Strategic Storytelling
BY JOHN CONNELLY
Ask any small or mid-sized manufacturing company to talk about their marketing efforts and the likely response will be a quick rundown of its Web site, brochures and other tactical efforts. But ask a manufacturing business owner what his or her story is, and the company’s history and core identity are revealed. Defining that company identity—what the business is—often leads to the creation of a successful marketing strategy. Essentially, the moremanufacturing leaders know about their own business, market, customers and key messages, the more success they will have in attracting a wide base of customers through a strategic marketing plan.
Over the years, our conversations with clients have proven that manufacturers are natural storytellers. We saw great potential in these stories for pinpointing a marketing strategy that would encourage selfevaluation, market knowledge and specific, thoughtful initiatives tailored to each company’s needs.
To understand each company’s marketing story, Enterprise Minnesota has developed a four-part strategic marketing plan (see illus- tration) that begins with a series of in-depth conversations with Enterprise Minnesota field specialists. The responses clarify each company’s historic, present and desired future positions in the market—information that specialists then use to create a unique and strategic marketing plan tailored to that company.
To put that marketing plan into action, the MEP system invested years ago in manufacturing-focused marketing collaborations with business revolutionary Michael Collins. The result was the emergence of more than 100 tactical tools dedicated to helping manufacturing businesses succeed in every part of their marketing plans. From customer, market and competitive analyses, to sales channels, reaching new markets and more, the MEP system is a vast marketing resource for manufacturers. As one of 59 MEP centers in the country, Enterprise Minnesota is equipped to offer all of these resources to Minnesota manufacturing businesses.
In the end, it’s our obligation to help manufacturing companies thrive in the marketplace. Whether that means helping a client develop a market story, analyzing a company’s customers and competitors, or simply providing a local link to MEP’s national well of marketing resources, it’s not a charge we at Enterprise Minnesota take lightly.