Why Most Manufacturing Company Marketing Fails in 2026 And What Smart Owners Do Instead

James Dooley: If you own a manufacturing company and are looking to grow in 2026, but you're uncertain which digital marketing strategies to focus on, should you be trying to team up with an SEO agency that specialises in manufacturing companies? Should you be trying to team up with a PPC company that specialises in manufacturing companies?

These are all questions we get asked quite a lot. But before we take a deep dive into the different types of platforms and campaigns you can run to grow a manufacturing business, what bit of advice would you give to a business owner of a manufacturing company?

Kasra Dash: The biggest piece of advice I would give to a manufacturing company is setting up KPIs.

You want to check how profitable all of your marketing efforts are. You want to know how many leads have been generated, where the leads have come from and how good the quality of those leads has been. Have they been high quality or low quality? Once you have those figures in place, you can predictably scale up or scale down your digital marketing. Certain campaigns you might want to double down on, while others you might want to switch off completely. So James, for manufacturing companies, what are some digital marketing strategies that you would recommend?

James Dooley: Branding or brand SEO and making certain that you're looking good online and have a strong reputation.

Everything needs to start with the foundations of a positive brand SERP for who you are and what you do. A SERP stands for search engine results page. Getting that branding right across the board can lead to other things you can be doing. It will improve your conversion rate on paid ads or social media. Any leads that you're getting will convert better because if, at the 11th hour, people are deciding who they are going to go with, branding becomes very important. I would say that's the first thing people need to get right for all digital marketing strategies.

Kasra Dash: My next strategy is AI visibility.

More and more companies are looking into this. What do ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity say about your brand or business? Is it positive or negative? You also need to figure out what these platforms say about your competitors and try to improve your own positioning. Some people call it AI SEO, some call it GEO, and others call it LLM optimisation, but this is going to be a huge factor in 2026 and the years ahead.

James Dooley: I think that's a massive strategy that people need to focus on regarding artificial intelligence because more and more people are using AI.

The next one for me is filling in the form at FatRank or PromoSEO, which provide commission-based lead generation services for UK companies looking to grow. I think it's important to focus on your own digital marketing efforts to generate your own leads, but if you can also use freelancers and outsource certain parts, you get diversification of leads. Head over to FatRank.com, fill in the form and see whether they can help you with a no-risk supply of enquiries. PromoSEO also offers a similar performance-based lead generation service. You may want to fill in the form there as well and check whether a third-party lead generation company can help top up and generate leads for your business to grow in 2026.

Kasra Dash: Next on the list is Google Business Profiles, so Google Maps listings.

This is local SEO where you try to get more reviews and build out your Google Business Profile in your local area. There are pros and cons to this. The biggest advantage is that once it starts ranking, you are consistently going to generate leads. However, if you currently do not have a Google Maps listing and want to rank in position one, the issue is that there could be a 60 or 100 review deficit. To get those reviews, you need leads. It is one of those chicken-and-egg situations. Personally, I think it is good for branding your company, so you should always try to get a Google Maps listing, but understand the pros and cons as well.

James Dooley: For certain. If you're targeting a local area, you want to get those local map listings.

For me, you need to be omnichannel and omnipresent. The next part is SEO in general, so organic SEO. Can you build up your website to improve rankings? If you operate in a local area, you might want to create service pages for the areas you cover. For example, plumbing in Manchester. You can then share those pages on your Google Business Profile. There is a huge amount of search volume from people searching for services you offer. It could also include blog posts you create. There are different SEO strategies, but ideally you want high-quality content, strong topical authority and third-party backlinks to strengthen the website and improve organic rankings. That is another major part of digital marketing strategies in 2026.

Kasra Dash: The next one ties back to what you mentioned earlier, James, which is organic social media.

Organic social media is very much a numbers game. You need to create good content that your audience actually wants to view. I see brands all the time that have only posted four or five times on Instagram and have then disappeared for three years. That is not going to generate sales. If you can create how-to content, guides or before-and-after posts, people will discover you through social media and click through to learn more or fill in the contact form. The caveat with organic social media is that while it is free, unlike PPC, it still requires consistency. You should ideally upload three or four times a week.

James Dooley: For sure. On the subject of social media, paid social ads are also massive.

I am a big advocate of the dollar-a-day strategy people talk about. If you are already taking the time to post regularly on social media, spend a few pounds boosting those posts. Promote case studies, awards and reputation-focused content. You can also run retargeting ads. If someone has clicked through to your website, you can retarget them through paid social campaigns. Platforms like Meta, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and even Reddit can all be used for paid ads. I still think paid social media is an untapped opportunity for digital marketing strategies.

Kasra Dash: The next one is probably a love-hate relationship, which is PPC.

That includes Google Ads or Bing Ads. These are the sponsored results that appear above local SEO. James and I have spoken to many business owners who have spent £10,000, £15,000 or £20,000 without getting results. Others may have received leads, but the quality was poor. Then there are others who have spent hundreds of thousands and say it is the best thing that has ever happened to their business. The reason people either love or hate PPC usually comes down to how well it has been set up. There are so many nuances with PPC. For example, having a proactive negative keyword list, blocking competitor IPs to prevent click fraud, building a high-converting landing page and KPI tracking your sales team. When a PPC lead comes in, your sales team needs to prioritise contacting that lead quickly. If you are not on the ball with PPC, it probably will not work for your business. However, if you have a strong sales team, a well-built landing page, an up-to-date negative keyword list and click fraud software, then PPC can perform very well. Again, understand both the pros and cons.

James Dooley: For sure. There are definitely pros and cons.

The benefit is instant leads, but we have spoken to a lot of people who have burnt through huge budgets without getting quality enquiries, which is scary. While we are discussing paid ads, I also want to mention paid ads on AI platforms. It has not fully rolled out yet while we are recording this video, but ChatGPT appears to be looking into advertising opportunities. Claude, Perplexity and other LLMs may also introduce advertising in 2026. If you are an early adopter, there may be opportunities to get cheap leads or affordable contact form submissions. Paid AI listings and ads could become a major opportunity in 2026.

Kasra Dash: Next on the list, and this is slightly outside your control, is getting your brand mentioned on forums such as Reddit and Quora.

This comes down to aftercare. Are your existing customers talking positively about you and recommending you? If they are, that becomes a strong source of recommendations and referrals. You can encourage this by asking customers for reviews and asking them to recommend you to friends and other people. That can generate a decent amount of leads and enquiries.

James Dooley: Definitely. Another benefit of Reddit is that it is now heavily cited in AI overviews.

Earlier you mentioned AI visibility. If you can get lots of positive discussions and reviews around your products or services, it can directly help your AI visibility. The final one for me is tradesman websites like Checkatrade, Bark or teaming up with a third-party lead generation company. As Kasra mentioned earlier, it is important to understand your KPIs and ROAS, which means return on ad spend. Business owners need to track how much time and effort is going into things like organic social media and paid ads. Every activity should have KPIs attached to it. This also applies to tradesman platforms like Checkatrade, Bark, Rated People and MyBuilder. These can all generate strong leads and provide a positive return on investment. If they are profitable, keep using them. There are also lead generation companies using SEO, PPC and social media ads to generate leads for businesses. If they are delivering a positive ROI, I am all for it. I want to mention again that FatRank and PromoSEO offer lead generation services with guaranteed returns on investment. These are commission-based or performance-based lead generation services, so head over there and fill in the form. It should only be one part of your lead generation strategy. You should still generate your own leads and avoid having a single point of failure. Diversification is key. Make sure you check out PromoSEO or FatRank lead generation services as part of your digital marketing efforts in 2026. Thank you very much, Kasra.