MiM within the discrete manufacturing industry
Building Trust
MiM within the discrete manufacturing industry
Building trust
TL;DR
• Marketing in the discrete manufacturing industry works fundamentally differently than in SaaS, e-commerce or consumer markets: it’s not about creating demand, but about earning trust.
• Complex products, long sales cycles, large buying committees, high order values and a strong interdependence of sales and marketing make generic marketing approaches hopeless.
• Current research (2026) confirms this picture even more sharply: B2B buying processes now involve an average of 11.2 stakeholders for deals above €50,000, and 83% of buyers have already established their purchasing requirements before any contact with sales.
• Many manufacturing companies have an excellent product and a strong reputation, but an outdated, ad hoc marketing approach. As a result, their distinctiveness is insufficiently visible.
• These are exactly the issues MiM has structural experience with: positioning, Account Based Marketing, technical content, sales-marketing alignment and fractional CMO deployment at manufacturing and industrial companies.
Introduction: a different sector requires a different approach
The discrete manufacturing industry deviates from sectors such as SaaS, e-commerce or consumer products on fundamental points. Where marketing in those segments often revolves around brand experience, lead generation and fast conversion, marketing in the discrete manufacturing industry revolves around trust, technical substantiation and supporting a long and complex sales process. That calls for a different approach.
For MiM, this is not an abstract observation; it’s the terrain we’ve been active in for years: as a fractional CMO partner at manufacturing companies and technical professional service providers between 25 and 150 FTE, where marketing had long been a low priority and now, under pressure from competition or market change, does require structural attention.
What makes the discrete manufacturing industry fundamentally different
1. Complex products require technical credibility
Machines, building materials, components, industrial software or production lines aren’t bought on impulse. Specifications, certifications and performance carry more weight than slogans. This calls for content that is substantively correct and language that makes the technical distinction visible.
2. Long sales cycles require continuous visibility
A purchasing decision in the discrete manufacturing industry goes through an extensive orientation phase, supplier conversations, a pilot project, possibly a tender process, decision-making and — if all phases are completed successfully — implementation. Such a trajectory can take months to years. Recent research underlines this: the average B2B buying journey now takes 272 days, compared to 211 days in earlier measurements, and more than 70% of the journey has already been completed by the time a buyer first reaches out to a supplier. Marketing that only starts once a lead comes forward therefore misses the largest part of the influenceable phase.
3. Multiple decision-makers require layered messaging
A single investment often involves management, operations, engineering, purchasing, finance, quality management and maintenance. Research from 2026 shows that these kinds of buying committees are growing in size: for deals above €50,000, the median size of the buying group now stands at 11.2 people, compared to 9.7 in 2024, and complex purchases involve an average of 13 internal and 9 external stakeholders. One message for everyone no longer works in that reality; marketing has to offer a different angle and different evidence for each role.
4. High order value requires quality over volume
An order often represents tens of thousands to millions of euros. Every lead is therefore valuable. As a result, Account Based Marketing (ABM) generally works considerably better than mass marketing. That’s not just an assumption: ABM programmes generate 2.6 times more pipeline per marketing euro than broad demand generation, with 41% higher win rates and 33% larger average deal sizes.
5. Relationships are crucial for both revenue and acquisition
Much revenue comes from existing customers, long-term relationships, service contracts and repeat orders. Marketing therefore supports not only acquisition but also customer retention, which is often underestimated in classic lead-generation thinking.
6. Innovation often remains invisible
Many manufacturing companies are highly innovative technically, but rarely communicate about it. “Our products speak for themselves” is a commonly held belief. The result is that the distinctiveness of a product or service stays hidden.
7. The international market requires local precision
Many Dutch manufacturing companies export a large part of their production. Marketing therefore has to account for multiple languages, local regulations and cultural differences. Doing that successfully can’t be achieved simply by translating a product brochure; such internationalisation efforts require a specific, tailor-made marketing strategy, including clear local positioning per region or segment.
