Introduction

No matter what industry you work with, marketing is essential for getting people interested in your products. Marketing involves various activities that attract customers and generate sales. It is the science and art of showcasing the value you bring to others.

The process of marketing engineering products and services is very different from marketing consumer-facing products and services. 

In this article, we explain how engineering firms can form an effective strategy for marketing their engineering solutions. We’ll start with a discussion about the 8 best strategies for success in engineering marketing and go on to explain the importance of content marketing and thought leadership.

Need quick assistance? Connect with us at: info@wevolver.com

8 Proven Engineering Marketing Strategies

This section talks about some of the best, and proven strategies brands use for marketing engineering products.

Publish Tech Articles and Case Studies

When it comes to marketing products, businesses these days tend to go all out on creating videos. Without any doubt, videos are incredibly powerful in marketing; however, producing a professional video can take up a lot of time and resources. On the other hand, traditional marketing material like articles and case studies can be prepared at relatively lower prices and bring wonderful results. 

While technical articles and blog posts provide us with the latest news about technology, case studies are reports that contain findings related to the implementation of technologies. Case studies can include observations related to how a product, a service, or a technology in general, performs in a real-world setting. Documenting the success (and failure) stories can help explain to others the benefits of applying your technology.

A combination of both video and text content can be a great long-term investment for your brand. Here is an example of a series sponsored by Mouser Electronics that discusses digital healthcare: Biomedical Instruments and the Future of Digital Healthcare. The series features subtle integration of relevant products by Molex.

Fig. 1: A sponsored series of articles by Mouser Electronics

Write E-books and Reports

E-books and reports are exceptionally deep pieces of content that provide brands with an opportunity to talk about their technologies in detail. They require extensive research and are sought by those who really value the subject your content talks about.

E-books are often used as effective tools for generating leads. As a publisher, you can offer downloadable copies of your e-books in exchange for registration on your website. At the same time, you can also ask readers to opt-in for your newsletter if they’d like to get the latest updates. 

Visitors are more likely to sign-up or share their contact with you because they perceive downloadable content like e-books as something with immense value. It’s a win-win situation for everyone as readers get valuable content and brands get to connect directly with potential customers.

Read an e-book on Industry 4.0 by KUKA and Wevolver here: Industry 4.0 Technology Deep Dive

Fig. 2: An e-book by KUKA and Wevolver

Organize Challenges and Events

Engineers love solving problems. Challenges are a fun way of sparking a discussion around your business. In addition to increasing brand awareness and generating leads, events provide businesses with an opportunity to build new clients and connections.

Participants get hands-on experience with technologies and interact with experts from the industry. Sometimes such interactions lead to investments and business developments.

Mitsubishi Chemicals recently kicked off The Composite Engineering Challenge in partnership with Wevolver in search of entrepreneurs and innovators aiming to rewrite the rules of lightweight carbon fiber composites.

Fig. 3: An online challenge organized by Mitsubishi Chemicals and Wevolver

Sponsor Content

Internet users are bombarded with random irrelevant pop-ups all the time. This is the reason why over 42% of the online population has installed ad-blocking software.[1] As an alternative, brands can practice non-intrusive marketing to show ads at the right time and at the right place.

Non-intrusive marketing plan involves creating and sponsoring content that users are looking for. Brands can subtly integrate a description of their engineering products into a well-researched piece of content that users can trust. This form of advertisement is a part of the content and is, therefore, not blocked by ad blockers.

Partnering with different brands to create sponsored content lets you blend your products and services with others’ content. Here is a case study discussing the performance of switchgear equipment in harsh marine environments: Switchgear Connectors and Terminals for Harsh Offshore Installations.

Fig. 4: An example of subtle brand integration within an article.

Run Social Media Campaigns

Different social media platforms require different types of content. For instance, Instagram users prefer pictures or reels, whereas LinkedIn users are more accustomed to reading professional and long posts. Content from articles, blogs, e-books, technology specifications, videos, etc., can be repurposed and posted on social media to boost brand awareness and lead generation. 

It’s a bit difficult initially to build an audience if there’s a lot of competition; however, consistency and strategic social media marketing campaigns are the keys to taking your brand marketing to the next level. Understanding the target audience, segmentation, social media platforms, and creating quality content regularly is a must for growth.

Engage with Engineering Audiences

Engagement is the process of interacting with customers and potential clients through different means to build a relationship with them. Engaging with customers not only improves their experience with your business but also helps you collect feedback on how you can improve.

Here are some ways of increasing engagement with the target audience:

• Live sessions: Organizing live sessions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms can greatly boost engagement and interaction within the community. Organizers can directly talk to the audience and let them be a part of the show right from the comfort of their homes. Live sessions are also a great way of adding an excitement factor to the promotions.

• Community discussions: Subreddits, Facebook groups, and LinkedIn groups are some platforms that let anyone post content to a large group of people with similar interests. Interesting posts in groups quickly gather steam and spark discussions.

• Newsletters and weekly digests: Newsletters and weekly digests are a part of email marketing, a technique used to maintain regular contact with customers. Personalized recommendations and information regarding new product launches, events, offers, and more can be directly delivered to the target users. Customers may not visit your website regularly, but can still open up your e-mails and get an update about new happenings.

Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

To deliver the right information to users, search engines analyze a website’s authority (popularity) and relevance of content. Though the exact algorithm used to deliver search results is never revealed by the companies behind search engines, people have identified certain best practices that help make content more discoverable online. These principles are collectively known as SEO and are imperative in driving traffic to your website.

