Manufacturing eCommerce Success – with Eddie Saunders Jr.

Damon Pistulka  00:04

All right, everyone, welcome once again it is Friday and you know what that means? It’s time for manufacturing ecommerce success. I am one of your co hosts in this show. Damon Pistulka. That pretty gentleman right over there as Curt Anderson co host stylish hair. Take it away my friend because we’re gonna be talking about finding your voice and humanizing your brand today. Damon

Curt Anderson  00:30

Happy Friday, dude, how was your week? You doing all right, everything good.

Damon Pistulka  00:34

Doing all right alma

Curt Anderson  00:36

mater won a national championship. Got a new coat. You’re looking for a new coach for the Seahawks. But ya know

Damon Pistulka  00:43

that everything’s fun stuff happening and lots of stuff happening. All right, man.

Curt Anderson  00:47

I hope Damon Are you sitting down? Are you ready for this one this dude, this is like, gonna be fun. All right, just like I doubled up in my heart medicine for this one. So alright, here we go. Eddie Saunders Jr. is on stage. Eddie? Happy Friday. Happy New Year. How are you? Dude?

Eddie Saunders Jr  01:05

Man, I’m living it up rock and roll and always growing never slow. And I’m hanging out with some cool dudes on a Friday. I already have a cold beverage select. What more do I want, man? All right. Well, hey,

Curt Anderson  01:15

God bless you do thank you for coming back on the show. You are a repeat offender, I must add. So you might want to get a better judge of character of who to hang out with. But thank you for coming back to join the show. Once again. We’ve done a few things together. So guys, you’re out there. drop us a note. Give Eddie a big hello, boy. If you don’t know Eddie, I strongly encourage you. I invite you I welcome you. I implore you connect with me on LinkedIn. You’ll thank us later. He is just he puts out incredible, wonderful content. Very passionate advocate for manufacturers. Eddie since last time you’re on the program. You’ve a little change in life. Little about face, right? Little change of career. We’re going to dive into that before we go there. I want to do and I don’t know if you remember last time it was on the show. I opened up with Edie, who was your hero. When you grew up and your response was your dad and you rant and raved about how wonderful amazing your father was. And Damon, we’ve done a show a couple of times several 100 times dumbest comment of my on my part of all time I go, Eddie, What’s your dad’s name? Eddie Saunders Jr. What is your dad’s name? I will never forget that. So Eddie, thank you for your patience. So I’m not going to ask you who your hero is. today. I have a different question for you. Ready? I asked you last time who was your hero growing up? I’m going to ask it today. Who are you a hero to? Who out there views Eddie Sanders Jr. as their hero Whoa.

Eddie Saunders Jr  02:47

tougher? Yeah, that’s the I felt that one of my spine. No doubt. Man. Well, honestly, I hope my kids because honestly, being in my early 30s just learning a lot, so much to learn. You know, I’ve got a lot of life ahead of me, hopefully. But I’ve got a decent amount of life behind me than having four children. Now, you know, from the ages of three to 12. I’d like to say that I’m trying to leave a good legacy. And then through that I kind of have this weird dream one day of just being that guy to my kids. Maybe I am I don’t know. But the constant daily pursuit or that is what kind of keeps me humble, and then drives me just to be the best version of that who I am, even though I’m not perfect. But I would hope my kids would say that for sure.

Curt Anderson  03:32

Well, awesome answer. Absolutely. Damon, how about that? What you think that one, huh? Yeah, that’s awesome. I’ve pulled it out once before and I thought you know what, I’m busting that out. And Eddie now, Eddie, wonderful. You and your wife been together for many years. Now, if I’m not mistaken. You guys had like, were you got married in your backyard? Or where did you get married at? I

Eddie Saunders Jr  03:52

don’t remember. We actually got married in Kansas City.

Curt Anderson  03:55

You got married in Kansas. Now? Where did you Where did you propose that?

Eddie Saunders Jr  03:59

I proposed in the middle of a bloco in the Ohio Stadium right on the 50 yard line on my 24th birthday. Now.

Curt Anderson  04:10

Eddie, for anybody out there doesn’t know what we’re talking about. I brought something

Eddie Saunders Jr  04:16

you know, I came prepared for this baby. I got the Buckeyes out right now. Let’s go. Ah,

Curt Anderson  04:22

Eddie, Eddie proposed, right. Like Great, great. Here’s black gold right there. Right. Right. That

Eddie Saunders Jr  04:28

right there is.

