It’s no secret that advertising is a great way to grow a business. Since the 16th century, people have utilized newspapers, print magazines, and other channels to capture attention and raise awareness about their products or services.

Over time, the advertising landscape has continued to evolve. There are now a plethora of advertising channels to choose from, which can make it difficult for manufacturers to determine where to invest your advertising spend.

Learn how to plan your overall manufacturer marketing budget

Digital advertising

In 2019, digital advertising spend surpassed traditional advertising for the first time. By 2024, digital is expected to account for 62.6% of total advertising spend, and for good reason. 

If your goal is to raise awareness of your brand and drive more traffic to your website, digital advertising should be one of your top priorities. Here’s a look at how much you can expect to spend on some of the top digital advertising channels for manufacturers.

Google Search

Out of all available advertising platforms, Google search should receive the lion’s share of your digital advertising budget.

When consumers search for terms related to your manufacturing company, they are expressing a high level of interest in buying something that you provide. This high-intent website traffic usually only makes up a small portion of your entire target audience, but they are often the visitors most likely to convert, and Google search ads are best at capturing it.

For paid search, you can expect to pay anywhere between $500-5,000/month depending on several factors, including the size of your manufacturing company, your market, audience size, and how aggressive your growth strategy is.

Google Display

Another advertising option from Google that manufacturers should consider are Google Display Ads. These ads are shown throughout the Google Display Network on over 2 million websites and offer great targeting options for manufacturers.

With remarketing lists, you can show these display advertisements to people who have visited your website, competitor websites, trade association websites, and more.

In order to run effective Google Display remarketing campaigns, you can count on paying between $300-$1,000/month based on the number of lists you are targeting and the number of users on those lists.

LinkedIn

Although it is one of the most expensive advertising platforms out there, LinkedIn Advertising is still one of the top advertising platforms for manufacturers and other B2B businesses.

The sophisticated targeting options that LinkedIn provides to advertisers make the platform an exceptional channel for manufacturers to build brand awareness.

To hone in your targeting, you can upload lists of companies that you are prospecting and set your campaigns to only show ads to specific people based on job-related information, such as their title, seniority, and more.

It’s essential that you set up your targeting to be as precise as possible to avoid overspending. For well-planned and effectively targeted LinkedIn campaigns, you should expect to pay between $500-$3,000/month depending on the size of the audience that you are going after.

Bing Search

Google is undoubtedly the go-to when it comes to search engines, with an average market share of 69.45% so far in 2020. However, Bing search still generates a large amount of search traffic (13.54%) and is often overlooked on the advertising front.

Bing search can be a powerful advertising platform for manufacturers and other B2B businesses because of the circumstances that typically warrant a search on Bing.

For instance, many people working for larger corporations or government agencies are limited to Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer as their primary web browser–both of which use Bing as their default search engine.

This is a great opportunity to show advertisements to those who aren’t using Google while they are at work and more likely to take action.

Although Google should receive the most significant portion of your advertising budget, spending $300-$1,000 a month for Bing search will ensure that you capture relevant search traffic that may not be on Google.

Other Channels

When it comes to advertising, self-service digital platforms will give you the best bang for your buck. However, they are not the only way to distribute your manufacturing advertising spend.

Many manufacturing companies also choose to advertise on discovery networks or within trade journals.

If you identify that a large portion of your audience consumes content from a particular trade journal or website, then they can also receive a small portion of your advertising budget.

Which advertising channels are best for your manufacturing company?

Now that you have a better idea of how much you can expect to spend on each advertising platform, it’s time to decide which platforms are the best fit for you.

If your goal is to drive high-intent website traffic, then Google and Bing search are excellent options. To increase the amount of awareness surrounding your manufacturing company, you may want to consider platforms like LinkedIn and Google Display.

Would you like to have a discussion on which advertising platforms your business should invest in? Click the button below to schedule a call with one of our manufacturing marketing experts!