When you think of news stories for manufacturing businesses, you most likely think about product launches, contract wins, new appointments and factory investments.
These certainly have their place, but if that’s the only time your business is speaking to the media, there’s a good chance you’re sitting on a wealth of stories that never make it beyond the factory gates.
Manufacturing businesses are full of people solving problems, developing products, responding to changing customer demands and navigating some of the biggest issues facing UK industry.
The challenge is recognising which of those everyday conversations could become a story.
You don’t need a major announcement to make the news
One of the biggest misconceptions around PR is that businesses need something new to announce before they can approach the media.
Regularly, the best PR opportunities actually come from looking at what is already happening within your business and the wider industry.
What questions are customers asking your sales team? What problems are your engineers helping customers solve? What is affecting your supply chain? Which regulations are changing the way your customers work?
Those conversations can quickly uncover subjects your customers are interested in and journalists want to cover. A technical director who has spent 20 years solving a particular manufacturing challenge may not consider that knowledge newsworthy. To a journalist writing about that exact issue, it could be incredibly useful.
Your people are often your best source of stories
Marketing teams aren’t always the people with the best stories or knowledge for PR purposes. In manufacturing businesses, some of the most valuable insight is often sitting with engineers, researchers, designers, technical teams, salespeople and those working directly with customers.
These team members know which challenges keep coming up, can see where customers are changing their behaviour and are typically the first to notice shifts taking place within the industry.
Getting PR teams closer to those people makes a huge difference. Regular conversations with teams across the business can uncover ideas that would never appear on a marketing calendar. A question raised by several customers could become an opinion piece. A recurring technical issue might inspire an advice feature. An observation from the sales team could provide the starting point for original industry research.
Look outside the business too
Some of the biggest opportunities for effective manufacturing PR come from what’s happening around you.
Skills shortages, energy costs, automation, AI, sustainability, regulation and supply chain resilience are all creating conversations across UK industry.
Brands with genuine expertise in these areas have an opportunity to contribute. The important word here is genuine.
Jumping onto every trending topic isn’t a PR strategy. If your business has nothing useful to add, leave it alone. But where you have relevant experience, evidence or expertise, contributing to an industry conversation can help position your people as credible voices journalists come back to.
Turn expertise into useful content
A strong idea can work much harder when it’s developed for different audiences and channels.
An observation from a technical expert might become commentary for a journalist, a longer thought leadership article for a trade publication and useful content for your own website or LinkedIn channel.
Original research can go even further, giving journalists new information while providing your sales and marketing teams with useful content to start conversations with customers and prospects.
The focus should always be on value. What can you tell your audience that they don’t already know?
Trade journalists need good stories too
Manufacturing and industrial trade publications are often working with small editorial teams covering large and technically complex sectors.
That creates an opportunity for businesses that can provide knowledgeable spokespeople, useful insight and well-developed stories.
Building those relationships takes time. Sending a journalist a product press release every few months is unlikely to do it.
Consistently providing relevant ideas and reliable expertise gives journalists a reason to recognise your brand and, eventually, come to you when they need comment.
Stop waiting for the next product launch
There will always be a place for company news, and a genuinely innovative new product deserves to be talked about. But manufacturing businesses have far more to say than what’s new in the product portfolio.
The stories are often already there. Finding them means getting closer to the people, customers and industry conversations that give you something genuinely useful to say.
Could your manufacturing business have more to say? We work with manufacturing and industrial brands to uncover the stories, expertise and insights that get them noticed by the audiences that matter. Get in touch to talk to our team about how we can make your PR work harder.