Is your industrial internet marketing strategy measuring up to your profit expectations?  Are you among the 76% of industrial B to B companies who think that having a website is good enough to make buyers call you?

Every good business begins with a plan.  Every home begins with a set of plans designed by an architect.  Talk with any successful coach and they will tell you their success began with a game plan. 

I recently spoke with former NFL coach Les Stekel whose football coaching career spanned over 30 years.  Steckel began his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1978. His experience includes serving as the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, whom he helped guide to the 2000 Super Bowl, and for the New England Patriots during their 1985 Super Bowl season.  He shared many of the challenges he faced and how he always had a plan, even if it was the wrong one.  Many times it was very painful to change the plan but was also extremely rewarding when it was right.

Developing a successful industrial internet marketing strategy or plan is no different.  The most successful business entrepreneurs are those who recognize when they need to adjust their strategy.  But you can't be successful in the industrial internet game if you don't have proper website tracking & analytics in place to ensure your changes are successful ones.

A successful internet marketing strategy must also have specific goals, or desired outcomes that are realistic and obtainable.  Are you familiar with the Stockdale Paradox?

Called so based on the experience and philosophy of one Admiral James Stockdale.  Stockdale was the former president of the Naval War College and was the highest ranking officer in the "Hanoi Hilton" in Viet Nam. He spent eight years in Hanoi and was brutally tortured numerous times by his captors.

"Stockdale tells the story of the optimists who never survived their time in Hanoi, simply because they clung far too much to their dreams of release and in doing so couldn't handle the brutal realities of what it took to survive each day.

"So instead of dealing with the here and now realistically, they tended to cling to the hope that they'd be home by whatever the next holiday was, and when that day came and went, their spirit would be diminished by that measure.

"Over time, they died because their spirit was extinguished by reality."

Stockdale's explains his "paradox" this way:

"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in
the end (which you can never afford to lose) with the
discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your
current reality, whatever they might be."

What Stockdale was really describing is the flagrant abuse of 'positive thinking.'

And you know what? A lot of us are really just too optimistic sometimes. And then are dreadfully disappointed when what we want to achieve doesn't come to fruition.

What a shame.

Of course, anything you face in business won't be as dreadful as the Hanoi Hilton. Still, nothing can be worse for you than to walk into battle with a plastic sword and helmet, and then get cut down with tanks and machine guns.

You want to survive... then thrive?

There are no shortcuts that I've ever learned of.

It takes consistency.

In every aspect of business.

From developing the right industrial internet marketing strategy to attract the right qualified industrial buyer or engineer to your website, to building the right website that will not only get found when you target buyer or engineer is looking but will also deliver the information necessary for them to take an action and contact you, to finally measuring who gets to your website, what they were looking for, what they did when they got there, and finally did they buy from you and why or why not!

Who is successfully integrating online and offline sales within their business?  We'd like to hear your comments on our blog.

Contact us now and let's determine why your strategy isn't delivering the profits you expect!