Andy Jensen of Sunstone Engineering joins the show this week to talk about a really interesting marketing case study. Sunstone marketed to almost exclusively engineers in verticals like aerospace and electronics. Then, a couple of years ago, an unheard-of order for small light-duty welders came through from one of their dealers, then another, and another. Overnight Sunstone was thrust into an emerging market. Production and marketing at Sunstone had to pivot and pivot fast. Andy walks us through the changes that have taken place at Sunstone and how they have managed this rapid, unexpected growth.

Herbert Staten Jr. joins The Kula Ring this week to talk about highlighting the beauty of the product you manufacture. Herbert discusses how he considers emotion and personal engagement when developing marketing strategies in industrial manufacturing. We also discuss the potential for vertical differentiation in social media platforms. This fantastic chat offers a refreshing approach to industrial B2B marketing.

In this episode, we sit down with Zak Nelson. Zak talks with us about ArKco Sales’ move to having an in-house marketing asset. ArKco saw that the landscape for manufacturing sales rep companies is changing. Zak is ArKco’s answer to this evolving situation. He walks us through the changes they have implemented and how their sales reps have taken to having new branding and collateral. This is a great episode to see how you can utilize new marketing strategies in any field.

Kimberly Day is on our show this week talking about how she moved Finish Thompson, a family-run company, from advertising in trade publications to more of a brand focus, a decision that has fostered growth and recognition in just seven months. Kimberly brings insights from a broad career in many marketing and communication verticals. Finish Thompson is a highly technical, engineering-focused brand that Kimberly is making accessible to all who may need to employ their pumps and services.

Neelam Kumar joins The Kula Ring to discuss the strength in value selling. Neelam is an advocate and evangelist of value selling and brings a wealth of knowledge to this week’s episode of The Kula Ring. We discuss the need for relationship building, both internally, between departments and externally, with our customers. We also look at asking the right questions, and discovering how to dig into what provides value to the customer or prospect.

John Patrin joins us to discuss innovation within your organization. For the last five years, John was the head of innovation at DuPont, where he oversaw continued innovation in a Fortune 100 company already known for innovating. We discuss the incremental product innovations that most companies pursue while also getting a glimpse at larger-scale innovations that can affect business models and service offerings.