A secure supply chain enables consumers to authenticate products at point of purchase, which adds value. Mark Manning, Founder & CEO of iTRACE Technologies, talks about creating a “digital twin” of a product in a blockchain ledger and using the iTRACE app to deter counterfeit production in a manufacturer’s own supply chain.

Should B2B manufacturers step into the already-crowded podcasting arena? Iris Weeden, Director of Marketing at MacroFab, says the MacroFab Engineering Podcast is the company’s content engine with the added bonus of generating leads and revenue. She shares how the podcast drives traffic and conversions to the website, how they’ve grown to 5,000 downloads per week, and how they choose topics for the podcast and blog.

More manufacturers are moving their business online than ever before and the pandemic has accelerated that timeline. Jeff and Carman present eight different ideas on how you can stand up an ecommerce platform relatively quickly without a large budget and use of resources.

Many manufacturers have not stopped working during the pandemic and they have continued to buy and sell from other manufacturers. So how does the sales team close a B2B sale without having the factory tour as a successful “club in the bag” when prospects are social distancing? Jeff and Carman discuss ways to harness technology and knowledgeable staff to make a virtual factory tour a personalized, meaningful experience for each prospect.

The inbound marketing sales funnel suggests there’s an unlimited amount of traffic and leads, but how does that strategy scale when you’re a manufacturer with a limited number of prospects? On The Kula Ring, Carman Pirie and Jeff W. White discuss why the funnel doesn’t work in a B2B context and how manufacturers can shift to a more human-centered approach that focuses on a small number of target accounts using a blend of campaign tactics including inbound and account-based marketing strategies.