OnBase: Smashing Sales and Marketing Misalignments Ep. 400 | Decoding Manufacturing Marketing
Episode Summary
In this episode of Sunny Side Up, host Chris Moody interviews Jeff White and Carman Pirie from Kula Partners, a B2B marketing agency specializing in the manufacturing industry. They delve into the unique challenges and opportunities that arise in manufacturing marketing, offering valuable insights for marketers looking to succeed in this space. Jeff and Carman discuss the varying levels of ABM maturity in manufacturing organizations, ranging from traditional inside sales setups to highly integrated CRM and ABX platforms. They emphasize the importance of brand-building activities and the need to balance them with demand-oriented campaigns for long-term success. The conversation explores the concept of intent signals and how they differ in the context of longer sales cycles, prompting the exploration of experimentation and the pitfalls of pursuing perfect attribution. The guests also touch on the coin-operated model prevalent in B2B marketing and the significance of the polarity of the sale, highlighting the need to adapt marketing and sales strategies based on buying intent. Additionally, they address the current economic landscape and discuss how manufacturing companies are navigating supply chain shifts and making investments to stay competitive.
About the Guests
Jeff White
Jeff is the co-founder of Kula Partners, an agency designed to help leading manufacturers digitally transform their marketing and sales. A User Experience (UX) and usability expert, Jeff began building sites for the web over 25 years ago. He leads the design and development practice at Kula Partners. Several years ago, Jeff returned to NSCAD University as a sessional professor, bringing his understanding of web standards to a new generation of design students.
Carman Pirie
Carman Pirie is the co-founder of Kula Partners, an agency built to help leading manufacturers digitally transform marketing and sales to deliver more leads, close more prospects, and grow their competitive edge. Over his nearly three decades in marketing and communications, Carman’s career has taken him from the halls of Canada’s Parliament to various client-side and agency-side marketing leadership roles. Along the way, he has advised Fortune 100 clients, governments, and non-profit organizations. At Kula Partners, Carman serves as lead marketing and sales counsel to the firm’s diverse range of North American manufacturing clients.
Key Takeaways
The manufacturing industry faces varying levels of ABM maturity, from traditional inside sales organizations to highly integrated CRM and ABX platforms.
Longer sales cycles in manufacturing require a different approach to identifying and interpreting intent signals.
Experimentation is crucial in understanding what works and what doesn't, and perfect attribution should not be the sole focus.
Balancing brand-building activities with demand-oriented campaigns is essential for long-term success.
Quotes
"Don't think that short-term experiments alone can revolutionize your brand or leapfrog your competition. Longer-term bets on creative platforms and content have a more significant impact." - Carman Pirie
"The polarity of the sale is not always in our favor. It's important to measure activities, adapt approaches, and create engagement even when the buying intent hasn't flipped." - Jeff White
Recommended Resources
Podcasts
Books
Shout-outs
Kristin Thompson Fallon – Founding Member at Chief
Mike Nager – Business Development / Program Management at Festo Didactic
Jessica Woodside – Director of Marketing at WIKA USA
Monique Eliott – SVP, Global Brand & Communications at Schneider Electric
Connect with Jeff White | Connect with Carman Pirie | Follow us on LinkedIn | Website