Marketing Automation for Manufacturers: Simplify Lead Nurturing

Curt Anderson  00:00

Hey, good morning, good afternoon. Hello. Happy Monday to you out there and welcome to stop being the best kept secret. I My name is Curt Anderson. I’m with my favorite co host, Damon Pistulka. Damon, how are you,

Damon Pistulka  00:13

dude? I couldn’t be more excited about talking with you today. Curt, about one of our favorite topics, marketing automation for manufacturers, that simplify, lead nurturing. Hey

Curt Anderson  00:26

you dude, you know what? You say that to all the guys. Come on, be honest. You know. Alright, we usually, we’re talking about, like, SEO, marketing manufacturing. We’re talking about automation strategies for manufacturers today. And let’s, let’s go there. Why is I’m a convert like you converted me a couple years ago, and I was kicking and screaming. But just for folks out there that are new to the automation, just kind of give us a little taste of like, what are some opportunities for someone that has that’s just starting at zero with marketing automation?

Damon Pistulka  01:01

Well, when we talk about automation, first of all, don’t get put off by this is complicated, because it’s not. The tools have gotten easier and easier and easier to use, so they’re and they’re far more common than they were before, right? So, so when we talk about some of the opportunities, it starts all the way from your website, right? Or or your LinkedIn profile, or wherever you’re trying, wherever someone sees you and wants to connect with you, right? An automation could be as simple as I’m using a link with a with an online calendar that’s connected to my my calendar, right? That’s an automation. It’s simple. It works if, if you need that kind of thing, you eliminated all the back and forth with setting a meeting with someone. Could be a client, could be a potential client. It really just someone to talk about. But those, that’s a real simple one. I think that is an opportunity that a lot of people overlook, and that’s one of the first places you and I started with with you as you’re like, you were booking meetings for for our shows, and it was really back and forth. Explain that a little bit, how much that week is fame for you, Nate,

Curt Anderson  02:08

are just, are you trying to embarrass me? I’m just kidding. So I it’s, you know, did it get really it’s real. Someone got really dark. Like, what the text going on? Alright. So anyway, so it’s, this is how it went. Is, I would be like, hey, Damon, you’re an awesome dude. Would you want to come on our live show? Sure. Curt, that sounds awesome. Wed Well, hey, how about next Friday at well, no, I can’t extra How about the, well, how about the, no, I can’t do it that Friday. How about the following? Hey, wait a minute, that Friday’s booked. How about we do it next month? Well, no, I can’t, you know, now the person’s like, don’t, don’t contact me again. Like, dude, like, You’re annoyed, right? So the thing is, by just putting out that calendar, now what you can do is you can just, very simply, just say, like, Hey, here’s a calendar book at your convenience. Here’s the dates, here’s the times I like, my job is done, right? Yeah, yeah.

Damon Pistulka  02:58

And that’s, that’s the kind of thing that that really makes it easier. It makes it easy for people to book the time that works for them and works for you. We got it Curt, keep going, keep going. So, you know, that is one of the most simple opportunities for marketing operations that helps people get to, you know, make it and we talk about these automations. They should help reduce the friction in buying from you, and that’s one of the things that I think we really need to keep focusing on. So setting up at a time to talk to you should be easy. Should be quick for your customer or your potential customer that we’ve just done that. So now let’s talk about some of these lead nurturing opportunities we may be missing. I’m talking simple ones again, right, right? We have. The one that I always love to see is, what does the contact us form do on your website? Usually? Now, if you’re just using a WordPress form, it’s not connected to anything else, it just gets emailed to somebody, right? Well, what if that was an important lead, and you’re relying on the person that gets to contact us, form, stuff to a first, first of all resolve. Is this a lead that really makes sense? And should this get forward to our sales person? Because this is a big deal right now, with the systems, it’s super easy to go, Okay, let’s embed a form with our CRM on our website, same Contact Us form, but now it goes right into the CRM. Then I can, I can get notified of that the salesperson, get notified from it, and go right in like that. This is a, this is a simple automation that can make sure that every single lead that either comes from a contact us form, it could be a quote request form goes to the right spot and gets to the right person quickly and efficiently. Now, the other thing that happens on your website, do you have it, sending something back to them, confirming that we’ve received it. I mean, that’s a huge thing. Just go, okay, wait 10 minutes. Send. Send them an email back. It says, Thank you for your request. Someone will be back to you shortly. Blah, blah, blah, you just think about when we’re talking today, about simplifying, lead nurturing. Now I don’t have to remember do that. Now. I can do it. 24/7, these things make it easier for us to be more in touch and help our potential customers and our customers just feel better about doing business with us,

