Manufacturing eCommerce Success at the Industrial Marketing Summit 2024

Curt Anderson  00:00

As a music Hey, hey Damon, what’s up? Dude? How are you?

Damon Pistulka  00:03

I’m great. Curt. I’m just excited that we’re going live today from

Curt Anderson  00:07

you know, I’m not in my basement today. Did you notice anything different about the background? Is it look a little bit different? Yeah,

Damon Pistulka  00:12

a little different.

Curt Anderson  00:13

And then you’ve got young Daymond by me. I got beside you got the young version of Daymond I bought. I got roadshow. Daymond so since your Seattle dude, I read the industrial marketing Summit. And we’re hanging out down in Austin, Texas, Eddie Saunders, Jr. What’s

Eddie Saunders Jr  00:32

up, brother? Man, it’s a great day to have a great day. Much better weather in here. And then. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  00:36

just like sunshine, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. So we’re gonna, there’s a ton going on here. There’s like, that’s all industrial rockstars here. So let’s start with the host of the party. Hey, Joe Sullivan. How about eight? Wendy. Why don’t you let’s let’s get these guys over here. So we got Joe Sullivan. All right. 76. Man, during the party. So we got Damon we’ve got Wendy Covey from true. Hey, hey,

Wendy Covey  01:03

what’s up, everybody? All right,

Curt Anderson  01:06

Joe, what’s going on? How like talk to like industrial marketing. Like who pulled this thing off? Yeah, it

Joe Sullivan  01:11

was my mostly when? No, this is a this is a this is an awesome group effort. I mean, it was like, me and Adam. And Adam were like walking back from the event at content marketing last year. And like, that was really good. But it was like two hours of content total. And we could do this on our own. And let’s talk to Wendy. And then like, the three of us started chat, and we just we ran with it. You know, a little over a year, I guess since then. But But yeah, it’s been amazing. So far. It’s just so many faces that we all recognize. And people we know, we’ve met digitally, but like, never been in a room with before. And that’s been my experience with it. So it’s been been really cool. Right?

Curt Anderson  01:49

So So Joe Sullivan. Gorilla 76. Wendy, I know in your background, you threw a party or two, like once or twice in your previous life, right?

Wendy Covey  01:57

Well, I used to play in 70 trade shows a year and 7070 trade shows a year and I had a conference for 5000. So we have growth available to us here. Right handle this. We got this right. So I told these guys. Let’s have this. Austin. Austin is so cool. Everybody loves to be here. The weather is going to be amazing. I just called it and it happened today.

Curt Anderson  02:22

Yeah, we got a home game. It’s a home game here for Wendy Covey. So when he just expectations I know like so we got together in Cleveland and had a wonderful show. Just give everybody low insight like how are you guys? And um, you know, you’re going to dig into this to talk a little bit like, how did you guys separate this? And just like you ran with your running herd going solo on this talk to us about how you guys launch this? Yeah,

Wendy Covey  02:42

so you’re looking at a collaboration between our three companies. We all pulled in a couple of key staffers and have this core event committee to put it together. And one of the first things we did after choosing a location is say, what are the burning topics that people want to hear about? Who should be the speakers? What should we talk about? Let’s cover a lot of ground. But what specific two industrial marketers do I need to focus on this week? Right? Well, man and Damon.

Curt Anderson  03:05

speakers have been just absolutely phenomenal. Adam cadenas partsolutions Talk about talk to us about like how your progression you’ve been part industrial marketing summit for years. What’s this mean to you of like you guys taking this thing? So it’s,

Adam Beck  03:18

I mean, it’s huge. I mean, we’re trying to plant the flag that industrial marketing is its own thing. It’s a real discipline. It’s it’s unique and that everyone hears behind it. It’s really exciting seeing everybody like, you know, they all identifies this, and we’re and we’re ready to go.

