Anyone Doing Any "offline" Marketing for Manufacturing/Engineering Companies?

I've got a journey thread going about my efforts into site rentals/lead generation, and the idea is to use it to get seed money for me starting my own recruitment firm targeting engineering/manufacturing firms. I'd like to try double up on this by using this method to help drive sales for them - would be an "easy in" when I get into recruiting for them.

However I am not sure how much online work actually helps them generate sales. I know someone in sales in the industry and I'll be tapping him up for some knowledge in a couple of weeks (I'm in France on holiday for the next fortnight) but I thought I'd ask on here and see if anyone has had any dealings with this sort of firm.

I have seen it mentioned as an "untapped niche" on a few IM forums, but it seems few people are able to do much with it. Anyone here do anything in that area? If so would love a bit of advice, even if generalist as obviously people wouldnt want to give too much away (I'm in the UK and intend to stay targeting that sector, so wouldnt be treading on the toes of anyone in the US/Aus/Continental Europe, etc)

Would the Internet produce leads for companies in, for example, the automation sector? Or are there any specific angles of attack people might advise?

My initial targets are the construction firms, and I can get pretty easily how I might add value and sales there. Less clear on the engineering/manufacturing sectors.

I am wondering the same thing. I am curious about whether engineering/manufacturing/construction firms would need ORM or not.

You need to do proper keyword research.

Anywhere there is keyword traffic there are people looking for your product. You just have to learn enough about the industry to find keywords that people in the industry use.

The best way to start is to ask the business to sit down and think of as many terms as possible that someone would use to find their products, without a geo location in the search term. (Saw sharpening as opposed to Houston saw sharpening)

Take each of these keywords and run them thru your keyword tool as the root search term by itself. Look for action keywords that show low to medium competition, but have people running ads for them. These keywords are so profitable that everyone assumes that ranking for them is not possible so they buy adwords and don't even try.

At some time, your brand may pull search traffic, but most likely not at first.

You are only going to be able at first to target people who are looking for your product or information about the use of that product to see if it fits their needs. You are not going to get the business of someone who already has a provider or supplier. If they become dissatisfied they will search for a replacement.

This is who you target because they are actively looking for what you offer.

The best way to target industry is to treat it like a REP management job and use content marketing.

You need to create as many online entities as you can, and use the properties to address one aspect of your product. Create one web2.0 property for each keyword. White papers, infographics, and project summaries can go on these sites as well as other sites like Issuu.com.

Look at your keywords also for informational queries that you can rank for that showcase your business, you want target these too, because that is more information out there for your customers to see your name attached to your industry.

Do not try to hide the fact that these sites are related, make them about the same company, but different aspects of that company. Use the company NAP on each site. You might build a weebly site about how your new concrete reinforcing polymer is better for highway repairs, and tumbr site about how your crews are trained in safety and applications of the products you offer, and another site about your underlayment fabric for road building. They must all be unique, related, and high quality, your customers will be reading them.

The peope you are targeting will check you out. The more they see your name mentioned with the other sites (if they are related to the industry) the more confidence they will have in you. Don't forget linkedin.

You have to be careful about the content of these sites, these people are pros in this business and you will not bullshit them.

Also don't go nuts here, you are promoting your business, not doing BH SEO.

Try to get your company on a business related platform if they are available, for instance craftsmen, home repair folks can use Houzz.com