The Kula Ring is back! This week we have the distinct pleasure of talking with Floyd Blaikie. Floyd is the Director of Strategy here at Kula Partners. She has been working on literally writing the playbook on Google Ads recently and we took this opportunity to sit down with her and pick her brain on the nuance of this ubiquitous medium. We cover some of the pitfalls that B2B Manufacturers face in a PPC system that is biased toward B2C with shorter sales cycles than most manufacturers are accustomed to. You are going to want a notebook for this one.

The Summer Spotlight Series is back. We are going to be taking a second look at a great chat with David A. Stark: Legacy manufacturers that previously dominated their verticals now have to contend with new entrants who know how to create focused messaging in digital spaces. In this episode of The Kula Ring, David A. Stark, Digital Marketing Transformation Growth Leader, talks about the value of shifting from a tactical to a strategic digital marketing strategy as competition increases, and how to bolster branding with a strong digital presence in order to reach prospects.

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

Sales and marketing alignment is huge, and historically, sales and marketing haven’t been best friends. Steven Nghe, Head of Marketing and Communications at Kloeckner Metals, discusses when Kloeckner Metals realized that sales and marketing had changed, and they needed to change with it. He discusses the digitalization of more multidimensional and complex marketing practices that need to be enhanced for sales and marketing to make selling manufacturing more efficient. He also discusses how he gained trust from VPs on marketing being a worthwhile investment by exposing what marketing really is.

Using asymmetric marketing can help you stay agile in a highly competitive market, says David Koerner, the VP of Global Marketing for 75F. He and his team have found success by applying an asymmetric lens to their marketing efforts to attract and convert their customers. David believes that marketers need to think outside the box—he talks about examples from Burger King, Five Guys, and Southwest Airlines, where they targeted their audiences in unconventional ways to stay ahead of the competition. Hear more from David Koerner on this episode of The Kula Ring.

This week on the Summer Spotlight Series we are digging into data and exploring technology to undercover insights in your organization. We are featuring Ryan Knox, Co-founder of Bridge Digital explores the use of digital tools to create efficiency in all areas of an organization from IT, Marketing, Sales, and more. He discusses the benefits of extracting data vs. using specific tools to help organizations get results that helps them do their job better and the importance of creating excitement for internal change when implementing new technologies. Give this one a listen, it was great the first time and it is great this time!