Resources
Industrial marketing guides for the whole supply chain
Straight-answer guides for OEMs, Tier 1 to Tier 5 suppliers and the distributors, labs and integrators around them. Strategy, capability statements, AI search, websites, ads and choosing an agency, written for owners and engineers, with the method behind every number.
What our industrial marketing guides cover
Our guides cover how industrial companies get found, checked and chosen by the buyer one rung above them. They start with definitions, move through strategy and the channels that carry it, and finish with the practical questions: what a website needs, how AI assistants pick suppliers, what marketing costs and how to choose help.
They are written for the whole supply chain. OEMs and primes, Tier 1 to Tier 5 suppliers, and the distributors, labs, engineering firms and integrators who support them all sell to someone a rung up. The examples come from many markets: defense, aerospace, medical, energy, electronics, fabrication, coatings, connectors, equipment and distribution.
Start here
Start here
New to the subject, or new to us? These six guides lay the groundwork. Read the definition first. The rest build on it.
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What is industrial marketing?
A plain definition, with an example from every rung of the supply chain and how it differs from consumer and software B2B marketing.
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Supplier tiers explained
OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and beyond: what each rung makes, who buys it and why the same shop can sit on two rungs.
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Industrial marketing strategy
Ten strategies told rung by rung, with the techniques, campaigns, budget and trends that fit each part of the supply chain.
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Industrial product marketing
How to reach the two people who decide: the engineer who specifies and the buyer who orders.
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Manufacturing marketing strategy
Channels, budget, KPIs and a one-page plan that starts with what you make.
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How to choose an industrial or manufacturing marketing agency
Questions to ask, pricing models, red flags and our own answers to each question.
More guides, by topic
Practical guides on capability statements, supplier qualification, websites, content and AI search.
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Capability statement guide
Examples, a template and what a prime's supplier quality engineer checks.
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Supplier qualification
Be ready when a prime looks. For defense and aerospace suppliers.
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Best manufacturing websites
A gallery of sites that say what the plant can do.
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Website redesign checklist
Route every old URL before launch and keep the rankings you earned.
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Content strategy for manufacturers
A plan built from your floor, around the questions your buyers ask.
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Marketing to engineers
Write claims an engineer can check, and get them signed off.
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How to show up in ChatGPT and AI search
What assistants read and how to become the answer they give.
Comparisons and costs
Straight answers to the buying questions: what it costs, which tools fit and which directories pay.
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How much does manufacturing marketing cost?
What drives the cost of each service and how the pricing models differ.
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Best CRM for manufacturing
Criteria for shops that quote, and when you don't need one.
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Is Thomasnet worth it?
When a directory listing pays, and when it doesn't.
Stories
Short stories about how buyers find, check and choose suppliers, each with checks you can run on your own site.
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Fill Your Factory
Why buyers miss work your plant can do, and how saying it fills the floor. 9 min.
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Won on Secondary Ops
Job shops: the work you run but never mention.
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The Five-Minute Screen
Defense and medical: how a supplier quality engineer screens your site.
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All stories
Find the ones that match your kind of work.
How we write and check our guides
Every guide answers its question in the first paragraph, then shows the working. Each one carries the date it was last checked. Numbers link to their source and method. Examples use invented companies on .test web addresses, so nothing is passed off as a client result.
Much of what we write comes from running marketing for industrial companies every day. That work also teaches IKE, our Industrial Knowledge Engine, a little more about manufacturing with every job. What IKE learns is manufacturing. Your record stays yours.
Questions about the guides
Is this the Industrial Marketing blog?
Yes. Our guides replace the old blog. Each one answers a single question about marketing an industrial company, from definitions and strategy to websites, AI search, ads and costs. Old blog addresses now point here or to the guide that covers the topic.
Who are the guides for?
Owners, engineers and the people who sell for industrial companies: OEMs and primes, Tier 1 to Tier 5 suppliers, and the distributors, labs, engineering firms and integrators beside them. If you sell to a company one rung up the supply chain, they are written for you.
Do I have to give my email to read them?
No. Every guide is open to read, with no form in the way. The Supply Side, our monthly email, is optional: one email a month on being found by buyers and AI. Subscribe if it helps, and stop it from any issue.
How current are the guides?
Each guide shows the date it was last checked. When a fact changes, such as how AI assistants choose their sources or how a directory sells its listings, we revise the guide and the date. Our methodology page explains how we source and label every number.
The Supply Side, monthly
One email a month on being found by buyers and AI. Unsubscribe in one click.
Ready to see your own gap?
The guides show the method. The free Buyer's-Eye Audit tries it on the RFQ you most want to win. The paid Blueprint applies it to your whole company.