycles become longer, understanding how to support your sales team with a solid framework for generating leads becomes increasingly important. As you learn what works best for your prospects, and use the right tools to fine-tune your efforts, and create more content and experiences that generate trust, you can design prospect experiences that automate your lead generation and support your team in winning more deals.
Need More Help Getting Started?
We’re personally huge fans of using marketing automation to support lead generation strategies for manufacturing companies because it can maximize your results. Our Marketing Automation Strategy Guide breaks down exactly how it can help you connect with your customers, deliver value, and build deeper relationships that earn more business.