Industrial and Manufacturing Marketing Blog

9 Must-Have Content Assets for Successful Industrial Websites

Compiling any kind of list is always risky because we all have our own preferences and there is no way someone else’s list can satisfy everyone. This is my list of “must-have” content assets that I advise my clients to add to their industrial Websites. It is definitely a two-way street; my industrial clients also often request many of these same content assets.

The usual content marketing assets such as product data sheets, application notes, case studies, whitepapers and blog posts are a given and expected if you want your website to be found in search engines (SEO) and engage your target audience of engineers and industrial buyers. Take a look at my post, “Content Auditing and Mapping it to the Industrial Buy Cycle” for more on how and when to use these content assets.

Must-have content assets that persuade industrial buyers to take action

  1. Online product configurators
  2. “How to Order” part number builder
  3. Parametric part number search application
  4. Valve sizing programs
  5. Online maintenance data management, tracking legacy installation and managing spare parts inventory
  6. 2D CAD Drawings and 3D CAD Models
  7. Online interactive and real-time design tools
  8. Cross reference guides
  9. Evaluation and engineering kits

What I’ve listed above will move your site visitors closer to the procurement stage (RFQ) of the industrial buy cycle.

I have deliberately left out one content asset from my list because it deserves its own listing/mention and that is engineering related videos. I consider video marketing to be part of content marketing. Videos when done right are very effective at quickly communicating complex ideas, techniques and concepts to engineers.

John Hayes, President of ENGINEERING.com has authored a very informative eBook called Video Marketing for Engineers. This chart from his eBook should convince you of the usefulness of videos for marketing to engineers. (You can download the eBook from here)

Video marketing for engineers

What is the most common mistake that industrial marketers make when using videos? John said it better than I can…

“The biggest and most common mistake we see in video marketing is hoping one video will do everything. Engineers don’t ‘see, click, buy’ on the Internet. Instead, they ‘investigate, consider alternatives, specify.’”

What other industrial content marketing assets have you used successfully?

Achinta Mitra

Achinta Mitra calls himself a “marketing engineer” because he combines his engineering education and an MBA with 36 years of practical industrial marketing experience. You want an expert with an insider’s knowledge and an outsider’s objectivity who can point you in the right direction immediately. That's Achinta. He is the Founder of Tiecas, Inc., an industrial marketing consultancy in Houston, Texas. Read Achinta's story here.
Leave a Reply to Achinta Mitra Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments:

  1. Hi Achinta,

    If you had to choose 4 or 5 of these that are most important, which would they be?

    Thank you for your insight!

    • Danielle,

      It would depend on the situation.

      In your case, seeing how Versa Valves is a manufacturer of valves for various media and industries, I would say 1, 2, 4 and 6 would be big time savers for Design and/or Process Engineers.

  2. Hi Achinta,
    I agree that these are the must-have content assets. Where would you place things like blog posts, case studies and white papers?

    • Hi John,

      Thanks for adding your comments. For more on how to match the content assets you’ve mentioned to the stages of the industrial buying cycle, see my post “Is Your Industrial Content Marketing Reaching a Dead End?” I have included charts from research done by Frost & Sullivan and GlobalSpec.

Post Categories

Recent Posts

Tiecas-Industrial Marketing & Consulting, Houston, TX

Industrial Marketing Today is an integral part of Tiecas, Inc., a Houston-based industrial marketing agency. We’ve been in business since 1987, serving the marketing needs of manufacturers, distributors, and engineering companies from various industries.

©  2024 Tiecas, Inc.  and Achinta Mitra.  All Rights Reserved.
Contact Us Privacy Policy Site Map