Why marketing in the discrete manufacturing industry works fundamentally differently
Less emotion, more evidence
In B2C, marketing often sells emotion. In the discrete manufacturing industry, marketing mainly sells certainty: does it work, is it proven, what does it deliver, what’s the Total Cost of Ownership, how reliable is this supplier? Reference projects, technical documentation, whitepapers, certifications and ROI calculations therefore matter more than a spectacular campaign. This aligns with what current international research shows: more than 80% of buyers have already defined their purchasing requirements before sales comes into the picture, and buyers rely more heavily on independent evidence than on sales talk.
Trust comes before creativity
Expertise, reliability, continuity and experience carry more weight than a bold concept. Marketing in this sector is mainly concerned with building credibility: a positioning that is accurate, consistently maintained and backed by evidence works better than a one-off creative outlier.
Sales and marketing are inseparably linked
In many sectors, marketing can generate leads independently. In the discrete manufacturing industry, sales and marketing overlap much more: marketing supports sales with account research, cases, customer stories, presentations, trade fairs, follow-up campaigns and content for specific accounts. A split where “marketing does brand awareness, sales does the deal” simply doesn’t work here.
Content has to be substantively strong
Successful content rarely consists of superficial blog posts. Case studies, descriptions of engineering challenges, production processes and quality improvements, information about sustainability initiatives, customer interviews and images from the factory floor work better. This is confirmed by recent research into content consumption: B2B buyers consume an average of 13.4 pieces of content before approaching sales, and 67% of the buying process is now self-directed. Superficial content is simply skipped.
Trade fairs remain important, but their role is changing
Buyers want to see machines, feel materials, talk to engineers and get a feel for the product or service. Online marketing supports those encounters but rarely replaces them entirely. The emphasis is shifting, though: budgets for large trade fairs are under pressure, while partner ecosystems and digital partner enablement play a growing role as a revenue driver. Trade fairs remain relevant, but require even sharper preparation than before.
The recognisable marketing trap in the discrete manufacturing industry
Many manufacturing companies recognise themselves in the same pattern: an excellent product, a good reputation, but little marketing, an outdated website, a mediocre distinctive story, hardly any structural content, strong dependence on existing customers, and marketing that is mainly deployed ad hoc.
There’s often a logical cause: for years, marketing wasn’t necessary because the order book was full, customers kept coming back on their own, and word of mouth was enough. Only once competition increases or the market changes does the need for a professional marketing approach arise — often at precisely the moment when there’s barely any time to build it up carefully.
What successful marketing in the discrete manufacturing industry focuses on
Effective marketing in this sector doesn’t focus on promotion, but on making visible the knowledge and added value that’s already present within the organisation. In practice, that means:
• clear positioning;
• a sharp choice of target markets;
• buyer personas for the various decision-makers within a buying group;
• thought leadership and customer cases;
• technical content that specialists take seriously;
• Account Based Marketing aimed at the right accounts;
• close collaboration between sales and marketing;
• consistent visibility through both online and offline channels.
Marketing in the discrete manufacturing industry is primarily about building trust. Buyers make decisions with major financial and operational consequences. That’s why they don’t just want to know what a supplier makes, but above all why that solution is better, which problems it solves, and what results have already been achieved.
Why this is precisely where MiM is at home
MiM’s founders have close to thirty years of experience in marketing and sales of technically highly complex solutions, products and services. The analysis shared in this article is therefore not a theoretical exercise or an abstract overview; it’s a reflection of the landscape we’ve been active in for several decades.
Positioning and strategic marketing documents. Sharpening positioning and making choices around target market and revenue model is precisely the work MiM has been doing for years with technical and industrial clients: from complete strategic marketing trajectories to critical analyses of existing market research, translated into concrete choices.
Technically strong, substantive content. MiM structurally produces long-form content — whitepapers, thought leadership articles, customer cases — for technically complex propositions, including content specifically tailored to regulatory and compliance themes within a technical sector. That’s the kind of “evidence before emotion” that buyers in the discrete manufacturing industry need to build trust.
Account Based Marketing and channel-first go-to-market. MiM has extensive experience setting up channel-first go-to-market models and targeted account approaches — precisely the approach that, according to recent research, delivers 2.6 times more pipeline than broad demand generation in complex B2B environments.
