Rekindling marketing strategy of Oil and Gas Companies

If you were looking for BOP manufacturers in your region, what would be your primary area of search? Google, isn’t it? That’s what we do. We look for things online. And, people all over the world do the same then why should the marketing strategy of oil and gas companies remain age-old?

Oil and gas companies have seen the test of times and currently, it is struggling in choppy waters: oil surplus, oil price rise, vulnerable market, and changing political landscape is adding a lot to the current market situation. But it is often observed that the marketing strategy of oil and gas industry is ignoring the power of online marketing. Let us understand why oil and gas companies need to revamp their industrial marketing strategy. And, how they can do the same.

There are several reasons behind our claim. But before we dig deep into the matter and present to you, arguments, which are potentially convincing, why you need a strong online presence, let us break down what do we mean by Industrial Marketing.

Industrial Marketing – Industrial Marketing (or B2B Marketing) is a specialised marketing of any products and services by any company. Rather than focusing on individual customers it caters to a business.

Industrial marketing uses the following tools/forms for/of marketing:

1. Web presence
2. SEO
3. Social media marketing

And, it is crystal clear that the oil and gas companies lag way behind other industrial sectors which have benefitted from the above tools of marketing.

Let us learn how oil and gas companies can increase profitability by harnessing the power of online marketing.

You don’t have a web presence, here’s why

Everyone is looking forward to doing business online. And, why? Because it is: easy, convenient, transparent, robust, and caters to a mass audience. All you need is a web presence.

If you say that you have got a website then think again. There are more than 1.7 billion operational websites. And, a research shows this: if anyone is looking for a product or service online then 33% of the onlookers don’t go beyond the first page!

Is your webpage appearing on the first page?

Is the content on your website optimised to appear when anyone is looking for the product and service you offer?

Simply put, your company needs to show up when someone is searching for the products and services you provide. Because it is obvious to assume that when someone doesn’t know your company’s name then how can you show up? It can be only through the products and services you offer.

So, we can easily deduce if the answers to the above two questions are no then you don’t have a web presence.

Is Google the God of All Things?

No! It isn’t. It’s the algorithm.

Google ranks the page up by a trick which is ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ (SEO). You might have heard it a zillion times and it seems to be the pet-jargon of the digital marketers.

But what it is? If someone has had you believe or buy the idea that it is purely content then no, it isn’t.

Here are the essentials to appearing on page 1:

1. On-page and Off-page SEO – On-page means the relevant and searchable content on your website. And, off-page signifies the authority of your website.

   When you’re writing content for your website you need to look forward to optimising the URL structure, name of your website, overall content on the website, and the page-load speed. All that is a part of on-page SEO. Off-page means getting links from other websites i.e. when a user lands on your page from a page, which you have no control over. So, Google ranks you in authority.

2. Quality Content – Content quality is of extreme importance. A well-crafted content strategy can make a huge impact on your business (and online presence).

   Understand how a user is searching for a product or services, say someone is searching for drill-bit manufacturers, what would they be typing-in on Google? ‘Drill Bit Manufacturers’ that’s it. Yes, they won’t type-in your company’s name. And, that search becomes your ‘Keyword’. An online searcher or otherwise, outside the virtual space, people have keyword queries. So, does your website have enough content on or about drill-bit manufacturers? If not, then it’s a content problem. And, if you have a content which caters to this particular product or service and any person happens to visit your website then this process is called Inbound Marketing. It’s getting extremely popular. And, for that, you need to write relevant, quality content on your website.

3. Site Crawlability – Understand how does anyone happen to visit your website. And, how did your website appear in the search result?

   Google uses a mechanism called ‘crawling’. It’s just like browsing through a dictionary to search a name. Google stores the copies of your page on an ‘index’ and to be found you need to be in that index. So, to be crawlable, your website should have properly defined indexing. A mobile-friendly website, no duplication of web pages (Google calls it ‘canonical’ forms and if there are more versions of your website, Google gets confused!) and site-speed. Make sure that your page has proper meta-tags and descriptions.

4. Website (HTML) tag – An HTML tag gives a signal to Google what the website is actually about.

   Make sure that you provide a considerable description of your website or company so as to appear in the ‘index’ which we mentioned above. So, it is important that your website has a proper structure and is architecture(d) to appear in the search.

5. Link Building – Google was formed on the idea of being backed up by several links. Remember?

   Both the ‘Quality and Quantity’ of links matter. It’s extremely important for an off-page SEO strategy. Where is the user diverted while reading your blog? How the user is coming to your website while reading other texts on other websites? Both are key factors of ranking on page 1.

6. And, Social Media Presence – We shall discuss this further below.

And, if you don’t believe us why you need to describe your website the way you want and what you proffer, hear what the Head of Google’s Webspam, Matt Cutts has to say:

“One piece of advice I give to SEO masters is don’t chase after Google’s algorithm, chase after your best interpretation of what users want because that’s what Google’s chasing after.”

It’s all about being ‘Social’

Social media is extremely important to engage with your audience. You need to have your organisation’s presence on social media. But before that keep your ambitions of being on social media very clear. Merely having a social media page won’t help you build a brand. A deftly designed social media presence certainly will. Harness the potential of the tool in hand. And, what are the benefits of being on social media platforms? See below, to name a few:

1. It is your voice in the online space. Tell your Story! Social Media can be used as a tool for thought leadership. It’s your area – talk to your audience, strike up a conversation with them. Simply, tell your story!
2. It is directly communicating with your customers. Wonder why frustrated customers tag their service providers in the tweet? That’s because people give feedback – good or bad. And, it reaches the masses. That’s the power of social media. And, if you’ve got to build a strong brand communication then you’ve got to have a social media presence and back it up with impeccable services offline.
3. Helps you decide what will work. Social Media can clear your cobwebs. It can help you make strategic decision making when you’re in dilemma. And, sometimes you can learn from your peers as well. Analyse what worked for your competitor or what worked against them through the engagement on their social media page(s) – the criticism, appreciation they receive there can be analysed and it can help you understand the sentiments of your audience.
4. It’s light on the budget. Saves Time. Saves Money. Requires fewer resources. Maximise efficiency. And, most importantly the results are immediate, hence increasing the chances to re-evaluate and improve.

So, does that ring a bell to take some action?

If yes, then rethink your marketing strategy or reach to us for help. Energy Dais is an exclusive platform which helps oil and gas companies to appear on page 1 of the search results. Learn more, here.