Marketing & Branding voor de Maakindustrie

Gobsmacked helps industrial brands grow. As a marketing agency specialized in B2B organizations, we know the challenges of the manufacturing industry: long sales processes, complex products and a demanding DMU. On this page, you'll learn how marketing and branding work in your sector, what the difference is between the two, and how we can help you build a strong brand and measurable results.

The Industrial Brand Gap: promise and reality

In the industrial sector, there is often a brand gap: the difference between what a brand promises and what customers actually experience. Manufacturers usually communicate in technical terms and specifications, while buyers and buyers are looking for clarity, trust, and emotion. A strong brand experience comes from a clear story, consistent appearance, and proof that you deliver what you promise. Technical facts alone are not enough; you also have to touch the human side.

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Branding vs. marketing: two sides of the same coin

What is branding?

Branding is about the long term. It cultivates a recognisable brand, builds reputation and creates loyal customers. A strong brand is more than a logo; it's the sum of your mission, values, visual identity, and how people talk about you. Branding is consistent and timeless.

What is marketing?

Marketing consists of targeted campaigns and activities that generate leads, sales and visibility in the short term. Think LinkedIn advertising, trade shows, webinars, and email campaigns. Marketing is result-oriented and can vary by goal, channel and trend.

Why do you need both?

A winning brand combines branding and marketing. Branding builds a sustainable foundation of trust, while marketing provides immediate results. You need a clear brand story to convert leads and campaigns to promote your brand. Gobsmacked integrates both disciplines so that you can achieve success in both the short and long term.

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Our approach: creative, strategic and result-oriented

We started out as a video production company. Creativity is therefore deep in our DNA, but we combine this with strategy and performance to achieve real results. Our methods:

• WHY Reveal — discover what drives your brand according to the Golden Circle.
  
  
• Core Message & Value Proposition — build a key message that touches customers.
  
  
• Brand Sprint — the right USPs and brand values emerge in a short time.
  
  
• Campaign Strategy — approaches that support both long-term branding and concrete leads.
  

We have been walking around factories, terminals and warehouses for more than 15 years. As a result, we speak the language of engineers and directors and know when to communicate technical details or simple solutions. We avoid buzzwords and jargon: we don't say “modular and scalable material flow system”, but “ensures that the right goods are in the right place on time”.

Why we focus on the manufacturing industry

Our passion for the manufacturing industry comes from the parallel between what our customers do and what we do: create something out of nothing. The craftsmanship and innovation in this sector inspire us. Without production capacity, our economy stands still; the manufacturing industry is the backbone of prosperity and progress. The sector is bursting with major challenges — globalization, sustainability, digitization — but it is precisely this complexity that makes it exciting. We find it beautiful, interesting and just fun to contribute to this.

Through fifteen years of experience with companies in mechanical engineering, logistics, energy, automotive and much more, we have seen many parallels. The same questions are everywhere: how do you attract good people, how do you launch a new product, how do you tell your story without falling into jargon? These shared challenges and successes connect the sector. Our team knows these patterns, recognizes the pitfalls and knows where the opportunities lie. That's why we've chosen to work exclusively with industrial brands, and that's why we're good at it.

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Sectors and niches in which we operate

We focus exclusively on industrial and technical organizations. Below is an overview of the sectors we serve. For each sector, we name the most important challenges and opportunities.

Mechanical engineering & metal

manufacturing, machine building, metal industry, metal industry

Forklift, trailer & equipment manufacturing

forklifts, cranes, industrial equipment, mining machinery

Warehousing & logistics

warehousing, logistics, supply chain, logistics

Engineering & automation

engineering, automation, industrial control, industrial automation

Energy & building materials

energy, construction, building materials, energy transition

Mining & service equipment

mining equipment, service turbines, maintenance

Pumps, turbines & hydraulics

pumps, turbines, hydraulics, pumps

Maintenance & repair

repair services, maintenance, technical service

For each of these sectors, we have built up specific knowledge, so that we know which message works in which phase of the buyer journey. Our cases show how we help brands stand out in saturated markets and internationally competitive environments.

Services and products

Strategy

• WHY Reveal — make your organization's motives transparent and unique.
  
  
• Core Message & Value Proposition — align your brand promise with your customers' needs and pain points.
  
  
• Brand Sprint — bring out your brand identity and core values in a short time.
  
  
• Campaign Strategy — build funnels and campaign plans that convince and convert.
  
  

Contents

• Video production: employer branding movies, product videos, testimonials, 3D animations.
  
  
• Graphic design & visual identity: logo, corporate identity, brand books and iconography.
  
  
• Creative concepting: from script to storyboard; our creative roots provide distinctive ideas.
  
  

LinkedIn & lead generation

• LinkedIn advertising and social campaigns targeting specific DMUs.
  
  
• Lead nurturing and marketing automation to convert leads into appointments.
  
  
• Employer branding and recruitment campaigns to find the right talent.
  
  

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AI & Innovation

AI is not an end in itself. It's a way to work more efficiently, personalize better and learn faster. We're embracing AI to improve copywriting, content production, discoverability, and lead generation, but only if it fits your goals. That's why we offer AI workshops show you how to use AI smartly without losing your humanity. People remain in control; AI supports your creativity and decision making.

Collaborating with Gobsmacked: for whom and when?

We prefer to work directly with marketing managers, CMOs, sales directors and business development teams from industrial companies. Here are the prerequisites for a successful collaboration:

• Clear goals and KPIs: we start each process with clear goals and measurement points.
  
  
• Open communication and trust: we say what we do and do what we say.
  
  
• Dare to color outside the lines: distinctiveness is crucial in saturated markets and international competition.
  
  
• Brand above product: in a world where products are increasingly similar, a strong brand makes the difference.
  
  
• Space for creativity: give us the freedom to develop ideas that surprise and convince.
  
  

We know the challenges of marketing and sales in technical companies. Engineers love to talk about their products in detail, essential in the late phases of the buyer journey but not in the awareness phase. Gobsmacked helps make complex technology understandable and attractive to non-technical decision makers, so that the right information comes at the right time.