wendy covey

Are robots coming for your content marketing? It may seem like it as new AI tools keep hitting the internet every week and the calls for caution grow louder. On today’s episode, Wendy Covey, CEO of TREW Marketing, and Nicole wade into the AI discussion that is on everyone’s minds. Get their take on ChatGPT, generative AI, how entrepreneurs, engineers, manufacturers, and business owners can effectively use AI, and the future of content marketing. Wendy also shares her journey to entrepreneurship, the pain of saying no to potential clients, learning to trust TREW’s team, her marketing insights, and how a “freakishly large redfish” garnered a state record. It’s a new thought-provoking episode of Tales of Misadventure with Nicole you don’t want to miss. 

ABOUT WENDY COVEY

Wendy Covey is the CEO of TREW Marketing, a technical marketing leader, author of Content Marketing: Engineered, is one of The Wall Street Journal’s 10 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs in America, and she holds a Texas fishing record. Wendy has helped hundreds of engineering and technical companies become trusted advisors, grow sales pipelines, and increase market share through content marketing.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 2:21 - Hear the fishing trip story that won Wendy a state, fishing record
• 7:30 - The work from home pitch that failed but sparked an idea and birthed two entrepreneurs
• 13:11 - Find out what pushed the TREW marketing founders to define their ideal client, taught them to say No, and changed the company forever
• 20:46 - Collaboration is one of the best marketing practices
• 23:45 - Building a healthy company culture that fits 
• 31:16 - ChatGPT, generative AI, and the future of content marketing
• 40:44 - Marketing wins and how Google thwarted years of marketing efforts

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Connect with Wendy Covey on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleyne/
• Learn more about TREW Marketing https://www.trewmarketing.com/
• Purchase Content Marketing, Engineered: Build Trust and Convert Buyers with Technical Content  https://www.amazon.com/Content-Marketing-Engineered-Convert-Technical/dp/163299285X
• Discover how Jim Collins’ “Hedgehog Concept” can help you https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/the-hedgehog-concept.html
• Learn more about Marketing AI Institute and Founder Paul Roetzer https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/
• Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg
• Learn more about DMG Digital at dmgdigital.io

Looking to overcome marketing blunders and find inspiration from the experts who have been there?

Subscribe to Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly wherever you prefer to stream podcasts!

Get in touch with the team at Tales of Misadventure by visiting dmgdigital.io.

Don’t forget to enroll in our newsletter for more small business marketing tips and entrepreneurial inspiration! https://info.dmgdigital.io/welcome-to-dmg-digital

Learn about the types of benefits that industry associations provide to their members, and why marketers should think beyond the logo on the website and invest time to explore all the ways association membership can help meet corporate marketing goals.

Stephanie Tierney, Director of Marketing Communications for the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA), is keenly focused on engaging members and helping them find their passion within the organization. From serving on standards boards to supporting industry studies, there is a long list of ways companies can get involved and maximize the value of their membership in ECIA.

Stephanie utilizes many channels to stay top-of-mind with members, including enewsletters and LinkedIn. Part of her role includes leading a committee to plan the annual ECIA Executive conference, which is back in person this year (after a two-year pandemic-related hiatus) with the theme "Bucking Normal." ECIA also has a podcast, The Channel Channel, which focuses on industry trends and association news.

It was clear from our interview that there is no "one way" to maximize membership in an industry association, rather Stephanie encourages members to forge their own paths based on business needs and individual motivators. For some, this may come in the form of shaping industry guidelines and for another, it might be leveraging association analyst research for a thought leadership content campaign. Regardless, she reminds us that when it comes to membership, you get out what you put in....so get involved!

For show links and more, visit the Content Marketing, Engineered podcast blog

 https://bit.ly/CMEPodcast 

Learn more about TREW Marketing

 https://www.trewmarketing.com 

Order the book! Content Marketing, Engineered

 https://bit.ly/contentmktgeng

 As a solo marketer, it can be a daunting task to ramp up (and keep up!) on all things inbound marketing while also wrapping your head around the technical solutions offered by your company.  

Sam Morgan, Sales & Marketing Specialist at Morgan Polymer Seals, wasn't always a technical marketer. He started his career in the music industry as both a songwriter and music label advertising coordinator. When he made the switch over to Morgan Polymer Seals as their solo marketer....well, you might imagine he had a lot to learn. 

Sam turned to books and podcasts to ramp up on all the ways marketing had changed since his college marketing classes. At the same time, he was taking a self-directed crash course in the business to understand their target personas, solutions, and value proposition. 

With all of this knowledge sinking in, Sam began putting best practices into action, measuring, and in some cases failing forward. He brought in expert help to guide him and tapped contractors too to make sure his time is spent in the smartest and most impactful ways. 

In the episode, Sam also shares some of his favorite tools and advice for fellow manufacturing marketers.

