Success is not solely based on great products and highly effective salespeople. Today, if manufacturers want to compete and thrive in the marketplace, they must make their product content a key priority. When managed effectively, product content attracts interest, informs buyers, and drives revenue. Many times it is the first and only touchpoint for buyers with your brand and, if relevant, accurate content is not available, they will look elsewhere.
Employ a Product Content Strategy
There are multiple components to effective product content management and, together, they help manufacturers develop better content, streamline content delivery to sales channels, and improve operational efficiency. The buying journey continues to evolve so, if you want to remain relevant and find new opportunities to grow your manufacturing business, concentrate your efforts on a three-prong product content strategy:
1. Create more compelling product content
To be able to create higher-converting content, your product data must be accurate, complete, exhaustive, and highly persuasive. It also needs to include all the content elements that buyers are looking for like descriptive copy, detailed specifications, product images, dimensions, instruction manuals, and how-to-videos.
A 2021 Deloitte survey of B2B decision-makers supports the need for compelling content. Survey respondents stressed the importance of accessing digital product information from suppliers and said the top three types of content they find essential are technical content (84%), relevant product content that speaks directly to their industry, applications, and the product’s value (77%), and pricing information that’s easy to access (66%).
Search engines are also on the lookout for high-quality content that relates to a user’s search. The more web pages they can connect to that search, the higher they will rank a website in the search results which, in turn, will help lead more buyers to that site and its products.
2. Streamline content syndication across your sales channels
Once you’ve curated and optimized your content, the next step is to share that content wherever your customers make a purchasing decision. These channels have been growing exponentially in recent years and may include distributor websites, buying groups, marketplaces, and other trading partner sites. However, these different sales channels may require custom SKU subsets, differing attributes, and specific delivery methods to meet their business specifications and audience. A product information management (PIM) solution helps you manage all these market- and channel-specific requests and deliver the custom content your trading partners need effortlessly and automatically. A PIM solution lets you easily tailor your content to the needs of your audiences so they receive the most useful data for their customers. This means SKUs that are categorized in appropriate taxonomies and content that speaks the right market language and uses the right tone of voice. It can also mean inclusion of contracted pricing.
3. Make your products more engaging and accessible on your own website
A great way to build deeper customer engagement is by re-platforming your own website to create a next-level eCommerce experience, one that offers better product content, trusted, real-time information, and industry-specific efficiency tools.
An upgraded eCommerce site enables you to showcase your entire product catalog and house all your content – from MSDS sheets and user manuals to product videos and warranty information – in one location for easy customer access. Along with great content, your site should offer an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to navigate and shop your site. Sophisticated onsite search tools like auto-complete suggestions help facilitate faster, more accurate search results, and a navigation bar with faceted attributes lets buyers quickly drill down to a specific item or subset.
Additionally, customer-centric shopping tools like an online RFQ, product comparison feature, favorites lists, and quick order pad are must-have capabilities, as are alternate payment options like punchout and payment gateways. The easier you make it to shop your products on your website, the more chances you’ll have to convert site visits to sales.
Start Using Your Content to Increase Conversions
Your product content can either make or break a sale. Invest in tools and technology that simplify the way you build, manage, and share your content across all relevant owned and non-owned selling channels so you can grow your business and your revenue. As the leader in connected product content and commerce, Unilog delivers the product information management, content delivery, and feature-rich eCommerce solutions manufacturers need with the flexibility and control they want. Contact us to see the limitless possibilities connected product content and commerce can offer you.