BY MICHAEL MCCLELLAN - www.plexusmarketing.com 

GrowthANSWERS and Plexus Marketing Group, Inc. recently completed a qualitative survey of Georgia manufacturers which focused on which marketing strategies and tactics they used and found most successful, and which “Growth Gaps” were the most compelling for their companies.

Several key themes were identified relative to the marketing strategies employed by the 38 manufacturers surveyed:  (a) the importance of niche marketing (especially among manufacturers with revenues of $10 million or less per year); (b) the importance of “word of mouth” and “referral” marketing; and (c ) the relatively high degree of variability regarding how the economy was affecting the various types of manufacturers surveyed (which appeared to be affected not only by the particular industry segment they were in, but also by the marketing and selling strategies and tactics used).

The most frequently mentioned marketing tactics used were:  (a) websites, search engine optimization (SEO) and email marketing; (b) direct mail and catalog marketing; (c) tradeshows, (d) print and trade media advertising, and (e) personal selling (as a marketing tactic).

Two “Growth Gap” areas were of key interest to the respondents:  the “Prospect Gap”, which is related to a company’s ability to attract more qualified prospects, and the “Margin Gap”, which relates to a company’s ability to get paid more for their products. 

GrowthANSWERS’ whitepaper on the survey results will be available in early December 2008.  It not only provides more detail on the above findings, but also presents several recommendations on how small to mid sized manufacturers can address the Growth Gaps they find the most compelling. 

For example, one of the reasons that niche oriented manufacturers find the “Prospect Gap” of key interest is because they have a limited pool of current and prospective customers.  However, the “Customer Gap” and “Expansion Gap” should be of equal interest in these situations because these address how to better create customers from this limited pool of prospects, and how to develop new product and service offerings that result in deeper and longer term relationships with these customers (which also reinforce the company’s position in its market niche).

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.growthanswers.com/articles/GAManufactureSurvey1208.pdf

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