The Thomas Blog

Challenges And Opportunities In Medical Device Manufacturing

Encompassing items as simple as bandages all the way through to ultra-high-tech pacemakers, the U.S. medical device market is one of the largest in the world. Forbes called it a “disruptive” market of $410 billion through 2023. Today, “disruptive” is an appropriate word. 

More than a decade ago, the medical device manufacturing industry saw an increasing emphasis on design and simplicity, driven by software and technologies. And innovation contributed to a shift in power from the pharmaceutical to the medical device industry. These days, there is still a high demand for technological, intuitive devices — with a faster time-to-market than ever before. Hospitals, medical facilities, and other markets are pressuring medical device manufacturers to be more secure, innovative, cost-effective, and efficient. What are some challenges and opportunities for manufacturers in the medical device industry?

4 Must-Have Lead Generation Website Examples For Steel And Metals Companies

RFI submissions for steel on Thomasnet.com are up 217% year-over-year (year-to-date 2020 vs. 2021). So how can steel and metals companies ramp up their existing efforts to increase their RFI submissions? We took a look at some steel and metals companies to see how they’re using their website to target engineers, procurement managers, and MRO managers.

HVAC Marketing Basics: How To Advertise Your HVAC Contracting / Manufacturing Business

The U.S. HVAC services market is predicted to increase value from $25.6 billion in 2019 to $35.8 billion in 2030. A successful growth strategy centered around your customers’ behavior can be invaluable for HVAC contractors and manufacturers. Here are some basic marketing ideas for HVAC companies to grow their business and tap into more market share.

How To Use Digital Marketing To Engage Local B2B Buyers

Manufacturers and industrial distributors stand to gain a lot from building and nurturing relationships with local buyers. These buyers are easier to engage with to create new partnerships, nurture with to establish long-term relationships, and manage logistically. And these buyers seek local suppliers for these same reasons — in a recent industrial buying habits survey, 84% of procurement professionals said they preferred to work with local vendors.

So to help manufacturers win new business and build better relationships with local partners, we’ve compiled a few tips.

2021 SEO Tips For Industrial Distributors

Search engine optimization (SEO) has been around for quite some time, but it has become increasingly important for industrial distributors to adopt as more B2B customers purchase products online. 

Google plans to update its algorithm this year to include a factor called Page Experience. At a minimum, the content on an industrial distributor’s website should be valuable to your readers and easy to navigate. But your loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and visual stability contribute to your page experience too. Now is the time to take essential steps on your website’s health if you want to keep your page rankings high.

How Top Injection Molding Companies Drive More Opportunity With Digital Marketing

In recent decades, American companies offshored a huge portion of their injection molding, but today, many companies are weighing the benefits of reshoring versus offshoring, and there has been an upward trend of reshoring and demand for services in the plastics and molding services industry. Mergers and acquisitions in the industry are also contributing to growth. 

5 Proven Digital Marketing Ideas For Industrial Distributors

As major corporations reshore and bring manufacturing work back to the U.S., industrial distributors are moving to create more value by building on commercial and operational excellence and digitizing to create the online experiences customers are looking for. 

So with B2C expectations driving change in B2B, here are some digital marketing ideas industrial distributors can implement to foster customer loyalty and increase revenue growth.

Industrial Website Design Examples For CNC Machine Shops

According to Thomas’ latest industrial buying habits survey, 73% of those surveyed pay attention to your website. One respondent said, “You MUST have a website. On it, be very clear and detailed about your supply capabilities and lower limits. Include all public contact and social media channels, locations and areas served, your business structure, history, and mission/vision.”

As more manufacturers shift toward traditional growth methods to digital marketing tactics, here are some industrial website design examples to get your CNC machining website geared for more leads.

Opportunities For Manufacturers In Solar Energy Equipment

In September 2020, Thomas reported sourcing for solar energy equipment on the Thomasnet.com platform had grown by 125% year-over-year and a substantial 171% over Q2 averages. In related category searching on the platform, solar collector panels were up by 157% year-over-year in Q3 2020 and 11% over Q2 2020 figures, and searches for inverters on the Thomasnet.com platform have grown 172% year-over-year and are currently up 88% over Q4 2020 averages.

More recently, searches for solar energy equipment on the Thomasnet.com platform were up 650% week-over-week.