Dad Marketing: Why “2012 Facebook” Can Still Win in Family-Oriented ManufacturingDad Marketing: Why “2012 Facebook” Can Still Win in Family-Oriented Manufacturing

Dad Marketing: Why “2012 Facebook” Can Still Win in Family-Oriented Manufacturing Transcript:

Jeff White: Welcome to The Kula Ring, a podcast for manufacturing marketers brought to you by Kula Partners. My name is Jeff White, and joining me today is Carman Pirie. Carman, how are you doing, sir? 

Carman Pirie: Doing well. How are you making out? 

Jeff White: Doing all right. Thanks. 

Carman Pirie: Good to be chatting with you today. I’m excited for today’s show.

Jeff White: Yeah, this is an interesting one. I think we’ve talked about this notion of new marketers coming into old, longstanding companies and having to really get their feet under them, but not in this way. 

Carman Pirie: Yeah, and I don’t know, I, as a marketer who’s probably made a fair bit of money over the years talking about what’s new and what’s next.

I’m also reminded of the fact that you probably, when you think about what tools you can use to make the most money today as a brand, as an example of marketing, it’s probably emails right up there. It’s not always the things that are the sexiest thing that somebody’s thinking about as being the new thing that’s around the corner, that you’re, that’s maybe not where the returns are, maybe where the excitement is.

So I like today’s show and talking about tactics that’s been around a while and even. Thinking about, okay, but what benefits are we getting out of it as a result of how we’re conducting ourselves? I think it’s an interesting topic that applies across a lot of what some people think of as maybe being legacy tactics or obvious tactics these days.

Jeff White: So joining us today is Lizzy Anderson. Lizzy is, a Marketing Manager at Hoosier Crane. Welcome to The Kula Ring, Lizzy. 

Lizzy Anderson: Hi. Thank you, guys, for having me. 

Carman Pirie: Lizzy, you’re very welcome. Thank you for joining us. It’s lovely to have you on the show. Now, Hoosier Crane, it indicates a bit of your location, most likely, but let’s not assume anything. Tell us a bit about Hoosier Crane and then we’ll get on to maybe how you made it there. 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah. We are an overhead crane company in Indiana. So we do manufacturing, sales parts and service. So a one-stop shop for overhead cranes. 

Carman Pirie: And how did you end up there? How long have you been with Hoosier Crane?

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah. I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2022. And so this was my first job out of college, actually. And it was just through a mutual connection. She had done some video work for them, and they needed a marketing coordinator. I needed a job, so I definitely was not anticipating like overhead cranes. And I had a little experience in manufacturing, but not, definitely not like this. And it just turned out really love the company. I’ve learned a lot about cranes. 

Jeff White: Your tail isn’t that uncommon. Like people don’t necessarily see themselves at small family manufacturers, when they’re studying marketing or web design or whatever. And yet. The opportunities are there, and companies like this are really looking for fresh talent with people like you. 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah. It honestly ended up being like such a blessing. Definitely, when I was in school, I thought I would like, I think many people in marketing go to direct to consumer and manufacturing marketing definitely not as sexy. No disrespect to the manufacturing marketing podcast, but it is definitely not as cutting edge. Generally, being here, I have really had so many opportunities because it is a smaller company. I don’t think there are a lot of people as early in their career as I am, that are able to actually be managers and really take control of the department. So it has created just such a unique and, for me, very fulfilling job. 

Carman Pirie: I think that’s an important part that maybe sometimes gets overlooked in this workforce slash skills gap debate that we’ve talked about on the show a number of times, but the challenges that manufacturers have in attracting new and young talent, especially. Those that may sit outside of major metropolitan areas add an extra layer of a degree of difficulty in some ways, or like the desired metros of the US, or what have you. And I think when you start to peel back the layers of almost any manufacturer, you can find something to get interested in. But we may not haven’t always talked about the fact that, yeah, you can actually also jump in the deep end a lot faster. That, chances are, you’re going to get more responsibility sooner than you would if you were working for one of those other brands that you may have thought about when you were in university. So I think really cool point. Lizzy. 

Lizzy Anderson: Yes, I have received so much value out of doing this. The region that I’m in, although it is not generally very well known, we are actually a major manufacturing area. So it is very high in demand here that they need people to fill that gap. And really, like you’re hitting the manufacturer a lot of the time. And definitely in our case, that’s the situation. 

