EP 115 - Industrial Manufacturing

05/11/20 • 41 min

1 Listener

The biggest challenge in industrial manufacturing is customer acquisition and retention. When it comes to marketing in the traditional world of Industrial manufacturing many companies see marketing as a cost center rather than an investment. This means marketing budgets are given low priority, especially during a recession when in reality marketing should be at the forefront of any strategy because it will set you apart from your competitors and keep your brand top of mind. In the long run, this ends up being more expensive, since companies need to start from ground zero when the market picks up. Only some companies are realising that marketing is the key to future success - especially when trying to get through a revenue plateau.

Christopher realised this was an issue and started helping more industrial companies with their marketing. His system focuses on creating momentum, producing value and building a community before launching a product or asking customers to buy. Consistency and the long play is what sets one marketing strategy apart from the rest, marketing should work hand in hand with sales to keep the leads flowing in. Sales should be encouraged to showcase their thought leadership online with the help of the marketing team and together the business will have a winning strategy.

Christopher is a big believer in social and uses social media such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn (3 hashtags!) as a platform to educate, entertain and build up a consistent brand image. As consumer behaviors keep shifting, more industrial companies will have no choice but to turn to more effective marketing in order to gain a competitive edge.

Christopher is also the leader in the profile rings you see on Linkedin, he gave back to the supply chain community by doing this for professionals for free to stand out, in a time of so much noise its efforts like these that will be the most rewarded

In this episode we discuss:

● [0.35] Industrial Manufacturing ● [4.46] Top challenges in the industry ● [11.59] Winning marketing strategy ● [16.35] How different platforms provide communication opportunities ● [23.00] The carbon footprint of manufacturing companies

Resources and links mentioned:

In this episode we discuss:

Resources and links mentioned:

Previous Episode

EP 114 - Women in Supply Chain, Anju Gupta

Anju is the product manager at Coupa Software, an all-in-one business spend management platform. In today’s Women in Supply Chain series, Anju tells us how she got into supply chain, the valuable lessons she learnt from failure and why it’s important to put a focus on diversity.

Anju moved from working in the corporate world at Oracle to a fast paced beauty startup. She was passionate about understanding the various pieces, solving business problems and growing both as a person and in her career. She says it’s important to be flexible, say yes to opportunities and be willing to take a leap into the unknown; this is what got her to where she is now.

Our world has never been so diverse and inclusive, and yet there is still a lot of work to do. Anju explains why it’s important to have role models to look up to, and that in order to move the needle of diversity we need to encourage more discussions, be aware of our biases and lead with empathy. Her advice to other women in supply chain: think about what you want out of your career and be willing to pursue your dream. Women are sometimes afraid to verbalize who they want to be - Anju urges them to take risks and not be afraid to change.

In this episode we discuss:

[0.38] Anju’s journey
[7.32] The importance of being courageous
[11.50] Valuable lessons from failure
[19.33] How to move the needle of diversity
[22.23] Advice to other women in supply chain

Sponsored by: COUPA and GWPP Global Women Procurement Professionals (GWPP), is proud to have Coupa as a Platinum Sponsor for our community. GWPP's focus is to promote women in the procurement and supply chain industry and to have them grow. Coupa is an amazing example of how to be a thought leader within procurement and supply chain - we are grateful to have a community partnership together.

Resources and links mentioned:

Next Episode

EP 116 - 150 Million Pieces of PPE and Counting

Mike works for Apex, the third largest freight forwarder in the world and number one forwarder transporting products from China. In 2019 they flew 500 charter flights, and have grown by $1 billion in 10 years!

Apex transports all types of products, from high tech, to retail, to ecommerce. They have charters that transport over 100,000 kilos and their planes can reach every corner of the planet. How have they adapted to the current crisis? Apex has been instrumental during the pandemic: they’ve offered space on aircrafts to government response teams, have transported PPE products to many countries and played a big role in protecting front line workers.

Do they have a secret to success? Mike says that Apex focuses on growth by adding talent that shares the same vision as them. From the words of their customers, this is what makes them a company that “always finds a way to get things done” and are able to find unique solutions to problems. Having invested in tech early on, Apex has been able to pivot more easily than other forwarders, giving them an even bigger competitive advantage. Although the future is unclear on how Covid will impact supply chain, Apex’s ambition is still to become the major freight forwarder across the globe.

In this episode we discuss: