Influencer marketing for manufacturers
In this interview, Joseph Lewin of CADENAS USA discusses with Eddie Saunders Jr. of Flex Machine Tools how industrial marketers can use influencer marketing in the industrial space.
Flex Machine Tools manufactures CNC machines, flex arms and other machine tool solutions. Marketing at Flex Machine Tools is a bit unorthodox, which led the company to launch an influencer program for its machines.
Is influencer marketing a viable strategy for manufacturers?
The short answer is yes, influencer marketing is viable in manufacturing. For many industrial marketers, it sounds a little unorthodox and maybe even crazy. But Eddie Saunders Jr. and his team at Flex Machine Tools have experienced firsthand the effectiveness of influencer marketing in the manufacturing industry.
"I want to say this loud and clear to anyone who will listen," Eddie said. "They're probably scared. You may think I'm crazy, and you're right about both, but is absolutely doable . And you have to think about it. It may be a newer concept, but people have been using influencers in their marketing strategies for years, whether it's through celebrity endorsements or things like that."
The word "influencer" seems intimidating in B2B (business-to-business) marketing in general, but especially in the world of manufacturing. Manufacturing is typically five to ten years behind B2B marketing and even further behind B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing. For decades, many major B2B brands have been using celebrities and other "influencers" in their marketing. So the idea isn't new, but it's not as widespread as the value of the strategy deserves.
Marketers like Gary Vaynerchuck have used their influencer status to grow their brands. Some companies have hired employees with a strong personal brand to bring credibility to the marketplace.
Influencer marketing is still rare in the B2B sector, but it is becoming more common.
Eddie continues, "And the manufacturing industry is no exception to this particular rule. There are plenty of content creators who are speaking directly to audiences every day in a way that brands can't do directly. So not only is it doable, but I think it' s very strategic and probably one of the most underrated marketing and branding opportunities in industry marketing as a whole."
Influencer videos are great material for sales teams to share with customers. They are great social proof and answer customer questions authentically.
What is an example of influencers in the industrial marketing space?
Flex Machine Tools works with Abom79, a machining influencer, on YouTube. In the two years of working with Abom79, the company has achieved over 1.5 million video views. These are not general views. Instead, the audience is precisely targeted to Flex Machine Tools' target group, as the influencer they work with publishes specific machining content.
Eddie Saunders Jr. of Flex Machine Tools says, "Well, I mean, what's so compelling to me about the conversation is our own direct experience."
The cost of achieving the same number of views via paid media would be much higher than providing Flex Machine Tools' equipment to the influencer. Not only would the cost be higher to reach that specific audience, but the audience trusts the influencer more than a message from Flex Machine Tools.
Eddie continued, "If you show me another way you can get over a million and a half video views for less than thousands and thousands of dollars, then you've got my attention. But until then, I would argue that anyone who says this isn't a viable strategy is missing a huge opportunity to make your mark and tell your story in a way you probably don't even know how to tell it, to an audience you're obviously not even targeting."
Imagine you have a content creator with an audience that regularly shoots videos featuring your products. This is a great branding opportunity. Your team doesn't have to come up with the creative idea, write the ad and create the video. Even if the talent is in-house, the cost of producing a video adds up. Influencer marketing significantly lowers creative and production costs, especially if the influencer is creating ongoing content with your products.
How can I work with influencers as an industrial marketer?
Let's face it, manufacturing companies are not known for forward-thinking marketing. That's a blessing and a curse. The downside is that it can be difficult to get buy-in for something that isn't standard industrial marketing. The upside? Unorthodox marketing can lead to success much faster in the manufacturing industry than in other industries.
If you're ready to try an atypical marketing strategy in the manufacturing industry, buckle up and get ready to get great results with influencer marketing.
Steps to get started with influencer marketing in the manufacturing industry:
- Do your research
- Develop a strategy
- Get approval from the company management
- Contact the right influencer(s)
- Decide on terms with the influencer
- Analyze the results, make changes
Research influencers in your field
A solid influencer strategy starts with good research. Without a solid understanding of influencers in your industry and what works for other brands, you won't get far.
One way to start your research is to use hashtags on different social channels. The goal is to find out where the conversation is already happening and which people are leading the conversation. Video creators are fantastic, but making influencers isn't limited to YouTube. You can find influencers on many platforms and channels.
Try searching hashtags to find manufacturing influencers on these social media channels:
- YouTube
- TikTok
Here are some examples of hashtags in manufacturing:
#machining on YouTube
#welding on Instagram
#iiot on Tiktok
#industry40 on LinkedIn
You can start with broad terms like the ones above and look for people who have high engagement with their content that comes up repeatedly. You can also find more niche hashtags in the posts of users you find with the general hashtags.
You can also search for niche communities for producing influencers. A few places you can search for niche communities are:
- Facebook groups
- LinkedIn groups
- Discord
- Quora
Create a list of influencers that you think are a good fit for your niche. These influencers don't necessarily have to have millions of followers. It can be beneficial to find individuals with an engaged, medium-sized niche audience.
Think of influencers as people who are influential in the niche group you want to reach, rather than superstars with a million followers. It's about reaching the right audience within your means, not about reaching the most people or collecting the most likes.
It's important not to chase influence. The person with the biggest audience or the most likes is not always the best partner. Again, it's not about finding the most relevant influencer, but the RIGHT influencer for your products, audience and budget.
Look for companies in the industry that are running an influencer campaign to see what works in the industry. Also understand how influencer marketing works in B2C marketing and other B2B marketing areas.
Develop an influencer strategy for the industry
If you want to develop an influencer strategy for the industry, it's helpful to reverse engineer the process.
