Thought Leadership Marketing for B2B Manufacturers | Joe Sullivan | 324

Leveraging Thought Leadership

If one voice can reach a wide audience, what about a hundred voices in unison? Think that would get some attention? You'd be right!

Our guest on today's episode is Joe Sullivan, the co-founder of Gorilla 76: a firm that specializes in helping mid-sized B2B manufacturers modernize their marketing programs. Joe is also is also the host of The Manufacturing Executive Podcast, celebrating a year’s worth of content helping manufacturing leaders find the right growth strategy for their organizations..

In our conversation, Joe shares how Gorilla 76 helps their clients find the right audience. He discusses having a focus on clients that can be helped efficiently, profitably, and with expertise in their challenges. By developing a deep understanding of the decisions involved in purchasing, manufacturers can create and capitalize on the strongest opportunities for growth.

Amazingly, Joe isn’t the only thought leader at Gorilla 76. Along with his partner, Jon Franko, Gorilla 76 is striking out in a new direction - encouraging and supporting thought leadership created by everyone in the company! Joe details how the skills and experience of many like-minded voices help them create content that proves the company has varied, deep expertise in many subjects - and they're eager to share that knowledge in order to help others!

Measuring the success of thought leadership in marketing and sales is a difficult task, even with great analytical tools. Joe helps leaders avoid getting caught up in the routine of "counting likes and shares" without stopping to fully understand what the data is saying. It's easy to be overwhelmed by statistics, and great leaders need to focus on the most important information, and weed out the rest. Thought Leadership is a long game that feeds your sales pipeline, but first, a leader needs to build trust and become established as an expert in their domain.

If you want to add thought leadership to your B2B company, or grow innovation across your entire organization, this episode is full of great advice for you.

Three Key Takeaways:· Be sure that your thought leadership is tailored to your audience, and addresses their specific challenges and needs.

• Don’t allow metrics and stats to rule your actions. Thought Leadership that connects with a narrow, but well-researched focus will have a higher return than broadcasting to a wide, but uninterested, audience.
• Podcasts and blogs are a perfect way to give your thought leadership a voice and build community. Just remember, these methods require focus, time, and commitment. They are not a magic wand to bring short-term sales.