The Kula Ring

Andrew DeDonker is on the show this week sharing how RAM Mounts has developed their marketing team and strategy. They have an in-house agency covering B2B and B2C. We breakdown how they take advantage of their brand recognition on the consumer side to fuel their B2B marketing efforts. Come on by and learn a thing or two about how to synergize your team and your marketing streams, we sure did!

Oh man, this week we cover something near and dear to Kula’s heart. We are discussing ABM and ABX with Jessica Woodside of WIKA this week. We dive deep into the nuts and bolts of embarking on the journey to an account based strategy and how to avoid some of the pitfalls. This episode is so packed with information we suggest taking notes (or reading the full transcript on our website). Don’t miss t...

Personal brand is becoming more ubiquitous in the social media age. But, what if your market is incredibly niche and doesn’t have a lot of public facing content currently? How do you leverage a personal brand in that circumstance? Kyle Kruse of Global Interconnect is on the show this week discussing how to create and leverage a personal brand in just that situation. Developing conversations and ex...

The desire to grow and diversify is obviously fairly universal for marketers. The question is how do we break into a new vertical? John Buglino is on the show this week discussing just that. We discuss how he and Optessa are trying to write the stories about new verticals that tell their customers and partners what Optessa can offer them. As well as an ingenious way to use the trust system we have...

This week we are going guest less! Jeff and Carman sat down to have a conversation around the B2B effectiveness ladder and how that translates into creating a Big Long Idea. Sorting out how B2B manufacturers with long sales cycles and intricate offerings can build an idea that will inform their marketing for years to come, not quarters. This is a super informative conversation where we dive deep i...

As marketers we are always looking to enable today’s sales. What about the sales of the future? How will the market change? Can we be ready for the next step before it comes? Allen Rozon has put considerable effort into what that looks like for ELTEC. From environmentally sound fluids for their machines to what sales might look like in the high tech future we are all destined for. He is going to s...

Some industries are new, some are old. How do you marry the idea of new and old? John Hays is on The Kula Ring this week discussing just that. John and Banjo are revolutionizing how they communicate with their clients in the AG industry. John is a true professional and a man who thinks outside the box. Enough explanation, get in here and hear it from the man himself.

Too often in life we are told we can choose one. This or that. But what if we could do away with that? Charles Lubecke and Q-Railing are doing just that, with messaging tailored to one area of the market that doesn’t leave the other areas behind. He shares some of his experience in creating messaging that is inclusive of the very different professionals that will engage with it.

Sustainability is high on the agenda for a growing number of companies and individuals. Casey Jefson and PolyCore are doing some exciting work around sustainable practices and marketing. Casey gives us a glimpse and a helping hand on how to capitalize on the environmental work you are already doing.

The title is quite literal. This week The Kula Ring is talking to Ribal Btaddini and Eric Hyland from Legrand. Who have just launched (pun intended) a marketing campaign around sending a rocket space bound. However, who doesn’t get excited about space!? We are diving deep into the value of trackable, tangible ROI’s vs. the emotional, exciting ones. It is a lofty episode, that’s for sure.

Everyone wants that new thing. What we need however, is someone to build the new thing. That is what keeps Mike Nager of Festo Didactic up at night, making sure the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow is bolstered. Mike is on the show this week discussing how he is trying to ensure that manufacturing jobs stay relevant, in a world of so much competition. You may be surprised to find out that the m...

So, you are a rockstar marketer (obviously) and you have increased incoming leads in a major way. What now? How do you manage that growth, that success? Brian Critchfield of Airgain is on the show this week giving us some insight into managing phenomenal growth (like 12x growth). We talk about helping the sales team with new leads at different stages of the funnel. Managing the huge uptick in data...

So many marketers are battling behemoth competition in their industries. So how does David arm themselves against Goliath? Amy Cooper of Atlas Carbon has found some particularly excellent stones to put in your sling. Amy works in an industry that is heavily influenced by regulation and legislation, meaning the competition is deeply entrenched. Still she has found a way to ensure her and Atlas Carb...

This week Lewis Simms extols the virtues of creating a simple message. Finding a pain point in your potential customer’s life and solving it is one thing, finding a way to concisely express that is another one entirely. Lewis walks us through what that looks like in a world known for being intricate and inaccessible to the uninitiated, 3D Printing.

The connection can’t be missed on this one! Funnel, water, see that? Jim Lauria is here to talk about some strategies that have worked well for him and Mazzei around content creation and marketing. Adding value to not only his own company but to Mazzei’s partners as well. Jim brings a ton of knowledge and experience on what content looks like done right, and how an AI will never replace the human...

We have all caught ourselves thinking about what the world has become, or what comes next for us. This week we are talking to Peter Hedger, who has put some concerted effort into understanding this conundrum. As a B2B manufacturing marketer he has some key insights into what might be coming next for us marketers. In a world saturated with social media and pandemic fallout Peter thinks community is...

As marketers, the conversation invariably comes up: “what do you actually do?” Sometimes, that conversation leads to non-marketers putting in their two-cents on the process. Suzi McNicholas, Director of Marketing and Transformation at Johnson Controls, tells us that this is because everyone is a consumer of something and has been marketed to at some point. In this episode, Suzi helps explain what...

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Kevin Summ gives us a peek into marketing a niche, high-value product with a lengthy sales cycle. From multinational hurdles to the ubiquitous love of stickers, we get into the nitty-gritty of how Anguil Environmental stays a partner to their clients. Kevin also discusses the diminishing presence of email and print strategies in their field.

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Sylvain Marseille, VP of Marketing and New Product Development at Pelton Shepherd shares why understanding the pain points along a customer’s whole supply chain is essential when innovating a new sustainable product. He discusses the importance of a long term vision when it comes to developing sustainable products and why your actions should be driven by what the...

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Justin Rinaldi from Safety Speed Manufacturing discusses the impact of switching from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4, how to help ease that transition, and ways to adapt to increased privacy regulations.

BALYO is a global manufacturer of autonomous robotic forklifts. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman sit down with BALYO’s Global Marketing Director, Rob Patey, to discuss what makes marketing in manufacturing unique. They also talk about the challenges of digital marketing for manufacturing companies, the best way to find and reach customers online, and what sets BALYO apart.

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman talk with Murray Bain, VP of Marketing for Stanpac, about implementing ecommerce to enhance their customer service and effectively manage orders of all sizes. They also discuss how this has resulted in continuous sales growth from online sales.

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Ellsworth Adhesives Marketing & Digital Experience Manager Jas Kaur talks about how her background in design thinking has helped her lead her organization toward a more human-centric approach to B2B. Her “business to everything” philosophy is guiding a tightly integrated marketing and digital team’s efforts in making their customers’ buying process fast, efficient...

Jon LaPorta, Vice President, Marketing, describes to Carman and Jeff how he has helped transform the marketing at Pfannenberg USA—the American arm of a German-owned manufacturer. Jon’s team works locally in order to appeal to the US market. Although they continue to align with headquarters on content and branding, this has allowed them to implement marketing automation, create their own website, a...

Alex Lovdahl, Digital Experience Manager at Brandt, talks with Jeff and Carman on The Kula Ring about getting leadership’s buy-in for digital marketing initiatives by using results to demonstrate their effectiveness.