Curt Anderson  03:32

Well, I absolutely love It’s been phenomenal. Last thing I want to ask you talking to your team just gave a great presentation. So again, gorilla 76. They just showed a great case study. Talk a little bit about how your team just as you know, you talked this morning, how’d you get out of everything today? Yeah,

Joe Sullivan  03:46

no, I didn’t have to do the hard work. I recruited my team to go. Yeah, so grace, right, our strategy director and inverse and new strategies that came up here and essentially took the took the audience through what they did, in the first 90 days working with a new client to essentially grow leads by 170 595%, or whatever it was, I just kind of gave the playbook. So it’s very, very tactical. It’s not something that I like, if you’re brand new to marketing probably was a little tough to grasp. For others. It was what you needed to kind of help get to the next level and how to get started. But yeah, it was

Curt Anderson  04:22

a very powerful session. tons of questions. People were just enamored of what these guys just told great work. Kudos to you guys. What you’re doing and grill of 76 your team at true have been all over the place. I know Morgan speaking I think next right. You did your research project this morning, right? Our research

Wendy Covey  04:37

launched today. It’s the 2024 stata marketing to engineers. And new this year we asked about AI so that’s some pretty fun stuff. So you can go download it on our website or global specs. Well,

Curt Anderson  04:50

congratulations. And I tell you like AI is like a hot topic here man like I’ve been learning a whole different level here for AI so guys can gratulations thank you for hosting a party can’t wait to see where this thing goes for year in, year out. So thank you for all that you’re doing. So, all right, let’s, let’s grab Nikki let’s get Nick in here. How about leuke? Thanks, guys. You’re gonna get up here Sammy, you’re gonna get over here. Nikki. Alright, so we got Eddie Saunders, dude, I, my heart. I don’t know if my heart can take this. So yeah, you’ve got most of the churches in the house. So let’s start here. So Sammy, how excited are you about this program? I know you guys are speaking like, what my 10 hours. There was a closer though. closers? closers. Alright, so

Nikki Gonzales  05:41

what are you guys talking about today? We’re talking about the power of personal branding a little bit later today. So I think maybe if any of you know any of us, you know why maybe that’s what we’ve been talking about. But I’m not a marketer. But I’m learning a ton of stuff here to help that I can hopefully pass on to a lot of my distributor partners, some of our customers that sort of thing. So I’m just have been absorbing all day, the content has been amazing. What’s been like a highlight, I would say probably the AI session, because we’ve all been playing around and using tools. And there were, you know, a couple things in there that I think I can really put to use right away to be more efficient with my use of, you know, chat, TPT, and things like that. And how to, I mean, it’s hard to navigate. I don’t like aI content, but I do like be more efficient. So figuring out how people are really putting it to use without trying to have it do the work for them. I thought that was session was probably really valuable for me. Well, and a

Curt Anderson  06:34

gentleman this morning said an SEO expert out of Boston said his team, they’ve determined is 30% more efficient by using AI compared to not use an AI so it’s just absolutely incredible. Here’s your pitcher. Let’s get over. Once you get a photo sneak up here. Let’s talk about you went live last night talking about the industrial marketing summits you Where were you guys talking about last night? Yeah.

Chris Luecke  07:01

So last night was really kind of a preview to the industrial marketing Summit, we did a live podcast over at Cedar door, we had the official kickoff party here. And it was a look at what is going to be big in marketing in 2024. What are you excited about? What can people what are opportunities people can take more advantage of in 2024? But also, where do you think marketing is going to go in two to three years as well. So we had folks looking inside the crystal ball to tell us their thoughts on what might be next or more importantly, what to focus on now. So you’re still relevant two or three years down the line? Right.

Curt Anderson  07:40

And we we had a wonderful session with Chris last week. So talk a little bit you guys are talking about an hour What’s What are you talking about at the session? Yeah,

Chris Luecke  07:47

so the session, Nikki said it’s going to be very focused on personal brands. I’m really excited about it, because it’s a mix of how can personal brands and company brands better synergize? And that’s a two way street, right? So you know, what can folks that maybe have an established personal brand today do better to collaborate with their companies? And what can companies do to elevate the voices of the people within their organizations? We have heard a lot about humanizing your brand here at today’s event. I think we’re really going to continue and add some additional insight to those conversations during the panel discussion, because we actually have We have a fantastic group. We’ve got Nikki, we’ve got Eddie, we’ve got Jordan Yates, she’ll be up there with us as well. It’s gonna be very strong. My only concern is that we’ve only got 45 minutes and we’ll probably probably have a much longer period of time that we could talk on these topics, which is why it’s great that the closing event is afterwards where we can basically have a three hour long q&a Over there you go tonight in manufacturing Happy Hour fashion,

Damon Pistulka  08:45

right? Yeah. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  08:47

Who wouldn’t? Go ahead, Damon?

