Topic
Paid media for manufacturers
What Google Ads, directory listings and other paid placements cost a manufacturer, and which ones lead to quotes. We pull real bid data and published supplier terms and set them against what public manufacturers report spending on advertising. Start with the Google Ads study for job shops and our answer to whether Thomasnet is worth it.
Everything on paid media, newest first (5)
What public manufacturers spend on advertising: a B2B marketing budget benchmark from 56 10-Ks
We pulled the advertising expense that 56 public manufacturers and industrial distributors reported in their latest 10-Ks. The median was about half of one percent of revenue. These are public companies that chose to disclose the number, not typical 50 to 500 person shops, so the pattern at the edges tells you more than the median.
Google Ads for manufacturers: the platforms mostly buy each other's names, and job shop searches are thinly bid
Protolabs puts about 92% of its estimated $173,000 a month in Google search ads into rival platforms' names, mostly "xometry". Process and service searches get about 8%, and 16 of the 22 shops we checked showed no search ads. A 60-person machine shop or molder can buy narrow certification, process and local searches cheaply, if it tracks every click to a quote.
Is Thomasnet worth it? What a job shop gets from Thomasnet, Xometry and the RFQ marketplaces
Directories sell visibility. Marketplaces sell finished jobs on the platform's terms. Your own website is the only one of the three that sells your shop. We read each platform's supplier terms and checked who ranks for two common buyer searches.
NAHB Housing Market Index at 29: what building products marketers should do in Q1 2027
Builder confidence fell to 29 in October 2026, tying June 2012 as the lowest reading in more than 14 years, and 43% of builders cut prices. Building products marketers should move first quarter spend toward active buyers, lead with installed cost and time paid media to their region's spring ramp.