February 29, 2024 Manufacturing Marketing: Does it Need a Gen Z Approach?

Manufacturing marketing can feel like it’s been left behind in industry 0.0 – a Gen Z approach might be part of the answer.

Why is it that when the words ‘manufacturing’ and ‘marketing’ are said in the same sentence, there’s a silence as loud as the recent Tata Steel headlines? When we open the doors to the newest smart factory, our eyes boggle in awe. When we strap on a VR headset to immerse ourselves in a 3D product design model, our senses are ignited with glee. Modern manufacturing is snazzy, progressive, phenomenal. Yet when it comes to its marketing, it’s sometimes like we’re back in industry 0.0.

The state of modern manufacturing

As marketers, the manufacturing sector is one we’ve all scratched our heads over enough to make us pre-baldopausal. There’s a real surge in manufacturing R&D to develop the most advanced kit – food and drink manufacturers spent £800mn on innovation in 2021/22. Not to mention most manufacturers have embraced industry 4.0 and fully adopted the cloud, IoT, and connected devices that come with it! But talking about manufacturing, i.e. marketing it, feels like the hardest part. Why?

Perception VS reality

Well, in 1850, we were producing almost half of the world’s manufactured goods, yet the nation accounted for just 2% of the world’s population. But it seems we’re still wearing 19^th century-tinted goggles when we think about UK manufacturing, rather than recognising it as the digitally empowered sector it is.

Ask any Gen Zer for the words that come to mind when you say ‘manufacturing’. I reckon Rishi Sunak would bet £1,000 that answers would connote fossil-fuel guzzling and smoke-billowing factory towers… There’s still a lack of understanding between the stereotypical associations of our rich manufacturing legacy and how modernised it is today, not helped by manufacturing marketing that’s often stuck at the turn of the millennium.

Manufacturing marketing: Then and now

Traditionally, the sector hasn’t had to think too hard about its marketing. It’s thrived from word-of-mouth recommendations, years-old relationships, and supply chain locality. But in 2022, we had almost 140k manufacturing businesses operating in the UK, a figure expected to grow to 146k plus this year. Given the sector’s not quite out of Covid-19 recovery mode, it’s a projection to be celebrated. And also one that prompts.

The first step to getting your manufacturing start-up or scale-up off the ground is getting noticed. Then, being remembered. This 6k strong influx of businesses looking to disrupt the manufacturing scene will know that how they showcase their brand and communicate their offering (i.e. their marketing) is core to taking a slice of the closely guarded manufacturing pie.

Should manufacturers take a Gen Z approach to marketing?

It starts with speaking to your audience where they are. In 2024, that largely continues to be online via websites – these need to combine user-centricity with brand recognition, and ultimately give your audience what they’re looking for.

From here, manufacturers can look to add in a mix of activities that speak to their audience in the other places they are – including social media. ‘Is TikTok a search engine?’ is a question that’s been rife among both B2C and B2B marketers already this year. In short, it is fast becoming one. Over 2 in 5 of our friends across the pond use TikTok as a search engine. And as recently as last September, the New York Times ran the headline ‘For Gen Z, TikTok is the New Search Engine’.

TikTok: Friend or foe?

Sure, it’s going to take some doing to override Google’s authority as the search engine (it currently accounts for 92% of the global search engine market). But that’s now. Just as the UK’s industrial revolution changed global manufacturing, TikTok seems on track to shake up our preferences for search.

And whilst it might seem baffling that potential business will be typing ‘packaging manufacturer near me’ into TikTok over Google, it’s happening. Almost 400 million views have racked up for TikToks that tag the term ‘manufacturing’ – you’d be naive to think at least one of those isn’t a potential customer!

With younger businesses entering the fold, you need to be looking at comms through their eyes. Email (and even newer, collaborative workspaces like MS Teams and Slack) have now become second nature to manufacturers. But channels like TikTok are becoming second nature to the generations who’ll account for more of the workforce in 5, 10, 20 years. To market well, manufacturers need to speak to their audience where they are now – and where they’re headed.

Marketing for the modern manufacturer

Whether a Gen Z approach to marketing is the answer remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a starting point. Though many of us are set to work well into our 80s (if the current retirement landscape is anything to go by!), manufacturers’ customers of today aren’t necessarily customers of tomorrow.

We can all recognise that the goods the sector is producing are different. So, too, are the people producing the goods, the markets needing the goods, and the people within the markets needing the goods. The target demographic for manufacturers isn’t stagnant – its marketing shouldn’t be, either.

About the Author:
Gabrielle Percival is the Content Lead at Halston B2B, the specialist agency that lives and breathes highly technical markets. They offer bespoke marketing solutions to business in the tech, heavy industry, and life sciences sectors.

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