Most small, and plenty of medium-sized, manufacturers don't have a team, or even one person, dedicated to the processes and systems that are not directly tied to production, but impact their ability to grow.
I'm talking about marketing, recruitment, and CRM administration. Coincidentally, I'm also describing my first manufacturing job.
I was hired by a medium-sized machine shop to launch their in-house marketing effort. They had identified marketing specifically as a required capability if they wanted to stay competitive, let alone grow. Over time, I also took over or launched other key non-production activities that impact growth, namely recruitment and CRM management.
Right now, US manufacturing is experiencing a renaissance, a return to its roots as the main driver behind our country's economic dominance, as well as an aspirational career path for each new generation that enters our workforce.
But even more important than the economic and workforce considerations, we're seeing a resurgence of the inventor.
Americans are making things again.
Brilliant ideas are being brought to life in the form of disruptive, physical technologies. It's an exciting time to be a maker in the USA.
I started Spark'd to function as a "digital hub" where I could download what I've learned about technical content marketing, recruitment, and CRM management for machine shops. I want to teach machine shops how they can market, recruit, sell, and grow more effectively with the right tools and processes in place -- even if they don't have a dedicated team to manage these things.
My hope is that other US-based machine shops and manufacturers will find these insights and resources helpful as they work to grow their own businesses.
There's plenty of advanced manufacturing work out there for all of us American manufacturers -- let's grow together.
