The Thomas Blog

4 Steps to Expanding Your Industrial Network on LinkedIn

Chances are you’re already using LinkedIn to keep an up-to-date roster of contacts, check out what connections are up to, scout out potential hires, and send messages.

This powerful tool serves as much more than a social network or recruiting outlet, though — it can play a major role in generating leads and sales for your industrial company.

There are a few steps for you to benefit from using LinkedIn to connect with people in their industry, so we wanted to lay out a few tips on how to get started. 

(We do want to note that although there's a paid version of LinkedIn known as LinkedIn Sales Navigator, we know you’re as budget-conscious as you are business-savvy, so we’ll be solely focusing on harnessing the power of free LinkedIn in this post.)

Website Basics For Manufacturers & Industrial Companies

If you're an OEM, industrial distributor, or custom manufacturer, these statements might sound pretty familiar: 

• "We need to talk to prospects in order to qualify them."
• "Too much information on my site would give my competitors an advantage."
• "We get all of our new business from word-of-mouth."
• "A new website won't help me get new business because my current website doesn't, either." 

It's understandable — it's not easy doing what you do. But if you want to start bringing in more new customers, you may want to rethink your approach. That's because more of your buyers and competitors are doing business digitally. Supplementing your traditional growth methods with an updated website and inbound marketing strategy helps out where cold calls and word-of-mouth fall short.

6 Quick Fixes For Your Manufacturing Website That Increases Clicks

It’s no secret that your website is the most important aspect of your digital marketing strategy. But are you taking the time to continually optimize its pages and features?

Studies show that we have less than 15 seconds to leave a good first impression with our website visitors.

If your website’s headline, call-to-action, or even its color scheme doesn’t hit all the right notes, your prospects will simply find a website that does — which, unfortunately, could be your competitor’s.

While you may rely on your products or services to close the sale, you need to employ a website design that leads prospects to the beginning of that sales journey. Below are some effective and easy website design tips to begin leveraging to increase clicks and (ultimately) sales.

5 Steps To Begin Successful Industrial Marketing

Inbound marketing drives customers to your business’ products and services through a coordinated strategy of design, content, social media, and SEO tactics. Most manufacturing and industrial companies may think that inbound marketing is something that would be more suited toward consumer goods and B2C rather than the industry space. But with the digital transformation of sales and marketing, successful B2B companies are now seeing marketing as a direct influence on revenue generation and more manufacturers are aligning their efforts with today's digital world.

In fact, most industrial manufacturers are practically already set up for an inbound marketing program — they just don’t know it yet.

7 Reasons It’s Great To Work In Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry is one of the largest and most influential sectors of the United States economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were an estimated 12.3M people employed in the Manufacturing Industry Sub-Sector in 2016 with a 1.17% year growth. It also accounts for a similarly large piece of the American workforce — the industry employs 8.7 percent of the country, making it the third-largest industry in terms of jobs.

But what is it like for the millions of people who actually work in the industry? The truth is, it's pretty fantastic. Here are some reasons why:  

7 Ways Thomas Can Help You Supercharge Industrial Sourcing

Here at Thomas, we've been powering North America’s largest and most active network of B2B buyers and industrial/commercial suppliers for over 120 years. We understand how hard it is to find the best and most reliable suppliers.

That's why we developed the Thomas Network to help you search for qualified manufacturers, distributors, and service companies - and it's completely free to use. There are some parts of our site that require registration to access, such as viewing suppliers’ certifications and downloading white papers, but registration is simple and free. We know you're busy, so let's us walk you through super quick our top seven features you can try today:

The Best Days and Times to Call, Email & Post on Social Media

With B2B marketing, the adage “timing is everything” applies — well, maybe not “everything,” but it is certainly crucial to successful marketing campaigns.

This is key as the the digital marketing space for US manufacturers becomes more crowded. For instance, did you know that more than 80% of manufacturing marketers promote their presence on social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn?

The Right Mix Of Social Media Content For Manufacturing Marketing

Social media allows industrial professionals another vehicle to connect with their existing client base and showcase their expertise while attracting new prospects. It has been playing an increasingly important role in today's digital transformation of sales and marketing.

Posting regularly on your social media platforms using the right hashtags helps to gain broader brand awareness. But to really get the most out of social media, you need to truly engage your audience.

Unless you stopped paying attention to how humans work when you were back in middle school, you know that talking about yourself nonstop is a terrible way to keep someone’s attention. Likewise, constantly promoting your products and bragging about solely your company is not a sound strategy for manufacturing marketing.

Proper social media marketing requires a commitment beyond the weekly Facebook post or the occasional Twitter retweet. You’ll need to maintain a constant stream of updates and, since you shouldn’t just be talking about your own company 24/7, let's discuss the mix of social media content that has been working for manufacturers and industrial companies.

How To Meet The Needs Of B2B Industrial Buyers

No matter what your role is — sales, marketing, operations, or leadership — you have a lot to accomplish.

So do your buyers. 

By understanding what your buyers have on their plates, you can more easily accomplish one of the most important things on yours — generating more leads. Here’s what you should know to meet their needs and create more meaningful connections to win more business.