Curt Anderson  04:30

There is Ohio Stadium. So Eddie, I brought I brought this out just for you my friend. So it’s, you know, and I got that for you, too. So I I had I had a we had a demon surgery to go there. You know,

Eddie Saunders Jr  04:41

I had to I had it on deck. I was ready to that’s the same page. We

Curt Anderson  04:46

had to go. So anyway, so I was trying to find that I was trying to find that stadium last time you’re on the show. I brought it out just for today. So alright, let’s get all that out of the way. Now. Let’s dive in. Eddie. Please share with folks. You have a new one. Wonderful Adventure, I’m going to use the word venture and adventure, you have a new company, please talk about your new company, and how are you making the world a better place?

Eddie Saunders Jr  05:10

Well, I’m doing my best for sure. So but knowing that less the whole corporate job did the kind of it’s somewhat of a cliche thing, but it’s the reason you see it, it’s time tested, it’s exciting, and started my own consultancy, if you will, in the form of me doing really a lot of it as well that I want to do, I’ve got a little mantra that I’ve been running with lately, that has really been kind of my fight song. And it’s my entire business plan. And intention is to do kind of what I want when I want. And you know, with whom I want to do very little of what I hate. And this platform has allowed me essentially, to do just that. And to make that leap where a lot of other individuals are super hesitant, and they wait. But I can say that, you know, betting on yourself and believing yourself. It’s it’s been a wonderful opportunity. And I’ve been able to connect with way more manufacturers from around the globe, and give myself a good opportunity to really do the work that I knew I always wanted to do and could do well, but not have all of this overhead on top of me and these these suppressing forces in nature, not allowing me to do these things. So it’s great, I get to guide these clients from small startups all the way to corporate global conglomerates on their marketing strategy, their content development and running their entire demand gen vision casting, it’s stuff that I love to do. And I’m working with all types of cool people that I want to, and I’m honestly excited to see where it goes.

Curt Anderson  06:32

Well, you know, so let’s go here. I didn’t have this question down. But you bet you kind of stirred the pot for this question. Anybody out there that is inspired for it? They’re like, man, you just you took that entrepreneurial leap. You know, there’s a lot of folks that are in corporate had those jobs, you need that steady paycheck, you know, there’s obligations bills to pay mortgage kit, you have four kids. That’s a huge, huge leap of faith to take that entrepreneurial plunge. What was there a tipping point, what finally inspired you to take that plunge?

Eddie Saunders Jr  07:04

I mean, first it was putting myself in a position to if something did happen, God forbid, but that would be a landing platform for myself. So having a plan because I didn’t want to act like this was something that okay, I just woke up one day and said, This is what I’m doing. I’m opening up shop tomorrow. No, no, this is something that I had not only done on a very segmented bases years prior to just dabbled in it. But I felt led and put myself in that position that I knew if the universe lands and the dominoes fall in this specific place, will I be able to sustain this and, and honestly, I just allowed it to be a reality. And I’ve kind of reverse engineered the reality. And when said universe and entered and presented said situation, I was just ready for it. I didn’t force it, I wasn’t really forced into a position to do it either. So that was really helpful as well. But being prepared and knowing that I’ve already I’ve already done what it is that I’m trying to do. And I knew I was going to learn along the way. But keeping my head in the clouds and feet on the ground was just huge with the planning and with just keeping myself humble throughout the entire time. But having that roadmap laid so when the adventure presented itself, I was already out of my backpack, you know, man, I already

Curt Anderson  08:19

had my bag. Yeah, that’s, that might drop the mic job. Like right there bags pack reverse engineering opportunities, absolute love that you had the bags packed. Were there certain clients or just kind of like you said, that forces kind of pulled you that direction? There was opportunities here. How’d that conversation go? At home? Like walk us through that transition?

Eddie Saunders Jr  08:45

Yeah, because it’s obviously a lot of conversation with your spouse or significant other because it wasn’t just one of those were okay, I’m gonna remove myself from a W two income. It was that’s being removed. That’s all on me. But then healthcare and insurance because I really don’t like the way that it’s structured for small business owners and a lot of other small business owners would complain the same way. It’s not fair. There’s, there’s a few good ways to go about it. And that was honestly a huge thing that held me back for the longest time is cuz you got to think covering a family of six if you I’m not going to digress too much, but that’s expensive. Regardless, healthcare.gov is not going to help you with that. Yeah. So this was a it was a great thing for my wife and I as well because we better connected because there was a lot of trust that was already there. And that foundation was there. But she also knew with confidence that Edie has been planning this for months, and some people would argue years with what he’s done. And she’s just my biggest cheerleader. She’s my biggest critic, but she’s also my biggest cheerleader. And it really allowed me to to propel the way that I wanted to because I know there’s so many factors that would convince people to not and talk people out of doing it every single day.

