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You may have heard it many times: you should be online; People search for your business online; If you are not online, you are missing out on opportunities.

These statements are not false, but they are incomplete. Being online is one thing, but the ultimate goal should be to get one strong Online Presence – How To Get Results. A strong online presence can complement your traditional growing methods and bring you You are one step closer to your goal of attracting new customers.

If you want to grow your customer base, search engines like Google, Yahoo! and BING are where you want to appear. Why? According to a study, 4 out of 5 shoppers research products online before contacting a sales rep. Industrial buyers know how to quickly find exactly what they are looking for – and they use long search terms (3-4 keywords) online. And 53% of industrial buyers make their decision in less than a month.

Why you need a website for your business in 2021

The majority of today’s B2B buyers are tech-savvy millennials – 20% of millennial buyers start with vendor websites and 17% look for peer reviews. Simply put, your customers are looking for you online, but when you aren’t there they can’t contact you. Industrial buyers use specific services, industries, certifications, tolerances, skills and types of finishing keywords, etc. in their search – this is why an updated website with basic SEO practices is key to being found online. An example of a long-tail search term an industrial buyer might use is: “Automotive Stamping Cincinnati Ohio”. The search term is in a nutshell; If you searched for “metal stamping”, you may get irrelevant results.

A respondent to a purchasing manager survey said: “It’s important to have more online information like specs, prices, lead time, and stock levels online when I review new suppliers. “If your website doesn’t have these keywords, your competitors can reach these potential customers first – and if you don’t Website, they will not be able to find you online at all.

Read more Statistics: Results of the Survey on Search Habits of Industrial Buyers 2021

Deliver content to help more customers find you online

Maintaining your website by continuously updating or adding content is important. The more relevant and fresh content you have on your website, the better the chances of generating search engine presence.

According to Google’s SEO Starter Guide, creating compelling and useful content is likely to affect your website more than any other factor. This is about creating content that is relevant and valuable. The purpose of your content should be to inform; Answer the questions buyers typically ask about your services. The questions buyers usually ask are how they look for you. And answering these questions increases the potential to appear in the search engines for relevant search terms.

Frequent resistance in digital marketing

Most job shops have concerns about adding new content to their websites. This can be attributed to many factors, such as:

• Limited number of employees: There is no one on the team who is dedicated to maintaining and updating marketing activities
• Writer’s block: Job shops just don’t know what to write
• Simply unnecessary: ​​services and features haven’t changed, and there is nothing new to add other than a picture or two

Digital marketing and content ideas can be difficult when you’re just starting out, but if you’re a seasoned CNC machining company, you actually already have a lot of material to work with. In addition to the rest of the post, here are additional resources to help you along the way:

Content ideas that inspire customers of CNC machine shops

Some job shops believe that when they created their website they added everything they needed to include and nothing significant changed. But that’s probably not true – your industry is full of news to share with your customers and prospects. Focus on your strengths. Ask your current clients why they enjoy working with you and ask your reps what they enjoy most about working on your team.

Common changes that are overlooked and are worth creating content for are:

• New high profile / significant projects
• New markets opened up
• New machine
• Qualified employees hired who open up growth opportunities

Here are a few other content marketing examples from CNC Machine Shops:

Technox Machine & Manufacturing Inc. has a blog with updated posts addressing common challenges and questions from prospects and customers:

• MIG vs. TIG welding
• How to choose the right material for your CNC machining application
• What are the basics of CNC milling and turning?

Having a strong online presence with these search terms that buyers want to answer helps you become more accessible to them and increases your brand, credibility, and reputation.

Swiss Labs Machine & Engineering offers detailed industry pages to target buyers from different markets. Their aerospace page describes the materials, machines, and components that are manufactured to ensure their high quality work meets industry requirements.

Connected: How to become a defense supplier

According to Richard Wick, President of Industrial Grinding, creating portfolio pages from her previous work on her website helped drive search engine traffic to her website. Sales Manager and Vice President of Industrial Grinding, Marcus Wendling, said, “For many years well over 90% of our business has been done within 90 to 100 miles of places like Canada, Alabama, Florida, Texas and across the country.”

To make sure you’re capturing your website visitors’ information and stimulating inquiries, keep forms all over your website and give them other ways to contact you – such as a phone number and email address. Today’s shoppers expect a processing time of at least 24 hours after submitting an inquiry, so make sure you respond in a timely manner. If a prospect waits too long before hearing from you, they could switch to a competitor. In a recent shopping survey, 44% of industrial buyers said they expected a response in less than 24 hours and 7% within hours – the full survey results can be found here.

Be where your customers are for CNC machining

Manufacturers and CNC machining companies like you may be able to achieve similar results. Industrial Grinding is also listed on Thomasnet.com and is seen by more than a million shoppers looking for their services such as welding, coating and metallizing. And, because of Industrial Grinding’s information-rich company profile with a full online product catalog and company profile video, buyers are more interested in Industrial Grinding’s Thomasnet.com presence.

Registering for a company profile is free and when you purchase an advertising program, a video can be produced and created for you free of charge. “Qualified leads are coming to us now, and since prospects can easily browse our skills and qualifications, those who contact us are more likely to do business with us,” said Bill Boyer, CEO, Boyer Machine & Tool Co., Inc.

You can also expand your reach to local and regional customers by listing your business in online directories such as Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps and Facebook. Make sure your company name, address, and phone number are consistent across platforms so that buyers can easily contact you.

Get the full guide: How to use digital marketing to retain local customers

This consistency across all directory pages makes it easier for local buyers to find your business by location and keeps your business at the top of Google search results, as seen in the example below for someone looking for CNC services in the NYC area .

Custom Potential Report: See who is looking for your CNC machine shop services

The basics of a digital marketing plan for a CNC machine shop

Your first contact with a potential buyer can close or break off a deal. According to IBM, 80% of B2B buyers today expect the same shopping experience as B2C customers. That means your website and online presence are likely the first thing they see when they search for your services online.

Not sure where to start? We have compiled the following list of Thomas online solutions and resources to help manufacturers and CNC machines grow. They demonstrably bind B2B buyers, procurement managers and MROs.

• Download this free business plan template that will help you take a snapshot of your manufacturing business, focus on the business details, outline the risks, and make sure you are on your way to growth.
• Take a tour of your workshop with our free video content production services (with the purchase of a promotional program) and creatively approach more customers online.
• Increase your RFQs with a free Thomasnet.com profile and connect with new customers on the platform where more than a million buyers from different industries and different geographic sources search for products and services.
• Check out the exact companies looking for your CNC machining services with a Free report on ready-to-buy buyers.
• To increase your brand awareness with readers who are already interested in industry news, visit our Opportunities for newsletter advertising.
• It’s not uncommon for a job shop to fail – look at yourself for real Advice from real job shop owners about the biggest mistakes to avoid.
• The Thomasnet.com Registered users include buyers from 93% of the Fortune 1000. Getting a contract with a large company can be life changing. Read Use digital marketing to win business from Fortune 1000s to learn more.
• Learn how the small manufacturer USTEK used online advertising to do its business in its Case study here.

Would you like us to tell you exactly what you need to attract more customers to your CNC machine shop?

Contact us for a free digital health check. We review your company, compare it with competitors and show you how to approach qualified B2B buyers.

“As a small machine shop, it’s critical that every marketing dollar I spend attracts the right customers – the ones I actually want to do business with. My Thomasnet.com program paid off within the first 3 months. “

Additional resources for CNC machine shops: