In this episode of The Kula Ring, we delve into the art of bringing personality to B2B manufacturing marketing. Join us as we explore how authenticity and human touches can transform a brand's presence, making it more relatable and engaging. Our guest shares insights on leveraging social media, maintaining a balance between fun and professionalism,…

In this episode of The Kula Ring, we welcome David Starck, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing at ProMach. David shares his unique journey from a background in graphic design and copywriting to leading corporate marketing strategies for a company with over 50 brands. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of managing a diverse portfolio, …

This week The Kula Ring is sitting down with Allison Myers from Fives Intralogistics, she shares her unique insights on transforming complex challenges into clear, actionable strategies. Discover the nuances of modern B2B manufacturing marketing and how you can still use some of the methods marketers used before social media overran our lives.…

On the Kula Ring podcast this week, we had the opportunity to speak with Jim Cahill, the Chief Blogger and the Head of Social Marketing at Emerson Automation Solutions. Since 2006, Jim has been cultivating Emerson’s social media presence and digital brand. Over his 33-year career at the company, Jim has witnessed a lot of change in marketing, start…

The Kula Ring this week is digging into digital journey optimization with Jon MacDonald, founder of The Good. Jon shares insights from his extensive experience helping brands like Nike and Xerox improve user experiences and conversions. Discover how understanding consumer psychology and optimizing digital touchpoints can transform your approach to …

This week, The Kula Ring is diving into transforming marketing operations with Cory Kniepp, Director of Strategic Planning and Marketing Operations at Nidec Motor Corporation. We look at how industrial manufacturers are leveraging data-driven insights and AI to revolutionize marketing strategies, bridging the gap between B2B and B2C marketing appro…

This week The Kula Ring returns to the world of packaging. We are talking to Stephen Clysdale a self-proclaimed “packaging nerd” and a man who has his pulse on the recent developments in packaging technology. We break down some of the work that is going into packaging sustainability and the innovations that are around the corner. This is a great co…

This week on the show we are talking about bringing an organization up to speed with organizational marketing and sales alignment. We met with Matt Lukens who has brought his wealth of experience from working with larger on-demand manufacturers to Flex Interconnect Technologies to revolutionize their marketing prowess. We discuss the technology tha…

This week The Kula Ring is featuring Thomas Lewis, a marketing expert with 28 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. Thomas chats with Jeff and Carman about his philosophy on what makes an effective, well-aligned marketing team, making sure that transparent communication and cross-organizational buy-in are achieved and fostered. We get …

The Kula Ring is joined by Pierre Tannoux this week. Pierre has worked with some incredible B2B and B2C manufacturing organizations in his career and he sits down with us this week to share some of what he has learned. We talk about big bets, those marketing strategy moves where you put all the chips on the line. We also talk about the pitfalls of …

This week The Kula Ring is all about Thought Leadership. We are sitting down with Sean O’Brien who has successfully integrated a thought leadership-backed marketing strategy at his highly specialized industrial manufacturing company. We discuss a myriad of ways to distribute this type of work and how to develop the key people within your firm to be…

This week on The Kula Ring, we’re exploring how culture influences the marketing strategies of international brands. Sandra Babic joins us to share some of her experience transitioning from Germany to start marketing a German brand here in North America. We discuss the differences in sustainability, messaging and relationship building. Finally, we …

This week The Kula Ring is talking with Jillian Childs of Turntide Technologies. Jillian walks us through the intricacies of marketing a sustainability-driven startup. We discuss how much of the marketing effort comes down to education and its inherently circular nature. We also look at the similarities and differences between a startup of this nat…

The Kula Ring is turning its focus to internal communications this week. We are sitting down with the great Tom Kehoe. Tom has brought a collection of expertise from his varied career in marketing and production to the internal comms team at his organization which has fostered growth, greater alignment and transparency across the enterprise. Tom wa…

On this episode of our show, we are chatting with Jennifer Sunshine. Jennifer brings her varied and impressive background to The Kula Ring to discuss the imperative need for sales and marketing alignment to produce results. We talk about how these teams see leads and opportunities and bring those visions together to create more effective marketing …

Abby Guo joins The Kula Ring this week to discuss how she has created global marketing strategies for highly technical AI-driven products. We talk about setting yourself apart in the world of AI-driven startups. We also chat about staying at the forefront of technological changes and how important that is. This is an illuminating conversation featu…

