Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing how companies manufacture, distribute and improve their products. But how does it impact businesses from a marketing perspective?
Characterized by increased automation and “smart” machines and factories, Industry 4.0 differs from previous industrial eras because manufacturing companies now have informed data (data + research + experience + personal insights) to help them manufacture their products more efficiently and productively across the value chain.
As a positive example of social, economic, and environmental responsibility, Industry 4.0 provides an incredible opportunity to share and expand on core concepts (for a manufacturing company, these could be ideas like efficiency, reliability, and speed) via targeted and strategic messaging. I’ll talk about a 9-Point Marketing Strategy later!
You can achieve this by promoting modern, forward-thinking concepts that can help differentiate you (this is USP) from others (competitors) in the marketplace.
What topics contribute toward your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), and what is USP in the first place?
Your USP or Unique Selling Proposition makes your business better than your competitors and is the reason why customers should buy from you. A USP informs every business modality, including brand management, slogans, developing and describing new products and services, and how you interact with clients. A strong USP will put your customers needs front and center.
Here are topics that can help build your USP as a manufacturing company (wanting to dial into Industry 4.0 concepts in messaging) –
- Increasing revenue and profitability: Industry 4.0 creates a more efficient and higher-quality production process and opens up marketing avenues for differentiating your product user journey against others in the marketplace.
- Optimizing processes for improved outputs: The need for integrated systems and the results they can produce will drive greater collaboration and communication among producers, suppliers, and other stakeholders in both the technological and marketing domains.
- Leading with high-quality products: You have a tremendous opportunity to realign and refocus quality and demonstrate to the world how new technologies can benefit and synergize the entire manufacturing industry, putting you in a position to lead the way with how you position your brand.
BRAND IMPACT
The impacts of Industry 4.0 (automation, “smart” machines and factories, etc.) can work conceptually and integrate into a marketing plan or strategy. Take its main outputs (for automation, think efficiency, reliability, speed) and apply them in cross-functional applications (namely, your content and messaging).
For example, if your drive for “efficiency” is to make your products easier to manufacture and is achieved thanks to new technologies like “smart factories”, then the output would be how it contributes toward messaging concepts like industry-best lead times (meeting on-time delivery requirements of clients) and added capacity to provide exceptional customer service (improving the client experience by developing enduring relationships at every touchpoint).
Today, I am developing a streamlined approach (that’s the 9-Point Marketing Strategy!) and testing various campaigns and projects to attain current goals and inform our future work. Of course, ensuring my team is collaborative and agile while leveraging informed data to drive the vision and mission forward.
It will be exciting to see what new product innovations (and process changes within marketing) grow from Industry 4.0.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Share, share away!
Blox. is a Creative & Technical Marketer 