Sales-marketing alignment. MiM’s approach never treats marketing separately from sales: strategic trajectories are consistently linked to follow-up, account research and concrete sales support — the close interdependence that the discrete manufacturing industry requires.
Tailored fractional CMO deployment. Through the three levels Compass, Engine and Co-Pilot, MiM aligns with the stage a specific organisation is in: from determining strategic direction (Compass) and co-executing the chosen strategy (Engine), to ongoing sparring and acceleration alongside or in collaboration with an existing team (Co-Pilot). That directly matches the pattern manufacturing companies typically go through: first there’s no need for marketing, then suddenly there is, without the internal capacity to build it up independently.
Direct experience in and around the discrete manufacturing industry. MiM knows the tone, pace and burden of proof this sector demands, and translates that into an approach that isn’t based on SaaS or e-commerce logic, but on the logic of the discrete manufacturing industry itself.
Conclusion
A well-designed and well-executed marketing strategy is crucial — especially within the discrete manufacturing industry. Marketing can make the difference here between technical potential that stays invisible and technical potential that translates into commercial growth. The 2026 figures confirm what practice has shown for some time: buying groups are getting larger, trajectories are getting longer, and the window in which a supplier can distinguish itself keeps shifting further forward in the process. Whoever isn’t visible there, or fails to make the right impression, simply won’t be considered anymore.
MiM was founded to solve exactly that issue for manufacturing companies and technical service providers: not with a generic marketing playbook, but with an approach tailored to long sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, high order values and the need to make proven expertise visible.
Frequently asked questions
1. Why does a standard B2B marketing approach often not work in the discrete manufacturing industry? Because most standard approaches are built for shorter sales cycles, fewer decision-makers and more emotion-driven purchases. The discrete manufacturing industry has long trajectories, large buying groups and purchasing decisions that are made mainly on evidence and trust. An approach that doesn’t account for that misses the largest part of the buying process.
2. Our product has been selling itself for years through word of mouth — why should we invest in marketing now? Because word of mouth and a full order book usually indicate that the company has a temporary lead, not structural protection. Once competition increases or the market changes, it often turns out that strong technical knowledge hasn’t been made sufficiently visible, allowing competitors with less substantive quality to still win the conversation.
3. Isn’t Account Based Marketing mainly something for software companies? No. ABM actually aligns well with the characteristics of the discrete manufacturing industry: high order value, a limited number of valuable leads, and multiple decision-makers per account. Research shows that ABM delivers considerably more pipeline and higher win rates than broad, untargeted marketing in complex B2B environments.
4. Where does MiM typically start? Usually by getting sharp clarity: who is the target audience, what is the real distinctive value, and which evidence (cases, figures, references) is still missing to build trust. From there, it’s determined whether the trajectory starts with strategic direction (Compass), strategy combined with support in execution (Engine), or ongoing reinforcement of an existing team (Co-Pilot).
Sources
This article is partly based on the following current research and publications (2026):
• Omnibound, B2B Buying Statistics (2026): 55+ Data Points on the Self-Serve Research Phase, Buying Committees, and Digital Channels — omnibound.ai
• Digital Applied, B2B Marketing Statistics 2026: 180+ Essential Data Points — digitalapplied.com
• Corporate Visions, B2B Buying Behavior in 2026: 57 Stats and Five Hard Truths That Sales Can’t Ignore — corporatevisions.com
• Prospeo, Business Buying Behavior: What the Data Says in 2026 — prospeo.io
• The SEO Works, 79 B2B Buyer Behaviour Statistics for 2026 — seoworks.co.uk
• Prospeo, B2B Buyer Journey Statistics for 2026 (With Sources) — prospeo.io
• Sagefrog, Top 10 B2B Manufacturing Marketing Trends for 2026 — sagefrog.com
Underlying primary sources as cited by the publications above: Forrester (State of Business Buying 2026, 2025 Buyers’ Journey Survey), Gartner (CMO Spend Survey 2026), 6sense (2025 Buyer Experience Report), McKinsey (B2B Pulse Survey 2024) and Dreamdata (2026 B2B Journey Benchmark).
