Your company is in the business of making things, but it’s run by people. Does the content on your website reflect that?
If you said “Yes,” then that’s great. This post isn’t for you.
If you said “No,” don’t worry. There are ways you can — to borrow a phrase from The Police — “rehumanize yourself.”
Here are five suggestions of how content marketing for manufacturers will help make your content more personal:
1. Make an Emotional Connection
There’s a piece of writing advice editors give to journalists: “Show people doing things.”
Try to incorporate that idea into your content, whether it’s a blog post, or a video you’re sharing on social media.
Show the people behind your product. Show your audience how things are made, or more importantly, how the things you make affect real people.
Think back to Sesame Street: If you watched it in the ’70s or ’80s, you might have seen their segment on where milk comes from. We see a farmer milking a cow, then watch as the milk is processed and bottled. Intercut with these scenes is footage of a hungry baby, satisfied in the end when she gets her bottle of milk.
Granted, the product you make may not be something as universal as milk, but it still plays a role in our world. Find a way to give it a human face with content marketing.
2. Talk to Your Customers
It’s understandable that you’d want to show off your products on your homepage. But if that’s all that’s there, you’re doing a disservice to your customers. They need to see the human side of your company.
Tell human interest stories on your blog. Let your customers know what you’re employees have been doing.
Marketing for manufactuers can still mean telling people about your products. Just do it in a way that humanizes them, either by connecting the products to your employees, or explaining how they can change your customers’ lives.
And make sure your website is easy to navigate, whether they’re accessing it on a tablet, smartphone, laptop or desktop.
3. Voice From Above
The people at the top of the company are — ideally — experts in their field.
So let them speak their mind about what they’re doing, either in a blog post, through social media, or your company newsletter.
Think of it like the letter from the editor you see at the front page of a magazine. He or she has the most knowledge, so they set the tone for that issue.
4. Voices From the Ground
While it’s beneficial to have the people in leadership positions talk about your business, it’s crucial to let your everyday employees be heard.
Let them use your company blog to tell their stories, both about the professional lives but also about personal milestones: “What running a marathon taught me about manufacturing” or something like that.
The goal here, as in the other steps, is to give your company a human face.
5. Voices From Outside
If your company works with other manufacturing companies, they might be having the same problem when it comes to humanizing their content.
So why not work together? Get their people posting in your social channels and on your blog, talking about the work you’ve done together. That kind of collaboration will impress your clients, and put yet another human face on the work you do.
Your customers — and the people who want to become your customers — are getting showered with information every day. When marketing for manufacturers, you can make your content stand out by putting a human face on it, one that says “Here’s how we’re alike,” instead of “This is why you should buy us.”
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