The Kula Ring

Are personas too popular? In this edition of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman examine the evolution of buyer personas and their usefulness to B2B manufacturers. How helpful are they anyway? How could they be better? What other approaches might manufacturing marketers use instead? All this and more in Episode 197. We think you're going to love it.

Sustainability is a corporate-led initiative, but marketers are often the ones refining the messaging to resonate with customers. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman discuss the common pitfalls of sustainability messaging that will either get it lost in the competitive shuffle or be ignored by the sales team. We also explore how to overcome those challenges so that internal and exter...

Almost everyone agrees that talking to customers is a good idea, but sometimes manufacturers find that one particular department seems to stand in the way: sales. Salespeople functioning as customer gatekeepers can be a real problem. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman explore how manufacturers can move past a culture of gatekeeper salespeople towards a future where serving customers...

Thinking outside the box and getting weird is what today’s guest is all about. Eddie Saunders, Marketing Manager for FlexArm, a division of Flex Machine Tools, discusses his cutting-edge marketing strategies to get Flex Machine Tools noticed by the right people. He explains his cross-platform approach and discusses his use of video-based social media platforms including YouTube and TikTok. He dive...

In today’s episode, we chatted with Cynthia Kellam, Global Senior Director, Digital, Data and Customer Experience Center of Excellence at TE Connectivity, again to discuss how collecting and using digital data can create better customer experiences. She explains their journey of building a better Voice of Customer system to help all business units in TE Connectivity make customer-focused decisions...

Solving your customers' problems and creating a product they’ll want to purchase is at the forefront of all research and development departments. In today’s episode, Chris Witt, Vice President and General Manager of Portfolio Solutions at Tektronix, sits down with us to review his funnel approach to innovation and how it drives the process of developing the right products for his market. He explor...

Digging into data and exploring technology to undercover insights in your organization is vital to operations efficiency. Ryan Knox, Co-founder of Bridge Digital explores the use of digital tools to create efficiency in all areas of an organization from IT, Marketing, Sales, and more. He discusses the benefits of extracting data vs. using specific tools to help organizations get results that helps...

Customer experience can define how your product is sold online. Mike Powers, Director of eCommerce and Digital at Alaska Rubber Group, explains how organizations can identify platforms for B2B functionality to make the customer research and buying experience a positive one. He explains the importance behind product data in online listings and how it correlates with more revenue in distribution cha...

Paying attention to how your product is sold online is only the starting point to creating a positive customer experience for E-commerce shoppers. Jacki Lutz, Head of Communications, Training and E-commerce, Aftermarket, at Sensata Technologies, explores the marketing strategy her team uses to develop messaging that resonates with customers across all E-commerce platforms. She reveals why helping...

Getting outside your comfort zone takes strategy and today’s guest is a pro at doing just that. Bob Lennon, Co-owner and President of ThermalWood Canada explains how he uses indirect marketing strategies to connect with people and create a digital footprint. He provides examples of product storytelling and marketing strategies to get your company recognition and its values exposed.

Flexfab is an industrial B2B manufacturer who designs and manufactures highly-engineered products in a wide variety of materials and designs for the aerospace, automotive, rail, and heavy-duty truck industries. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Ryan Knox, Director of Marketing & Innovation at Flexfab, talks about the company’s initiative to connect innovative startups with industrial companies to...

When word-of-mouth is how your product is marketed the most, what are the keys to influencing the messaging among peers? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Matt Fiddes, Founder and CMO of Agility Technologies, explains how they develop their products with the specific needs of their rescue worker customer base in mind. With their FIRSTLOOK brand, they build relationships to introduce the product at...

Marketing to solve problems for your customers is the highlight from today’s episode. Kristi Flores, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer at Tektronix, explores how she uses marketing strategies to understand her customers' challenges and create customer connections. She explains why customer obsession is one of Tektronik’s core values. By understanding which digital marketing strategies to...

Website transformations have helped manufacturers get more products online and seen by potential customers, but how do you form a lasting online presence with customers in 2022? Adam Krumbein, Marketing Director at Outward, shares his marketing expertise with us in today’s episode discussing how manufacturers can benefit from using E-commerce. We explore the advantages of connecting to your custom...

Building a storytelling program takes time and patience for an organization to understand their purpose and brand. In today’s episode we welcome back Kristin Fallon, Vice President of Brand and Digital Marketing at GE Healthcare. Kristin walks us through the planning process behind a captivating and long-term storytelling program and her experience working in the healthcare industry during COVID....

Growing your marketing team means new strategies and most often, new skills. Mike Zimm, VP of Marketing at Kris-Tech Wire talks about his experience working on both agency and in-house sides of marketing by examining their key differences. He explores how to think through the process of choosing which marketing support will be beneficial to your organization's goals and teams long-term. Explore th...

Marketing is critical for your customers to understand the value of choosing your product. In this week’s episode, Syndi Sim, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Diamon-Fusion International, Inc., discusses how she supports her customers with marketing agency services and end-user support to help their customers thrive. Learn the importance of customer marketing, product education, and cus...

As online education becomes the norm and companies like Google no longer require a degree as a job prerequisite, what will educating the manufacturing workforce look like beyond 2020? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Mike Nager, Business Development Manager for the Festo Didactic Solution Center, talks about the role of niche technical education in providing hands-on training for manufacturing te...

How can manufacturers with various product portfolios gained from mergers and acquisitions ensure their products are discoverable both on their website and third party domains? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Cynthia Kellam, Global Head of Digital & Enterprise Customer Experience at TE Connectivity, shares how customer experience research led her team to standardize product data in order to impr...

How can manufacturers better serve customers of various sizes? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Melanie Virreira, Director of Global Commercial Enablement at Ball Corporation, talks about how her team created a digital self-service portal for multiple customer segments. She shares lessons learned from mapping customer journeys on the self-service portal, and how her team integrated the portal wit...

Before diving headfirst into a website redesign project, what are the moving parts a B2B marketer or other internal stakeholders should consider? Christina Wegner, Vice President of Marketing for The Vollrath Company, joins Jeff and Carman on The Kula Ring to talk about building the right foundation for your manufacturing company’s website redesign. She talks about developing a “listen-first” appr...

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman talk with Tina Hart, Vice President of Marketing, Labels and Packaging Materials North America at Avery Dennison Corporation about finding value for marketing initiatives in a conservative, sales-driven manufacturing company.

John Eklund, Vice President of Marketing at ProMach, joins Jeff and Carman on The Kula Ring to discuss his playbook for integrating multiple companies into their house of brands after they are acquired. From collateral updates and cross-selling to websites and a centralized tech stack, learn how ProMach brings their acquired companies into the fold.

Creating a brand made for loyal customers requires passion and high standards to drive continued success. Klein Tools has been manufacturing tools made for trades people for over 165 years. In today’s episode, we sat down with Greg Palese, Vice President of Marketing at Klein Tools, to discuss how they continue to grow engaged customer relationships. By speaking directly with end users, Klein Tool...

Connecting with your channel partners as a manufacturer is vital for every step of the buyer’s journey. Are you a manufacturer looking for new ways to improve your communication with channel partners and customers? Then this episode is for you. Joshua Rich, President and CEO of Bullseye Software, has been supporting manufacturers with location technology for over twenty years. Learn why location t...