By John Pearce, CEO, Made in Britain
First things first, I would like to wish every member of Made in Britain a very happy and prosperous new year. There are currently more than one thousand, nine hundred and thirty members of our organisation, equating to many hundreds of thousands of employees - all unified with the famous MiB mark. We are, more than anything else, the place where successful manufacturing businesses come together to reach even greater heights. In the coming year 2023, working and learning collaboratively will be more important than ever, as we overcome some of the complex, interconnected business and environmental challenges.
Our organisation wants the very best for every single business within our membership family, so we’re setting in motion this year an ambitious plan that will focus on three specific areas; growth, service and community. Growth of the membership group, exemplary service to all businesses using the mark and building a cohesive and coherent community of manufacturers and the marketers that they employ.
We want to see the membership community grow bigger and stronger this year so we’ll be reaching out to every manufacturing business in Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England to join us in celebrating British manufacturing, working together to achieve more visibility for the sector. This will add 100s of new and exciting products to our product directory and give all our members even more reasons to connect with their peers in places around the UK. We also want the help marketing and salespeople grow professionally, by offering them signposts to plenty of online content, and occasional webinars throughout the year, and in the summer we’ll be inviting all members to take part in the 2023 Impact Awards.
Our service to all members is really important to make sure every licence holder is able to take full advantage of the recognition and trust we’d want people to have in the mark itself. Of the hundreds of new members that join Made in Britain every year, we know the vast majority find us via a simple internet search. We’ll continue to strengthen our digital presence in 2023 making sure we are near (or at the very top) when people search for British-made products and British manufacturing businesses. We’ll keep innovating in the social media space too with fresh approaches to keeping members’ news and updates of success circulating there so more consumers know about the 1000s of affordable products available to buy via the links within the members' directory. If you’ve not uploaded a product yet, I strongly recommend you do so. It only takes a few minutes and all sales via our site benefit your business in precisely the way that you want them to. You decide what the sales contact link is so it’s the best one for your business plan.
If you’re looking for evidence of how successful all our members are, I suggest you make one of your new year's resolutions to post your news on our website. We receive hundreds of members' news stories from this growing community, and we’ve now started to share this success with a public-facing newsletter too. I look forward to seeing that audience grow this year.
We all know that this coming year won’t be easy - making a profit from manufacturing never has been. But there are reasons to believe that being in the Made in Britain community will help you get through the coming year in better shape. Do reach out and connect with other members of Made in Britain – they are easy to find and easy to speak to – I never tire of talking to members I meet about what keeps them up at night, what their growth plans are and, perhaps more importantly, what they would like to see more of, or less of at Made in Britain. The 50/50 paradigm is unique to us. Half of our members make everyday goods you could see in any retail shop – the rest make trade and industrial goods. Membership may well be the only way you can connect with our many hundreds of industrial and trade makers, together making a rich and diverse manufacturing success story. This all helps to make the UK supply chain stronger and more self-sufficient in the long run.
We will work even harder this year to make sure as many of our members as possible know how best to use the official mark licence and how it can benefit their business. Our weekly newsletter keeps you up to date on ‘what works’ in our sector. We see every day what success looks like and how members can learn from the achievements of others how best to approach some of the many overlapping challenges and to hone the right message about your business and your product. Making your business attractive to the workforce is as important these days as making sure your products are selling well too. Being within a well-established success group should give you more confidence overall and help associate your business name with success too.
I’m sure everyone at Made in Britain is looking forward to the coronation of our King Charles III on Saturday 6th May. If your business is already making plans to make a special product this year to commemorate the occasion or if you’re making products that will be used on a special day, please do let us know as soon as you can. We are drawing up a communications plan this month to make the most of this very special day and celebrate the importance of manufactured products in relation to the new Royal household and every other home in the UK.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be revealing to our members the results of the latest Buying British Survey. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the great British public is at choosing more locally made goods overall and how their attitude to buying British has shifted after the year of so many challenges to people’s budgets. This data is all highly valuable communications content, unique to members. The more you use it in your media, making sure you tag our social media too, the more reach you’ll achieve with your message.
Above all in 2023, we want to grow and we want British manufacturing to grow too. The more members we have, the louder our voice is alongside other trade representative bodies, the government, local authorities, and most important of all the British public. If you are out and about and spot the MiB mark on a product or online or at a trade event, snap a picture and share it via our social media channels. The more you look out for it, the more you’ll see it starts to appear almost everywhere.
Wishing every member of Made in Britain a very happy and prosperous new year, 2023.
Made in Britain members can make things better for everyone.
By Made in Britain 1 year ago | By Made in Britain