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Content marketing is a tactics that manufacturers can no longer ignore. Every manufacturer who wants to generate new leads and sales should have a content marketing strategy in place, and that strategy should be documented and considered a high priority. With 74% of B2B buyers conducting over half of their research online before making an offline purchase, manufacturers must make content available online that meets the needs of those researching. We're hosting a free webinar, Content Marketing for Manufacturers, to guide manufacturing companies in how to put an effective content strategy in place.

Security Marketing Webinar There are significant differences in how each generation prefers to communicate and make purchase decisions online, and differences in security needs across the generations. Segmenting your prospective and existing customers based on their age group allows you to create more effective messaging that better resonates with your audience and produces stronger results for your company.

Year two of attending the Electronic Security Expo (ESX) conference in Nashville, TN, and it did not disappoint! As security marketing experts and ESA members, we feel that conference attendance is a must. As always, Nashville was a very welcoming city with great food, music, people, walking areas, and plenty of Uber drivers. From the opening breakfast right up to the last day, the focus this year was on connectivity, leveraging data, RMR growth, the customer experience, and Amazon and Google's impact.

Many manufacturers are wondering how to set a reasonable marketing budget that will produce results, particularly as they shift more marketing resources towards online marketing. I recently hosted a webinar, Marketing Budgets for Manufacturers, to guide manufacturing companies in setting overall marketing budgets, and how much to allocate to increasingly important digital marketing.

We've been partnering with security alarm companies for over eight years, and within the last few years we've come to the realization that using their customer data to personalize digital marketing efforts can yield impressive results. When security companies are proactive in gathering data, they are much farther ahead in the potential marketing results they can achieve.

Advertising of the past involved reaching the widest audience possible, in hopes that some people in your target market would see your message. Over time, the ability to target those audience segments most likely to buy from you became more sophisticated, and today's digital marketing makes precision targeting possible. If you're not taking advantage of the latest methods for targeting your marketing to your ideal customers, you're probably not maximizing your return on marketing investment or getting as many qualified leads as you could.

In November, I attended and presented at my first Honeywell Connect 2017 Security Dealer conference in San Diego, CA. Three days of inspiring learning from security company leaders, the Honeywell team, and fantastic keynote speakers. This years' theme was to "Differentiate, Disrupt, Deliver". Honeywell showcased their impressive array of residential and commercial security technology while providing an engaging and fun atmosphere for learning and networking.

Do you know your wildly important business goals?

In our recent survey of security providers, the most common marketing challenge was generating new quality leads, followed by figuring out where to focus marketing efforts. Of course the latter is all about figuring out the best way to bring in those all important quality leads, at the best ROI. Many security companies aren't sure what they'll need to spend on marketing to generate results and where they should focus those funds.

We’ve written several articles about online marketing budgets in a variety of industries, and as we've worked with security alarm companies across the country, we’ve identified a realistic marketing budget calculation for firms providing a combination of commercial and residential security offerings.