Curt Anderson  09:52

Well absolutely love it. But you just there’s so much to uncover right there and we’re gonna cite it because I’m gonna dig into your superpowers but you know, having that that support system at home, that significant other that’s there rooting you on being that you know, the critic not always just telling you what you want to hear. And so I just love and you know, that trust and that level of expectation on each other and be mindful, like, Hey, we’re a family of six, like if this doesn’t work out What’s plan B? And so I just I love everything that you’ve done here. super inspiring.

Damon Pistulka  10:21

I like the idea, though. I mean, at least you are doing the same thing before you walk home one day and then told your significant other I’m going to I really want to do this. Right. So you’re kind of doing the same thing, but you’re doing it for different people. So yeah, some of us aren’t that that, you know, we go off a little farther, and it’s a bit of a more longer stretch for our significant other So yeah, that’s good.

Eddie Saunders Jr  10:45

I wasn’t easy. If she’s nervous, for sure. Nerve. Some would say still nervous, right? Maybe not as much anymore. So I’m like, Yeah, babe. I’m doing I’m doing it. Yeah. Yeah, you got it. Well, I love it. So tomorrow, I’ll let y’all goes. Yeah. Well,

Curt Anderson  11:00

she can text us let us know. But let’s dive in. So speak friend consulting, talks about like, when somebody knocks on your door, what does that engagement look like? What are the specific things on your menu? How are you helping companies just crush it?

Eddie Saunders Jr  11:13

Well, in all reality, man, you have to think I got someone, at least me if you will, if you’re thinking inventory, I got 14 years of b2b marketing experience in business development. I’ve read over 50 books on human decision making, marketing, branding, all this stuff, I’ve been to the conferences I’ve spoken. I’ve done all the private sessions, I’m just in such a good position to help a lot of individuals. So whether it’s again, that small startup who this is marketing, higher, quote unquote, number one, or corporate conglomerate, we’ve got a huge budget, multi, you know, global hubs. And we eat across the level strategy for not only this specific sector, but for everywhere, I just have that experience working as an employee of that startup, and as an employee all the way from there to the corporate, large 11,000 Plus, employees, fortune 500, yada, yada. So when you have that much experience, it’s hard to find a situation where it may and especially industrial brands can’t leverage that in some way, shape, or form. Because there’s just too much diversity in what I do. Of course, I have a wide breadth of skills, and they’re things that I’m better at than others. But that’s just a lot, a lot of experience for people to not be able to leverage in some way, shape, or form.

Damon Pistulka  12:23

And then some of the curtain I talk about a lot is because of your, your your work in the industry, in the b2b industrial industry, knowing as many players in it as you do in marketing and other aspects of the business. It’s really something that, you know, I’m sure you’re bringing the smartest people in the room, even when it’s not you. And that’s the thing that’s really fun is to those collaborations that you can do with others that that do the one plus one equal three for those clients.

Eddie Saunders Jr  12:53

That’s huge. And it’s honestly it’s like the Henry Ford concept to me. And that goes back to a very short story where Henry Ford had lots of critics, obviously. And one time a whole press conference was was put together because one of his worst critics wanted to absolutely grill him. So he gathered all these biggest experts in the world to just grill Henry Ford ask them question about this, this, this, this and this. And Henry Ford dismissed it completely saying this is absolutely irrelevant. If I want the best engineer in the world, I hit one number on my phone, and I haven’t if I want the best attorney in the world, I hit one number and I have them that to me change my entire perspective. And I’m surrounding myself with a smartest love your

Damon Pistulka  13:29

point. Something we were just talking about, right Kurt and we were just talking,

Curt Anderson  13:34

you know, I and I’m I’m a huge, huge Henry Ford fan. I love love that sorry. He was actually he was on the understand in core. When he when he did that it was a really intense, it was a very intense moment. And I love that. Let you know what I’m going to jump ahead. I’m saving this question for later. I’m going to pull it in right now since we’re there. You are the King of that collaboration, referral, and what you’ve taught me since day one, and we’ve I’ve had the honor and privilege to and several things with you now. You have that buddy system that I just absolutely love. I was gonna save that question for later. Let’s dive in now, share with folks a little bit about how the power of the Eddie Saunders buddy system.

Eddie Saunders Jr  14:14

I mean, it’s the same idea of if you’re out at night with your friends, you know, or you’re going swimming. It’s that kind of buddy system that they always teach us why because it increases safety increases your strength, your confidence. And the same idea can be applied not only just in industrial marketing, because other industries are doing it. I’m just bringing a proven concept to an industry that needs it the most. And we’ve proven it on so many examples to where if we’re taking taken from a specific example, I want to run a Google ads campaign. I’m actually doing this with a client right now. They want to run a Google ads campaign, but they want to they know they want a specific amount of reach and a specific amount of budget. Well, they have some options to either eat that budget themselves and take all the labor in the effort themselves, or bring in one or various other partners that can not only split those resources when it comes to buy If it can also provide value in the form of copy in the form of just general thought into it, and it just increases everything across the board and reduces the spend, reduces the effort, but then increases that engagement between all parties. And it’s the classic concept of the rising tide lifts all ships, this just helps you spend less than maximize those efforts and work with people that are worth making noise with in the first place.

