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, and simplify their messaging.

James Stanaway, Director of Marketing at Epilog Laser, talks with Carman and Jeff about how video content plays a major role in their marketing strategy. From creating how-to videos that support their customers post-purchase, to co-creating video with customers and showcasing user-generated content, James shares how Epilog has grown its YouTube channel to over four and a half million views—along with how they track each video’s contribution to sales.

Greg Palmer, Director of Marketing at National Nail, talks with Carman and Jeff about how the marketing and product teams work together to use a customer-centric approach to product development. They also discuss which channels National Nail finds successful when launching products including trade shows, social media, and print.

Jen Miret, Director of Marketing at Bendheim, describes the listening strategy she uses to create marketing that resonates with specialty architectural glass and systems customers. Tools such as keyword research, social media, and public relations enable Jen to identify market opportunities so that Bendheim can better serve its customers.

As official media sponsors at ManufacturED 2019 in Chicago, The Kula Ring had the pleasure of podcasting onsite, interviewing leaders at the forefront of digital transformation in manufacturing.

As official media sponsors at ManufacturED 2019 in Chicago, The Kula Ring had the pleasure of podcasting onsite, interviewing leaders at the forefront of digital transformation in manufacturing.

Steve Miller of The Adventure LLC discusses why focusing on building strong relationships with key accounts is critical to generating ROI at trade shows.

Irina Kem, Director of Marketing at PACKPRO Systems, is on a mission to smash the glass wall between marketing and sales. With over 15 years’ experience in B2B marketing, her advice to younger marketers is to get out of their offices and into important conversations happening between the sales department and the C-suite. Without a better fundamental understanding of their own business’s processes and pain points, Irina says marketers are setting themselves up for failure—but the path to B2B marketing success becomes clear in this episode of The Kula Ring.

D. Bruce Merrifield of the Merrifield Consulting Group and Waypoint Analytics brings over 40 years of B2B insight to this episode, in which he talks about how Amazon Business applied learnings from their overwhelming success in online consumer sales to take on legacy B2B distribution channels. Bruce says manufacturers need to radically transform their relationships with distributors—and distributors must reinvent their business models—not only to succeed, but to survive in the Age of Amazon.

Paul Wellener—Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP, and U.S. Industrial Products and Construction Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP—provides early insights into Deloitte and MAPI’s collaborative research on technology adoption in manufacturing, being released at the ManufacturED Summit happening September 16-18 in Chicago. He shares which factors are critical to success in digital transformation, along with different approaches to implementing digital practices in the context of Industry 4.0—offering manufacturers a way forward regardless of adoption level.