Jeff White: I don’t wanna spend too much time on this, but have you talked to any of your classmates? Have any of them also pursued careers in the manufacturing space? 

Lizzy Anderson: Honestly, no one that I was very close with while I was in college. Almost all of them landed in agencies or pivoted to doing PR.

Jeff White: Gotta watch out for the agencies. 

Carman Pirie: As an agency owner, we thank them for joining our The Dark Side as well. Lizzy I love the fact that this is your first gig out of a university because as somebody who graduated in 2022 or what have you. Social media certainly is not new. There’s nothing about it that is frankly so, how have you thought about the social media presence for Hoosier Crane and what have you tried to bring to it? Because I think when some people hear, oh, somebody fresh outta university is joining the firm, they think that, oh, we’re gonna have the coolest TikTok videos going. So I guess, how have you looked at the challenge and opportunity of social at Hoosier? 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah, I look at social media, I think a little bit differently than a lot of people because we are in a unique place in the marketplace. Because for us, our target demographic, the decision makers that we are working with are just, frankly, not people my age. They’re not on the cutting edge. If they’re on social media, they’re maybe on TikTok, more likely on reels or Facebook. Whatever is there now. And so I have found a lot of value, and also because we are a smaller department, it is frankly a little bit easier that I run our social media basically like it’s 2012, so we are posting updates about the company.

We are posting like. Here’s a charity that we just donated to, and we absolutely sprinkle in product and things like that. But I don’t put a large focus on it being extremely polished and like high tech and cutting edge, because that’s not a value that our customers really hold or look to in social media. And because we are a family-owned company, that is a core value that we work from. I wanna convey that through our social media, and that’s the easiest way, because if you’re looking at a brochure of overhead cranes, there’s nothing that speaks to us or why you would wanna book work with us versus the guy next door. But if that’s something that you value is connection with the community and family values, then I think we can really come through on our social media with Hey, we’re running it like it’s 2012. Here’s what we’re up to. 

Jeff White: When you came into it, and you were realizing that social was maybe a good channel for you at Hoosier. Was this the first way you thought about structuring your content strategy for it, or did you have other ideas, like what drove you to think this is the way we should go. Was it conversations with the, the executive there or just a hunch that this was the right path?

Lizzy Anderson: Kind of a mix. We have had a social media presence for a really long time. And so I had our existing base, and there was a little bit of a gap between the previous marketing coordinator and me, so there had been a lull. And when I first started, I definitely was guns a blazing. I’m like, great, we’re gonna be on TikTok. We’re gonna be, we are gonna be cutting edge. I’m gonna bring all my Gen Z social media knowledge, and we are gonna crush this. And then I started working on it, and I’m like, okay, these posts no one cares about. They’re, we’re not getting any impressions on them. People don’t like them, so what are they engaging with? And there were some things where I was voluntold that like, Hey, you need to post this. And a lot of that was more of the community building things that had to me gone against a lot of the strategies I’ve been taught about, you want your social media presence to be sleek and polished.

I’m like, okay, why are we posting this random donation with this, frankly like blurry cell phone photo? And this doesn’t make sense to me, but that’s what we are getting comments on. People are saying, this is so amazing. We love that you’re in the community. So I just was like, okay, let me listen to the people and then also add in, let’s shoot for not blurry photos anymore. Let’s clean up the graphics, clean up the captions, and keep what works, ditch what didn’t. And that really led to the strategy of, I jokingly always say it’s 2012 Facebook. 

Jeff White: You’ve also phrased it as dad marketing a bit too, but wouldn’t, if the photos looked like they were all shot on a potato, it fit a little better with dad marketing. 

Lizzy Anderson: That might work, but I don’t want it to seem like it’s coming from dads. Yeah, I wanna speak to dads. 

Jeff White: There you go. Okay. 

Lizzy Anderson: And you have to hit all those little subconscious things because yes, we’re family, we’re local, we’re home, homegrown. But also, we’re very professional, we’re detail-oriented. We have tons of equipment, literally. Like up in the air, it theoretically could fall. You want some, you also need to convey that we are professional detail-oriented. We have this under control, and we care about you. 

