The Thomas Blog

Does Your Manufacturing Company Have A Unique Selling Proposition?

There are tens of thousands of job shops across the country. (As we know — we list many of them on our supplier discovery platform.)

Chances are, some of those suppliers are producing the very same products you are. So how can you stand out from the crowd when customers are deciding between you and your competitors? Start by developing a compelling unique selling proposition.

(Take The Quiz!) Do You Need Industrial Marketing Agency Services?

With all of the uncertainties that exist in today's manufacturing world, there's one thing that's guaranteed: Agencies will cold call and email you to try and sell you their marketing services. And it makes sense — industrial companies are set up for successful marketing programs and typically don't even know it.

After decades of relying on word-of-mouth referrals to bring in new business, you might be hesitant to bring in someone new to your process. But marketing agencies can be very helpful in generating qualified leads and helping your sales team close your dream customers. But if you don't have certain goals or a budget to put behind their services, how will you know what's worth your time and how to spend your money effectively?

5 Trade Show Tips For Manufacturers And Industrial Companies

It’s that time again. 

You’re registering for conferences and figuring out which ones will be worth exhibiting at. Crunch time has arrived and there are a lot of decisions to be made in a short window of time.

To make this the most productive trade show season ever, here are some tips to make the shows work for you while you’re workin’ the shows.

For Manufacturers: 11 Steps To Begin Your First PPC Campaign

More manufacturers and industrial companies are investing their time and budget into paid marketing  — it's a model that targets consumers online based on their interests or intent using different tactics like display ads or pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is a must-have for any inbound strategy — over time, B2B marketers are able to effectively reach their target audience and drive leads based on their searches. One of the most compelling characteristics of paid marketing is the tremendous amount of data you’re able to collect in order to make decisions and improve the performance of your campaigns. The more you learn about your audience, the easier you can market and sell to them effectively. Who doesn't want that for their business' bottom line? But getting a conversion through PPC that justifies the expense takes careful planning and precise execution.

Also referred to as "cost-per-click" or CPC, PPC can be challenging to begin. Especially when you don't have any data, how do you get started? We put together this list of 12 PPC tips that will give beginners the best chance of starting off on the right foot. And we'll address one of the main challenges of managing PPC — how to target business customers when there is a large volume of consumer or retail traffic searching similar keywords. 

Lead Nurturing: How To Convert Website Traffic To Leads

Sellers know all about leads. You know the difference between marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs). You know you need more of the former in order to get more of the latter.

That’s great. You can see the destination. But what about the traffic that's on your website? How can you identify MQLs in your sales pipeline and, more importantly, how can you offer effective nurturing that turns them into SQLs? Let's break down the basic steps.

The Best Days and Times to Call, Email & Post on Social Media: For B2B Manufacturers

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.

The Last Phase Of Inbound Marketing: Keeping Your Customers Happy

Buyers often encounter different challenges every day, and each phase of the buying process has opportunities (using inbound marketing!) for suppliers like you to position yourself as the best partner. 

Inbound marketing is defined as the data-driven approach to marketing that attracts people to your brand, engages them, and converts them to lasting customers. The approach is multi-channel and accounts for where people are, and how they want to interact with you using the main driver of quality content. It allows you to bring visitors into your site through various forms of channels like blogs, email marketing, and social media.

Unfortunately, a lot of marketers don’t even consider this last element of inbound marketing after the sale is made. That phase — customer delight — is perhaps one of the most important of all.

4 Steps To Grow Your Social Media Networks

What now? If you’re like many other small business owners, that may be what you’ve been asking yourself after taking the first steps in a social media marketing plan: setting up your accounts, branding your pages, and creating and sharing content. There’s one important element missing: building your network.

And you’ve probably even begun that process and connected with existing customers who had also taken the plunge, big OEMs with hundreds of thousands of followers, maybe some friends and family, perhaps even a celebrity or two (depending on who’s in charge of your accounts). From everything you’ve heard about social media, there must be more to it. So, what now?