Thomas has been connecting industrial buyers and suppliers for more than 125 years. The Industrial Icons blog series celebrates the longtime customers who have grown their businesses with Thomas and the marketing and advertising solutions that have evolved along with them over the years.
Equipment manufacturer Aerzen has been making a name for itself through advancements in compressor and blower technology since its founding in 1864. The company produced the first positive-displacement blower in Europe in 1868, and today it provides customers worldwide with highly engineered machines and responsive product, service, and support. Aerzen Marketing Manager Ralph Wilton discusses how the company’s 20-plus years working with Thomas have delivered consistent, high-quality leads by enabling the company to reach the right audience.
What have been the biggest wins in your journey with Thomas so far, and what has kept you with Thomas so long?
The Thomas program drives quality traffic. Too many times, you get distracted by the shiny object of quantity — lots of inquiries, contacts, activity, or traffic. But you really want the quality, especially in industrial business-to-business. Consistently, we see that the Thomas program brings us the right people, no matter where they are in the [industrial buying] process.
Thomas has the distribution to reach the right people. I always say that, “content may be king, but distribution is queen, and she wears the pants.” I could sit here all day long and create amazing content, and I could push it out to some people to get some good distribution, but not to the level that Thomas has. So that's why we have a good partnership — Thomas amplifies our brand far beyond what we could do on our own, because it has the right combination of powerful distribution and strong content.
What is something that you've learned from working with Thomas?
Thomas is a solid company that excels at what it does. All they do is industrial business-to-business marketing. There are so many programs and companies I see that have taken a consumer-products approach and tried to adapt it to the industrial, business-to-business world. It just doesn't work because that’s not our model. We don't have BOGO sales (buy-one-get-one) or coupon codes. We're selling equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars and requires engineering teams behind it. It's a whole different type of buy, and other companies don't understand that [industrial B2B marketing] has to be a long-term process. Consumer marketing really is about quantity, whereas we don’t need big numbers – we need the right people to buy at the right time.
What’s a trend you’re seeing in your industry/sector right now? How are you adapting your marketing strategy to meet that trend?
AI is a big trend currently. I'm personally learning more about Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)—setting up the website and blog so that when people type in requests or start querying search engines, we are featured. It's not just about SEO, which is still important. I’m learning about that side of AI and how it can help in our daily work.
Manufacturing has proven to be an enduring industry in America, even amid political and economic changes. What gives you hope for the future of the industry?
The Aerzen parent company is willing to invest and do the right thing over the long term, and they've been investing in the US for manufacturing for a while. They know that you need a domestic manufacturing setup, no matter where you are. If you’ve got your local suppliers, it’s fast, and you have more control in that market space versus having to go to a foreign company to bring things in. We have an Americas focus with distribution and facilities … warehouses and so forth that have been set up over the past many years, so that we have more speed, more efficiency throughout North and South America. That's taken a lot of infrastructure, a lot of investment, a lot of planning, and a lot of people.
We're also using more American manufacturers — local, regional, and national. But I also find that if you want the best in the world, you've got to source from around the world. You're not always going to find the best products, parts, and components made here in the USA. That makes me optimistic about the future, too — as long as we keep working together, our future is bright.
Image credit: Aerzen
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