Shifting from Survival Mode to Growth Mode

While the overall U.S. manufacturing industry remains in contraction, a positive sign over recent months has been growing sales sentiment in the electronics manufacturing sector. The market saw a seven-point improvement in August over July figures according to recent sales trend survey data. Coupled with the overall factory index inching up and significantly more construction to support electronics manufacturing, experts are hopeful that Q4-23 will be a turning point for the electronics manufacturing industry.

With extensive sales cycles and extreme competition from overseas companies, electronics manufacturers have spent much of the past year trying to generate more demand and compete for new business. But with demand increasing, the strategy may soon need to pivot from competing for survival to competing for growth. An increased focus on electronics industry SEO (search engine optimization), among other efforts, will be crucial to identifying — and winning — those new opportunities.

Why Electronics Manufacturing Industry SEO Matters

There are a number of key reasons why SEO should be part of your marketing and sales strategy as the market continues to shift. Just a few of these include:

  • It supports how people look for solutions — While relationship-building, trade shows, and other more personal efforts are still important, people simply look for solutions online more than ever. With an electronics industry SEO strategy, you’re targeting those valuable prospects’ searches to show up in search results — positioning your business as a potential solution to their problems and needs.
  • It educates and delights your audience — Closely related to the above, the goal of an electronics industry SEO strategy is to answer questions, educate your audience, and provide a delightful experience. The result is increased trust in your business, which increases the chance of the prospect choosing to work with you.
  • It produces results continuously — SEO is a marketing strategy that continues to drive benefits long after content creation or optimization work has been done. One piece of organic content (such as a blog, case study, ebook, etc.) will continue to earn traffic and conversions, provided that it’s kept fresh and optimized. This makes it a great foundational element in your broader marketing strategy.

Why It Can’t Be Just Electronics Industry SEO

While SEO stands to produce significant results for any electronics manufacturing services provider, such a program will work best when it’s coupled with additional methods and strategies. This is because SEO is passive — it’s meant to strategically position your business when someone executes a search you’re targeting. However, it’s not an active method for pursuing new business relationships.

New business development is critical to growing sales pipelines and increasing brand awareness. A proper blend of these approaches — referred to as outbound and inbound marketing — ensures that you’re proactively pursuing new relationships while allowing prospects to find you when they’re researching solutions or are ready to request quotes.

Additionally, sales cycles in the electronics manufacturing services industry are extensive, often lasting well beyond one year. While SEO will help to backfill your pipeline with opportunities, electronics manufacturers can’t afford to sit around and wait for prospects to find them. A structured front-end sales approach actively pursues new prospects in industries, geographic markets, and revenue thresholds that you specify.

Get the Best of Both Worlds with Athena

At Athena, we partner with electronics manufacturing service providers, printed circuit board assembly companies, and custom components manufacturers to help them build and execute a refined, repeatable sales process that drives revenue growth. Leveraging our holistic approach, advanced technology solutions, and relentless commitment to achieving results, our team offers the experience — and the proven success — you need to achieve your growth goals.

Contact us today to learn more about this approach and how it will work for you.