You've been tasked with growing the online presence of your business, often by an enthusiastic boss, or by your own motivation to grow the business. But when people talk about online presence, what they actually tend to be talking about is “search engine marketing”; that is, the target for their online marketing efforts is to drive better rankings in Google, Bing and the others. We see a problem...

The Problem

These search engines are of course increasingly flooded with web pages and “content” - anything that is published on the internet is arguably “content” as this covers anything from articles through to videos and images.

According to the content marketing institute and other leading experts in the field of traditional online B2B marketing, “content” is going to be the differentiating factor in business to business online marketing efforts. That’s to say, over the coming years, you need to be publishing, and promoting not just any old bumpf, but high quality content - targeted at gaining the attention of your market.

"...That’s to say, over the coming years, you need to be publishing, and promoting not just any old bumpf, but high quality content..."

I think it says enough just in that “content marketing", which is an aspect of the “online marketing mix”, has it’s own institute; it’s a big movement - and the gap between those not doing it and those doing it well is getting ever bigger.

If you want to find out more about Content Marketing I'd suggest you check out our article: "Inbound, Content & Social Media Marketing: Explained" It explains in detail what Content Marketing is and where it fits in with your businesses goals. Check it out....but come back!

Content is Exploding, and it's not slowing up

The growth in the number of web pages published and live on the net over the past 10 years is enough proof that these predictions in the growth of content marketing are already underway; the scary prospect is, they are actually saying this is going to increase even more rapidly.

Add to that other content platforms such as social media and you’ve got content overload.

Infusionsoft did a great job of highlighting the scale of this in a recent article saying that “five exabytes is the approximate volume of content that was produced in all of history up until 2003. Five exabytes is also the approximate amount of content which has been produced daily since 2013, according to Newstex.”

If you’re wondering how much an exabyte is, it’s one billion billion, or a quintillion. It’s big.

So your content is like a needle in a haystack right?

Google is great, you can search for anything...however you can also publish anything, and those who are highly capable and have the budget to support great online marketing are ultimately those who will “win at online marketing” over the coming years.

And let's face it, Google searches EVERYTHING - you are getting results for news, articles, social media posts, whitepapers, global companies and organisations, trade publications - this list is long, and it’s growing.

What’s the big deal for B2B Businesses

Think in terms of what you the B2B customer of search engines really wants - sometimes you want something general, some information about how to purchase something, best practices etc. great - take what you can from the collective knowledge of the globe, at your desktop or on your mobile.

What about when it comes to searching for suppliers? That’s where content marketing helps bridge the gap between having a problem you need to solve - to finding a supplier. This theory is simple, but genius. Firstly you help the buyer solve their problems with a well crafted article that you've published on your website. Now you've got them on your website you encourage them to explore and understand what you do and how you can help them as a customer.

Yes - this is great for those who have the capability and knowledge to really kick ass at content marketing. But where does it leave the rest of us? Businesses without an entire marketing department, with a highly complex array of capabilities which can’t be summed up in a bunch of “keywords” for the big search engines to recognise.

"...Yes - this is great for those who have the capability and knowledge to really kick ass at content marketing...But what about the rest of us?"

The theory relies on the fact that buyers and engineers will actually find your content when searching. This can be a mammoth task for small businesses. As there's no hard and fast formula, there's guidelines combined with grit, determination, knowledge, money and time. Sheesh. Actually getting your awesome content in front of the right people can be more of a mountain than creating something awesome in the first place!

What about buyers & engineers trying to find you?

Do you think it’s any better for the customers who are trying to find you? Those who’ve really tried to find UK manufacturers with the required combination of capabilities will know exactly the struggle I am talking about. Having to sift through page after page of results to find a handful of results that are relevant, then after visiting each website feeling none-the-wiser about their actual capability or worse realising they were close - but not quite close enough.