Wayne Thompson of Pineberry Manufacturing joins the show this week to discuss the increased engagement they have garnered through closer collaboration and partnerships with their suppliers and adjacent businesses. We break down how to get started with an initiative like this and some of the pitfalls to avoid.…

Andy Jensen of Sunstone Engineering joins the show this week to talk about a really interesting marketing case study. Sunstone marketed to almost exclusively engineers in verticals like aerospace and electronics. Then, a couple of years ago, an unheard-of order for small light-duty welders came through from one of their dealers, then another, and a…

Herbert Staten Jr. joins The Kula Ring this week to talk about highlighting the beauty of the product you manufacture. Herbert discusses how he considers emotion and personal engagement when developing marketing strategies in industrial manufacturing. We also discuss the potential for vertical differentiation in social media platforms. This fantast…

In this episode, we sit down with Zak Nelson. Zak talks with us about ArKco Sales’ move to having an in-house marketing asset. ArKco saw that the landscape for manufacturing sales rep companies is changing. Zak is ArKco’s answer to this evolving situation. He walks us through the changes they have implemented and how their sales reps have taken to …

Kimberly Day is on our show this week talking about how she moved Finish Thompson, a family-run company, from advertising in trade publications to more of a brand focus, a decision that has fostered growth and recognition in just seven months. Kimberly brings insights from a broad career in many marketing and communication verticals. Finish Thompso…

Neelam Kumar joins The Kula Ring to discuss the strength in value selling. Neelam is an advocate and evangelist of value selling and brings a wealth of knowledge to this week's episode of The Kula Ring. We discuss the need for relationship building, both internally, between departments and externally, with our customers. We also look at asking the …

John Patrin joins us to discuss innovation within your organization. For the last five years, John was the head of innovation at DuPont, where he oversaw continued innovation in a Fortune 100 company already known for innovating. We discuss the incremental product innovations that most companies pursue while also getting a glimpse at larger-scale i…

Robby Berthume, Head of Marketing at Digitize Designs is on the show this week. Robby shares some of the expertise that he has honed throughout his varied career. We talk about the need for implementing good measurement through strong metrics to ensure your marketing efforts are effective. He also shares some good advice on staying excited and keep…

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 stag…

Sherry Chapman the VP of Marketing at Fortera, joins The Kula Ring this week. Sherry illuminates what Fortera, a green cement start-up, is working on; Building partnerships with counterparts in the industry, and drawing new road maps for economic development, for products that are yet to hit the market. This is a fantastic chat about green industry…

Scott Vosburgh joins The Kula Ring this week to discuss how Sierra Olympia Technologies is facing down much larger competition. Through marketing products that the competition isn’t. Ensuring their online presence is as clean and high-performing as possible. While also keeping an eye on where the big guns in the space are ranking and finding succes…

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 touch.…

Jake Jevric joins The Kula Ring this week to discuss how deep relationships and technical know-how are incredibly important in industries where customers have options when it comes to picking suppliers. We get into what it takes to be a leader in technical sales and marketing. We also get into how both a top-down and bottom-up approach can be emplo…

Many aspects of our lives changed in the COVID era. B2B marketing was no different. This week we sat down with Nick Baranowski from Keystone Technologies to discuss how the pandemic era solutions have fueled huge success with mobile showrooms that now tour the US all year. This is a super cool idea and Nick shares some of the successes and pitfalls…

Lauren Scott of Acuity Brands and host of The Resilience Report is on the show this week giving us some significant insights into how the landscape of sustainability is evolving. We cover the new regulations and guidelines that are coming into effect as well as the need to ditch greenwashing and get into the real impact that our sustainable practic…

Manufacturing marketers can face a lot of pressure to do more. Include more. Say more. Sometimes it seems like the favourite word in marketing is “and’... there’s always an excuse to add this, and that, and this thing too, and.. well, you get it. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman discuss why you should often choose to do less.…

This week we are going guestless! 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 su…

Over the Holiday season, The Kula Ring is bringing you a few conversations between Jeff and Carman, the hosts of The Kula Ring and founders at Kula Partners. Agile Project Management is not something that typically comes to mind when discussing marketing. But, when clients discover that is how we manage marketing work at Kula Partners, Jeff and Car…

This week The Kula Ring is looking into something that a lot of manufacturing marketers think is a bad word: commoditization. Matthew Seymour of Hyperion Materials & Technologies is joining us this week to breakdown how he has tackled this issue. We get into a few tactics that have proven fruitful for Hyperion in dealing with a post-commodity world…