Curt Anderson  05:24

no doubt. And hey, oh my goodness, are you sitting down for this one? Dude? I am so alright. Well, hey, first off, Timothy. Says, Hi, Timothy, dude, it’s been way too long. Good afternoon to you. He says, I saw, I heard automation. I came running. And then, all right, here we go. Margos in the house. Hello, Margo, man, we miss you. We love you. Send she says, Love automation, so you know. And again, it’s in the spirit of, like, how do we make your life easier? And then I just read a book yesterday. Maybe I was listening to podcasts, and they were talking about, you know, customer customer service, customer interaction. And it’s almost like the more friction you put up. Number one, it like, it hurts you. It hurts your client. It takes your time. It takes their time. And like, like, for like, what you introduced to me, I was almost like, being disrespectful to my clients by not initiating and not taking on automation on top of all the time that I’m wasting for myself, right?

Damon Pistulka  06:25

Yeah, yeah. It really, it really does help your your the experience of people trying to do business while they’re doing business, you much better. I mean, so when we look at again, simplifying, lead, nurturing, things like, okay, I get a quote request. Now I submit that back to the customer. Okay, so I’m sent them an email back to the customer. Well, what if my system goes after two days? Go, hey, do you have any questions on that? We can set up a time to talk. Sends them that same link again, link again, to book a meeting, and then we just continue to go after they’ve they’ve talked with them again, and just so many, I’m talking super simple automations at the beginning that make a huge difference, right?

Curt Anderson  07:07

So again, let’s talk, you know. So we’re, we’re here. Thanks for joining us here today. And hey Timothy says, great to see you guys. Timothy, great to connect with you, dude. And you know, hope everybody’s just doing awesome today. Hope you had a great weekend as we’re diving and talking about automation strategies again. Like, okay, think of your ideal customer. And this is also an opportunity we always love to preach and teach and like, we’re trying to practice it ourselves. How do you niche down? Yeah, right. How do you niche down? So the thing is, like, with this automation opportunities that we’re talking about today, it’s a great way to help and like, stay in your lane, stay in your niche. And sort of thing is when somebody lands on your website, what solution do you provide? You know, we always love that line. How do you out teach the competition, right? So as you’re an educator, they have a problem that needs to be solved, they have a product that needs to be purchased. They land on your website. You have this wonderful information. You’re raising your hand saying, hey, you know, I’m the person that can help you with this. And now, as Damon is saying, like, Okay, now there’s a point of contact of like, Hey, I’m going to submit a form, I’m going to submit a drawing, I’m going to submit an inquiry, or, if you’re on E commerce, I’m buying this product, right?

Damon Pistulka  08:18

Yep, yep. And I just thought of something, and we’ve helped the client do this before. You know, creating a, creating a buyer’s guide that really is a comprehensive thing to help, you know, answer questions about their products or something like that. So just think if you, if you had a customer that sent you a quote request for or it could be even from a quote builder on your on your site, what if that buyer’s guide was something that went back to them and said, Hey, we just want to make sure we’re working on this. We’re going to get back to you, but here’s some information that might help you, you know, make a better decision. You know, these kind of things that we can do in that lead nurturing process can show them more and help them educate themselves to make a more informed decisions to see if we are the right solution or not, because we don’t want to sell somebody something that we’re not the right solution for. We just want to make them really, really easy if we are the right solution, to make that informed decision right.

Curt Anderson  09:13

So providing either information a video, like you said, a buyer’s guide, and how about you know, hey, let’s take this conversation to the next step. Here’s my schedule link and call that conversation and Timothy. Timothy says, intelligent, automated outreach. I spent five years in South Africa streamlining this, building a SAS platform called DPS. Man. He does love it. So Timothy, thank you, dude. So again, guys, connect with Timothy on LinkedIn. Do us a favor. Connect with Margo on LinkedIn. They are power. They’re both powerhouses, doing amazing work. So alright, Damon, so we’re talking about the schedule. We’re talking about like engaging, contact out, teaching the competition, providing informational, helpful information, what’s next? What’s another automation tool that manufacturers should be taking advantage? Of in that lead nurturing process?

