Even though we’re not in the centre of Birmingham, our little office in Kinver is still heavily influenced by the city. I just had to drive through a big chunk of it on the M6, and something struck me. There’s still an incredible amount of industry here.
I wonder if they have websites?
There’s a tendency to think that websites are just for tech-heavy companies selling the latest gadgets or those in the service industry with fancy names. As the Internet is a predominantly business to consumer arena, most people aren’t going to be searching for “rolled cold steel” every day, but that doesn’t mean nobody is.
We’ve worked with many manufacturing companies and we’ve created a lot of websites and handled the digital marketing for many based in Birmingham, but there are still many who think that a site is simple “something you’ve got to have”.
That’s in stark contrast to other industries. We’ve recently engaged with a company that deals with recruitment and their words to us were: “A website is *essential*”. The same with a business selling team-working courses: “Without a website, we’d be dead in the ground.”
It’s the same in many industries. Except manufacturing and to some degree, engineering, to a lot of directors of these “old school” industries, the web site and the marketing of it are a necessary evil and something to be acquired as cheaply, as quickly and as effortlessly as possible.
I did a quick search for “The best manufacturing websites” to see if I could find a list that might show me the quality of sites out there. I came across an American website that’s been holding annual awards, and the results were pretty shocking.
http://www.webaward.org/winners_detail.asp?yr=all&award_level=best&category=Manufacturing
If you look at the last five winners, it’s fair to say that none of them are particularly stunning, but they kinda do the job. That’s OK, they’re selling bits of metal, nothing sexy about that, but on closer inspection you see that only one of them is even based on a responsive design. This means only one of those sites works with mobile phones effectively.
I didn’t cut that off, it’s what it looks like. Ouch.
The fact that Google has indicated that the update to its index which takes mobile readiness into account will be bigger than Panda and Penguin, makes this pretty shocking.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
Manufacturing in Birmingham is on the rise
We’ve been told now for decades that manufacturing is on the wane and certainly, during the recession many companies suffered as people cut back. Cheap imports took over and quality took a back seat as people just wanted to reduce costs. However now, and especially in the West Midlands, there’s a recovery taking place and in fact, our area is seeing growth above the rest of the country:
This means there’s now more opportunities than ever to stand out against the others and show that as a company that has the potential to thrive in the world of bricks and mortar, it’s also possible to have a great on-line presence. And that presence can build even more sales, rocket your reputation and show off your products to the rest of the world.
Websites can be designed well and do their job
It may be that your company is selling something pretty bland, it may not, but at the end of the day you’re still selling to people. You need to press all the same buttons as you do when selling lingerie or gourmet meals; good design works regardless of the industry.
A well-designed site that had great navigation will work for a steel buyer as much as it will work for someone looking for a new coat. You don’t have to make your website dull just because you sell mild steel.
In fact, there is a fantastic opportunity for manufacturing companies to develop an excellent website because, putting it simply, nobody else seems to be bothering!
Marketing works across the board
Likewise, digital marketing and, dare I say it, content marketing is not just for high-tech companies, it works for everyone. You need leads, and people search for your products on-line (believe me, they do) and if you can be found for whatever it is you make, you can get a sale, it’s that simple.
We recently helped a company get a number of leads in an extremely niche industry. Trust me, it was so niche nobody had ever heard of the product. The results? A number of sales worth millions of pounds.
If you’re a web design based in Birmingham and you’ve not considered speaking to all the manufacturing companies on your doorstep then I would advise you get out there. And if you’re a manufacturing company that thinks the Internet isn’t somewhere you want to be, then reconsider. The marketplace is extremely fertile in your industry at the moment.
Be brave, be bold and do something radical!
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