Ten powerful takeaway ideas specifically for manufacturing marketers from Content Marketing World 2014.

1. Top 10 Takeaways for
Manufacturing Companies
Content Marketing World 2014
Bruce McDuffee
Principal, Knowledge Marketing for Industry (KMI)

2. #1 Place educational content ahead of
product to win.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Those manufacturing
companies able to embrace
the concept of content
marketing by engaging with
educational content and
putting product second will kill
it in their competitive markets.

3. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
#2 It’s about authenticity.
Your content must be
authentic. Don’t pretend to
educate when you really want
to promote your product. Be
blatant and authentic. It’s ok
to promote your product. It’s
great to educate your
audience. Don’t mix the two
together.

4. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
#3 Cover the basics first.
Build a strong, solid foundation
before you go off and start
creating content. Write a
proper marketing plan. It’s
hard, but it will pay
tremendous dividends.

5. #4 Express and agree on a Content Marketing Mission.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Content should focus on a stated
and specific objective. The
objective should be from the
perspective of the people in the
target audience. They want to
know “what’s in it for me?” and
“why should I care?”. Answer with
your mission statement.

6. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
#5 Find your content sweet spot.
Your sweet spot is the intersection
of a pain or passion common
amongst your target audience
with the particular expertise of
your firm. It is best if this
expertise is not the production,
but is the supporting knowledge
of the experts.

7. #6 Product marketing fails where educational
marketing sails.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Product marketing
(promoting the features of
your product) does not work
to engage with your target
audience. Test this yourself.
Promotion of educational
content will always do better
than product content.

8. #7 People don’t care about your product, your
company or your CEO.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Even the people who will
eventually buy your product
don’t care about the product.
They care about what it means
to their situation. When you
unlock the answer to what they
care about, you’ve unlocked the
secret code to getting their
attention, trust and most likely
their business.

9. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
#8 Become the ‘go to’ resource.
If you are able to position
your firm as the ‘go to’
resource for a problem
plaguing your audience, you
win. It’s that simple. Give
the people in your target
market what they want,
when they want it and how
they want it.

10. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
#9 Get TOMA and go to the bank.
Educational content marketing
gets you TOMA (top of mind
awareness) and credibility. With
TOMA and credibility, when the
day comes around and a person
in your target audience is ready
to buy, they buy from you and
might even pay a bit more.

11. #10 The window of opportunity for manufacturers
is wide open.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Manufacturing executives are
laggards when it comes to
adopting modern marketing
ideas like ‘content marketing’.
The manufacturing companies
who support educational content
and who elevate marketing to a
strategic pillar of the business will
take market share from the
laggards. The question remains,
will it be you or the other guy
who seizes the opportunity.

12. #CMWorld@brucemcduffee
Resources
• Content Marketing Institute
• MFG Industry Benchmark Report
• Essentials of CM Strategy – 36 Qs
• CM Playbook – 24 Epic Ideas
• David Meerman Scott
• Gobbledygook Manifesto
• Bruce McDuffee - KMI
• Webinar Toolkit
• The Manufacturer’s Growth
Manifesto
• Velocity Partners
• B2B CM Strategy Checklist
• B2B Marketing Manifesto
• Crap – Single Biggest Threat
• Trew Marketing
• Marketing to Engineers
• Marian Burk Wood
• The Marketing Plan Handbook

13. I can help you get TOMA in your business.
Knowledge Marketing for Industry (KMI) is a freelance consulting firm where I
help manufacturing companies achieve top of mind awareness and credibility in
their market space by educating the people in their target audience.
Manufacturing companies I have been able to help have achieved as much as
30% annual growth rates.
Please contact me if you would like to discuss educational content marketing,
generating TOMA & credibility and taking market share from your laggard
competitors.
#CMWorld@brucemcduffee
www.knowledgmktg.com
bruce@knowledgemktg.com