So we arrived at the conclusion that “online marketing” to appease the big search engines is tough, it takes time, it takes money and it takes a lot of knowledge that needs to be continually maintained and updated. Equally, finding the suppliers you really need using these search engines can be frustrating, wasteful and in some cases futile as many small UK Manufacturers have decided not to engage in the “online marketing game” in a serious way.

So Is Online Marketing As We Know It Going to Die?

Are we saying Google is on it’s way out? No! They are a behemoth of an organisation who thrive on innovation for the masses...but it’s for the masses.

When businesses grow, they tend to install layers of management, or at least create departments who specialise in focusing on their part of the business. The reasons behind this can be both workload, and more often than not - expertise - as a greater depth of knowledge is required, more specialists are required, and the generalist can no longer satisfy the business needs.

Why did we just re-cap the obvious? Because we have re-imagined online marketing in a way that will undoubtedly divide opinion. Uh oh. Google is the generalist, it’s trying to please everyone with everything and most of the time it’s succeeding, but it’s time to departmentalise to satisfy the niches.

So what the heck do we actually mean by “re-imagined” online marketing?

We’re talking about the widespread growth of niche search engines for the purpose of promoting and finding capability. We’re purposeful in the use of the word “capability” - this is particularly important in the manufacturing industry; there are hundreds of different capabilities with millions of potential capability combinations. The target market would be so small, and the complexity would be so high that the likes of Google would justifiably argue, they’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Aren’t we just talking about going back to the “good old directory” - definitely not. Going backwards is...well...going backwards! And the truth is, many of the online directories out there on the internet today are used as pack-horses for the strategy of “link building” in traditional online marketing. Their search facilities are somewhere between poor, and making you want to cry with frustration. Don’t get me started on the categorisation methods and listing mechanisms.

"Conventional Directories...Their search facilities are somewhere between poor, and making you want to cry with frustration!"

How thoughtless is it to allow you to list yourself in “up to x number of categories for £x’s” regardless of whether you actually offer the services described in the category? Many online directories for the best part have become nothing more than a joke when it comes to generating real business themselves, filled with banner ads, promoted businesses, it’s the same “last century” formula.

So how could the future state of online marketing work, what would it look like?

So we say that to serve a niche as a supplier search engine, there’s a need for the power of a search engine, with the laser focus of a supplier list, and the expertise of an industry sector. Searchers could find the business connections required based on their capability, businesses could promote themselves to their industry using existing expertise without the need to get embroiled in the popularity contest that is traditional online marketing.

"...There’s a need for the power of a search engine, with the laser focus of a supplier list, and the expertise of an industry sector..."

This….sounds….interesting….but “traditional online marketing” won’t just disappear? We can’t just all refuse to play - the game will still go on surely? The game will go on, but here’s where the niche search engine “department” goes to work - the niche search engine providers play the game to get the attention of the right customers and deliver them to the niche search engine; in turn delivering them to businesses who have the capability they are seeking.

The niche search engine uses “traditional online marketing” to drive traffic and promote its entire membership - the difference here is, the niche search engine becomes one loud digital voice in a crowded room of many lower volume digital voices.

The popularity contest of traditional online marketing will still go on, and the niche search engine will be throwing punches with the rest of them. But something makes us think, when you have an entire industry on your side, the collective will inevitably win out over the individual - and so will give way to the evolution of what we all call “online marketing”.

The Key Takeaway Here:

You have limited resources, whether it be time or money. The definition of online marketing by which major search engine rankings are the goal, demands too much from your limited resources, with no guarantee of reward. Niche search engines allow you to use your limited resource to greater effect. We’re talking about getting more BANG for your BUCK! And who doesn’t want that?

Whether you’re engaged in social media, content marketing or anything in between, a niche search engine could be that vital ingredient that tips the online marketing game in your favour.

Are you tasked with marketing a UK Manufacturing company? If so, Manufacturing Network is the niche search engine built for you and your business. With a 30 day free trial, no payment details required and full support during your trial, you'd be missing out on an opportunity to transform the visibility of your business online. Enough pitching, check out some more info here.

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