Industrial technology

How to influence buying decisions at risk-averse industrial and engineering companies?

Overcoming resistance to change in established industries

Published on 21st October, 2024

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it” Upton Sinclair

Change is not a word that excites industrial companies. These industries are built on systems that are costly to install, maintain, and modify. Innovation, though celebrated in theory, is often seen as a threat to the established way of doing things.

For innovators looking to get their cutting-edge solutions into planes or factories or electricity grids, the challenge is not only convincing companies that the innovation is good for them, but showing it is deployable, and addressing the culture of conservatism.

 How can communications programmes do that?

The nature of the challenge

Industrial companies often run on deeply entrenched systems – from IT, to supply chains, to training – that have evolved over decades and are complex, interconnected and hard to pick apart. People at these companies are reluctant to make changes unless there is an imperative to do so.

Nonetheless, these companies do want to innovate, and do invest a great deal in doing so. They want technology solutions that will improve their business. But they are also deeply suspicious of change.

This is the mindset innovators must navigate if they are to have a shot at success. 

What does an industrial influence campaign look like?

A good campaign will show that you empathise with your audience’s challenges, that you have the deep industry knowledge to solve them, and present evidence for why they should do something new. It should excite about possibilities, but also show you can hold their hands through achievable change, and dispel concerns that you are a bunch of kids itching to smash things up.

At a basic level, that involves routinely pushing good ideas to your audience, in the content formats they like, through the channels they trust, gradually solidifying your reputation as the next buying decision nears. 

That’s the easy bit.

The harder bit is what you actually say in that content. 

What issues should your content address?

In planning your campaign, you of course need to excite your audience. But good content for this sector should - when taken as a whole - do two more things: chip away at cultural resistance, and show you can work in their organisational setup.

1. Overcome resistance to change

Innovators must address resistance to change in industry. That means framing your story in terms of the company’s own drivers. Focus less on change, and more on how you can solve day-to-day needs and make their lives better.

Start with a real challenge, not an abstract promise. Grizzled engineers are unlikely to be swayed by fluffy claims of ‘revolutionising’ and ‘game-changing’, but they do have tangible concerns about changing customer expectations, costs, efficiency, risks, supply chain resilience, legislation, sustainability, and so on.

Work with your sales team or industry experts to find the issues that keep coming up, so you can talk about things that resonate. Some may sound quite dull to innovative startup minds, but they are the route to getting your audience to open their purse strings.

That doesn’t mean your content itself has to be dull. Once you have challenges to focus on, excite them about the possibilities of solving those challenges. Paint a picture of a future where their challenge has been solved and they are reaping the rewards. Get them to imagine your solution delivering value in their own environment, rather than making vague claims like ‘deliver transformational results’ that are hard to visualise.

2. Address the real blocker: Deployment

Even those in industrial companies who are excited about technological change still have a major concern: deployment. Many industrial firms fear new technologies will mean wholesale changes to their existing IT or operational architecture, triggering a cascade of unintended consequences.

This is where a thorough understanding of the client’s industry and setup becomes critical. In your communications, show empathy for the existing environment. Thought leadership articles or white papers that address practical issues of deployment, scaling up and change management – such as how to evolve existing systems with minimal disruption, or even how to make big changes in manageable ways – can help alleviate these concerns.

Drawing attention to the possibility of phased trials or pilots can be an effective way to reassure. You may want to tell your client how you are going to revolutionise their industry, but you may be better off telling them how slow you can go.

Back it all with evidence to build trust

In all of this, evidence needs to be laced into your content programme. If companies are going to make a decision that could rock the boat, they need to be confident it’s right.

Case studies - in their own right or within other content - showing your solution has been implemented in a similar setting can help shift mindsets from ‘that seems scary’ to ‘it can’t be that bad, maybe we should do that too’.

Likewise, pointing to independent validations, or showing your expertise in standards and regulations can provide a lot of reassurance. Industrial companies may be sceptical of change, but they respect robust science and engineering.

Data on what peers are doing can also support credibility. Discovering that a nagging concern is actually a major industry challenge – or that your competitors are already taking action – can highlight the imperative for action, without criticising the current approach and raising defence mechanisms.

For example, we recently worked with a data centre company who wanted to convince UK banks and public sector to change their decade-long approach to the cloud. We surveyed 100 of their customers’ peers, and sure enough found lots of concerns with their current cloud setup, and plenty who had started moving apps to local data centres. That gave us evidenced talking points that aligned to real challenges, and provided a long-term focus for the campaign (click for case study).

Thought Leadership sets you up for success 

In industries where risk aversion is the norm, innovators face a high barrier to success.

Carefully crafted, long-running content campaigns can help build bridges between cutting-edge solutions and the legacy systems and cultures that industrial companies hold dear. They can reassure customers that you recognise their challenges and have the expertise to make your innovation work for them. This alleviates concerns, mitigates perceived risks, and fosters an environment where innovation can be seen as a manageable step forward, not a threat.

Article written by David Lewis, Memetic founder. Links in the article are to Memetic-created content or campaigns. Contact info@memetic-comms.com to discuss how we can help. 

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