Damon Pistulka  08:49

Well, I’ve got to say Chris, your accommodations while you’re there in Austin, I sure did enjoy those. That looks like a great place to be working from. So for

Chris Luecke  08:58

context for anyone that’s watching the stream right now I’m staying inside a converted Spartan trailer from this Yeah, that has been turned into a title cool. And it’s the second time I’ve stayed at this Airbnb. I stayed there like a year and like two and a half years ago, when I knew I was coming back here. I’m like, I wonder wonder where I’m going to stay surely you can say the conference hotel and things like that. But I looked it up. And I’m like, it was available on those dates. And it just happened to be right down the street from where this event is taking place. So I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to go back to what is assuredly my favorite Airbnb in the whole world. That’s awesome.

Curt Anderson  09:33

And that’s a statement from a guy who how many countries did you tell me the other day 3035 He’s been to 35 countries avid traveler. So Chris, thank you for everything you’re doing just being a huge advocate for American manufacturing, come out and do it. Let’s do

Chris Luecke  09:45

And thank you for like creating this extra live element to the event. Right? If it weren’t for Kurt setting up his microphone right by stage very, you know, some of this wouldn’t be broadcasted to the rest of the world right now. So thank you Curt for doing this absolutely.

Curt Anderson  10:01

And you know, of course demon, like I have like my little cameras about where I got this big guy just comes up like this, you know, $10,000 camera next to me and I was like everyone’s gonna show me up. The guy sitting in the back has like this massive hair bun. And like he’s walking around like, you know, like, make me feel bad about myself. I’m just kidding. Come up here in a bit. Yeah. Let’s scoot up here, Eddie this time? What are you gonna be talking about here? Like you’re talking in an hour? What are you talking about your session with Nikki and Chris and Jordan,

Eddie Saunders Jr  10:29

for sure. Honestly, I think there is a low key playbook and how you can humanize your brand and leverage it because Chris is right. There’s a lot of conversations where it’s viewed on really two sides of the coin. So I think that we can provide what everyone else is providing in our own form. And that’s just perspective in all reality, and that and kind of reverse engineering, how do you do this effectively and avoid some of the mistakes that quite frankly, we’ve made and even continue to make? So above all things, perspective, perspective.

Curt Anderson  10:56

Alright, guys, hey, Samie, let’s get you in here. I was in Mary’s up there going next, right. Can you see Mary? She’s like, she’s right over there. Like she’s, like in a few minutes here. So like, totally mess it up? Yeah, like four minutes to go here. So see me, what’s the highlight for you for the program?

Sami Birch  11:14

Yeah, I, I agree with everything that Nikki and Chris said. But I also from my perspective, the thing that really resonated with me is, even though we’re talking about all these AI tools and ways to be more efficient, the like resonating messages, you need to talk to your customer, and you need to find out what your goal is. And then you can use these tools to be more efficient, but it’s not going to help you if you’re not really understanding exactly what your customer wants. And so even I listened to one about the customer experience journey with the guy from Rockwell that was amazing to think through like this entire ecosystem you can create and all these different touch points on the buyers journey. And then also MJ SMIS Product Marketing one. Her number one, like first case tactic is like go talk to your customers. That’s where you have to start every time and so you’re gonna have all these tools, but really, you need to find out what you’re actually like aiming for before you get started. Awesome.