Carman Pirie: Yeah, it’s funny, I think sometimes as you think about this here, oh my, this is an easier strategy for a family-owned enterprise of a certain size and scale. I almost, I’m gonna challenge that. I think this could scale to a massive organization, they could still learn a lot from this approach and could still implement it. Because you can be the largest organization on the planet, but the people who are working there are still working in communities. They’re still volunteering at the local this or that, or money can be contributed to this. All that content that still exists, those relationships are still real, and there’s still value in highlighting them, I think. 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think that’s what it comes down to, for us, community is a core tenant of our business and if you have a larger company that aligns, then this probably would be a good strategy because what are you actually showing people that backs up that you are part of a community, you care about the place where you work and like beyond the job you’re working at, but like the place in the world where you are and the impact that you make. So I think it is in theory, very scalable. Maybe some should bring it to maybe 2016 Facebook instead of 2012, but we’re hitting our demographic. 

Carman Pirie: I wonder how you balance that on the HR side, because I’m assuming that part of the social strategy is about appealing to prospective employees as well. And just making sure you have that presence. But my guess, my gut tells me that probably a lot of the newer employees may be at least a little bit younger than the people that you’re selling to. Have you thought about that balance? 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah. I work hand in hand, actually, with our HR department on a lot of the recruiting side of things, and I do think that there’s a little bit of something for everyone. On the social media strategy, and again, it’s just about like I’m trying to convey that this is a place that you would like to work. And these are the type of people and the employees that we would like to have because it is, we, as much as I keep repeating myself, that community is a core tenet. But then why would we wanna hire an employee who doesn’t also buy in and believe in that? Then they’re not a good fit. And so I think putting that message out is also going to feed back in with recruiting, Hey, if you value this and this matters to you. Off my head, I do not know the actual study, but they have done a lot of studies about what Gen Z really values and cares about, they wanna work somewhere and make an impact that actually means something, and they care a lot more about the values of their workplace. So, although it may seem a little bit old-fashioned. It is also still speaking to that younger demographic because, these are the things we care about, and this is what we are trying to represent. 

Jeff White: Have you tried any different channels for things that are more HR focused, where you may be looking to recruit, people from Gen Z or millennials, over the over-40 set, who may be the folks that are buying or in a buying group for a crane?

Do you consider TikTok more when you’re trying to hire a, a 29-year-old engineer as opposed to someone who might be interested in purchasing a crane for their fleet of equipment? 

Lizzy Anderson: Yes. So a lot of our social strategy. I frankly don’t focus a ton on driving up sales. I think it’s more about the brand image because an overhead crane purchase is simply never going to be an impulse buy.

It is a large piece of equipment. Largely, they’re seeking us out when they want something. So it’s more about how do I get to be top of mind? So I don’t have a ton of differentiation between like demographics, and honestly. I do cross post almost everything on our platforms. And that is frankly part of just being me. And I have one part-time employee running the department. So when you’re covering it all, sometimes you have to take an easy win on socials and other platforms. So I try to hit a little bit with everyone. But yeah, frankly, I don’t have a ton of laser-in per platform. 

Carman Pirie: But the strategy that you articulated before, Jeff’s question, I think, covers that off in some ways too, because, you’re saying, look if an employee isn’t in some way attracted by the more community forward content that we’re putting out and things of that sort, then we don’t want them anyway, we want the people that are attracted to the type of thing and that approach. So I can see how you’re getting both birds with one stone, as it were. 

Lizzy Anderson: I’m trying my best to. It’s definitely been, with any marketing strategy, it’s always trial and error, right? If this doesn’t work. All right, let’s try something else. 

Carman Pirie: Do the employees play along with this social strategy as well? To what extent are we highlighting them? To what extent is Hoosier Crane employees the face of your social profiles? 

Lizzy Anderson: That is always a battle. People always think content is a great idea until they’re the ones who have to be in it. And so yes, I try to put our employees at the forefront as much as I can, but it’s also, I’m not trying to ruin anybody’s day by being like, Hey, I need 27 pictures of you right now.

But there’s a lot of stuff, especially on job sites. There’s no real way to stage photos for what I do. You have to be there. You can’t just, oh, let’s pretend to put up a 10-ton crane today. So often I will go out on site, and so then all of our service techs and our iron workers are in the field and hit or miss if they like it. But everyone likes it when I post, so I will take it 

Jeff White: as long as they’re following OSHA guidelines in the photo. 

Lizzy Anderson: Yes. There has never been a safer job site than the one I’m on that day. 

Carman Pirie: You joke, Jeff, but it is a concern. The last thing you wanna do is capture a minor violation or something like that, and a piece of social content.

