The Thomas Blog

Lead Generation For Manufacturers: 33 Industrial Tips, Tricks, And Ideas

Generating leads is one of the most important aspects of marketing — and frankly, growing your business.

With so many moving parts involved in lead generation, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the digital marketing tactics that should be working together. That’s where this blog post comes in — we'll cover the most popular and effective techniques utilized by industrial marketers today to increase leads and generate revenue online. 

Why Is Website Quality More Important Than Quantity For Industrial Website Traffic?

Many companies get fooled by statistics showing heavy site traffic and essentially disregard how qualified — or unqualified — those visitors actually are.

SEO and PPC tactics can be extremely effective in getting the right people to your website, but you also need to have some metrics in place to discern how many of your visitors are serious buyers and how many are merely tire kickers.

Below are a few key reasons why it's more important to focus on quality than quantity for your industrial website traffic.

Why Your BIM Models Could Be Losing You Specs...

Low-quality BIM models are causing manufacturers to lose out on project opportunities on a regular basis...

Every day, engineers are actively searching for BIM files to put into their projects as they work to determine which building products will meet their design and performance needs. These engineers rely on complete and accurate BIM models to help them build out systems that can be validated and tested inside of their virtual building model.

Getting your BIM files added to one of these virtual models can mean the difference between making it into the schedule or losing out, so it’s critical that your BIM files are not only dimensionally accurate but also have the connectors and characteristics to ensure that specs are correct. If your BIM models do not include the necessary data to help engineers complete their validations, they can quickly become a liability and can begin losing you specs from important building projects.

4 Must-Have Lead Generation Website Examples For Steel And Metals Companies

RFI submissions for steel on Thomasnet.com are up 217% year-over-year (year-to-date 2020 vs. 2021). So how can steel and metals companies ramp up their existing efforts to increase their RFI submissions? We took a look at some steel and metals companies to see how they’re using their website to target engineers, procurement managers, and MRO managers.

B2B MQLs Vs. SQLs: What's The Difference?

Studies show that 68% of B2B marketers struggle with generating quality leads. And only a mere 10%-15% of B2B leads actually turn into paying customers. So what can be done to boost these numbers?

First, industrial marketers must understand that not all leads are created equal — and the industrial buyer's journey is actually pretty complicated. 

9 Easy Tips For Creating A Lead-Generating eBook: For Manufacturers & Industrials

Creating an eBook for your business is one of the best ways to convert leads and increase brand awareness among potential buyers. According to Content Marketing Institute, 51% of today’s B2B businesses incorporate eBooks into their content marketing campaigns.

Whether offering valuable industry tips, troubleshooting, product details, case studies, or comprehensive service overviews, eBooks can be used to address everything from product components to company best practices. Ebooks also enable businesses to connect with a target audience based on their specific stage in the buying journey.

Beginner Lead Generation Tips For Manufacturers

Do any of these sound familiar to you:

• “My sales profits are down."
• “I don't have enough leads for my sales team.”
• “I'm not getting any RFQs online.”

We can all use a little bit of luck these days. Unfortunately, many manufacturers and industrial companies have these problems and seem to rely on luck (or word-of-mouth referrals) a little bit too much when it comes to generating leads.

When it comes to growing your company and lead generation efforts, you don’t want to leave your success to chance. In today's digital world, it's more important than ever to take the time — and exert the effort — necessary to put yourself in the best possible position to attract new buyers and grow your business proactively using digital marketing. 

Here’s how manufacturers can help solve basic lead generation problems or make your life a little easier and skip to a free digital health check where our marketing manufacturing strategists will let you know exactly what you need you to generate high-quality leads online.

For Manufacturers: What Is A Qualified Lead?

As an industrial marketer, your primary goal is to generate leads for your manufacturing business. However, not every person that fills out a form, downloads an eBook, or requests a call makes for a great prospect. In fact, many of these folks may not be a great match for your products or services.  

Unfortunately, however, not every manufacturing companies has a system to separate good leads from bad ones. This results in salespeople wasting a lot of time and effort chasing down less-than-ideal prospects while ignoring more serious opportunities. 

That's why you need a proven process for qualifying your leads. 

Supplement Word-Of-Mouth Referrals With Inbound Marketing

According to HubSpot, a whopping 90% of people believe brand recommendations from friends, and 61% of consumers use search engines before they make a purchase. With the emergence of social media and the digital transformation of sales and marketing, traditional marketing and how referrals are shared have shifted.