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Marketing And Designing Your Engineering Firm: A Guide

08 August 2019, 15:14 CET

The world of engineering is often associated with industry-specific skills. It's often assumed that it involves a one-way path into the industry that brings with it a heavy focus on experience and specialist knowledge.

While this may be true in many cases, marketing and designing a new business is a unique skill in its own right. In order to successfully promote your engineering firm, you will need to do some cross-pollination with the creative world of design, PR, and marketing.

A business plan

Before you start on your marketing strategy, you don't want to launch into it with a haphazard approach. Building a business plan around your marketing strategy allows you to allocate budget and responsibilities accordingly. For example, you can decide how much money will be invested into a new website, new branding and advertisements. You can then re-visit this business plan later down the road and discuss what is and isn't working. You can then adapt your strategy accordingly.

A polished website

When it comes to explaining exactly what you offer, a polished website should be your most effective tool for explaining it. Your website will be the main source of information for potential job applicants, customers, and competitors. Even though the service you offer may be incredibly complex, or require a bit of industry jargon, your website should be easy to read and easy to find. Using techniques such as SEO, or search engine optimization will ensure that your website is easy to find and is boosted to the top of Google's search results.

Image

It doesn't matter how dry the topic of your industry is, your branding and image should still be engaging. When you have marketing meetings to decide how best to present yourself, you should be discussing your branding. This involves deciding how visually appealing and representative your logo is, the colors you will use for your website and the tone of voice you use on all marketing material. For example, if you want to come across as professional but with an approachable angle, you should consider how your copy reflects this. Could you have pictures of all of your staff members on your website? Could you have a video that depicts what services you have to offer? Just because your industry doesn't necessarily lend itself to being visually creative doesn't mean you should neglect this area.

Information is key

It is likely that the service you deliver to clients or customers is incredibly high-tech and requires a lot of information. It's therefore paramount that the marketing you use is capable of imparting that information. It's been said that customers are unlikely to be interested in your engineering firm unless they understand exactly what it is you provide. Filling all newsletters with engaging, relevant and important information will ensure that you get a return of investment with your marketing strategy.

When it comes to social media you will need to choose platforms that similarly lend themselves to longer-form writing. Facebook and LinkedIn are perhaps your best two tools in this regard. When you do put your business onto these platforms make sure that you post regularly with relevant information. LinkedIn will have two benefits when it comes to posting: it allows you to post job adverts as well as marketing information. This is an extra way of promoting what you have to offer and getting your name circulated on the platform.

On the subject of information, it really is important that you communicate your products effectively. Of course, some industry jargon will be required to put across certain products and detail what you provide. However, it was recently found that only one-third of salespeople could efficiently put across the exact nature of what they were selling. Even if you are only pitching to people within your industry, they too need to get an accurate sense of what you have to offer. Not doing so could be completely detrimental to your marketing strategy and then ultimately your business.

Project management and education

While the principles of marketing a business remain mostly the same across the board, expertise is what often makes a huge difference. In order to project manage the growth of an engineering firm, you will need to not only have the knowledge of your industry, but also the broader knowledge of project management. You will no longer be working at the bottom of your industry, but instead the top tiers of a business. However, this doesn't necessarily involve going back into education full-time. You can study a Master of Engineering online, which will include modules on management and marketing.

Industry events

As mentioned previously, adding a visual element to your engineering company could put you ahead of other competitors. Having a professional and friendly face could make you seem more appealing compared to other companies who have gone for a traditional, text-only, informative website. While pictures of employees and your team are important, it's also valuable to go and physically turn up to events. Industry events allow your company to get involved in the arena of public speaking. This is not only good for getting a sense of what your competitors are up to, but also putting your name out there. Having a face, or a number of faces, to your company will suddenly give your brand name a personality. Before you attend, think best about who should host a presentation. While senior figures are important, a charismatic, engaging face could boost connections.

Marketing and improving the image of your engineering firm isn't necessarily as hard or problematic as you think. All it takes is the skill of project management, which can be taught, and an investment in marketing strategies. Being leaders in your field sometimes isn't enough. Being well-presented and well-managed might just put your firm ahead of its competitors. At the very least, having an informative and clear website might just make you stand out for all the right reasons in your sector.

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