Lizzy Anderson: All of our content runs through a few different levels of checking because we, of course, on our end, wanna make sure we’re always following all the safety stuff, but we would hate to put it out and then someone thinks poorly of us, but also we don’t wanna be advertising like, oh, this is the right way to do it, and then somebody mistakenly does the wrong thing.

Jeff White: Yeah, makes sense. Absolute right attitude. What metrics are you reporting on? Because it’s interesting, because on one end of the spectrum, we’re talking about what you are, what you’re doing from a content perspective, and it’s working great for, this fantastic old company.

On the other end of the spectrum, people are talking about, we measure every lead and every dollar into the pipeline, and where everything came from and all of that, where, how are you reporting back on the effectiveness or on the reach or what stats and metrics are you providing, if any?

Lizzy Anderson: Funny you should ask. This is in the last six months or so, it’s been a real battle that we are working on getting some actual metrics, just, I think this is common with many small companies where it’s a little bit vibe space that, yeah, that seemed like it worked. We got leads, and so I have been really working to try and, let’s tie in with what we actually are spending and what we’re getting from it.

It can be a little bit tough, and I’m sure it’s common for many other manufacturers as well, but when it’s not a straightforward sales pipeline, it can be really tough to track some of that, because with many of our products, you can’t just go on our website and just buy them. You have to work with our sales team, and you call or email. Tt just depends, and we have customers that we still have an outside sales team that physically goes and meets with customers. So it’s a little bit hard at times to track what we’re actually doing. So I’ve just found value in working very closely with our sales team to say, Hey, when I did this, did you get good feedback from that? Did that seem to work well? And then when we can get concrete numbers. Like through Google Ads or the things on our website that we have direct sales through, really look at those and value those numbers. 

Jeff White: That’s a nice, realistic perspective, I think that a lot of people could take a lesson from.

Carman Pirie: Yeah, that’s a fair point, Jeff. It’s easy to say everything should be measured, and then we’ll spend more on this stuff that performs better. And it’s yeah. Lot, a lot of organizations find that there’s a section of things that can be measured. Then there’s a subsection of that that can actually be measured somewhat accurately. And then, it keeps your, a lens of practicality needs to be introduced to the whole exercise, doesn’t it? 

Lizzy Anderson: Yeah. At least that, luckily I have a boss who agrees with that mentality of, let’s do what we can. But it’s also, I am very lucky that they have trust in me that I am, I’m tracking as much as I can and bringing a level of. I hate to say wisdom this early in my career, but knowledge about what I’m doing and why we’re doing it. 

Jeff White: I thought you said LIZdom there, and I thought, wow, you’ve branded this. That’s awesome. 

Lizzy Anderson: Maybe I should start that. I like that. 

Carman Pirie: Now look what you’ve done, Jeff. 

Jeff White: The old man, hearing sometimes, 

Lizzy Anderson: They’re gonna be sick of me in my next meeting when I come in and say, I have some LIZdom for everyone. 

Carman Pirie: Oh man. The whole dad marketing thing is coming full circle to the fact that Jeff’s the only dad in this conversation 

Lizzy Anderson: Marketing to the dads’ works. 

Carman Pirie: It certainly did. In this case. It got you a whole new brand for your knowledge management within the firm. My goodness. 

Lizzy Anderson: Perfect. 

Carman Pirie: Yeah. All right. Lizzy, I’m curious, outside of having a cool way of referring to the knowledge that you talk about, that you bring to meetings, I want to know what advice you would give to someone like you looking for their first gig coming out of school. Any tips, tricks that would maybe help them find an ideal situation, like you found a Hoosier.

Lizzy Anderson: I would say you have to be open-minded. Everything I’m hearing from people who are currently looking for marketing jobs is it can be tough, and maybe look in sectors that you hadn’t considered, and think more about being at a company that aligns with your lifestyle more than your interest, because you can learn anything.

I didn’t know anything about an overhead crane. Now I know a medium amount. But I’m able to use the skills that I have and apply them to that. And so it can be the same thing that maybe you’ve thought your whole life, I wanna market shoes. Maybe you wanna market the guy who makes the shoes and work in a factory. Or you can really pivot to find a niche with your interests, or just be open. Because the opportunities really are amazing with manufacturing and marketing, but I think it’s often just really overlooked. 

Jeff White: Man, I really like that. 

Carman Pirie: Think that was great advice. Thank you for coming on the show, Lizzy. It’s been lovely to have you.

Lizzy Anderson: Thank you so much for having me. This was fun. 

Jeff White: Yeah, thank you.