Curt Anderson  12:07

Yeah. Hey, we had a great lunch. Did we have a good lunch today? Man, we had a fun lunch. So thank you guys. Thank you can’t wait for your session. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, let’s get you guys up here. So we hate team and you sit down for this one. Dude. Are you ready? You know who’s here? Whitney Houston is here. There

Damon Pistulka  12:22

we go. And Mr. Miss you.

Curt Anderson  12:25

Do you believe like I’m next to Whitney Houston, man, man. And what’s our what’s our song? I will always love you. That’s right. So we got Whitney Houston in the house. So Whitney highlights for the program. What do you wouldn’t take aways? Well, I

Whitney Koch  12:39

think I really start with the keynote. And just everything that Adam, Wendy and Joe brought up, really set the tone for the rest of the sessions. And I think, as Sammy was talking about, just knowing that you really need to understand your customer. Yeah. And then like in Windows session, breaking that down with the research that they’ve done into the industrial buyer, and then pairing that with the AI session and how that frees you up to spend more time with your customer. There’s just so many great nuggets and all that really working together. So that way, we can just do a better job having those conversations with our customers.

Curt Anderson  13:18

That’s right. How about we got to give a shout out to Laurie high V for goodness gracious, right? So hey, big B. Hi. Hi, Laurie. Hi. Via Keystone click up in Milwaukee. So when he’s hanging out here to your friends, so it’s great just bringing these clips in person. Now speaking of in person, I love this handsome devil right here. He’s hanging out with his son, man. It’s just so cool. It’s on Samos, here it is. So Greg, Miss you is in like a group hug. So Greg, takeaways from the program today? What do you what, what do you think?

Greg Mischio  13:49

You know, I’m gonna echo everything Sami said. And Whitney said that we’re hearing over and over again. And it’s actually pretty refreshing because there’s all this talk about AI. But everybody said and like Chris Hogan said this from Jasper early on. He’s like, I’d rather have marketers talk to three different instead of learning three different AI tools to talk to three different customers. And it’s like been the consistent theme. And then we went the MJ Smith thing and she talked about when she started her career and how she built her career. She started by just going and talking to eight different customers and build everything off of that. So I bought everybody has said that is the role of the marketer. And so it’s and I think it’s also I mean just like coming here meeting you Kurt in person, Whitney make meeting you. When you start to meet all these amazing marketers in person, you start to hear their stories and what they’re doing and then you’re gonna apply that and learn that and apply that to your own situation. And and there’s a lot of A Kismet happening here where you’re just meeting people the first time Yeah, and people you’ve never met before and you’re getting insights you never thought about and it only happens by coincidence or by chance where you come into something like this. So, Damon next year,

Curt Anderson  15:16

you’re gonna be here. That’s right, David. All right, slacker. Come hang out with us.

Eddie Saunders Jr  15:21

I know why this is absolutely wonderful

Curt Anderson  15:25

privilege meeting you in person wonderful meeting you in person is intended as a great program. How about I’ve got two friends over here. I’m going to grab thanks.

Damon Pistulka  15:35

So yeah, have a great rest

Curt Anderson  15:36

of your cup here guys. Get up here. Get here

Trish Stuart  15:45

I just wanted to come say hi to Damon. Hi, Dave.

Curt Anderson  15:49

House here so Trish is good. She’s a she’s a repeat offender. She’s been on the program. She’s coming back in March, march. He’s coming back next month. So awesome. Sure a little bit what you do.

Trish Stuart  15:59

Oh, I’m not here to talk about me for what I want to say is I’m here because of you guys. I learned about this because you guys always share the best resources. The best thing right here so you keep going these two guys. They know everything. So thank you. Thank

Curt Anderson  16:17

you can’t wait to have that. Hey, we’ve got my BFF here we got my bestie we got Jacqueline in the house from IMS Illinois MEP. MEP is represented here, Damon So alright, Jacqueline takeaways for today.

Jaclyn Kolodziej  16:30

Oh my god, too many takeaways from today. The sessions have all been incredible. I feel rejuvenated, I feel connected. I feel really equipped to be able to go back to our Illinois manufacturers with a ton of nuggets and a ton of advice on their growth and marketing strategies. So I’m amped, I’m ready to go.