Here are some best SEO practices used by digital marketing teams that make articles more discoverable to users:

• Selecting the right keywords: Articles with SEO for specific keywords appear higher in search results making them more visible to readers. Tools are available that let us find the volume of searches coming for different keywords. Putting the ones with high traffic in headings, subheadings and content can improve SEO.

• Aligning with the user intent: Search engineers understand what users are looking for. The content that addresses users’ queries always ranks high.

• Optimizing webpage: Well-structured content with different headings, subheadings, relevant URLs, and a meta description is preferred by search engines. Page loading speed is also equally important.

• Optimizing images: Images must be compressed and need to have a proper file name, caption, and alternate text to be optimized.

• Off-page SEO: Backlinks that point to your website can be posted on other websites to improve your popularity. Creating genuinely good content naturally motivates others to add references and links to your website.

Continued application of good SEO practices helps websites improve Domain Authority (DA). It is a metric by Moz that predicts the possibilities of a website ranking over another in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

Typically, a DA of 45+ is considered good. However, it takes a long time to achieve this. Partnering with popular websites/blogs and getting backlinks from them can provide a much-needed boost to new as well as established brands.

Fig. 5: An article published on Wevolver for Mouser Electronics and TE connectivity ranking as the first result of a Google search

Fig. 6: Multiple articles by Wevolver for Macrofab ranking on the first page for the target keyword

Why invest in Content?

Engineers seek to consume digital content more than anyone else. According to a recent study related to marketing for engineers, it was reported that more than 70% of engineers (under the age of 45) complete their purchases based on online content.[2] The study also revealed that engineers are willing to be a part of online events, listen to podcasts and read e-books in search of highly technical content.

Engineers also seek out articles, case studies, research papers, videos, infographics, and other online content to stay up-to-date. This is the primary reason why content marketing and digital marketing should be an integral part of marketing strategy for businesses centered around engineering products.

There is one challenge though. Creating content is difficult in the engineering industry. It requires investing a lot of time and literary skills. 

Establish Your Authority as a Thought Leader Through Content that Resonates with Engineers

Thought leadership is an abstract concept used to position an individual or an engineering firm as an expert authority. It is all about carving out your own space by creating content that tackles the biggest challenges in the industry.

Thought leadership content doesn’t necessarily have to be groundbreaking. All it needs is a perspective on things. Before we get into a discussion on content marketing, let’s first take a look at some of the benefits of thought leadership for engineering companies:

• Connecting with a broad audience: People admire and like to be associated with visionaries. Thought leaders are often invited to large platforms like events, conferences, and exhibitions to share their ideas, and inspire the audience. This tremendously increases the exposure of such individuals or brands in front of the community and ultimately helps boost business.

• Standing out from the rest: The inputs of thought leaders are considered important when major decisions are supposed to be made. These decisions could be related to industry changes, policy formation, standards, rules, regulations, etc.

Pouring content online aimlessly without actually having a strategy is the reason why most people fail to be established as thought leaders in the community. Here is a simple strategy that can help brands start their journey of thought leadership:

• Identify the domain: Before doing anything else, it is crucial to understand the area you would like to contribute in. This could be an industry, a technology, or something else. Identifying the domain can also help us identify the correct audience to target.

• Have a vision: Once the domain and the target audience are identified, we must understand what matters to them. Creating genuinely detailed and informative content that talks about the things that are important to the target audience and answer their questions is the next step. At this stage, aspiring thought leaders must have a vision.

• Pick a style: Communicating with the target audience in their preferred format helps reduce barriers to reaching them. For instance, if the majority of the target audience prefers text over other media, it's always a good idea to create articles, e-books, white papers, etc. to reach them.

Here is an example of a great thought leadership piece by Pascal Bornet, a global expert, thought leader, and pioneer in the field of Intelligent Automation: Reinventing Society with Intelligent Automation: Preparing for the Outcomes of the Next Industrial Revolution

Fig. 7: A thought leadership content piece by Pascal Bornet

Marketing Engineering Products and Services with Wevolver

Wevolver provides a platform for businesses to engage with their target audiences through technical content. With over 700,000+ followers across Wevolver’s social media platform, it is among the largest tech hubs that bring together engineers, researchers, leadership teams, and students. 

Companies looking for a fully integrated content marketing solution, partner with Wevolver to generate demand among new audiences, perform employer branding and successfully position their developments.

Need quick assistance? Connect with us at: info@wevolver.com

Wevolver’s team of tech writers with a background in engineering and science write/edit in-depth articles that are loved by the engineering community. 

With stunning graphics and concise explanations, Wevolver’s e-books and reports include content that people not only accept but often seek out. Based on the interests and activities of users, Wevolver also prepares a curated list of articles and delivers them to the readers’ inboxes.

“I read Wevolver at least weekly to stay up to date.” - Andrey Shtylenko, Global AI Leader at Honeywell AI & Robotics Lab

Wevolver is trusted by established billion-dollar market leaders, medium-sized enterprises and new businesses for marketing their engineering products and services.

Fig. 8: 100+ organizations worldwide rely on Wevolver for exposure and content creation

References

[1] Brian Dean, ‘Ad Blocker Usage and Demographic Statistics in 2022’, Backlinko, [Online], Available from: https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users

[2] Morgan Norris, ‘2021 State of marketing to engineers top findings, Trew Marketing’, [Online], Available from: https://www.trewmarketing.com/blog/2021-state-of-marketing-to-engineers-top-findings

[3] Wevolver Media Kit - 2022, Wevolver, [Online], Available from: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver/flatpage/2022+Wevolver+Media+Kit.pdf