The Kula Ring

A podcast for manufacturing marketers

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Digital Transformation Episodes

Episode 138

How a Manufacturing Marketer Leverages HubSpot to Unite Teams

Featuring Yazz Krdzalic, VP of Marketing at Trenton Systems

Posted on June 22, 2021

How can manufacturing marketers apply inbound methodology to the point where multiple departments rely on it? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Yazz Krdzalic, VP of Marketing at Trenton Systems, who is a self-described Hubspot fanatic, talks about how HubSpot has helped align the marketing, sales, and service teams at his organization to grow their customer pipeline, and serve customers better.

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Episode 134

How a B2B Manufacturer Successfully Sells on Amazon

Featuring Melissa Monteith, former Channel Marketing Leader, Retail Channel Lead for Fluke Corporation.

Posted on May 25, 2021

Should B2B manufacturers sell on Amazon, or do the challenges of maintaining control over branding and pricing outweigh the benefits? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Melissa Monteith, the former Channel Marketing Leader, Retail Channel Lead for Fluke Corporation, shares how the company successfully sells on Amazon. She talks about leveraging product content and integrating it with the Amazon experience and shares advice for maintaining brand control and meeting other common challenges that arise when hosting a B2B channel on Amazon.

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Episode 132

Building a Better B2B Marketing Strategy with New Technology

Featuring Dan Ricklefs, Vice President of Marketing at Precision Pulley & Idler (PPI).

Posted on May 10, 2021

For many manufacturers, the drive to build out their organization internally has been strong for the last five or more years in response to a rapidly-changing marketing and sales landscape. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Dan Ricklefs, Vice President of Marketing at Precision Pulley & Idler (PPI), talks about how the organization is expanding its marketing infrastructure after a series of successful acquisitions. He discusses his playbook for creating marketing strategies, how the company is evolving its marketing tech stack, and the significance of adopting marketing technology as a tool for knowledge transfer to address upcoming retirements.

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Episode 129

Optimizing Marketing Initiatives to Get Closer to the Customer

Featuring Mike Kazmierczak, Vice President of Marketing, Digital Energy & Buildings End Market at Schneider Electric.

Posted on April 6, 2021

How can manufacturers use customer trends to inform their marketing decisions during critical changes in the marketplace? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Mike Kazmierczak, Vice President of Marketing, Digital Energy & Buildings End Market at Schneider Electric, shares how he’s using data and voice of the customer to optimize new marketing initiatives. Additionally, he discusses how Schneider Electric is changing roles across the company to cater to customer types and personas and how this structure impacts the marketing content they produce.

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Episode 128

How a Manufacturer Adapted Relationship Selling for Virtual Environments

Featuring Ryan Carley, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Mason Controls.

Posted on March 30, 2021

As trade shows and conferences continue in virtual forms for the foreseeable future, manufacturers must identify ways to optimize relationship selling. In this week’s episode of The Kula Ring, Ryan Carley, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Mason Controls, talks about how relationship selling has changed for his team during the pandemic, how they are adapting the sales process with new remote tactics, and where he thinks relationship selling is going as virtual connections continue to be the norm.

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Episode 126

How Distributors Can Support Manufacturers’ Digital Growth

Featuring Sean Donovan, Digital Channel Manager for the Americas at MSA – The Safety Company.

Posted on March 16, 2021

As manufacturers adapt to a digital-first product experience, how can industrial distribution channels evolve to add value to the chain? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Sean Donovan, Digital Channel Manager for the Americas at MSA – The Safety Company, says most manufacturers are interested in investing in distribution channels that want to grow their brand versus commoditize their products. He shares examples of how distribution channels can help manufacturing brands come to life and provide value beyond the spec sheet.

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Episode 125

How an ERP Rollout Can Benefit From a Marketing Lens

Featuring Sam Gupta, Principal Consultant at ElevatIQ.

Posted on March 9, 2021

During an ERP rollout, manufacturing marketers in small and medium- sized enterprises often find themselves on the outside looking in. Sam Gupta, Principal Consultant at ElevatIQ, says marketers should be integrated into ERP initiatives because of their unique ability to identify new products and new markets. In this week’s episode of The Kula Ring, Sam talks about what marketers bring to the table that service personnel might miss, and how providing all team members with access to real-time ERP data can improve customer experience.

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Episode 124

Using Video Prospecting to Sell to Engineers

Featuring Brian Wellhouse, Supplier Marketing Manager for Sensor Products at TTI.

Posted on March 2, 2021

Manufacturers who offer a broad range of solutions rely on face-to-face conversations with prospects in order to find the best fit, but the pandemic has reshaped the sales relationship into a virtual experience. In this week’s episode of The Kula Ring, Brian Wellhouse, Supplier Marketing Manager for Sensor Products at TTI, talks about how virtual prospecting drives the conversation to be more action-oriented sooner. He talks about how his company conducts virtual prospecting with engineering teams, how they use LinkedIn to find new prospects, and what kind of marketing materials they develop to find engineers on LinkedIn.

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Episode 122

How a Manufacturer Made Video Its Biggest Marketing Tool

Featuring Allison Wagner, Marketing Communications Manager at Morrison Container Handling Solutions.

Posted on February 16, 2021

Video marketing is not new, but many B2B manufacturers are still searching for a strategy. In this episode of The Kula Ring, Allison Wagner, Marketing Communications Manager at Morrison Container Handling Solutions, shares how she helped make video the company’s biggest marketing tool. She talks about the resourcing effort, why video is important for manufacturers to invest in, and how Morrison leverages video content to help prospects envision how to use their solution.

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Episode 113

Manufacturing a Self-Service Platform for Customers of All Sizes

Featuring Melanie Virreira, Director, Global Commercial Enablement at Ball Corporation

Posted on December 8, 2020

How can manufacturers better serve customers of various sizes? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Melanie Virreira, Director of Global Commercial Enablement at Ball Corporation, talks about how her team created a digital self-service portal for multiple customer segments. She shares lessons learned from mapping customer journeys on the self-service portal, and how her team integrated the portal with sales.

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About Kula

Kula Partners is an agency committed to helping leading B2B manufacturers craft digital experiences that transform how they engage buyers, serve customers, and outpace their competition online. We are headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and work primarily with North American-based manufacturing clients marketing within complex B2B selling environments.

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