 
For show links and more, visit the Content Marketing, Engineered podcast blog 

https://bit.ly/CMEPodcast



Learn more about TREW Marketing

https://www.trewmarketing.com



Order the book! Content Marketing, Engineered

https://bit.ly/contentmktgeng

 Research shows that diversity and inclusion leads to higher revenue and profits. How can corporations start from where they are to improve in these areas? Jackie Mattox, Founder and President of Women in Electronics, has experienced first-hand the triumphs and tribulations that come from working in the male-dominated field of electronics. Her passion now is to support women of all stages in their careers through mentorship, education, and leadership development. She also wants to educate companies on the benefits of investing in women leaders, and help them identify ways to get started or improve.

During this episode, you'll learn about Jackie's career path that led her to start Women in Electronics, more about the mission of the organization, and where they are focusing their marketing efforts in 2021.  

For show links and more, visit the Content Marketing, Engineered podcast blog 

https://bit.ly/CMEPodcast

Learn more about TREW Marketing

https://www.trewmarketing.com

Order the book! Content Marketing, Engineered

https://bit.ly/contentmktgeng

About TREW Marketing

For more than a decade, we’ve helped engineering and technical companies elevate their brand, engage with their audiences, and generate new opportunities. We base our work on insightful research, unrivaled industry expertise, and detail-oriented execution. We understand that highly technical audiences look past standard marketing tactics, so we take a strategic, nuanced approach to meet the technical buyer exactly where they are and help guide them to your solution.

About Wendy Covey

Wendy Covey is a CEO, technical marketing leader, author of Content Marketing, Engineered, one of The Wall Street Journal’s 10 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs in America...and she holds a Texas fishing record. Over the last 20 years, Wendy and her team at TREW Marketing have helped hundreds of engineering and technology companies build trust and fill their pipelines using compelling technical content.

 Understanding the customer, taking on one initiative at a time, and measuring results were key to ushering inbound marketing into an Acoustic Engineering company. Sabrina De Veylder-Pahwa, R2Sonic Marketing Director, has accomplished something which many industry peers struggle greatly with -- shifting her highly technical engineering company into an inbound marketing model. During this episode, she shares her journey, including the fantastic results they've achieved. 

One of the most interesting parts of this episode was hearing about the close relationship she has with the global sales and technical support teams. R2Sonic invested in a sales enablement platform where Sabrina can efficiently share content, and salespeople know they have the latest assets at their fingertips.

You'll also hear about website improvements, content assets that perform well, and which vehicles Sabrina has found most and least effective for promotion. 

 After a year of working virtually the vaccinations are here, which means companies can shift the field sales force back to their road-warrior ways. But should they?  Michael Knight, President of the TTI Semiconductor Group, is a naturally curious person. He asks a lot of questions, which leads to new ideas, and he invariably finds himself serving as a change agent for the company. When it comes to TTI's sales model, this was no different.

Back in those blissful pre-COVID days, Michael was already questioning the traditional field sales model. It started with Applications Engineers (AEs), who were in high demand and spread very thin, leading to lack of coverage for important customer engagements. The TTI team set up a formal pilot program, complete with demo kits and Zoom accounts, to provide more AE coverage with the same personnel through virtual meetings. 

Having successfully implemented the pilot and adopting the Virtual AE model is their norm, TTI was well-positioned when COVID hit and field sales was grounded to keep business moving with little disruption. Now that vaccines are in arms and people are headed back to the office, I was curious to hear from Michael how TTI planned to approach the future of field sales.

I won't spoil all the surprises from the episode, but I'll summarize Michael's response in this way: there are five unique generations in the workplace today, and not all of them learn or want to interact the same way. Just as our marketing should be tailored to meet the buyer where they are, so should our field sales approach.

Check out the full episode to learn more about TTI's plans for field sales, lessons learned from a year of social selling, and their biggest marketing investments for 2021.

More and more salespeople have turned to LinkedIn to network and connect with prospects, and aided by automation, the volume of outreach has gone up exponentially. How do salespeople cut through the noise and make real connections with prospects?
In this episode, Susan and I discuss key ways salespeople can leverage LinkedIn, and how marketing can help. 

Key takeaways:

• Marketing focuses on one-to-many communications while sales focuses on one-to-one; the approach to LinkedIn should follow this same principle
• When it comes to LinkedIn prospecting, you'll produce better results with quality, not quantity, thus having tightly defined target personas are a key start
• Salespeople need to start conversations focused on the buyer's challenges, not the the company's solution; leverage marketing-produced content speaking to these challenges 
• People go to LinkedIn to connect with people, not brands; pick the most influential people in your company and focus on crafting their presence with a point-of-view, not auto-posts of blogs, etc.
• There are three different sales<prospect> conversations follow the stages of trust building; you have to earn the right to talk about yourself (don't start there!)