Eddie Saunders Jr. says, "If you intentionally reverse engineer the process and get out your Simon Sinek, if you will, and say, 'I'm going to start with the why. We need to figure out why. Why are we even doing this? Why are we looking at an influencer? And also, what do we want to achieve? Who do we want to appeal to?
"Because in reality, there are so many different types of influencers, even in production. You'd be surprised because although we have a specific person that we work with and partner with in machining and manufacturing, we also have a great partnership with someone in welding."
It's important to find influencers with high engagement in your niche and find out what content they create that attracts attention. Create a plan of which influencers you want to work with, what audience they reach, how much engagement they get, etc.
Use this information to create a plan for working with the manufacturer. Envision what type of content you would ask them to create, what your company is willing to provide them, and what your expectations are for the content.
When planning an influencer strategy for the industry, it's best to start small. Which audience do you want to reach first, and what is the lowest barrier to entry to reach that audience via influencers?
Write down your plan for the first few months and map out a way to scale your efforts once you've proven the value of your strategy.
Example of an influencer strategy in production:
- Choose an influencer you want to work with
- Decide what content you expect from the influencer
- Set KPIs for success in Q1 of the program
- Get in touch with the influencer and define the terms of the collaboration
- Plan how you want to expand the collaboration with this influencer in Q2 and Q3
- Create a plan for engaging other influencers in Q3 and Q4 with success
Get executive buy-in for your manufacturing influencer program
One of the most important steps is to get buy-in from your leadership team to launch an influencer program. It's important to show your team some examples of what's currently working in the industry and compare the cost of working with an influencer versus creating the same type of content on your own.
It's often easier to get buy-in for a low-investment, high-reward "pilot" program. If you want to give three different influencers $300,000 for customized equipment to get started, that's a big challenge and quite risky. Instead, find a way to start with a smaller piece of equipment or less expensive products; it's easier to get a "yes" from your team when the risks are low.
Demonstrate how the program can be scaled if it goes well with the initial pilot program. It's critical to define KPIs with your team early on and set the vision for the intangible KPIs that will build your brand in the marketplace. You may not get a flood of leads with the first post. But there is value in getting your target audience to see your products in action.
Share the value of having a niche audience talking about your products in the comments of a YouTube video, as opposed to promising leads.
One KPI to consider is when your sales team hears prospects mention the influencer or reference content they've seen online.
Connect with the right influencer(s)
You've got a plan and approval from senior management. Now it's time to reach out to the top influencers you've chosen.
It's much easier to approach influencers if you've been engaging with their content for a while. When they produce new content, be sure to get notified and leave a thoughtful comment on each new video/post.
They are more likely to respond if they recognize your account when you reach out to them. Personalization is key to getting a response.
Example of reaching out to a potential influencer from the manufacturing industry
Hi Amber,
Your video "How to weld seams" was excellent. The section where you broke down your process helped me understand how to set up my workflow the next time I weld a seam.
Have you ever considered working with sponsors?
We are looking to partner with a creator in the welding field. Your content is excellent and I think you would be an ideal partner.
Are you willing to talk about a possible partnership?
Very well,
Joseph Lewin
P.S. I can't believe the comment from TrollzRUs. You have lost your mind!
Decide on terms with your potential partner
Remember that you are offering something of value. Your products have value AND give the creator new content. You can provide them with equipment or products that they might not be able to afford without you.
Remember, you don't always have to offer influencers money. Depending on the size of their audience, whether they are already working with sponsors, the value of the products you offer them and your expectations of the content, you may not need to offer financial compensation.
During the initial conversation, ask a potential production influencer questions about their goals with their channel.
- What is their long-term vision?
- Are they currently making money from their audience?
- How do they decide what content to create?
- Would your products make their life easier?
- How will their audience react to your products?
Try to figure out the influencer's underlying problems and connect your products to the solution for that particular problem. The challenges could be related to how your products facilitate their workflow, engage their audience or fund their business.
Every influencer has different challenges. Your job is to figure out how partnering with you can help them achieve their goals.
Analyze the results and make changes
After you've launched your first campaign, it's time to analyze the results.
- Did the influencer's audience get value from the videos?
- Was there an increase or decrease in engagement?
- Was the response from the influencer's audience neutral?
- How many views did the content receive? Did you expect this?
- How was the relationship with the influencer? Were they easy to work with?
- Would the influencer in production want to work with you in the future?
In marketing, things rarely go the way we plan them. Take your learnings and change your strategy. Maybe you need to move up the timeline for working with other influencers, or you need to move the timeline back. You may have hit the nail on the head with your message. If so, you should keep it. If your message was too shallow, change it and try again.
Most likely, you won't get influencer marketing right on your first try. By starting small and scaling, you can learn from low-cost mistakes, embrace unorthodox industry marketing and benefit from a unique approach.
Finally, a word of wisdom from Eddie Saunders Jr:
"Influencer marketing in the industrial space is cool. You've already taken the first step by recognizing that it's cool and that it's a really undervalued opportunity right now. It really, really is. So when we think about influencer marketing, I would just say go on your social media and scroll. I would say the first step is to pay more attention."
Influencer marketing is a powerful but underutilized strategy in the manufacturing sector. Eddie Saunders Jr. of Flex Machine Tools highlights how working with influencers in the industry can drive targeted engagement and brand visibility at a lower cost than traditional methods.
For industrial marketers using 3Dfindit, engaging influencers to showcase CAD data or products can significantly increase your reach and credibility. Don't miss out on this opportunity to stand out in a competitive market.
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