I am continually amazed at the wisdom of our Founders.  To take the injustices of the entire human race and in one fell swope (Our Constitution) attempt to right 5000 years of history is a miracle.

Of all the founders Ben Franklin was surely one of the most prolific writers.  Franklin's Poor Richard Almanack was published yearly with Franklin's pseudonym of Richard Saunders or "Poor Richard".

The wisdom and the quotes from Poor Richard's Almanack still have relevance for us all.  I picked out some of my favorites and ones that especially apply to our industrial businesses.

ENJOY!

I have often wondered if there were quantitative differences between direct mail ROI (return on investment) and email ROI? 

I recently found a study done this past January (2013) from Harvard Business Review.  It is very instructive and appears to answer some pretty basic questions and dilemmas we all face while marketing to your industrial customers. 

I know... you 'ol industrial marketers are saying, "There is simply nothing like meeting a customer or industry peer face-to-face rather than social media."

I could not agree more. 

Any of you that know me, know I enjoy a "face-to-face" to discuss common challenges as well as anybody.  One of my real joys in life is meeting with business owners I can call "friends".

However, in today's connected world it certainly does not hurt to establish yourself online as the expert you truly are in your chosen industry.  Building a well thought out profile on Linkedin and using the "Groups" feature of LinkedIn is like Rotary...only more effective.

Real world example:

There is no question about it.

Content marketing, inbound marketing...whatever you want to call it can be your new group of, constantly aggressive, feet-on-the-street.  (And...this sales & marketing tactic can be less expensive and it will never ask for more money!)

I have been beating the drum for some time about niche marketing to our industrial marketing friends.  All the new web technologies and marketing tools have given industrial marketers some amazing opportunities...a wonderful platform to trumpet a unique niche.

Every one of our industrial customers has unique products and services.  Outwardly many may seem like commodity items.  The only differentiation, it seems, is price.  

I am constantly looking for examples of industrial marketers that have used the web to kick their older, larger, more established competitors in the teeth.  Especially competitors in China.  

When I used to work with Apple in the early days, Guy Kawasaki was one of my favorites.  His passion for the entrepreneur, for the start -up, for the obscure & creative individual with the goofy idea was infectious and always instructive.

One of my favorite quotes from Guy reminds me of what is going on in the industrial marketing world.

"If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing, if you have more brains than money you should focus on inbound marketing "

I recently attended a national sales meeting for one of our manufacturing customers.  The VP of Sales & Marketing is one of the most knowledgeable marketers in his industry.  He regularly follows economist Alan Beaulieu and his company ITR Economics.  My friend and customer also sits on the Federal Reserve Board in Chicago for Manufacturing.

Branding your industrial supply business in the age of amazonsupply.com and Google is more critical than ever.

Previously your industrial supply business has depended on your line card...the strength of the vendors you carry.  All of your product information, sales materials, and technical data and even some of your customer service & technical support came from your most important vendors.  You did not spend a lot of thought and time on your company's strategic strengths or brand message in the market place.

Be warned, this is a long and in-depth post about cloud-based CRMs.  If you would prefer to print it out and read it later go to http://industrialmarketer.marketpipeline.com/content/resources-industrial-marketer and you may download the PDF White Paper version.

I often get the question from customers, "What do I do with the leads coming from our new web site"?

This post addresses that question and why exploring cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) applications is required if your industrial marketing efforts are to stay relevant with your customers and market realities.