Energy Tech, oilfield services, hard tech, equipment and environmental services companies serving the Oil & Gas industry are faced with a variety of challenges when it comes to marketing their solutions to operators.

Oil & Gas Marketing Challenges

Some of the most notable Oil & Gas marketing challenges include:

1. Fewer buyers. There are fewer buyers, as the result of industry consolidation driven by Wall Street’s pivot from a focus on growth to free cash flow generation. 
2. Larger opportunities. Opportunities are larger, now that more production is operated by fewer, larger companies.
3. Need to develop new relationships. Attrition, retirements, and industry consolidation have all contributed to the loss of long-standing relationships. Many of the people who we used to know are no longer active in the industry and many marketers simply don’t know who they don’t know, making it hard to find the right contacts.
4. Younger buyers. The Great Crew Change is over. People in their late 20s and 30s who were “born on the web” have assumed positions of greater responsibility and are making buying decisions.
5. Quantifying ESG Messaging. When communicating ESG, knowing your audience is critical and messaging must be tailored to each layer of the organization chart to make it relevant to multiple personas. Placing a value on ESG, rather than efficiency or quality can be a difficult challenge for a technical organization.
6. Finding the right person. Larger organizations with multiple layers make it harder to find the right person in the right region. If you are not selling a commodity product (e.g., pipe, valves, etc.), then Supply Chain personnel typically can not offer much guidance, since they are not the decision makers.
7. Expensive trade shows and opportunity cost. Trade shows are picking up post-pandemic, but they are expensive, time-consuming and many operators attend virtually instead of in-person.
8. Lack of access. Post-pandemic, it is more difficult to simply drop-in to a customer or prospect’s offices (even if you are handing out free kolaches or burritos).
9. Corporate email firewalls. Increased sophistication of corporate IT firewalls has made it harder than ever for emails to reach the right people.
10. Lack of industry expertise. Many companies looking for help find that generalist marketing firms lack industry expertise. Given the cyclical nature of the industry, Oil & Gas marketers do not have time to waste teaching their marketing agency the business!

What Oil & Gas Marketers Can Do

Fortunately, there are things marketers can do to get their message in front of the right people. Some strategies include:

Go digital. During the pandemic, many Oil & Gas marketers turned to Digital Marketing channels for obvious reasons. Based on current experiences, it appears that many (most?) buyers have permanently changed the way their search for solutions, evaluate them, assess corporate reputations, and communicate. For example, 78% of B2B buyers start the buying process with a Google search, dwarfing personal networks and LinkedIn as their first steps (source: Pear Analytics, Pardot). Other key advantages of Digital Marketing is it is measurable, actionable, and cost per lead is typically dramatically less than traditional marketing methods (e.g., print advertising).

Get visible. As we mentioned in our article Where Do You Hide the Body? we covered the importance of organic placement on Google searches. The details of achieving Page 1 rankings are beyond the scope of this blog but suffice to say that Page 1 results capture 95% of all search traffic (source: Chitika). If your domain is not ranking high on Google searches, it is harder for potential buyers to find you.

Leverage marketing technology. We are all being tasked with doing more with the same or fewer resources. Marketing technology can help you increase your productivity by automating tasks and workflows to maintain consistency of communications. And, you do not have to spend a ton of money to make it happen, given that there are over 10,000 marketing technology platforms available today (source: Marketing Charts).

Leverage ESG messaging. Upstream and midstream operators are under pressure to improve the “E” – Environmental performance, in ESG. Oilfield service, environmental performance and equipment companies looking to attract larger customers, typically publicly traded, need a clear and compelling ESG message. If you decide you need some help with messaging, an agency with a specialization in Energy can often be more helpful than a generalist firm.

Leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). A new generation of contact databases has emerged that use AI to locate current contacts at companies matching your Ideal Client Profile. These solutions do not require armies of people maintaining a physical database, which means they are typically a lot more affordable than legacy offerings. Even better, they often validate the emails before you download them, saving you an extra step.

Structure emails right. Email marketing metrics are becoming increasingly less valuable, as corporate firewalls have become much better at spotting promotional emails and screening them. Very high open rates do not necessarily signal that your email campaign was a hit, it more than likely means the spam filter opened every single one and prevented it from getting to the intended recipient’s inbox. Using smart email structure, content, cadence, and sending practices to “warm up” your email server with corporate firewalls can do wonders in avoiding having your emails flagged as spam.

Choose an agency with industry expertise. If you decide you need assistance from a marketing firm that knows the Oil & Gas business. The number one complaint we get from clients who switch to us is that they had to teach their marketing firm about the Energy business, which slowed them down and increased costs.

Use LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform focused on B2B markets. Consumer social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others just do not grab the level of legitimacy that LinkedIn has with business buyers. With over 630 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the best place to initiate relationships and increase awareness with decision makers (source: LinkedIn). LinkedIn is the social media platform where Oil & Gas buyers get to know, like, and trust you.

Choose an agency that works for you, not gives you work. The second most frequent complaint we hear from Oil & Gas clients who switched to us is that they expected their previous marketing firm to do more work. Instead of taking the ball and running with it, they complained that their marketing consultant handed them a big checklist of “To Do’s” and then expected them to do all the heavy lifting. An agency with Oil & Gas experience will be able to work independently and take on more of the burden, if not all of it, so you can focus on what you do best.

Know your value (proposition). A marketing agency with specific Oil & Gas expertise will already know the value propositions that resonate with operators, saving you time, money, and helping you craft messages to the multiple Personas on Oil & Gas buying teams. Generalist firms, especially those focused on consumer products, may have a lot of people on staff but they can come up short when it comes to understanding the unique needs of Oil & Gas producers and midstream companies, which typically range from downtime to air emissions, permitting concerns, regulatory compliance, restraining lease operating costs, conserving capital, cost control, safety, and more.

Our key people have worked at E&P companies and industry consulting firms. We have stood on the rig floor and know the bit turns to the right.

Let’s Talk! Schedule a free 30-minute Digital Marketing consultation to discuss how we can help you plan, organize, promote and manage a webinar that Tells a Story That Matters.

About Prism Group

Prism Group is a full-spectrum, multi-talented B2B agency focused on Energy Tech, Climate Tech, Oil & Gas, Oilfield Services and Media markets. Our work is telling stories that matter, because our clients are working to change the world for the better. What makes us different is that we put into action the strategies we recommend – we get it done, so you can get results and increase the value of your business.

CONTACT
James Constas
President
Prism Group
JConstas@1PrismGroup.com