Damon Pistulka  10:02

Well, I think one of the other ways that you know how your automation can simplify into lead nurturing is is through an automated newsletter. Not that it’s a it’s an automated the the topics and the data in the newsletter not automated, but something that keeps them on a regular cadence of a newsletter. And you’re producing a newsletter and keep that that’s all automated. It goes out on that. And when you look at that on a newsletter on an ongoing basis, there’s some simple automations you can do. That says, Damon opened our newsletter every single time for the last six months, and he clicked on three links. Well, is Damon interested in our stuff? Is that really something? Let’s, let’s ask Damon. And your automations now can sense that. They can say, How many times did Damon open it? How many times did he click on links? And we can say, after anyone over the last six months, clicks on more links, you know, this many links. Let’s send them a questionnaire. Let’s ask them what they like about what we’re doing, what they have questions about. You know, to continue that lead nurturing and that education, to really do that, there’s just so many simple things you can do that really help you get more in touch with what your what your potential customers are looking for, right?

Curt Anderson  11:16

Love it. Okay, so we’re talking scheduling. We’re talking setting up some like, thoughtful, intentional, strategic responses, yeah, one from the inquires on your website. You’re talking about email, you know. So like, like, for us, we try to have our emails out six months in advance, like we’re working right now on what the next six months are going to look like. And it’s just such a relief when you we can have that all scheduled out ahead of time, automated. Let’s hit the last one. Let’s talk about social scheduling. How about a little bit about social scheduling? And you know what? Before we talk, dive in there, Timothy. Just, you know, we love geeking out on this. Timothy talks about the customer buying journey. And so we caught the we call our ideal buyer soulmates. Who’s your ideal buyer? Who’s that soulmate? We call it the soulmate Success Path, just like our little fun way of just saying that buyer journey. But talk about that a little bit. Damon on, you know, those different points of contact that you could be delivering automation for along that way of that buyer’s journey?

Damon Pistulka  12:15

Yeah, you really begin to understand the the better. You know, the stages of buyers go through before they would actually make the yes or no decision purchase your product. The better you can streamline this. I’ve known this person for X amount of time, and we’ve got these indications that they’re at this stage, so we should be providing that kind of information. And when you go, Okay, it’s been a little bit longer now, they’ve educated themselves. We can do that. We can keep working to go through the funnel, right? Because you can talk way at the top, down the bottom, you’re talking about these are specific products that might be helpful for you, and get them through that over time in your it could be something as simple as in your newsletter. Flow. You start people out at the same point in the newsletter and move them through a series to get them to the end. Or it could be that there’s a a separate funnel that they work through, a pipeline, a process that they go through that really does educate them all the way down to the buying decision. Exactly. So

Curt Anderson  13:14

like we have clients in a food sector, you know that they’re trying to target the B2B buyer, and you know it’s a long process. Like, you’re not always looking to make a decision. Right this second, they’re making a more proactive so, like, we’re working with one particular company in the beverage industry, and like, trying to create a nurture, a lead flow nurture. So when you know, some grocery chain or one of their soulmates reaches out to them, how can we have, like, that steady sequence to engage with that client? We also have another client that sells, you know, massive tanks. They’re like, quarter million, half a million dollar tanks. And that’s a long engineering it’s a buying, a buying by committee. There’s a lot of different folks that have their fingers in the pot to make those big decisions. And so again, like, we’re working with this company, like, what are the touch points of that decision? So. Timothy, thank you. That is absolutely brilliant. Think about that buyer journey. Any other thoughts there?

Damon Pistulka  14:05

Damon, no, it is really to understand your buyer’s journey. And how do you help people work through those phases with good educational content, ultimately, to make a decision on whether or not they want to work with you. Right?

