Client Spotlight

Magnecraft Successfully Combines Online CAD
Availability with the Power of Parametric Search

A new website from the ThomasNet Web Solutions team was “just what the doctored ordered,” according to Matt O’Kane, Business Director and General Manager of Magnecraft. “Both the online catalog and 3D modeling capabilities were exactly what we needed!”

Magnecraft has discovered the value of combining parametric search capabilities in its online catalog with the availability of CAD drawings on its website. The company’s largest distributor has seen a 36% uptick since the Magnecraft online catalog was launched, according to O’Kane. Hear the whole story by viewing O’Kane’s video testimonial on the ThomasNet site.

Expert's Corner

The Importance of Knowing What Your Customers Really Want

In the August 18, 2008 issue of BusinessWeek Online, Linda Rigano, ThomasNet’s Director of Strategic Alliances, shared online marketing strategies for small businesses selling in international markets.

When asked what the biggest mistake small companies make in creating their websites, Rigano responded, “They design their websites based on what they think their customers want, instead of what their customers actually want.”

Rigano provided easy-to-implement steps to design a site that will
connect you with more buyers around the world.

3 Easy Steps to Target More Customers

Autumn is always a good time to “get back to basics” with your online marketing efforts.  You may be asking yourself, "How do I attract more customers - serious buyers - to my website?" One answer is through careful, deliberate target marketing.  Here's a quick review of target marketing principles, followed by three steps to help your company attract more customers.

The Basics of Target Marketing

Target marketing is “identifying a target market after detailed research, and developing specific marketing campaigns focused at it,” according to BusinessDictionary.com.

Entrepreneur.com says a target market is “a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services” and advises us to “resist the temptation to be too general [with our target marketing] in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. That’s like firing 10 bullets in random directions instead of aiming just one dead center of the mark – expensive and dangerous.”

Why is targeting important?  Because "knowing the market enables you to assess and value and plan how to engage with it," says Paul R. Smith, co-author of the best-seller Marketing Communications: An Integrated Approach.

So, how can you target more customers, engage their interest and convince them to buy?  There are many systems for target marketing, but here’s a simple, three-step process to help you get to know and attract the target market(s) for your company:

1. Research current customers

Talk to your current customers and get to know them better as real people with likes and dislikes and specific needs. If your company doesn’t
have a formal research department, do some research on your own.   Maybe take your customers to lunch (if they are locally based). 
Or, conduct an informal survey with a “reward” for completing the survey.  Ask your customers some important questions, including:

• What do they like best about doing business with your company –
  and why?
• What information do they seek?
• What are their business challenges? Their pain points?

(And, don’t forget to ask your customers if you can use their answers as “testimonials” for your company!)

85 billion  

The number of web pages archived on The Wayback Machine.
Can’t remember how your website (or a competitor’s website) used to look? This site lets you browse through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996 through a few months ago.

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