The Thomas Blog

Top 5 SEO Examples For Manufacturers

Maintaining a helpful, informative website is critical for reaching your targeted audience and positioning yourself as a leader in your industry. But if your website is out of date or isn’t properly optimized for end users, you’re likely missing out on a lot of valuable lead opportunities and repeat business.

Thomas connects buyers, engineers, and MRO professionals to more than 500,000 North American manufacturers daily — and we’ve created thousands of lead generating websites for manufacturers so we know a thing or two about the industrial space.

According to Pew Research & Merit, millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, with 73% involved in purchasing products or services for their companies. Why does this matter to manufacturers? Millennials’ involvement in purchasing decisions will continue to grow as they age, and because they are digitally native, they’re doing business online. The strategies you invest in today to maintain your website will either make or break your next new business deal.

To ensure your website stands out from your competitors, and helps you pull in the leads you need, we’ve gathered our top 5 SEO website examples.

What Manufacturers Need To Know About The Defense Production Act

On January 21, 2021, President Biden signed a series of executive orders including invoking the Defense Production Act to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The order directs federal agencies to make use of the act to increase production of materials needed for vaccines, masks, and testing kits. 

Many manufacturers and engineers have volunteered to address the shortage of supplies to combat the coronavirus pandemic throughout last year but some supplies are taking a long time to produce. Invoking the Defense Product Act (DPA) allows the federal government to direct U.S. manufacturers to ramp up production of emergency medical supplies immediately.

Last year, FEMA confirmed using the DPA for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic to order about 60,000 test kits and 500 million personal protective masks. However, FEMA then announced later that same day, “At the last minute, we were able to procure the test kits from the private market without evoking the DPA.”

The uncertainties of today's crisis coupled with manufacturers' exempt status from state-wide closures signal that the industry should remain prepared for the enactment of the DPA. Here’s what it means for U.S. manufacturers and how they can prepare.

3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing Challenges And Opportunities

The outlook for additive manufacturing and 3D printing is promising. Back in 2017, Thomas reported on the increased sourcing activity for additive manufacturing. Although the base technology of additive manufacturing was developed in the 1980s, its use has become more prevalent in the last few years as advancements grow and prices drop. Sourcing activity sessions for additive manufacturing systems in 2020 was up 37.8% compared to 2019. And according to Statista, the global market for 3D printing and services is expected to grow to almost 50 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

Get Your Dream Customers This Year With Account-Based Marketing (For Manufacturers)

Establishing a truly effective B2B marketing plan can be challenging in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. There are many components to an effective digital lead generation strategy, and since buying habits can change quickly, and with technologies quick to advance, how can a growing manufacturer get started?

How To Grow Your Packaging Company Online

The packaging industry is expected to continue growing through the new year. In early October 2020, we reported the following major sourcing KPIs for packaging materials seeing a YoY increase vs. 2019:

• The number of sourcing sessions for packaging materials has grown by 25% 
• The number of RFIs submitted directly to suppliers through Thomasnet.com grew 140% 
• The number of supplier evaluations taking place on the Thomasnet.com company profiles of packaging material suppliers grew by 55% 

Here are some ways to ensure your packaging company’s growth plans remain on track.

The Ultimate List Of B2B Manufacturing Marketing Statistics

Like macaroni and cheese or a song and a dance, some things work better together — even marketing and sales. Without alignment, it hurts your business across the board, and it doesn't just hit one of your departments. A study from Forrester found that 43% of CEOs believed that misalignment had cost them sales. Furthermore, according to Forrester Research, companies that take the time to properly engage and nurture leads improve their sales outreach at a rate of 50% while spending 33% less.

How To Create A Company Profile Video (For Manufacturers)

More marketers are investing in videos to share customer success stories, promote products or services, and increase their brand — most importantly, videos help sell. According to HubSpot’s 2020 Not Another State Of Marketing Report, video is the #1 form of media used in content strategy today. Here are some other fast facts:

• Video marketers get 66% more qualified annual leads
• Video marketing efforts can achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness
• Marketers that use video content grow revenue 49% faster than those who don’t

With a company profile video, manufacturers can simply engage more buyers and turn them into customers.

How To Use Digital Marketing To Get Customers In The Defense Industry

To help the manufacturing industry be appropriately equipped for change, we launched Thomas Industrial Data earlier this year.

Our sourcing activity data coupled with our Thomas Industrial Survey results, reveals interesting insights with North American suppliers shifting their businesses to meet the new normal.

• 55% of survey participants being likely to very likely to invest in Production Performance Automation in the next 12 months
• 69% of companies across the manufacturing and industrial sectors are likely to bring manufacturing production and sourcing back to North America
• 12% increase in website usage by manufacturers and industrial companies to connect with more buyers and customers

Backlinks 101: For Manufacturers & Distributors

You’ve worked hard to build an online presence but now, as you’re trying to increase the quality of traffic to your website, you keep coming across the term “backlink.” Raise your hand if you’ve tried to ignore the term, what it means for your website, and focused on other SEO traffic-building tactics.

No shame! Some of the best marketers have been there before.