B2B marketing for conservative energy industry

[DHernandezEsq]

Hi! I work for a company that sells steam turbines to generate electricity. It's a tough industry since my audience is mostly a conservative group of mechanical engineers. I feel like most HubSpot recommendations are a little too bubbly for my audience. Do you have any experience on how to engage this kind of client? Thank you!

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @DHernandezEsq,

HubSpot's recommendations are indeed quite focused start-ups, scale-ups and more leaning towards tech and SaaS than traditional industries. While they're still valid, it usually requires some translation and re-interpretation of what a tip or best practice would look like in a more conservative scenario.

A first step, almost always, should be to create detailed buyer personas. While it might seem like a chore, it will help you in have a methodical and systematic approach to answer questions like: What would by personas consider useful and relevant content? Where and how would they like to interact with this content? What kind of sales experience are they expecting?

Additionally (or alternatively) I'm a big fan of a fast-lane: asking existing customers that went through your customer journey how they liked it. What would they have found useful, what put them off, what made them buy nevertheless? These kinds of conversations can be incredibly insightful.

Beyond this more general tip, here's what I found:

• While a persona and target group might be used to old ways of doing something, they do sometimes appreciate a fresher, cleaner, faster process. This is not to say bubbly, of course, but there's a middle way. It might be exactly what sets up apart from your competitors.
• Provide multiple options for your potential customers to engage with you. Allow them to book a meeting (new buying experience) but also give them what they've known for years, an easy way to call via phone, a more technical quote request form etc.
• Make sure every piece of communication is perfect, especially direct communication. For example, salutation should always be correct. I've found that buyers in traditional industries pay more attention to this, including titles. It's again a way to set yourself apart from the competition.
• Useful and relevant content is always king, only that the average quality should probably be higher for these kinds of buyers.

If you have specific questions, let me know. This can obviously only be the tip of the iceberg, it's impossible to lay out an entire B2B strategy in a community post. Still, I hope this helps.

Best regards!