The Thomas Blog

mistakes that job shops make
Manufacturing and Industrial

6 Common Mistakes That Job Shops Make

For more than 120 years, Thomas has created trusting relationships with thousands of successful job shop owners from coast to coast. Job shops across America form the backbone of the country’s economy. Unfortunately, even though they may have the right skills, equipment, and people, it’s not rare to see a job shop fail. 

In this blog post, we'll review the common mistakes job shops make and some anecdotal insights directly from job shop owners and managers.

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Buying activity for packaging materials
Manufacturing and Industrial

Buying Activity for Packaging Materials in 2020

Buyers are actively searching for new supplier partners for their packaging materials needs in 2020

Buying activity from engineers & procurement professionals sourcing on Thomasnet.com has seen strong growth in 2020 for the packaging materials space. At a glance, the following major sourcing KPIs have seen 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% 

2020 Sourcing Activity for Packaging Materials

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Use digital marketing to get customers in the defense industry
Marketing Strategy

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
There are reports of businesses closing down, or industries with drops of profits, while others forecast a more favorable outcome. For the aerospace and defense industry, anonymized sourcing activity across Thomasnet.com paints a picture of a rapidly evolving field. Read More »
Manufacturing and Industrial

Manufacturing Day 2020: STEM Resources for High School and College Students

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Reading sales emails on mobile device
Email Marketing

How To Get People To Read Your Sales Emails (And What Not To Do)

It's no secret that email marketing is one of the best ways to drive leads to your sales team. However, most manufacturers and industrial companies don't realize that it's also one of the best ways to close those leads and convert them into customers.

So while a lot of time and energy is going into optimizing marketing emails, sales emails are often relegated to an afterthought. In fact, the task of writing, designing, and deploying sales emails often falls on individual sales reps, who have little guidance, direction, or support. That's a recipe for disaster, and it shouldn't be the case.

If you want to optimize your sales emails for maximum results, be sure to follow these suggestions. 

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Smiling industrial worker holding a tablet
News Highlight

New and Noteworthy Categories on Thomasnet.com for September 2020

Most of the 1 million+ registered users on Thomasnet.com may not realize all of the new categories we add every month, from basic products like immersion coil heat exchangers to more exotic offerings like AI marine vessel monitoring systems and washable paper backpacks. Over the past month alone, we've seamlessly added over 50 new categories to our platform, and today we're giving you a peek at our 15 favorites.

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Marketing team measuring B2B marketing success and reports
Marketing Strategy

How To Measure B2B Marketing Success

Measuring the return on investment for marketing is challenging in even the best cases. Many industrial marketers mistake commonly used online B2C metrics for effective measures of their efforts. But marketing effectiveness can affect business outcomes like revenue growth and customer retention — so with so many variables and items to test, how can industrial marketers measure the success of their marketing campaigns?

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Actionable Next Steps for Manufacturers...

Free Missed Opportunity Report

Free Missed Opportunity Report

See which buyers are searching Thomasnet.com for the products & services you specialize in.

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The Ultimate Guide To Marketing

The Ultimate Guide To Marketing

Learn about all the Digital Marketing Tactics that are Driving Growth for Manufacturers in 2025.

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