This week on The Kula Ring we are joined by Jay Suggs. Jay has spent a considerable amount of time investigating what makes an effective team. He was the head of Johnson Controls’ diversity and inclusion initiative, and he gives us a look at what it takes to create an inclusive work team where everyone feels supported and brings something unique to the table; assembling the Avengers as he calls it. We look at some high level aspects as well as diving deep into some of the more difficult parts of being a good leader of people.

Like many B2B manufacturers, ARCA sells to a small number of very specific niche markets. Targeting a small list of banks and credit unions who could benefit from ARCA’s cash automation and recycling solutions, their marketing team crafted highly personalized one-to-one account-based marketing campaigns and successfully generated awareness and opportunities within key accounts. Learn how ARCA successfully piloted ABM on this week’s episode of The Kula Ring podcast.

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.

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.