This week on The Kula Ring, we pulled up a comfy chair with Evan Hargreaves to discuss the changing landscape in the office furniture industry. With so much of the workforce remaining hybrid or at home full time, the B2B furniture space looks a lot different than it has in the past. Evan walks us through how MillerKnoll is handling this new challen…

Adam Fray, the Senior Director of Global Marketing at Packsize, is on the show this week. We had a chat about challenging the status quo. Packsize offers a new way to think about sustainable packaging and packaging efficiencies. That offering means they are combatting the ‘this is how we have always done it’ mentality. Furthermore, Packsize has rec…

The Kula Ring has discussed staffing issues in B2B manufacturing quite a few times now. However, this week we are sitting down with Hallie Haupt from IQ Manufacturing, she walks us through what it really looks and feels like to be a young person in the B2B manufacturing space. She shares some insight on how IQ has been able to catch some fresh, you…

Taylor Smith of PSNERGY is on the show this week having a chat with us about getting the next steps that manufacturing can take. We cover the harmonious nature of how sales and marketing can work together in the future. And also tackle some methods to get the youth of today and beyond invested in manufacturing in general. Taylor is a wonderful voic…

Jonathan Quinn from Accredo Packaging is on the show this week talking with us about packaging, sustainable packaging. We peel back the layers, as Carman says, on some of the challenges around being sustainable in an industry that is so front and center in the conversation around sustainable practices. Jonathan is a super knowledgeable guy who has …

This week on The Kula Ring, we are having a chat with Chris Moody from Demandbase. We talk about a lot of stuff! Chris is very knowledgeable in the ABM space and walks us through some of the tools that we can use to get more out of our ABM efforts. If this episode is something you are into and you want to hear more exactly like it, you can catch th…

We are pleased to republish this episode with Allison Wagner. The topic is even more present for a lot of manufacturers.| Video marketing is not new, but many B2B manufacturers are still searching for a strategy. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Allison Wagner, Marketing Communications Manager at Morrison Container Handling Solutions, shares how s…

On The Kula Ring we love a niche market. The varied and interesting challenges that marketers face in these highly specialized markets never ceases to amaze. This week we are joined by one such marketer. Mike McCormack is the VP of Marketing and Strategy with the Appleton Group, a division of Emerson. Mike and his team market to customers that are …

This week on The Kula Ring we are joined by Jay Suggs. Jay has spent a considerable amount of time investigating what makes an effective team. He was the head of Johnson Controls’ diversity and inclusion initiative, and he gives us a look at what it takes to create an inclusive work team where everyone feels supported and brings something unique to…

So we do stuff digital now, that probably isn’t news to you. But, what if your ICP isn’t sitting at a screen all day? How do we make sure that the marketing content we are creating is going to get in front of them and be effective when it is? Jon Star of Methods Machine Tools tackles this problem head on. Method’s buyer persona is, more often than …

Like many B2B manufacturers, ARCA sells to a small number of very specific niche markets. Targeting a small list of banks and credit unions who could benefit from ARCA's cash automation and recycling solutions, their marketing team crafted highly personalized one-to-one account-based marketing campaigns and successfully generated awareness and oppo…

The Kula Ring is back! This week we have the distinct pleasure of talking with Floyd Blaikie. Floyd is the Director of Strategy here at Kula Partners. She has been working on literally writing the playbook on Google Ads recently and we took this opportunity to sit down with her and pick her brain on the nuance of this ubiquitous medium. We cover so…

The Summer Spotlight Series is back. We are going to be taking a second look at a great chat with David A. Stark: Legacy manufacturers that previously dominated their verticals now have to contend with new entrants who know how to create focused messaging in digital spaces. In this episode of The Kula Ring, David A. Stark, Digital Marketing Transfo…

In this week’s episode of The Summer Spotlight Series, we look back on our conversation with Ashley Riley. We talked about the power of process and alignment, specifically referencing the RACI setup to keep team members informed and accountable on where they fit into the organization. She dove deeper to talk about how she kept her workforce connect…

Sales and marketing alignment is huge, and historically, sales and marketing haven’t been best friends. Steven Nghe, Head of Marketing and Communications at Kloeckner Metals, discusses when Kloeckner Metals realized that sales and marketing had changed, and they needed to change with it. He discusses the digitalization of more multidimensional and …