I am now celebrating my 10thyear of working in the realm of industrial Internet marketing with ThomasNet. While thinking back on this journey I can only laugh at just how much the Internet is now ingrained in our daily lives. It’s truly one of those things that we take for granted and can’t even imagine an Internet-free world. BUT, it was just ten short years ago when I would meet with industrial suppliers, ask them how they market their companies, and the Internet was at the bottom of the list or not there at all! The focus was on print advertising, trade shows, trade magazines, direct mail, etc. If anything, the Internet was a place to publish an “electronic brochure” and not much more.
Now (just 10 years later) the exact opposite is the case, the Internet is the primary place where industrial suppliers market themselves. In fact, it’s rare to find a client that does any print advertising at all and trade shows are down to a minimum. If you step back and evaluate this change you can see just how dramatic it has been, but you can also see why so many companies are still trying to really get a grasp on how to best market themselves Online. After all, in the grand scheme of things this shift essentially happened overnight.
Add to the fact that when you focus on Internet marketing you lose a lot of the control that you once had with “traditional” forms of marketing. You want a bigger presence at the next trade show? You buy a bigger booth. You want to target an industry? You buy an ad in that industry’s trade magazine. How does this translate to the Internet?
So the logical next question is, “How do I get a bigger presence Online?”
Most people will outline a strategy that ultimately comes down to playing games, tweaking words, updating Web pages, waiting for results, analyzing results, tweaking again, waiting again, etc. The illusion of being in control is created with instantaneous electronic stats, but instant stats are nothing more than a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of running a business.
So what is the answer? STABILITY! This has been my mantra for 10 years now and I can say with confidence that it has generated a lot of revenue for hundreds of industrial suppliers. Go ahead and play the games to try and hit that SEO moving target, but don’t make that your only strategy, support it with a sound one as well. Where do you turn? ThomasNet! There is one industrial resource Online that will outperform the rest, consistently deliver better results, and reach the biggest single market of industrial buyers Online.
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