Manufacturers are actually in a really good place to use digital tactics to improve search marketing. As companies that have catalogs of product to show and ready-made content to put online, your businesses can grab some prime online real estate and go to town with digital catalogs, images, and videos while also allowing for some hands on shopping. 
Here are 7 tactics you can use to implement your search engine marketing strategy.
1) Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center used to be known as GoogleBase. As you can tell from the “-base” suffix, Google was saying this was going to be a database type tool; but that doesn’t sound like a place to go shopping, does it?
Now, as Google Merchant Center, the name more closely resembles the tool. Google Merchant Center is a website where you can upload your product feeds and give them visibility on Google Product Search. Combined with Product Listing Ads, you can provide detailed information about a product, show an image and show your business name in an easily searched catalog.
2) eBay
Another place to set up shop is to create an eBay store where you can show your wares, describe them in detail, and sell directly to your customer. eBay has its own search engine so you have a higher probability of being found through keyword search since there will be fewer results to compete with than the entire Google database.
Another way to promote your business is to give your dealers and distributors a way to post their products as well. This can translate into more centralized, cost efficient inventory systems.
3) YouTube
Sometimes your customers just want to see your products in motion. YouTube allows you to post videos of your product in use in a cost effective manner, along with tutorials, troubleshooting tips, or other types of video presentations that can be more interesting than a static brochure. YouTube videos are also picked up by the search engines and make it easier for you to be found.
Sometime complex products and services are better explained through video. You may want to consider having your own YouTube channel to aggregate all your videos into a single area.
4) Trade Shows
Sometimes people just want to touch, handle, or try out items they are considering. The trick is to make ROI on the tradeshow appearance. So use your website and social media channels to announce shows you will be attending. You can even make appointments and registrations to give you a better idea of your audience.
By creating a page with the words “Trade Show” in the title, a customer can search for “Trade Show” and your company name or the name of a product and get a direct link from the search engine to your site.
If you are investing in pay-per-click, trade shows are another area to promote with paid advertising based on keyword search.
5) Localized Search
How much of your business is from the surrounding region? Many customers prefer to deal with a local company for convenience and the feeling of being able to easily contact you if needed. You can add webpages that are specific to a locale using the city, county, or region name in the title and as keywords in the content.
If you are in Kansas City and sell lawn mower parts, you would create a page with the title “lawn mower parts Kansas City” which would then show up in searches for Kansas City lawn mower parts.
6) Provide Helpful Content
Many manufacturers are finding it handy to put technical information online. If you provide support materials online it will be another way to utilize keywords while helping your current customers with their new product. Even if you can’t post the support material in its entirety, you can still put part of it in the public domain for search engine bait.
Do you have a lot of content in pdf format? Convert it to HTML so it can be indexed. FAQ pages and glossaries are another source to use rich media that can be picked up by the search engines.
7) Be Creative
Have you ever heard of a site called “Will It Blend?” Blendtec, a blender maker, uses video to show their products chewing up an amazing array of objects from iPhones to a Happy Meals. Is this how their customers will use the product? Probably not. But it does get Blendtec noticed and their brand spread through people sharing the videos by email and social media.
If you never heard of Blendtec before, you have now.
Can you do something similar with your products? Maybe you manufacture and distribute products the typical person on the street has no clue about but would be fascinated to watch in action. To get more creative, use your product in an unexpected way. Do you manufacture small cranes? Maybe you can use one to try to build a sandwich. Or an android. Just a thought.
It may seem that manufacturing companies are some of the “boring” ones. But if you supply some imagination and put your marketing materials to good use you can garner extra attention from both your target audience and the search engines.
*Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