Curt Anderson  15:23

Right. I love that. So go ahead, Damon. Oh, I

Damon Pistulka  15:26

like that working with people that are worth making noise with. Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. Well, that’s

Curt Anderson  15:33

the key that’s in you just kind of set yourself like, you never need to be the smartest guy in the room. But boy, you look like a really smart person when you bring those other smart people into the room. So you’re talking, I’m going I’m going a little bit out of order. So you’re, we’ve got the Eddie Saunders buddy branding system, I absolutely love that. And boy, if you’re a solo marketer out there, you’re working for manufacturers. First off, connect with Eddie, he just connect with me on LinkedIn, follow his content. He is brilliant, funny, wonderful. Engaging, puts out all sorts of great strategies. So follow me there, check out his website. And so Eddie, you talk about the buddy branding system. You also talked about the search engine swap. I love this concept. So many manufacturers, you know, like say they bend metal, they cut steel. So the keywords they’re gonna go after? Are we bend metal, we cut steel, they’re very, very broad. I love your approach of that SWOT analysis. Let’s dive into what you’re best at. Let’s let’s get out let’s the three of us geek out on that for a little bit. What explain to folks what is the SWOT the search engine swap explained that for us,

Eddie Saunders Jr  16:38

so yeah, like, a lot of individuals are familiar from what their acronym the SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It’s, we do it for every other sector of the business. So why is our marketing or why are in your the components of that and an exception to that rule? What Why is that, and if you’re putting effort into any type of optimization, just because search engines we recognize people are using them, there’s objective data that is tied, not only to how they use it, but how you can manipulate and how you can actually have a presence on those specific pages. And so why would you not look at the strengths of how you’re showing and what’s being represented there, your weaknesses, recognize those opportunities. And the threats? Again, I want to reiterate, we do it with all other segments of our business, we audit, finance, we audit operations, we audit everything else, why do we not audit our current marketing programs, and I think the lack of that in the industrial world has led to the last 1015, some would say even 20 years of very similar and repetitive marketing practices and tactics that aren’t really as efficient because no one’s really actually looking at one the bottom line, but to the productivity and the return on these specific items. Because it’s the way we’ve always done it.

Damon Pistulka  17:48

The death nail and business precisely. It is just they just makes me want to throw up every time I hear it. Right. Right. I should practice that because that will be good when you just look. A couple. Yeah, we got some comments. We gotta get him up here. Yeah, Mark, going on.

Curt Anderson  18:09

A mark. Happy Friday, dude. Thanks. Hey,

Damon Pistulka  18:13

there we got Quincy, a Quincy, happy

Curt Anderson  18:15

Friday. We’re with people

Damon Pistulka  18:17

making noise with good stuff. Good stuff. So

Curt Anderson  18:21

good. Couple good strategies. I want to take it one step further. So you know, any manufacturer out there, they’re like, ma’am, are the best kept secret people are finding us they’re not coming up online, we’re not coming up in search or pay per click? How how, like, digging in Daymond. You do this with your clients? You know, we’ve gone through this dozens of times. How do you help people niche that down? So we focus on our strengths? Maybe kind of eliminate, you know, get those weaknesses out of the way, right, let’s stay away from those. How do you marry those strengths and opportunities, whether you’re content, search strategies, how about can we go there for a minute? What’s that look like from your perspective?

Eddie Saunders Jr  18:56

Sure. And one thing that I love working with my clients is, and you’ve heard me say this earlier in this conversation, because it’s a module of mine, it’s reverse engineering with intention. Because we could put the 10 of the most needy brands right now who just they all stick a need somebody like me right now. And they’re going to be completely different conversations. And in a world where I love agency work, there’s good things here. But there’s I’m also noticing that people are being put in boxes, I don’t believe in there’s a silver bullet for everyone. And there’s a box that you can put a bunch of people in and I’m very much a proponent of kind of building the box around them. So not to not answer your question by any means. But I hate these gurus and I sorry, that’s a strong word. I disliked it a dislike and I don’t really agree with these gurus and the self proclaimed experts who say all these things and regurgitate this information that’s not simply true or it’s hollow at best. So I challenge that that there is no real silver bullet. There are a variety of strategies and tactics that I have that depending on your situation. I can help you win. That’s not question because I’ve done it in a variety of scenarios. But I’d be setting you up to fail. If I just decided to pick you up and put you into a box and say, Hey, this box will work for you. That’s not what you want. Right? Right.

