The Thomas Blog

Social Media Definitions For Manufacturers

For today’s industrial marketers, content is critical — but it’s not enough to simply publish a blog post. Once a piece is written, you need to help it reach as many people as possible. One of the easiest and most effective ways to amplify distribution is through your company’s social media channels.

Whether you’ve already hammered out a sophisticated social strategy or you’re just getting started, this glossary of social media terms will provide the keys to optimizing these channels.

The 4 Biggest Industrial Marketing Challenges Of 2017

Now is an ideal time to check on your progress toward your 2017 marketing goals. Are you on track for lead generation? What about spending? More importantly, have your efforts shown signs of profitability?

Where Industrial Marketers Are Increasing Spending In 2017

As marketers, we know that the shift to digital is nothing new.

For years there has been a steady march from print media — brochures, newsletters, and direct mail pieces — to online assets like emails, eBooks, and blog posts. According to ENGINEERING.com’s annual survey of engineering marketers’ plans for the 2017 calendar year, the fruits of our digital content labors have been confirmed.

An Investment In Marketing Is An Investment For Your Whole Business

Producing results without the right resources is a huge challenge, especially when you’re under extreme pressure to do so. When budgets get tight, it’s even more important to be able to prove your worth.

Luckily for industrial marketers, when it comes time for budget evaluations, we can produce quantifiable results demonstrating the value of our efforts. In fact, a 2017 ENGINEERING.com market research report found a direct connection between digital marketing investment and company revenue. As a result, the majority of respondents reported being rewarded with a boost in resources.

If you find that your marketing team is still fighting for funding, here are a few things you can take to your department heads to make the business case for it.

How Industrial Companies Can Spend Their Marketing Dollars

Industrial manufacturing has been a driving force behind the U.S. economy for decades, but when it comes to digital B2B marketing, it's typically behind the curve.

The reliance on word-of-mouth recommendations and cold calling is no longer the only option for companies, and marketers have been slowly stepping up their game in the past few years.

Make 2017 Your Best Year For Industrial Marketing Yet

Throughout the holiday season, you probably saw a handful of end-of-year wrap-up blogs as well as some start-of-the-year prediction posts.

Well, now that 2017 is finally upon us and it’s time to get back to work, we wanted to bring you some actionable tips you could use to get a jump on turning it into your company’s biggest year yet.

Let’s take a look at some steps you can take right now to start generating better leads for your business.

2016 Industrial Marketing Year in Review

In the world of marketing, things are constantly changing.

From amorphous Google algorithms and updated UX designs to effective emailing and retargeting methods, there is no shortage of strategies to try — especially as the industrial space continues to catch up with the rest of the B2B marketing space.

As we begin preparing for what’s to come in 2017, we wanted to take a look back at some of the biggest trends we’ve seen over the past 12 months and their impact on your business.

Without further ado, here’s our 2016 year in review.

3 Ways Manufacturers Can Give Back This Holiday Season

It's hard to believe, but the holiday season is already upon us. Even if your business is slowing down at this point in the year, it can still be quite hectic.

You're probably planning your first big industrial marketing campaign for 2017, tweaking your PPC strategy for the holidays, scheduling social media posts, writing plenty of content to generate leads — all while trying to squeeze in as much family time as you can.

Still, it's nice to pause and think of what we can do to help others this time of year, and we wanted to showcase a handful of manufacturers who have already taken the lead.

While there are so many manufacturers and industrial companies positively impacting their communities, the next generation and the environment, take a look at three examples of how companies can give back:

Everything You Need to Know About Manufacturing Day 2016

Manufacturing Day is an annual North American celebration of modern industrial manufacturing, intended to shake off the industry’s antiquated reputation by educating and inspiring the next generation of innovators and manufacturers.