Curt Anderson  16:51

She’s pumped. So yeah, so we’re getting we’re hanging out. Her other half is Scott Anderson. So i i Come cousin Scott. So we’re hanging out with Scott and Jacqueline here. So she just do an amazing job. What’s the biggest takeaway from today? I mean, the session has been phenomenal. What would you say is your biggest? Oh,

Jaclyn Kolodziej  17:10

man, biggest takeaway? Do something and do something like now don’t wait to start a marketing initiative. Like you got to get the ball rolling and continue to figure it out from there.

Curt Anderson  17:25

It’s just started. It’s just get started. It’s been fantastic. So we’re gonna start winding down. Yep. Hey, excuse me. Hey, Mary. Mary, you got one second? She’s like, you’re like you’re like? Like, just like, right? Yeah. So you were with the company for like, how many years? Which one? Oh, you came in? Like how

17:51

many years? Yes, I was. To exact

Curt Anderson  17:53

weeks. Two weeks? Yeah, she was. She was at her company for two weeks. Yes. Presenting in like 10 minutes. Yeah, stage. So you can see the stage right here.

Nikki Gonzales  18:01

Talking about? I’m gonna be talking about sales and marketing alignment. Sales

Curt Anderson  18:05

are very important. Who needs that? Right? Every everybody?

Nikki Gonzales  18:12

Yeah, I’ll give you a little sneak peek. So Sneak Peek is marketing sales are misaligned for two reasons. Usually, it’s, first of all that marketing and sales operate in silos. And as a result of those silos, marketing is either measured on leads only, or activities only. And that’s where the misalignment occurs. All right, so we’re going to talk through that and how to solve it. Awesome. Um, yes, always, always.

Curt Anderson  18:37

Man, I thought all right, so I cheat man. She’s like, I’d be like, you know, I’d be a mess. But she’s doing great. So So Mary’s gonna be speaking here for minutes. Mary, thank you. For all what big takeaway from today like with all these sessions? Yeah.

Nikki Gonzales  18:49

Oh, my gosh, great sessions. I think the takeaway that I have loved from every session I’ve gone to is it like there’s tangible actionable takeaways, you know, like none. There is some high level thinking but it’s all like stuff. I can start applying tomorrow. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  19:02

yeah. I love that. Awesome. So thank you. Man. We’re gonna close it out. Close it out with no makeup drag the hair bun guy up here. We’re not he’s not painful. Hey, so I’ve got I got roadshow. Damon here. So I do it how you want to close it out for your session coming up in an hour, we’re going to talk about humanizing your brand. Take what

Eddie Saunders Jr  19:32

I tell you what, God we trust. Everybody else brings data. And I love industrial marketing. We’re talking real data because it exists. And we’re not just relying on yields and impressions. We’re talking real data. And I love the buzzwords I love all the flash. I love it. It’s me we’re talking about but data, man, it’s become a real factor. And that’s my big takeaway for today.

Curt Anderson  19:55

Damon dude, you gotta be here next time. So we’re gonna we’re gonna close it out. So with my ad Saunders Jr What’s your dad’s name again? So little private joke there. So Damon just we’re coming to you live from the industrial writing Summit, Austin, Texas. So just another great session just hanging out with just I’d say, Now seriousness, just the level of passion for US manufacturing the level of integrity of everybody here and just like just awesome good people, man. So it’s just it’s just a privilege and honor to be here. Just be a part of this and so we’re having a blast. I wish you were here brother.

Damon Pistulka  20:34

Have a great Have a great rest of the the summit there. So today, we were live for the industrial marketing summit in Austin, Texas. Curt Anderson on site with all the other friends of ours. There is awesome. Awesome. Thanks so much for doing it.

Curt Anderson  20:50

Great job Hang on, hang on one second. Out. So hey, guys, everybody God bless you have a great day. great rest of your week and in next year, man you got it. You got to come to industrial marketing summit because it is the all the cool kids. I don’t know why I’m here but all the cool kids out here. Yeah, I’m kind of standing out. It’s not good. Yeah. All right. Alright,