The Thomas Blog

Information Technology Challenges In The Manufacturing Industry

The current business climate is driving manufacturing companies to build a more digital and data-driven workforce. As the industry adopts more technologies and influences the future of American manufacturing, what challenges are they continuing to face and how can they guide their organizations strategically?

How To Find Customers For Your CNC Machine Shop Using Digital Marketing

You may have heard it plenty of times: You should be online; people are searching for your company online; if you are not online, you miss out on opportunities.

These statements aren't wrong, but they're incomplete. Being online is one thing, but the real goal should be to have a strong online presence — this gets you results. A strong online presence can supplement your traditional growth methods and bring you one step closer to your goal of finding new customers.

If you're looking to grow your customer base, search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and BING are where you want to appear. Why? According to research 4 out of 5 buyers research products online before contacting a sales rep. Industrial buyers know how to find exactly what they want quickly — and they're using long-tail (3-4 keyword) search terms online. And 53% of industrial buyers make their decision in less than one month.

How To Improve Your Supplier-Distributor Relationship

A prospect that you’ve been chasing for months has been researching you as well, checking out your product catalog on a distributor’s website and downloading your CAD models. They’ve narrowed down their shortlist to you and a couple of your competitors, and now they’re visiting your website to gather additional details.

But when they arrive on your site, what they see doesn’t quite match what they saw on the distributor’s site. Part numbers are off, and specs aren’t aligning 100%. Plus, basic company information doesn’t match with what they read before and content looks outdated.

Reconciling the differences would take way too long, so instead they just cross you off their list. And you never even knew they were interested in the first place.

Unfortunately, this scenario plays out all too frequently and prevents the supplier and distributor from meeting their goals. In some cases, the scenario results in a dropped key customer and the existing customer base begins to diminish.

What Manufacturers Should Do After Losing A Key Customer

Customer retention can often mean the difference between your company thriving or dying. This makes the loss of major customers one of the greatest risk factors for manufacturing businesses. Your consistent goal should be to go to any lengths necessary to retain these keystone clients. However, throughout even a vastly successful company’s lifespan, this kind of paradigm-shifting customer loss can — and will — occur. 

Grow Your Manufacturing Business: Expanding Into New Markets

American manufacturing is on the upswing. Hiring activity is at historic highs; reshoring is bringing production back to the U.S., and buyers are spending more on new suppliers than they have in recent years.

Business owners continue to be cautious with investments and costs, with good reason. Even as manufacturing and the economy as a whole make gains, the memory of tougher times looms. Fortunately, today's digital marketing landscape allows you to take substantial steps to grow your business and expand into new markets.

Using Digital Marketing To Win Business From Fortune 1000 Companies

Landing a contract with a major buyer can have a significant impact on your business. However, large buying organizations like Fortune 1000s tend to do things differently from smaller businesses that have more flexibility in approaching new partnerships.

According to DemandGen, 67% of B2B buyers rely more on digital content to research and make purchasing decisions than they did a year ago. So if you want to drive real new business results and get in front of major companies, it's necessary to have a strong online presence that addresses the major concerns and qualifications these companies are looking for when considering new suppliers.

Manufacturing Marketing Budget: How Much Should You Spend?

Even though the manufacturing industry has had a long dominance in the U.S. economy, it’s still relatively a newcomer when it comes to all things industrial marketing.

Instead of word-of-mouth referrals and newspaper advertisements, digital platforms have become the most effective way to drive new business with a more expansive reach and more effective ways to highlight a company’s value proposition. Marketers and business owners utilize pay-per-click, content creation, email blasts, and many other tactics to their advantage, but to some, these methods can feel overwhelming. With so much opportunity comes tough decisions on how to direct your time, energy, and money.

Why Public Relations Matters To Manufacturers

As companies in the industrial sector look for ways to win new customers and keep loyal customers, they need to find ways to stay top of mind in a competitive landscape. From producing videos, creating valuable guides, to being everywhere your buyers are —  a recognizable brand in addition to those marketing tactics can put you in a position to win more business.

Public relations (PR) can help manufacturers boost their brand awareness and drive credibility and sales. Let's outline how you can get started.

How To Become A Defense Supplier

Did you know that the Department of Defense (DoD) spends more than 60 percent of the federal procurement budget eligible for small businesses? In the 2017 fiscal year, DoD awarded more than $60 billion in prime contracts to small businesses.

From anonymized sourcing activity across Thomasnet.com, Thomas Industrial Data shows the Aerospace & Defense Industry is a rapidly evolving field. Continued military spending growth is a sign for suppliers to secure ongoing business and tap into new market opportunities — but today, businesses continue to shift in their sourcing as they pivot to help the country combat COVID-19. Read on to learn how you can become a part of the solution.