Manufacturing took a massive hit during the pandemic, but the industry is recovering slowly. That’s good news for the sales department, which may have had to cut costs along the way. Still, if you want to improve your profit margin, you’ll have to modernize your sales approach.
The Best Ways to Improve Profit Margins in Manufacturing
In such a fast-paced, competitive industry, manufacturing companies should work to improve their profits across the board. Here’s how your company can do just that.
1. Find a Way to Measure Your Overall Business Performance
Manufacturing companies can improve their margins by marketing, but if you can’t monitor your wins and losses, you won’t be able to duplicate them.
Marketing automation platforms, like HubSpot, and analytics software, like Google Analytics, can offer actionable data you can use.
Software can also provide insight into your most effective traffic sources. If you focus on these traffic sources, you’re more likely to sell to an audience that needs your services.
2. Invest in Reliable, Fast Delivery, Especially for Critical Parts
Although fast delivery companies have a reputation for being expensive, many small business couriers will save you big time if you’re mindful of your overheads. After all, a same-day delivery service doesn’t just improve customer satisfaction rates; it also increases customer loyalty.
That loyalty will pay for itself, but not in the short term. To make sure you improve your profit margins in the long term, provide 1/2-day delivery for local businesses and customers for now.
3. Focus on Lowering Your Customer Acquisition Costs
The average customer acquisition cost for small eCommerce businesses is around $58.64. The more customers you serve, the higher your costs. Since manufacturing companies often acquire a lot of business at once, you could have months where your profit margin is non-existent.
As a positive, you can lower your customer acquisition costs by investing in inbound marketing, issuing A/B tests for landing pages, and limiting your social media marketing channels.
4. Automate Most (Not All) Of Your Sales Process
Generating warm leads isn’t easy, but you need to do it at some point to scale your business and increase your profits. Instead of manually scanning through LinkedIn, try automation tools that make lead scoring less tedious. Automation software frees up your time and money.
While you can automate most of your processes, you can’t completely rely on it. You’ll still need to speak to your customers directly and build relationships across your network to earn a lead.
5. Improve Your Online Presence Through SEO
Building a brand takes time, but if you’re able to connect with your customers through it, you’ll make more sales for less. What’s more, customers don’t trust companies that have a shady online presence because it signals to them that you’re not experienced or personable.
Start improving your brand by improving your SEO. With an SEO keyword strategy, more people will find your page when they look up terms like “manufacturing,” your state, or your products.
6. Use Content Marketing to Increase Website Traffic
Content marketing is a low-cost, effective way to bring more people to your website. If you create valuable blog posts for your customers, you increase the likelihood they’ll use your services. If you want to be a voice in your space, you have to make actionable content.
If you want to get your customers’ email addresses, which are vital for marketing, create gated content. Your visitors can unlock your highly valued content if they input their emails.
