Why marketing for contract manufacturers should be a top priority

Contract manufacturers make a large share of the products other companies sell. They build electronics for OEMs, develop and manufacture medicines for pharmaceutical sponsors, and fill and pack goods for brand owners. Most of that work happens under NDA, and most of it goes unseen.

That has always suited the customer. It leaves the contract manufacturer with a harder problem: showing what it does well when it can rarely name who it does it for.

A growing market

BCC Research values contract manufacturing at USD 686.4bn in 2025, rising to USD 968.7bn by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 7.1%. Precedence Research forecasts electronics manufacturing services alone to grow from USD 617.9bn in 2025 to more than USD 1.2tn by 2035.

The reasons for outsourcing are broad: capacity, specialist processes and accreditations, regulatory experience, and speed to market. Many contract manufacturers now take on design input, testing, regulatory documentation and logistics alongside production.

If the sector is growing, why is new business harder to win?

Market growth does not guarantee growth for any individual supplier. Five pressures come up repeatedly.

Supply chain disruption. Brexit, the war in Ukraine, extreme weather and the pandemic have all affected access to materials and components. Keeping customers informed through disruption takes time and attention that would otherwise go to winning new work.

Pressure on price. Labour and material costs have risen while customers push for lower prices, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. McKinsey analysis found that, on average, a 1% price increase translates into an 8.7% increase in operating profit, assuming no loss of volume. Run the same arithmetic in reverse and a 1% price concession at the same volume costs the same share.

No product IP. Customers own the products. The contract manufacturer owns the process, which makes it harder to point to anything of its own as proof of what it can do.

Customer concentration. Many contract manufacturers earn most of their revenue from a few customers. Diversifying is sensible, but looking after existing accounts tends to absorb the time and budget.

Looking interchangeable. The Dentsu B2B Superpowers Index found that 68% of buyers say the suppliers they evaluate all sound and act the same. When capable suppliers describe themselves in the same terms, price is the easiest way left to compare them.

Why switching has got easier

Outsourcing is a strategic necessity for many customers. That does not mean they treat every supplier as a long-term partner. Many keep several qualified suppliers in play, partly to manage risk and partly to keep pricing competitive, and digital procurement makes comparing and switching quicker than it was.

What keeps a supplier in place is reassurance. Dentsu's research, drawn from more than 16,000 interviews, found that "I feel safe signing a contract with them" was the top buying driver three years running. A customer who can explain why a supplier is the safer choice is less likely to move on price alone.

What contract manufacturers are already doing

Contract manufacturers are responding to these pressures. Many are:

• investing in new facilities, equipment and automation
• giving customers more visibility of the supply chain through digital platforms
• reshoring or regionalising production to reduce exposure to disruption
• adding design, regulatory, value engineering and logistics services
• strengthening ethical and environmental procurement practices

Each is a reason a customer might choose one supplier over another. The question is whether buyers can see it.

Is the message getting through

Most of a buying decision now happens before a supplier hears about it. Research by Bain and Google, reported in Harvard Business Review, found that 90% of B2B buyers choose from a shortlist formed before formal evaluation begins. 6sense found that 81% have already picked a preferred vendor by the time they speak to sales. McKinsey reports that around 29% of B2B buyers now begin their research with AI tools.

That shortlist forms from what buyers can find and read: websites, published material, what peers say, and increasingly what AI tools summarise from all of it. Across the sector, most suppliers present the same evidence in the same order: equipment, certifications, sectors served, and a commitment to quality and on-time delivery. Each item is accurate. Together, they make it hard for a buyer to tell one capable supplier from the next.

What changes the picture

So marketing for a contract manufacturer starts before any campaign. It starts with a documented commercial position: who you are for, why those customers choose you over the alternatives, and the evidence behind each claim, described within the limits of your NDAs.

Where proof points cannot be named, how a company presents itself commercially is the proof. A clear position gives each member of a buying committee something to work with: evidence quality can audit, terms procurement can compare, a fit the technical lead can see, and a cost case finance can defend.

It matters more now that AI tools play a part in both research and content production. A position that is written down carries through what those tools produce. One that lives only in people's heads tends to be summarised in the same terms as everyone else's.

Editor's note: this article was first published in 2023 and was rewritten in November 2026 with updated market data and sources.