Adding a sector, not starting again
Most companies that move into aerospace, defence, space or another regulated sector are not leaving anything behind. They are adding. The existing work still pays the bills, the existing clients are still there, and the new sector is a second stream rather than a replacement.
That framing matters, because it changes what the job actually is. You are not rebuilding a business. You are making an established, capable company legible to a set of buyers who have never encountered it.
The capability usually transfers. Tolerances, materials, process control, quality systems, most of it is recognisable across sectors. What does not transfer is the thing that has brought you most of your work so far. In the new sector nobody knows your name, nobody has worked with you, and nobody is going to recommend you.
That is a marketing problem before it is anything else, and it catches capable companies out because every other part of the move feels manageable.
The order most companies get wrong
The standard advice is to get accredited first and worry about being found later. Get JOSCAR registered, get the standards in place, then start talking to people.
We would put one step in front of that. Work out precisely which buyers you are chasing, and what they need to see, before you decide which accreditations to fund.
Accreditation is expensive and slow, and the requirements differ by sector, by prime and sometimes by programme. Companies that decide who they are selling to first tend to buy the right ones. Companies that accredit first sometimes discover they bought a certificate their target buyers never asked for, while missing the one that gates the work they actually want.
Once you know the buyer, accreditation and visibility run in parallel rather than in sequence. There is no reason to be invisible for the eighteen months it takes to get certified.
Your existing work is the proof, if you translate it
The strongest evidence you can offer an aerospace or defence buyer is usually the work you have already done somewhere else. It counts. It just has to be described in terms they recognise.
A component held to a tolerance for an automotive client demonstrates the same capability whether the next one goes into a car or an airframe. What changes is which standards you cite, which constraints you name and which risks you address. Buyers in these sectors are assessing whether you can be trusted with something that matters, having never seen your work. They want evidence of capability rather than claims about it, proof you understand their language and constraints, and some sign that other people in the sector have something to say about you.
This is the part companies most often get wrong. They either lead with a sector story they do not yet have, or they hide perfectly good adjacent work because it came from a different industry. Turning that work into evidence is what our case studies and content work is for.
When the work is sensitive
In defence and aerospace, the projects most likely to convince a new buyer are often the ones you cannot discuss.
That does not stop you. It changes what you lead with. Shift the focus from the how to the outcome: the problem solved, the tolerance held, the timescale met, the value delivered. Say what the work demonstrates without saying whose it was.
We do this routinely, including on our own client work, and it is the difference between a capability page that says nothing and one that convinces a procurement team. There is more in our guides to marketing when you have an NDA and marketing a proprietary process.
The 3-step process, applied to a new sector
Step 1: foundations and conversion
Step 2: trust and consideration
Step 3: awareness and network scaling
The 3-step process sets out each stage, and the defence supply chain page covers what that sector expects in particular.
Fifteen leads a month, from sectors that vet everyone
Carbon Fibre Tubes now generates around fifteen leads a month from buyers in defence, aerospace and medical, sectors where the buying decisions are technical and the suppliers are heavily vetted.
DASIS work under NDA on projects including work with Lockheed Martin UK and Drone Major. We built them a way to demonstrate specialist capability to defence buyers without disclosing anything they cannot disclose.
We are JOSCAR registered ourselves, so getting through defence supply chain vetting is a process we have been through rather than read about.
Where marketing sits alongside the rest of the move
Accreditations and people are the other two halves of this, and neither is a marketing job.
Getting the standards in place without overwhelming the team, and hiring or promoting people who know the sector you are entering, both matter as much as being found. Our partners at Precision Scaling Partners cover both, and their guide on expanding into a new market or sector sets out the whole sequence.
If public funding is part of your reasoning, our analysis of the UK Modern Industrial Strategy covers where the money is going by sector, with detail on advanced manufacturing and defence. Our marketing strategy work turns that into a plan.
Frequently asked questions about expanding into a new sector
How long does it take to be taken seriously in a new sector?
Expect twelve to twenty-four months before you are on shortlists routinely, longer in defence where vetting and programme cycles are slow. First enquiries usually arrive well before that, often from smaller suppliers in the chain rather than from primes.
Can we use work from our existing sector as proof?
Yes, and you should. It is usually your strongest evidence. The work is in describing it in terms the new buyer recognises, against the standards and constraints they care about.
Do we need JOSCAR before we start?
Not before you start being visible. You will need it, or the equivalent for your sector, before you can be shortlisted for most defence work. Establish which buyers you are targeting first, because that tells you which registrations and standards actually gate the work you want.
We cannot talk about our most relevant projects. Does that rule us out?
No. Almost every company we work with in defence and aerospace has this constraint. The approach is to demonstrate the outcome and the capability rather than the project, which is what a technical buyer is assessing anyway.
Is it better to target primes or the supply chain beneath them?
Usually the supply chain first. Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers are more accessible, move faster, and are often the route by which primes eventually find you. Starting at the top is slower and more competitive.
Does expanding into a new sector mean less attention on our existing one?
It should not. Most of the work, a website that converts, proof buyers can verify, content that reaches people who do not know you, strengthens both. What is specific to the new sector is the language, the standards you cite and the channels you use to be found.
Your next step
If you want to know how your website looks to a buyer in a sector that does not know you, take the Shortlist Test. Seven questions, four minutes, and a recorded walkthrough back from us within three working days.