The Thomas Blog

Continuing To Promote Your Manufacturing Business During An Economic Downturn

Many companies worry about how their business will fare in bad economic conditions, but sometimes opportune outcomes stem from times of economic uncertainty — especially for manufacturers.

With seemingly difficult economic conditions on the horizon, there are plenty of indicators that can seem at odds with one another. Recently, the stock market had its worst week since 2008 while sourcing activity for North American suppliers on Thomasnet.com saw record-breaking numbers. Based on a Coronavirus Impact survey conducted this month, over half of the manufacturers surveyed are ‘likely to extremely likely’ to bring production and sourcing back to North America and 47% of U.S manufacturers report they are now seeking domestic sources of supply — likely the reasons for sourcing surge.

For Manufacturers: Why Should I Update To A Responsive Website

Updating your old website to a responsive design will allow a user to easily access your website content from a single source on desktop, tablet, or mobile device as the design will adjust to the available screen size. This coding and design improvement will increase usability, load time, indexing, and user trust of your website.

New Suppliers on Thomasnet.com for February 2020

Ready to see who joined our platform this month? Our latest batch of new arrivals include a rocket engine manufacturer, a cannabis facility certification company, and the only yarn mill in the U.S. offering yarn printing, plus more than 400 other new suppliers from across the U.S. and Canada.  We've rounded up our favorite new and noteworthy additions to the to the 500,000+ companies already on Thomasnet.com® below.

New and Noteworthy Categories on Thomasnet.com for February 2020

Thanks to our crack taxonomy team's continued seeking out of new and noteworthy categories for our platform, February's crop of new searchable categories includes nearly 40 new products and services to add to our 70,000+ category database. We've chosen our 10 favorites below to get you started on sourcing for the exact product or service you need.

Thomas Community: Stay safe. Stay connected. Stay strong.

Dear Thomas Community,

At Thomas, we are committed to the health and safety of our employees, as well as continuing to serve our customers and the industry. We are following the guidelines from the CDC, WHO, NY and PA Health departments. We have ensured that all team members can work remotely while providing the same high level of service you’ve come to expect from Thomas. We have implemented a 60 day travel suspension to limit non-essential international and domestic travel. We are leveraging video-conferencing to conduct internal and external meetings. 

Challenges And Opportunities In Private Label Manufacturing

Businesses and individuals everywhere are in some way experiencing the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. For some small companies, the virus-related shortages in cleaning supplies and sanitizers have boosted private label brands sales. With more consumers concerned for their health, demand in niche brands and private labels for organic supplements have also spiked.

While there are more opportunities for growth for private label manufacturers due to recent global health concerns, what challenges are these companies generally facing and how can they continue to outperform competitors?

7 Manufacturing Newsletters To Subscribe To Today

Most of us are already bombarded with sales notifications, internal back-and-forths, and did-I-really-sign-up-for-this marketing emails in our inboxes.

But with the global COVID-19 outbreak affecting U.S. manufacturers, shipping and logistics, and local communities, it's important to stay up to date on what's happening in the industry to continue to grow your business. Email newsletters make it easy to do so.

There are plenty of trade and niche business publications you can seek out, but we've put together a list of broad market industry and manufacturing newsletters to help you stay in the loop — check them out below.

4 Reasons Why Manufacturers Use Video Marketing

The most effective content marketing strategies incorporate various types of content, allowing companies to reach users at different stages throughout the buying journey. Offering informative blogs, white papers, eBooks, infographics, case studies, calculators, checklists, and other forms of content not only helps garner new leads, but it also establishes you as a knowledgeable thought leader in your field. Developing fresh, new content can also improve your SEO rankings, making it easier for people to find your company.

While you may be providing an ample amount of written content for your site visitors, you might be missing one crucial component — videos. Increasingly important in today’s digital landscape, video content allows for efficient dissemination of complex information while providing interactive, engaging user experience.

Thomas Registered Badges

At Thomas, we are always working to help buyers and suppliers effectively find one another and create strong partnerships. So, we have introduced the Thomas Registered badge to help make everyone's job a little easier. Companies who feature this badge have been reviewed by our Supplier Analyst team and confirmed to have updated and accurate company and contact information and are able to receive RFQs and messages directly from buyers on the platform.