"£36k and No Guarantees?" The reality of Marketing Investment for Manufacturing Family SMEs
- Sophie Davies
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read

It's one of those shock statements when we start to talk costs with prospective clients.
I absolutely get it.
You're looking at a marketing budget that could pay someone's salary, upgrade that piece of kit you've been eyeing up, or even counter that NI hike you've had.
And some marketing agency, or marketing consultant sits across from you and says they can't guarantee results.
Your face says it all: "Are you having a laugh?"
Let me be brutally honest about something that most marketing agencies won't tell you upfront.
I Can't Guarantee Your Success
There I've said it!
I can't guarantee you'll double your leads, land that massive contract, or transform your business overnight.
Anyone who promises that is either taking you for a ride, or doesn't really understand manufacturing.
But here's what I can tell you, based on working with family manufacturing businesses like yours for the past 8 years.
What £36k Actually Buys You (And What It Doesn't)
When CN Glass wanted to invest properly in marketing, he wasn't buying a magic wand. He was buying something much more valuable: strategic clarity and consistent execution.
"We've gained the cost of marketing back tenfold," he told us four years later.
But it's important to understand that didn't happen in month one. Or even month six.
Here's the hard truth about marketing investment in manufacturing:
Marketing isn't a magic money machine.
You can't put money in and expect instant results to tumble out.
It's more like planting an orchard – you're investing in something that compounds over time.
The Questions that you really need to ask
Instead of "Can you guarantee results?" here are the questions that you need to ask of anyone you want to buy marketing services from:
"How will you understand my business before you start spending my money?"
If they launch straight into tactics without wanting to speak to your customers, understand your sales process, or know who you're actually trying to reach, walk away. Good marketing starts with strategy, not social media posts.
"What happens if I need to pause or change direction?"
Family manufacturing businesses face ups and downs. If your marketing partner can't adapt when you need to tighten belts or shift focus, you're stuck paying for something that no longer fits your reality.
"How will you measure what's actually working?"
If they only talk about website traffic and social media followers, that's a red flag. Your business needs enquiries from the right customers, not vanity metrics that make you feel good but don't affect your bottom line.
"What's your experience with businesses like mine?"
SMEs work differently from big corporates. Budgets are tight, decisions matter, and you can't afford to get it wrong. If they've only worked with unlimited budgets or massive teams, they won't understand how you operate.
"Will you tell me when I'm wrong?"
This one catches people off guard, but it's crucial. You don't need another yes-person. You need someone who'll challenge your assumptions and stop you wasting money on pet projects that won't work.
Ask these questions. Listen to the answers. They'll tell you everything you need to know.
Why Most Marketing Investments Fail (And How to Avoid This)
Having worked with many family manufacturing businesses, I've seen the same patterns repeatedly:
The Scatter-Gun Approach: Trying everything at once with no clear strategy. It's like having ten machines running at half-capacity instead of three running perfectly.
The Quick-Fix Mentality: Expecting results in 90 days when your sales cycle is 6-12 months. Manufacturing isn't retail – your marketing timeline needs to reflect that.
The DIY Trap: Thinking you can do it yourself "when you have time." Spoiler alert: you'll never have time, and your half-hearted attempts will deliver half-hearted results.
The Wrong Metrics: Measuring likes and clicks instead of quality enquiries and commercial outcomes.
The Marketing Realisation
Tory another of our client put it perfectly: "I was constantly figuring out how to do things. Marketing was stealing time from me – and I wasn't even doing it very well."
She was spending money anyway – just inefficiently. Ad-hoc website updates, random social media posts, rushed email campaigns that went nowhere.
Sound familiar?
The revelation came when she realised that professional marketing wasn't an expense – it was replacing the hidden costs of doing it badly herself.
What I Can Guarantee
While I can't guarantee your results, here's what I can promise:
I'll help you spend wisely.
Every pound needs to work hard. If you can create content yourself, brilliant – let's focus the budget on strategy and channels you can't handle internally.
I'll challenge the shopping list.
Just because everyone says you need social media doesn't mean you do. We'll work out where your customers actually are and focus there.
I'll look at the whole picture.
Marketing isn't just tactics – it's how it fits with your sales process, your capacity, your growth ambitions, and your operational reality.
I'll be honest about timelines.
Good marketing takes time to bed in. If you need results next month, I'm not your solution. If you want to build something sustainable, let's talk.
The Long-Term Relationship Reality
Here's something most agencies won't tell you: the best results come from long-term partnerships.
CN Glass has been working with us for four years. Their leads have quadrupled, their turnover has doubled, and they've successfully shifted from 70% residential to 70% commercial work.
But they didn't see that transformation in month three. They saw it because they committed to the process and trusted the strategy.
The Bottom Line
Yes, £36k is serious money. In our world, every pound matters, and throwing money at problems isn't how family businesses operate.
But here's the thing: you're probably already spending money on marketing – just not effectively. Bit of website work here, some advertising there, maybe a trade show that didn't deliver.
The question isn't whether to invest in marketing. It's whether to invest in marketing that actually works for your business.
I can't guarantee your success. But I can guarantee that without proper marketing, your growth will always be at the mercy of chance.
And in a competitive manufacturing landscape, that's the biggest risk of all.
Ready to have an honest conversation about marketing investment that makes sense for your manufacturing business? Let's talk about what you actually need – not what everyone thinks you should have.
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