Curt Anderson  20:15

I love it. So we’re going to slide into you are speaking at the industrial marketing Summit, you and I met in person at the last industrial marketing Summit. And that was such an honor a thrill for me, just in just wonderful people that we got to hang out with Joe Sullivan, Jeff Long, Wendy Covey, Nicole Donnelly was there. I mean, it was just such a wonderful, wonderful event. We were in Cleveland, I was in 2022. And I caught your session, dude, I was just completely blown away. You know, the, you know, I know you’re a humble guy, Damon, I’ll talk to you like Eddie pluggers, the wisdom, the brilliance, the maturity, just off the charts. Oh, my gosh, I wish I had a fraction of what this guy has, when I was your age? How, like, how do you get that stage presence? How do you get like, dude, I’m just so in awe. And I’m seeing this just with tremendous admiration to you, you know, how do you get that stage presence? And how do you, you know, bring up that energy on stage?

Eddie Saunders Jr  21:10

Well, I really appreciate you saying that. And human to human, I just want to say thank you, because that’s very kind of you. And that means the absolute world to me. So let me say that first. And then as I attempt to try to answer their question, because I’m absolutely flattered. Easy enough. I have the I’ve been in theater, my whole life. I mean, my earliest memories are me on stage, doing little cutie contests, you know, which are beauty contests for boys and stuff, whatever, just like just doing these things. And I’ve been in theater on a stage performing, I’m a musician. And so I’ve just performed in that room so many times. And I’ve legit been a cartoon since I was a kid. Like, for lack of a better term. And I’m human, like, I still have like my days, you guys still have energy drains and this and that. But a lot of the stage presence has come from a lot of confidence years, like my whole life of being on stage. And it just feels really comforting to me. I still feel the same gut nerves and everything like everybody else does. But I don’t care about looking silly, because I’ve done that many times. Right? Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  22:19

We got some people here too, that are showing showing up quick. Hey, well,

Curt Anderson  22:23

we’ve got people who’ve been on the show. So Diana was on your show. Damon. And so Diana is in Chicago, she’s going to be at the summit with Jacqueline from IMEC. And we’ve gotten hate Naomi had another Limni. From our show here, Sammy, happy, happy New Year, Sammy, I’m gonna touch base with you yet.

Eddie Saunders Jr  22:38

So Sammy, the gangster

Curt Anderson  22:41

Sammy is the best. So Sammy and say it looks like Sam is going to be at the summit, the meat saving horse and that’s gonna be a good human. Yeah, this is going to be awesome. So you know what? I’m going to Damon. I’m going to share my screen. And let’s see, I’m going to share my screen real quick. I want to pull up the summit. I’m going to talk a little bit about what we’ve got going on here again. And can you guys, can you guys see my screen? Yep, got it. Okay, Eddie, let’s take a look here. So I’ve got the sofa if anybody’s not familiar, we’re talking about the industrial marketing Summit. Man, it is coming up in just a couple of weeks. It’s an Austin, Texas boy, if you’re up north and chilly, like the rest of us. Great opportunity to head down south and go geek out with a bunch of industrial marketers. The folks that are hosting the party are right here. They were just on our show a few weeks ago. We’ve got Joe Sullivan, Adam back and of course, Wendy CAVI. And so let’s go down here. Let’s head down. So you guys, I’ve got you right here. Mr. Eddie, please talk about what are we going to be talking about at your session.

Eddie Saunders Jr  23:42

As you see here, everyone helped people find the voice humanize the brand and stand out in a sea of user generated content. Now not to read off the screen specifically, we’ve got some individuals here for individuals that have really built themselves up very organically and not overnight, but also not by accident. And they’ve done it with their human elements now representing either one or multiple entities. Regardless of that fact, these human beings have turned up their volume, and I’ve seen subjective as well as up genitive results. And as far as I’m concerned, I know that I’m just going to be bringing this that small playbook to help you and more brands realize the power behind the humans that are within their organizations and things to not be afraid of things to empower things to make sure that you’re aware of, but also things to be excited about.

Damon Pistulka  24:29

Yeah, it really is. I tell you that that what you guys are going to be talking about there is so important for industrial and b2b brands to really consider is Who’s Who the heck are we? Because, you know, the CNC manufacturing company down the street from the other one from the, you know, they’re not the same. They’re not the same and who are we? What are we about in in really letting that human voice out so you know who we are being authentic? I think can do in the human human thing is so much better than the product vomit or the, you know, we have these machines that can do that kind of junk that just makes everyone want to run the other way. Right?

