Make engineering experts the stars of your content marketing program

It’s an annual conundrum for manufacturing companies. How do you make your content marketing program more engaging and results-oriented for the audience you’re most trying to reach, i.e., engineers and industrial buyers?

According to a recent article on customerthink.com, you need to create content that engineers care about and trust. And who do engineers trust most? Their engineering peers at manufacturing companies.

ENGINEERING.com and TREW Marketing recently conducted a survey to determine who engineers trust most with content. Engineers have the highest trust (4.5 out of 6) in content written by an engineering expert at a vendor company, followed by industry analysts (4.3) and published editorial pieces in industry publications, print or online (3.9).

It makes sense, doesn’t it? As a marketer, you probably trust your peers in the marketing field more than anybody else in your industry.

What kind of content resonates best with engineers?

According to another survey cited on customerthink.com, engineers want content that:

• Is Technically accurate (98 percent say it’s highly or moderately important)
• Includes detailed diagrams and images (94 percent)
• Is current (94 percent)

Factors cited as less important to engineers include content that:

• Is easy to read (90 percent)
• Is professionally designed (82 percent)
• Contains sources that are well cited (71 percent)
• Includes quotes or testimonials from users, vendors or industry leaders (45 percent)

What does this mean to you, the B2B marketer? It means you need to involve your engineers, your subject matter experts, in your content marketing program. Maybe they don’t do the actual writing of the content pieces, but they can serve as invaluable resources and authors of content that rings true with their peers and your target audience. For example, you could do a short Q&A and write it up as a blog post. Or perhaps do a video interview. Those are just a couple of ways to engage your engineers that won’t take up too much of their time.

The content you develop can be used on your website, and distributed through social media, public relations efforts and even paid media. Having a documented, integrated content marketing strategy really helps maximize your return on investment.

So as you plan your 2017 content marketing program, remember to engage your engineering experts and create content that resonates with their peers. It will help you achieve the kind of results you’re looking for.