B2B eCommerce for Industrial Equipment: Chicago FCMO’s Insights

Aptly nicknamed “The City That Works,” manufacturing was (and still is) one of Chicago’s biggest industries, with productivity rising since 2019. In such a thriving industry, the market for industrial equipment grows even more competitive, with each brand competing for market dominance in one of the biggest industrial sectors in the country. 

In a city with a large manufacturing sector, industrial equipment companies continue to explore unpaved avenues to increase sales and market share. A more convenient alternative to brick-and-mortar stores, eCommerce has significantly changed the retail landscape. 

eCommerce platforms revolutionize retail in so many ways: decreased operational costs, streamlined ordering and delivery processes, and a wider market reach. Aside from providing a marketplace, these platforms are also effective vehicles for advertising and promotions. 

While eCommerce is often associated with B2C transactions, it's not limited to personal or smaller-scale purchases. Nowadays, B2B eCommerce is opening up opportunities for hassle-free purchasing transactions, especially for sizable products like industrial equipment. 

In a fiercely competitive market, invest in the expert services of Chicago’s best fractional CMO service that helps companies excel in B2B eCommerce and achieve record growth. As a company operating in one of the busiest, most profitable business districts in the US, strengthen your market presence and stay ahead of your competitors with a strong, data-driven marketing leadership. 

Learn more about Chicago’s fractional CMOs with this video:

Boosting Industrial Equipment eCommerce with a Chicago FCMO

Business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce refers to the online purchasing of services and goods between two businesses. Unlike business-to-customer (B2C) eCommerce, which primarily focuses on selling products to individual consumers, this type of eCommerce caters to other businesses looking for suppliers of raw materials, equipment, or SaaS products. 

Chicago is a competitive market for industrial equipment. A historically industrial city, Chicago has the largest industrial space in the country. There are over 12,072 manufacturing businesses in the city alone. This large population provides a wealth of opportunities for industrial equipment and material entrepreneurs. 

Why Work With a Chicago FCMO?

Exploring marketing channels is part of a solid B2B marketing plan, which may take careful planning and exclusive industry know-how that B2B fractional CMOs can provide. With the ongoing eCommerce boom, a Chicago fractional CMO helps an industrial equipment business dominate the different eCommerce platforms most used by their target clients.

Fractional CMOs provide the same high-level management and strategic leadership as in-house CMOs, minus the hefty compensation package. Their services can adjust based on what the company needs, helping to prioritize budget and meet your return on investment (ROI).

As seasoned marketing professionals, fractional CMOs not only determine which marketing channels guarantee the highest level of effectiveness, but they also conduct an overhaul of the company’s entire marketing operations. Using their extensive industry knowledge combined with strong skills in marketing, leadership, and strategic planning, Chicago B2B FCMOs for eCommerce industrial equipment leverage their core strengths to help their clients thrive in a highly competitive market.

Benefits of a B2B eCommerce Chicago CMO 

B2B eCommerce fractional CMOs expand your organization’s customer base through data-driven marketing strategies. They also provide insight and leadership in migrating/expanding to B2B marketing, covering factors like financial and technical implications. That calls for extensive planning and research. 

Expanding B2B eCommerce efforts has notable benefits, including:

• Industry Expertise: B2B eCommerce CMOs have years of extensive experience in the eCommerce industry. Familiar with the industry’s best practices, they use this knowledge to design websites and marketing strategies aligned with the industry ethics and standards. 
• Marketing Leadership: Like their full-time, in-house counterparts, fractional CMOs bring in their extensive expertise across marketing disciplines and high-level skills in strategic planning, leadership, and innovation. 
• Scalability: Chicago CMOs help companies scale up and down. Scaling is where many growing companies fail. Companies often struggle to grow at a sustainable rate, either expanding too quickly or too slowly. Fractional CMOs have an impartial view that makes them ideal candidates to help set the pace of hiring, onboarding, and training new employees. 
• Enhanced Customer Experience: Fractional CMOs provide a holistic approach to curating a quality customer experience that nurtures engagement and builds loyalty. Boosting communication and tailoring campaigns using customer analysis are some strategies: They focus on a data-driven, customer-centric approach. Building customer personas is often the first step, but constant data review ensures campaigns remain on target. 
• Operational Efficiency: Chicago B2B FCMOs help improve operational efficiency, minimizing costs while maximizing output. Your FCMO might reduce delays in cross-functional processes between marketing, sales, and production. Or they might implement a CRM system for faster service response times, making customers happier.

eCommerce Marketing Channels Recommended by Chicago CMOs 

Industrial equipment business owners have golden opportunities to thrive in an industrially-inclined city like Chicago. But with such a busy schedule operating a business of moving large-scale products, they might have little time for the nitty-gritty of marketing. 

eCommerce is a fantastic avenue for B2B businesses to explore—like industrial equipment sales. It provides a smooth and organized ordering and delivery process, with features that help track orders and ensure they arrive within the preferred timetable. Being an online platform, eCommerce can succeed with the right type of marketing channels. 