Curt Anderson  25:10

Right. Well, I love it. And of course, we Chris Lukey Damon, he’s gonna be on the show two weeks from today. So we’re gonna have Chris Luke, he’s coming up, and we’re gonna be geeking out about the conference as well. Nikki has been been on the show before, Jordan is going to be coming up in a few weeks on the show. And so Eddie, we’re super excited. Morgan has been on our show, she’s gonna be talking about building and measuring brand authority. We’ve got John Joyce, we’ve got Timothy scale, Scanlon, and just scrolling down, it’s just all sorts of wonderful speakers. They’ve got the co founder of Jasper that was a home run. I know the team, they, when they were on the show a few weeks ago, they were some of the speakers. But of course, they were really excited to land this gentleman from Jasper. And again, we’ve got Wendy, Joe and Adam, they’re going to be talking about some different things. So guys, check out industrial marketing Summit, go to the website, if you’re on the cusp, or you’re on the bubble, man, I couldn’t encourage you enough to go ever other any other cool kids are going to be there are they not?

Eddie Saunders Jr  26:10

For sure. And even outside of you know, the cool kids being there, which is definitely a perk we have to think about as an industrial marketer. Some of those topics are actually all those topics are absolute barnburner topics like these are huge things. And this isn’t something like I talked about earlier, where a lot of people are getting stuck in that hole, the way we’ve always done it, this is the forefront this is the next level of conversation, the next level of thought leadership of vision. And if you are looking to stay ahead and not be like a good chunk of our industry, you have to embrace this information, you have to be able to digest in some way shape or form, it’s going to be loaded,

Curt Anderson  26:46

it’s going to be loaded. And I And I’d say you know, probably didn’t appreciate it as much from COVID Till today, but just that in person interaction and just getting out there and shaking hands and just, you know, the friendships and relationships that we’ve been able to build virtually, thanks to COVID has been phenomenal. Now it’s a true gift to take that to the next level she people in person and high fives and hugs and all that stuff. And just and again, it’s the feel that energy in the room, Eddie, you know, you know, again, like Wendy Covey and Morgan, like when they’re on stage, man, it’s just, those guys are blockbusters and just knock around ideas and just the off our conversations and what have you, what are some, what are some things that you’re really excited to looking forward to being at the summit?

Eddie Saunders Jr  27:35

Like, of course, obviously, being a part of the panel, that’s great. That’s, that’s, of course, the big reason that I’m there. But, you know, I’m a human guy, I just I love being around other people that are like minded as a lot of us do. And I’m more excited about learning, and about listening and hearing everybody else, like my session, like I’m gonna blanket it’s gonna be over. And it’s at the end of the day as well. So like, I’m kinda have to get to be inspired all day, and then get to my last speaking slot, and just be like, I love everything. Yeah, that’d

Damon Pistulka  28:08

be good.

Eddie Saunders Jr  28:09

I’m just gonna feel so inspired. And so that’s the biggest thing human to human beings there and learning outside perspectives from individuals who are just as passionate about this as I am, right?

Curt Anderson  28:20

Well, I love that. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna go here now. So I’m your website, you talk about adventurous marketing strategy. So you’re, you’re, you’re great at like high level strategic on high level strategy. Again, guys, if you’re just joining us, we’re here with Eddie Saunders Jr, you absolutely want to connect with Addy on LinkedIn does all sorts of great content, you’re helping all sorts of different manufacturers and just love what you’re doing adventurous marketing strategies. Most manufacturers, as we will know, a little bit on the conservative side, maybe they have no marketing at all. Let’s talk to the manufacturer that’s just starting kind of this marketing journey, let alone digital marketing. What are some baby steps that you would advise them coach them? How could you get them a little bit adventurous to kind of kick off their digital marketing transformation?

Eddie Saunders Jr  29:07

Sure, I mean, in a world or in an industry where a lot of traditional methods are done, you got to be at the trade shows, you got to do the white papers, you got to do the gated content, stuff like that. I understand but, but to me, especially as you’re starting off, we do need to make a significant amount of noise because people have to figure out who you are first before they figure out what you do. And all these other things, the mind you that happens organically over time. But if we’re talking about what can we do right now, content development, one, it’s always a lower hanging fruit. And it’s always always, always going to be worth it, especially if you partner with a good person who helps you scale it and make it easier, right? And that’s the biggest value that I do bring because I have clients that are very scrappy, very startup worthy, and I’ve been there and I respect that and you can easily work with that. But kind of the lowest hanging fruit without giving away the whole farm if you will, in a good demand generation package and focus strategies Gonna be developing content and a lot of forms so that it can be digested, consumed and seen by a lot of individuals. And another reason because there’s lots of data that’s that can be built into these platforms. So it’s also good to do things with intention, knowing that there’s data behind it. So you’re not just doing feel good decisions. You have data driven decisions. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  30:19

