Advanced manufacturing brands often lead in capability but lag in communication.
What tends to lag behind is the storytelling. Many of the best British manufacturers are respected inside their own supply chains and largely unknown outside them, growing through referral and relationship while the wider market remains unaware of what they can do. It’s an understandable position to arrive at, since a business that is busy, trusted and technically excellent has rarely needed to explain itself.
The great thing about that gap, though, is how easy it is to close, because everything needed to close it already exists within the business. Communication is what can turn that capability into the market position they deserve.
Communication really the key their future success.
Research from Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy shows that across the two decades to 2020, the UK’s sharpest losses in global export share came in the very sectors where British engineering has traditionally led, including pharmaceuticals and other transport equipment.
This wasn’t because the work stopped being good. UK output in these areas often continued to grow. The problem was that Britain’s share of the world market slipped as faster-moving competitors claimed ground.
So the UK’s capability was there the whole time, yet market position still slipped. Why? The capability was getting lost. It’s only by communicating it correctly that the companies can hold a position rivals find hard to attack.
This is because a strong story backed by real substance is the one thing a competitor can’t just copy. Anyone can claim precision, but there’s far less that can actually prove it. For the firms that can, and that can clearly communicate it, they can claim a space almost no others could reach.
Proof is everything.
Proof is especially valuable right now, because industrial buyers have become a lot more demanding about it. They ask for precision, specification and evidence far above creative adverts, and they conduct much of their research long before they speak to anyone. Buying decisions in this sector are also collective, taking information from engineering, procurement, operations and finance, each of which needs a version of the same story tailored to them. A capable manufacturer that can supply all four with real-world evidence, makes itself much easier to choose.
This plays directly to the strengths of a serious engineering business. A manufacturer with real performance data, named customers and a track record of solving difficult problems can just show the work. In a market that rewards substantiation, having something true to say is a considerable commercial advantage.
A strong story told well
The power of having a unique story to tell becomes clear when you look at where the sector currently invests. Manufacturers allocate around 36% of their marketing budgets to digital channels, compared with 53% in technology and 48% in healthcare, and most UK manufacturing and engineering companies maintain a website without the ongoing activity that would turn it into a source of customer acquisition. That’s a good scope for growth and improvements. If you can make yourself findable and credible online, you’ll be competing for attention in a space where many of your peers are probably only barely present.
So, what will your story be?
Technical firms tend to describe their processes when the smarter move is to describe the problem they resolve, so the outcome comes first and the engineering proves it. Precision remains essential, and this is where an advanced manufacturing marketing approach differs sharply from consumer thinking, because the aim is not to simplify the capability but to make it clear, with real customers, real figures and hard evidence doing the persuading.
A case study is a great way to do this, as it allows you to show a difficult problem, the thinking applied to it and the measurable result, which is exactly the sequence a technical buyer wants to follow.
Added to case studies, the expertise inside your business is the most valuable communications asset you own, which is why a strong manufacturing PR agency will invest more effort in getting your engineers quoted, published and recognised. And in our experience, consistency across every touchpoint matters more than volume, because a strong industrial brand strategy tells a buyer you’re a coherent, well-run operation.
Effort equals rewards
The prize for getting this right is substantial and it just builds and builds. A manufacturer that communicates its story well is considered for work it would never previously have been, and is judged on the value it creates rather than the price it quotes, which is a far better conversation to be having.
A strong brand story also attracts the engineers and apprentices it needs, because young talent wants to join a business it’s actually heard of. It earns the attention of investors and journalists actively looking for credible British industrial stories, and it becomes the business the trade press calls when the sector needs an expert view.
British advanced manufacturing really does have the substance. The work now is to make sure that when a buyer, an investor or a journalist goes looking for the best firm for the job, they find you, understand you and believe you. That is an easier gap to close than a capability gap, and the businesses that close it will find that the reputation follows the reality, which is exactly as it should be.
Let’s talk about how to turn the capability you already have into the market position it deserves.
