According to the report B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing: 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, 86 percent of manufacturers have adopted content marketing in some form. Companies use social media, eBooks, whitepapers, blogs and video to engage with consumers.
For some time, we’ve used content marketing methods of our own – with our blog, eBooks, whitepaper and animated videos – to feature our products and show who we are as a company.
“Apple Rubber has had great success so far with our eBook and whitepaper campaigns,” says John Tranquilli, materials manager. “We have seen significant downloads lead to new contacts, especially in new industries that we are marketing to. We feel that it gives a value-added approach and we aim to continue recruiting new customers.”
Content marketing for a manufacturing and engineering audience: The next step
We are currently focusing on three short video segments hosted by one talented expert to answer some of our most commonly-asked technical questions. These include:
- How do you prevent leak paths from overcompressing in O-Rings?
- What are common O-Ring installation issues?
- Which material is best recommended for ozone exposure?
While the technical video series will educate and inform customers, our goal is to entertain our viewers, too.
“We hope that our chosen topic choices and our personnel in the video will keep our viewers coming back for more,” says Tranquilli.
If you’ve ever had questions or troubleshooting issues with any of these topics, keep an eye out for the release of our three new videos.
Why should manufacturers use video?
1. Video serves your customers.
One of the biggest advantages to video is that you can reach out to millions of people in a short amount of time. In this case, our engineers can address questions from multiple consumers in just a few short minutes.
“Our goal is to combine narrative with animation to give a better understanding of the technical topics presented,” notes Tranquilli. “We want people to hear the lesson, but also see visual animation so they can fully understand.”
2. Video can be evergreen.
These videos will be placed on the blog and promoted heavily. When customers have questions about these popular issues, they will be able to find what they need from the proper video.
3. Video helps grow a community.
In our situation, our Apple Rubber engineers receive tons of technical questions on a daily basis. Technical videos can not only solve problems, but attract like-minded people, start a conversation around these issues and help grow an engineer-focused community.
4. Videos show you have a vision.
Over the next two years, video will comprise 69 percent of all online consumer traffic, according to The Guardian. With online video quickly becoming a key means for people to satisfy their information (and entertainment) needs, we feel that businesses should include them in their internet marketing strategies.
How has video worked for your organization’s marketing strategy? What are your plans for the near future? We’d love to hear your thoughts on Twitter @AppleRubber.
Stay tuned for our technical video series — coming soon!