I love it. Okay, let’s have a, let’s, well, man, I know you’re super busy. We’ll start winding down here in a minute. But let’s, let’s get tactical manufacturers just starting out. And they’d say they’re accustomed contract manufacturer, let’s get a little tactical, what are some steps? So you’ve got through some high level strategy with the client? Now we’re gonna get into the weeds. Now we’re gonna start executing, what are some of the and I love what you said earlier? Not one size fits all. But what are some tactics? What are some steps that you would help to like get them on the playing field, so they can kind of get their feet wet into this, this transformation? Sure, yeah. So

Eddie Saunders Jr  30:57

if you’re growing and you’re scaling, and you’ve got, you’ve got like a set budget, you’re trying to formulate a couple of things, you know that you want to invest something in there. It’s always great, because I love data. And you’ll hear that trend throughout a lot of the strategies that I’m talking about. But I do love a search engine, like search engine marketing, like I love Google ads, it’s always a great thing, because you know that it’s going to be delivered. You know, there’s a variety of different things that you can do when it comes to setting up specific campaigns. And as well as doing social ads, they’re just great, because you can also drive them not only back to your website, but if you also have like specific landing pages that you’re setting up for any lead generation, it’s just good to be able to not only collect traffic, but also direct traffic, everyone gets involved in the collection. But what about the direction? Because you’ve now created demand? You’ve captured it, but how are we going to convert it? And that’s why I’m shifting the industrial marketing conversation to demand focused in the form of creating, capturing, converting, yeah,

Damon Pistulka  31:54

yeah, it’s so critical to do that, to not only just throw a bunch of ads out there, but intentionally know, the customer journey. Why are we where are we taking them? Why is it important to them? And what’s the next step after that, and being clear, too, because a lot of people will do that. And then it kind of goes to a dead spot. It’s like, hey, come to our website and learn about us like, Okay, why should I you know, we’re they’re just not as Kurt would say, niching down enough to really get the right people to the right spot with the right information on your websites. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  32:31

Right. All right. I absolutely love it. Eddie. Let’s go here, my friend. I’m gonna you know, I’m gonna change gears demon. I’ve done a little curveball. Okay, so we’ve talked about a lot. We’ve talked about adventurous marketing strategies. We’ve talked about the industrial marketing Summit, Austin coming up at the end of the month. We’ve talked about connecting with Addy high level strategy. We’ve talked about the buddy branding system. We’ve talked about your search engine SWOT strategy, all sorts of different things. Eddie, I’m gonna get a little personal. Father of four wonderful, beautiful children. What’s on the horizon? What are you excited about family wise for 2024.

Eddie Saunders Jr  33:04

I am so excited to stop purchasing pull ups. Because I have my last one potty training. And I know you guys get that I am right there. I am on the frickin cusp. Potty training after almost 13 years as a father. Yeah. If we’re being honest, I’m so I’m so pumped about this stuff, right? Yeah, that is like the adult little victory that I got right now. Getting that kid to stop pooping his pants. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  33:38

That is a big moment. Thank you. Thank you. You get a big moment, dude. Dude, that

33:44

was awesome that

33:46

you’re expecting that. But that’s exactly why

Damon Pistulka  33:48

No, that’s great. That’s great.

Curt Anderson  33:50

That was a great answer. All right. So getting getting on the other side of pull ups and business wise goals if we want to have you back on so you come back at the end of the year. You’re speak to your Allison just said this last Friday. So it Alcindor Ford on this Friday. And she gave a great analogy on how you should write yourself a letter today for the end of the year. And you know, Hey dear Curt dear Damon, you know, done a great job this year. This is what you would like your year to look like. And if you were to write yourself a letter today for the end of the year, and you want boy, I want that to come as close to true as possible. What are some things that would be in that letter 12 months from from today?

Eddie Saunders Jr  34:31

My letter would be almost exactly and precisely this at the end of the year. Edie? I hope that you did what you want when you want it with whom you wanted and did the minimal amount of things that you didn’t want to see with love Eddie Saunders Jr. Write a letter I kid you not, Kid you not that would be the letter. Truly that sounds like pure bliss and pure happiness. And I feel So many individuals alike got pushed into college created a trades gap, right? I, I just tried to break the mold a little bit. And when I get asked about scaling and doing these things and all these huge business goals, I am no stranger to goals and ambition, no stranger to that. But I don’t think that I have to do it the way that everybody else does it or tells me I have to. And I can still be happy, and my family can still be happy. And that’s really all I care about.

Curt Anderson  35:29

We’re just going to save for that for a minute. Yeah, I

Damon Pistulka  35:31

just gotta let that kind of marinate a little bit die.

Curt Anderson  35:34

All right, Eddie. Last question. How do Where do you credit? And I’m not just saying this because you’re on stage here. Like, I cannot tell you how much I just I respect you admire you. They just love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. What do you where do you contribute? I know it’s Eddie Sanders, senior. We’re like, we’re man. I wish I had your brilliance. At this age. We’re where does this coming from?