Curt Anderson  14:18

Exactly. And you know, I know I’m being kind of Captain Obvious, but you know, you can have engineering information, different product information, yeah, studies, success stories, testimonials, you know? So all sorts of things like, hey, there’s another client, and you’re similar in your similar situation, and this is what they did, you know? So there’s just a lot of ways to keep in touch, just, and it’s just, these are just thoughtful, intentional touches, not being spammy, not being annoying, just like dedicating yourself. Kind of is that that servant leader of like, Man, I really want you to win with this purchase and this process. And how can I help you? Yet you’re making your life easier by having that automated process? Yes,

Damon Pistulka  14:57

and that that really does with those type. Relationships, where you you can help them educate them through the process. And even in the beginning, you might have those relevant applications or testimonials or those kind of things, and getting those into your automation is as early as or not into your automations as early as possible, you could even somewhat segment your customers down by the type of company they are, and then deliver them specific pieces of content based on that, yeah, you

Curt Anderson  15:28

know. And again, Timothy’s hitting him right on the head here. You know, it’s a long term relationship, and the more that you can be thoughtful, intentional. And where they say, you know, it’s like your customer wants to know that you care, that they can trust you and that you know what you’re talking about. And with this strategy, you can accomplish all three of those. Dana, let’s take her home. We’re starting to sneak over time social scheduling, you know. So for our friends out there, maybe they’re new to social they should really be thinking about, what are they posting on LinkedIn? Are they on other platforms? How could they be taken advantage of, you know, some of these automation tools and strategies here.

Damon Pistulka  16:03

Yeah, the automation for for social scheduling, is huge because, you know, the the minute that you go on to a certain platform, we’re on LinkedIn, we’re on x, we’re on other ones right now, the minute I go on there and I post, post something on there, how can I reuse that? How can I repurpose it? How can I, you know, you lose it if you don’t have it someplace else. And that’s what I think the big thing with a social scheduler is, if you’re consistently generating content and sharing on social, a social scheduler has a huge, huge potential, because I build up this database, right database of content, we see what resonates, what doesn’t resonate, and then we can repurpose that content either again on the same channel later, could be months down the road, could be across multiple channels. I mean, in our in our social scheduling, we can hit five, six channels with a single piece of content, like by click, click, click, click, boom. Schedule. Go I’m scheduled separate times every you know, platform, all that kind of stuff, and that kind of automation for Lean nurturing allows you to amplify your your reach

Curt Anderson  17:11

Absolutely. So, you know, I I’m not nearly. I’m a fraction of what you do. But I have a post that I enjoyed putting out, have fun engagement, and I think I’m scheduled all the way through August, and it’s just such a relief that, you know, in one setting, I can kind of knock it down, get it all scheduled, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And then I’m done. And so now it just every I put out a post every Friday on the schedule, and it just goes out, and it’s just nice and easy, and it’s a piece of cake. Damon, take us home. We’re here on this wonderful, amazing, beautiful day. We’re talking about automation strategies for manufacturers. What are your parting thoughts and words of wisdom that you want

Damon Pistulka  17:48

to leave us with? The tools are simple. Start with basics and work your way up, because don’t go for the fancy, you know, gazillion lines of whatever you’re doing, start the the simple things, because that simple thing will teach you something that allows you to do the one that’s a little more complex, and you’ll get a long, long ways by taking those simple steps. First,

Curt Anderson  18:12

keep it super simple. Hey, we’re going to give a last word to Timothy and automating. We can spend time on everything else for the customers. You can spend time with your family, your family, your dog, your loved ones, whoever else they drop the mic, my friend, yeah. Timothy, I’m glad you’re here today. Margo, glad you were here everybody else today. Thank you for joining us. For folks that didn’t comment, man, we appreciate you. Damon, what do you got like? What? What’s any inspiring words for us as we close out,

Damon Pistulka  18:40

I just go out and try it. Just go do it, dude. Yeah, go

Curt Anderson  18:44

out and do it. So all right, guys, we’re going to close out my dear friend Damon Pistulka. My name is Curt Anderson. If you have any questions, reach you can find Damon. He’s on LinkedIn, just a little bit so you can find him on LinkedIn. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn. Get marketing automation strategies for manufacturers. And hey, we’re back here, man, we got a great guest on Friday. Man, it’s a we got,

Speaker 1  19:05

I’m not going to give it, you know, no, but it’s gonna be great. It’s

Curt Anderson  19:09

gonna be great. So alright, we’ll see you guys Friday. Have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Thank you crushing it, and we will see you soon. You.