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In late 2018, we surveyed manufacturing companies around the world to learn more about their marketing strategy and results.

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.

If you look at the marketing for manufacturing companies around the country, you’ll see that they’re all over the place. That’s because the manufacturing industry is filled with companies that are extremely varied in size, revenue, service area, and much more. This makes it tough to nail down a “correct” marketing plan.

Marketing in today’s digital world can be a challenge for manufacturers, many of whom rely heavily on traditional marketing such as trade shows, catalogs, printed spec sheets, and in-person sales calls. While those tools may remain an important part of your manufacturing lead generation arsenal, there is no denying more and more deals are closing thanks to digital efforts, including marketing automation.

According to research by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), just 22% of manufacturers are mature content marketers. This means there are significant opportunities for manufacturing companies who do want to commit to advancing their content marketing strategy. In their recently released report, Manufacturing Content Marketing 2018: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, the CMI found that 86% of manufacturing respondents were using content marketing, but only 38% describe their organization as very committed to it.

Manufacturing companies tend to be very careful and thoughtful when investing in marketing efforts, especially across the digital landscape. However, more and more companies in the manufacturing sector are starting to realize the value of digital marketing and online lead generation.