Best Approaches to Marketing in Manufacturing: 3 Companies Share Their Successes

Dr. Neal Schumacher, vice president of Banner Engineering, says his company recently emerged from a process that helped their marketing efforts evolve from being product-focused to concentrating instead on vertical markets. "We found out we had to be better at targeting our markets. We had to hit the mark more. We always defined ourselves around our products and features and rarely saw the markets of those products."

Schumacher was one of three executives who recently shared perspectives about the evolution of their company's marketing efforts at "Best Approaches to Marketing in Manufacturing," an event sponsored by Enterprise Minnesota. Other presenters represented Ryan Companies, provider of design-build services, of Minneapolis and American Time and Signal, which builds complete clock systems, of Dassel, MN.

Two of the companies have worked with Enterprise Minnesota's new service, Proactive Marketing for Manufacturers, which helps manufacturers use marketing plans as a road map toward better profitability. Enterprise Minnesota consultants help manufacturers identify growth potential in current and new markets. In addition, they help clients differentiate their products and services from competitors, and work around barriers to achieving goals.

As a result, Minneapolis-based Banner, a world-wide leader in process and industrial automation, identified opportunities they could strategically act on to improve their profitability. "We are starting to shift the mindset of our company that we need to be more customer focused in our decisions. We're in transition, but we're heading in the right direction," Schumacher said.

Each presenter agreed that marketing is a core business strategy and each showed how their marketing efforts evolve over time.

American Time and Signal (AT&S) President Karen Sipola described how the creation of wireless clock systems in the industry led the company to reappraise its marketing efforts.  "We thought we knew who our customers were, but through the Proactive Marketing series, we realized we didn't -- so we revisited that."

Sipola also said AT&S re-examined their competitors and analyzed who was visiting their website. "We got better at competitive intelligence and learned how to turn anonymous visitors on our website into actual orders."

One such "anonymous" visitor to the website turned out to be Boeing Company. Because AT&S could access that information, Sipola said, "Now we're putting clocks into Boeing."

Clare Scott, marketing director at Ryan Companies, said the company's marketing efforts have moved from tactical to strategic. "Investing in marketing was an investment in growth. Our marketing approach was disconnected from our business strategy. We now have an integrated project delivery."

She recommended that manufacturers wanting to improve their marketing should "Start doing something better and differently than you did before. Think about what you can tackle as an organization and inch yourself forward."

Global Market Strategy Consulting Sessions to Begin Soon

Exporting represents an under-utilized opportunity for  medium-sized and smaller manufacturers to grow profitable revenues. Enterprise Minnesota's Global Market Strategy consulting sessions will help you understand how international sales provide significant opportunities for your company.
 
Dates: Sept 12, Oct. 17, Nov. 14, 2012

Location: University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, Minneapolis, MN

What to Expect: 

• Develop your strategy (including selecting target countries and sales channels)

• Learn best practices aimed at successful execution and minimizing risk

• Create your export plan

• Learn the many resources available to help - we'll put you in touch with the ones you need

• Get expert coaching, research and resource support to you individually between group sessions (in-person visits)

• Past participants rate the program extremely highly and have generated profitable revenue from new exports

To register, contact Mary Connor at 612-455-4233

Have news or events for e-trends?  Contact Sue Roe at sue.roe@enterpriseminnesota.org