Crafting a marketing plan for B2B eCommerce is a big task, but with the help of a Chicago FCMO B2B eCommerce for industrial equipment, the transition can be seamless. 

Here are six of the marketing channels recommended by expert FCMOs: 

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is an efficient way to build a solid online presence. A B2B eCommerce Chicago FCMO for industrial equipment does extensive research into which digital marketing channels drive the most impact for each specific client they have. 

Let’s talk about digital marketing, SEO, PPC, email and SMS marketing, and retargeting. 

SEO

Search engine optimization is one of the popular online marketing strategies: It works well with eCommerce due to both being internet-based. 

SEO can increase site traffic for industrial equipment eCommerce platforms. SEO strategies encompass many areas, including website content (like blogs or landing pages, layout, and format). After conducting market analysis, the FCMO, sometimes with the help of a B2B SEO agency, applies the right SEO strategy to drive results. 

Technical SEO optimizes an eCommerce site to attract more leads. This strategy involves making the site more mobile-friendly, speeding up site loading time, and caching. Caching helps increase a site’s usability, reducing bounce rates, so, hopefully, more people make a purchase.

Another SEO strategy is on-page SEO. Unlike technical SEO, which focuses on the site itself, on-page SEO focuses more on content-related matters like titles, copy, and meta descriptions. Writing detailed product descriptions with strategically placed keywords and adding meta descriptions and tags helps direct more users to the site. 

Jason has some of our tips on SEO here:

PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are an excellent way to drive more leads. PPC campaigns attract people looking for immediate answers, as these ads appear on top of search results, which are triggered when relevant keywords are used in a search. In general, clients are most likely to engage with the top search results; this is a smart way to add visibility to your company. 

In order to truly understand what’s working and what’s not, a company can’t rely on shipments or orders alone. That’s where web analytics comes in. In web analytics, your FCMO measures, collects, and studies data to understand and optimize online behavior. For example, they might look to see how users got to your site and what kinds of interests the users have.

With tools like Google Analytics, you can track your eCommerce site’s activity and use these as a starting point for your marketing efforts. Web analytics tools report metrics, such as site traffic, number of clicks, number of minutes spent on your site, and page views. This information tells you which areas to focus on and which to adjust. 

Catch up on the essential elements of PPC here:

Email Marketing

Email marketing is an efficient way to nurture client interest through communication. Business owners are very active in email, making it an ideal avenue for marketing. The fractional CMO develops data-driven eCommerce email marketing strategies based on client types and behavior. 

These involve exploring different methods like newsletters and cart reminders, as well as talking points to reach out to clients and encourage engagement. For the industrial equipment market, emails often discuss new products, industry news, and special promotions.

Email marketing involves writing personalized emails that reference any past purchases, with an eye-catching subject line and powerful call-to-action (CTA) statements. Emails do best when precise but informative. 

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is a much-appreciated marketing channel due to its brevity, directness, and wide reach. With the highest open rate among other marketing channels, SMS marketing almost always reaches the target audiences immediately. A B2B eCommerce FCMO in Chicago for industrial equipment could recommend SMS marketing thanks to its high open rate and quick and direct communication. 

The anatomy of strong eCommerce SMS marketing includes brief but engaging SMS copy with a strong (CTA). Create SMS content that is direct but friendly, with an urgent, convincing tone that prompts the reader to act. SMS marketing is often associated with promotional deals like limited-time offers, seasonal sales, discounts, and similar. 

One example would be sending out an SMS text message inviting users of the eCommerce platform to revisit their abandoned carts, and those who check out an item get a discount. This vehicle encourages dormant consumers to make purchases. 

Aside from promotion, SMS can be an excellent channel for feedback — a wise way to enhance customer experience and nurture a positive relationship with clients. 

Retargeting

As online marketplaces, eCommerce platforms encounter numerous engagements that fail to be conversions, as purchases take time and decision-making. Industrial equipment is a big purchase, and business owner clients may take time to decide and consider other factors (like budget and logistics). 

Chicago’s FCMOs for B2B eCommerce in industrial equipment understand that retaining lapsed clients is as important as acquiring new ones. Retargeting can help turn casual visitors into clients. Retargeting usually uses pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to invite past visitors to re-engage with the eCommerce site. 

PPC ads help invite past visitors to re-engage with the eCommerce site. PPC campaigns like shopping ads and display ads are a great way to reignite interest by subtly reminding the visitor of their site and the abandoned items in their cart. 

Benefit from the Expertise of a Chicago CMO

The integration of technology in our daily lives keeps growing—and so does eCommerce. In a city with a strong industrial sector like Chicago, it's essential for industrial equipment companies to take advantage of these technological advancements to boost their business and expand their reach. 

B2B eCommerce can be complex, so it’s best to have the help and guidance of a seasoned fractional CMO. Using their wealth of technology and industry experience, they design strategies to leverage eCommerce to benefit your booming business. 

Digital Authority Partners provide fractional CMO services to businesses of every size and industry in the city of Chicago and beyond. Lift up your Chicago business with a fractional CMO—let’s talk today.