Eddie Saunders Jr  36:02

I’ve made it a mission to connect with as many people as possible, sometimes to my detriment. Because I just believe in the phenomena of you just don’t know who can change your life and my family. I’ve surrounded by so many amazing human beings like my family. They’re incredible. But I learned that even in a short amount of time if I truly made it a mission to connect with as many people and to extract and provide, provide as much value in these relationships, that it will yield great results and even better, great perspective because you think about you met your spouse one day, she was a stranger at one point. If you think about it, he or she was a stranger at some point, right? Your best friend was a stranger at one point Curt and Damon YouTube didn’t even know who each other were at one point. And then one day, that connection happened by organic conversation or whatever happened. And look at what stem from that. And you can think of all the most beautiful relationships you have in your life and all the beautiful, most beautiful life lessons and the most impactful things that you’ve heard in your life. It’s been because you heard it and you received it from someone. I’ll leave you with one last thing there’s a Swahili phrase called Ubuntu. And it means I am because you are and I believe that with a depth of my soul that I am who I am because you are who you are

Damon Pistulka  37:24

just let it go again. Okay,

37:26

but, man, Damon, I

Damon Pistulka  37:30

I know we’re just sitting here speechless. Okay,

Curt Anderson  37:33

I don’t know how this year is gonna go because Alison blew us away last week. And yeah, you’re just completely Daymond like we’re in for a bit this is any indication of what 2024 is going to be like man we are in for I’m gonna have to get a boost up my heart medicine even higher. So alright, let’s go here guys, I strongly encourage you welcome you invite you implore you, I beg you connect with Eddie on LinkedIn. He will thank us later tons of great content. Eddie, any real quick, you’ve got the industrial marketing Summit. Any other events that coming up? Because I know like you’re always on this on the fly. You’re at events, you’re broadcasting from events, any other events that you have coming up soon?

Eddie Saunders Jr  38:13

Yeah, I’m gonna be all over the country working with MTD, you know, telling the story manufacturers from around the USA. So you’ll see me at a couple of shows, for sure. But hey, pay attention to some content series. I’ve got some cool things bacon up here soon, in addition to the industrial marketing Summit, so the noise and volume always up to 11. Just stay tuned. I’ll give it to you.

Damon Pistulka  38:32

Awesome. Awesome.

Curt Anderson  38:34

Alright guys, let’s start well weighing down. So first off, hey, how about a huge round of applause for Eddie Saunders, Jr. for? Absolutely hitting the ball out of the park today. God bless you, brother. We appreciate you. I just want to give everybody a big shout out and thank you in the chat box today. Thank you guys. We can’t wait to see you and Austin at the industrial marketing Summit. Again, connect with Edie. If you have any questions, you need some marketing strategies, and he’s your guy. And what I love to say, Boy, man was just inspiring. Go out there and just be someone’s inspiration just like this guy is on a daily regular basis. Eddie, we applaud you. We salute you. We commend you, we thank you. God bless you, Damon, take it away brother what another great conversation here.

Damon Pistulka  39:20

Oh, it’s awesome being able to talk with Eddie today and really you can feel how he’s going to help those clients to his you know, humanize their brand get the message out and really allow them to connect with their their perfect customers or their perfect potential customers and really become friends as you say with your business. Edie? You know I want to thank everyone that stopped by Mark and Quincy Sammy and and Amani for stopping by today and Diana sorry, I didn’t want to miss Diana. Did we

Curt Anderson  39:52

see this comment? Do you see this comment here? I absolutely love it. Yep, absolutely. Oh,

Eddie Saunders Jr  39:57

that’s amazing. Yeah. That was amazing.

Damon Pistulka  40:00

Yeah, yeah. Ubuntu. Yep. So that’s good. But thanks, everyone for being here today. And thanks for showing up. Thanks for the people like commenting and listening. If you didn’t hear this whole thing, go back to the beginning and rewind because that he was dropping nuggets throughout the whole whole conversation we had here today. We will be back again next week with more guests on the manufacturing ecommerce success. Who do we have rolling out next time Curt?

Curt Anderson  40:31

You wouldn’t we got Wesleyan on Monday, man. This is gonna be fire with Wesley and Whitaker. We’re gonna be jamming out about sales strategy. So we’ve got a really good one. We’ve got great folks coming up the whole month, we’re gonna be promoting the industrial marketing summit every session. And so just a lot of we’re just blessed with just so many great people, so can’t wait. It’s gonna be very exciting. All

Damon Pistulka  40:51

right, well, everyone we’re gonna cut off for now but have an incredible weekend and we will talk to you again next week.

40:58

Please