Putting Manufacturing Industry 4.0 into Practice

Putting Manufacturing Industry 4.0 in practice is crucial for all companies involved in Australia’s key industrial sectors, such as general manufacturing, fabrication, construction, mining, energy, and defence.

“Agility” and “Adaptability” emerged as the key themes of our recent research study: The State of Industrial Sales & Marketing – 2nd edition.

Commissioned by Industrial Ideas, conducted by Deakin University, and sponsored by Salesforce this study aims to uncover key insights and areas for improvement for industrial marketers and sales executives.

In the study, we define marketing performance as a mix of customer retention and customer acquisition. By providing consistent high-quality Customer Experience (CX) across all channels, your existing customers rebuy and generate positive word-of-mouth to facilitate your outreach and acquisition strategy.

Further, we wanted to understand the key drivers of sales forecasting accuracy as we predict ongoing supply chain and global market disruption.

The research study was able to compare using regression analysis and quantitative data collection the key drivers of CX, sales effectiveness, and sales forecasting.

We looked more broadly at overall marketing performance by considering the key drivers from areas such as organisational culture and cross-functional characteristics, leveraging of data, and developing successful business cases.

Executives we spoke to indicate the industrial and manufacturing sectors are often constrained by legacy systems and traditional practices.

Sectors such as financial services appear to be adopting agile work practices, social channels, and other forms of marketing technology ahead of this sector which is just starting to change habitual approaches to marketing.

“This report highlights the pressing need for marketing leaders to focus on customer experience the same way a hotel worries about its lobby and concierge. Owned and first-party assets like a website need personalisation and marketing science to welcome guests and direct them with care to the products and services that are right for them.”

Jeremy Brook Entrepreneur in Residence AGL

The quantitative findings are based on 133 industrial sector respondents. They completed a 12-minute online survey hosted at Deakin University between July and September 2021. The figure below provides an overview of the sample characteristics in terms of respondent and organisation.

We believe this is the first quantitative Australian study to examine contemporary industrial marketing practices and quantify their impact on performance. To learn more you can download: The State of Industrial Sales & Marketing 2nd edition.

If you’d like some help with your approach to B2B marketing, let’s chat.

Other Reading: With marketing research, you can set your brand apart

STATE OF INDUSTRIAL SALES & MARKETING RESEARCH REPORT

Focused purely on best practice marketing and sales effectiveness in the industrial sector in Australia, the State of Industrial Sales & Marketing Research Report (2nd edition) reveals key findings and insights to help improve your sales and marketing efforts. Download the Research Report to learn more about what drives industrial sales and marketing success in Australia.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Zafiris is an industrial marketer and founder of Industrial Ideas. Having built his experience in B2B marketing from the ground up, Peter understands what it takes to succeed with your marketing strategy. All client projects are personally managed by Peter to help industrials like you get the return on investment you deserve. Peter and team, work hard to become an extension of your business, to help you get the most out of your marketing efforts. Get your free 30 minute marketing consultation to learn more.