Many small and medium manufacturers struggle with committing time to work “on” the business, whether it’s for market research, B2B sales enablement, scouting for opportunities with product enhancements or supply chain management. A competitive analysis can be a great opportunity to focus the company on a key aspect of the business. In many ways, it… Read more »

Manufacturing SaaS products are becoming more and more popular as manufacturers develop their Industry 4.0 strategies and become more integrated, data-driven organizations. In the front of the house, there is an accelerated adoption of more “traditional” SaaS products, such as CRMs, to help manage sales and accounting functions. But manufacturing SaaS products are also taking… Read more »

“You’ve got to stay right on the leading edge in order to be a competitive production shop,” shared Barclay A. Townsend, president of Townsend Machine, Inc., when we asked how important it is for a manufacturing company to look up to date. I recently interviewed several manufacturing companies on this topic and all agreed that… Read more »

Why is marketing for manufacturers so undervalued — and what can industrial marketers do about it? According to the 2018 CMO survey, a survey that assimilated information from almost 3,000 marketing executives in various industries throughout the U.S., marketing spending across all industries averages 11 percent of total company budgets. This average accounts for 6.9… Read more »

From 1995–2000, I worked for a company that manufactured and distributed high-quality seals and components to OEMs. I’m not going to reveal my exact age, but suffice to say I was in college at the time. It was my first “real” job and also my first experience working in what I would soon learn was… Read more »