Marketing can seem complex, frustrating, and may even feel like a waste of money. But the truth is, when handled the right way and with the right marketing plan, it can prove an extremely effective investment to grow your business.

Identifying what methods work best for your industry is an important first step to reducing complexity and frustration. And taking the time to understand your own company and learning the differences between different industries matters. A lot.

At Kokopelli, we recognize that marketing changes across different industries. As a result, we believe that one-size-fits-all marketing is doomed to fail. That’s why we encourage you to discover what makes your business unique in order to find the right marketing mix to drive results for you.

Industry Specific Marketing

You may be wondering whether some strategies are more effective for specific industries over others? Or does everything depend entirely on the company itself? Both thought processes are correct.

For example, although social media marketing is a great way to reach consumers for retail companies, it’s not nearly as effective for those in industrial organizations. Still, that doesn’t mean no industrial companies could benefit from this form of marketing.

We are constantly exposed to various marketing and advertising platforms and channels. You may be wondering which ones are right for your business, and whether it’s  worth spending your money on.

Trends in Marketing Spending Between Industries

According to a report done by Deloitte, Duke The Florida School of Business and the American Marketing Association in 2019, market budget growth across industries was expected to stay strong.

A follow up survey showed that the marketing budgets of nearly every industry in our country remained steady in 2020 with noticeable growth in digital marketing over traditional advertising. Additionally, looking ahead, the American Marketing Association predicts that sales and marketing will look very different in 2021 with brand building taking center stage. This means that even if it’s not a lot, you should probably take advantage of some new marketing strategies before you get left behind. 

Advertising and Marketing Spends by Industry

Knowing how to best use your marketing dollars is key to getting the most mileage from them. No two industries are alike. And how marketing budgets are ultimately spent is most definitely driven by the nature of your business, the market, and consumer behavior. 

According to a report from Forrester Research by 2021 chief marketing officers will spend nearly $119 Billion on search marketing, display advertising, online video, and email marketing. And over the next five years, while search is expected to lose share to display and social advertising, video will scale. This data reflects a common trend across industries of quality over quantity that will “reintroduce human intervention into programmatic ad buy, turn marketers into growth hackers, and put long-tail publishers out of business.”

Broken down further, investment in paid search, display advertising, social media advertising, online video advertising, and email marketing is predicted to account for nearly 50% of all advertising by 2021.

Per www.webstrategiesinc.com , marketing activities that generated the best ROI as reported by 2,500 digital marketers across industries revealed the following:

Marketing for Your Industry

So what methods work for what industries? A 2016 study done by Bizible showed that many industries have already found which channels work better for them.

For instance, in manufacturing, email marketing and marketing techniques used for trade shows and conferences are the way to go. These methods allow manufacturers to not only reach new buyers, but they also help to keep current consumers up to date with what’s new and relevant for that manufacturing company.

Meanwhile, in healthcare, everyone from providers to medical practices to manufacturers of medical equipment and services to insurers have found paid search to be one of their best marketing techniques. This allows organizations to advertise directly to the audience they are trying to target. And similar to manufacturing, the healthcare sector is discovering that budgeting towards marketing for conferences and trade shows has also been effective.

By researching competitors and understanding what normally gives your industry the best return on investment (ROI), you can begin to determine which marketing channels will bring you the best value for your dollar. 

B2B vs. B2C Marketing Spending Trends

Digging even deeper, marketing spending appears to be far higher at B2C than B2B companies, per a report put out by MarketingCharts in 2018, which showed that B2C product companies had allocated 16% of their firm-wide budgets to marketing, compared to 9.2% for B2B Product companies. Similarly, on the services side, B2C companies allocated almost twice as much of their budgets to marketing as B2B companies (14.9% and 8.9%, respectively).

And while an increasing rate of B2Cs are relying on social media to meet their marketing goals, many B2Bs are just waking up to this option as more of a necessity than a choice anymore as a result of the global transition and push toward digital transformation brought about by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s safe to say that up until recently, most B2Bs chose traditional marketing channels and methods like content marketing, personalized calls or emails, and newsletters, retargeting ads, and direct mail campaigns over digital ads. One reason being that B2Bs were less likely to go with digital tactics if their company hadn’t yet undergone a digital transformation. However, with the turn of events brought to us by 2020, we may very well see more and B2Bs moving into the digital age and using digital tactics in order to compete.  

Marketing For Your Organization

Now that you’ve done your research and you  have an idea of what channels generally work for your industry, you’ll need to think about what sets you apart from your competition. Start by asking: 

• Why would a customer want to use you/buy from you?  

• What kind of brand are you and how do you portray that to your audience?  

• Are you marketing B2B or B2C?  

The answers to these questions will play a major role in developing your overall marketing plan.

Finding a Marketing Agency for Your Industry

At Kokopelli, we believe good full-service agencies can work with clients across a broad spectrum of industries. Great agencies are excellent problem solvers—a skill set that can be applied to almost any industry. In fact, your marketing agency should be able to take lessons learned from other industries and then apply that for you.

Having worked with companies throughout different industries, we can appreciate how important it is, albeit how difficult it can be, to create an effective marketing plan. However, trying to start or grow your business without one is like running through an unfamiliar forest in the middle of night, hoping to find the secret cave containing the hidden treasure.

We want you to think of your marketing plan as your map.

A guide that will help you navigate through the unfamiliar and difficult terrain that comes with doing business no matter the industry. Although complex to create, a strategic marketing plan will keep you from making costly mistakes by helping to inform management decisions, establish a clear picture of your business’s identity, and set goals that you can then communicate to your target markets.

So, while marketing can seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be if you consider:   

• What outcome(s) are you looking for?  

• How much are you willing to spend?  

• How do you plan to reach your goals?

Once you can answer these questions, taking the next steps won’t seem quite as scary.