The Manufacturing Executive: Episode 0
Listen to this episode here or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
Over the past two years, I’ve written 50,000+ words of content to help manufacturers figure out how to grow their businesses. And collectively, our team of 18 Gorillas has published a whole bunch more.
So it was natural to ask:
What other media could we explore to publish these insights?
That’s how we made the decision to launch The Manufacturing Executive, our podcast to help leaders of manufacturing companies grow their businesses.
On this show, we bring in voices from outside our company to talk about their successes, their struggles, what they’ve learned, and what’s working and what’s not in industrial marketing and manufacturing sales.
To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
Transcript of episode:
Kelsey:
Welcome to the introductory episode of the Manufacturing Executive. We’re here today with Joe Sullivan, a co-founder of the industrial marketing agency, Gorilla 76, and the host of the show. How’s it going today, Joe?
Joe:
It’s going great. And I’m excited to get this thing off the ground.
Kelsey:
Absolutely. We’re going to have a lot of fun today, talking about what this podcast is going to be. To give everyone a bit more context, my name is Kelsey Kohrs. I’m one of the producers of this show, and today we’ll be talking about what you, the listener, can expect from this podcast. But before we jump into that, Joe, tell me a little bit about yourself and about Gorilla.
Joe:
So I would consider myself a consultant to manufacturing organizations, on the marketing and sales front. My agency, Gorilla 76, I co-founded with my business partner, John Franco, back in 2006. And we have evolved over the years. It was probably, I don’t know, maybe eight or nine years ago when we officially committed to working specifically with mid-size [B2B 00:01:50] manufacturers. Our earliest days, we were an agency serving anybody who was ready to write us a check, and we found very quickly who we were best at serving, who we liked working with, who we could actually produce results for. And we decided to just own it and brand ourselves as an agency specifically in the industrial sector. So we’ve been doing it ever since. We’ve built a team of, at the time I’m recording this, 18 people, all based in St. Louis, Missouri. And yeah. So here we are today.
Kelsey:
That’s phenomenal. Tell me a little bit more about why you guys wanted to start this podcast.
Joe:
Sure. So for years, really, ever since we committed to serving the industrial sector, we have also been committed to producing resourceful, helpful, objective content that is literally just there to help manufacturers figure out how to grow their businesses. So a lot of sales and marketing advice. A lot of it’s been in written form, and we’ve really picked up content production the last few years, as well. I think I personally have written over 50,000 words of content in the last two years, which is about a book, about a business book. And so it was a natural transition for us to say, “Well, what other media could we explore here, to publish these insights?” And then the other thing was most of these insights have come from inside our company. A lot of my own, a lot of different experts inside of my company, strategists and copywriters, journalists. People who have different skill sets in the marketing world that could be applied to manufacturers.
Joe:
But what we wanted to do here is bring in voices from outside our company. So leaders of manufacturing companies, CEOs, and presidents, VPs of sales and marketing. People who are in the trenches trying to grow manufacturing businesses. Let’s bring them in, let them tell their stories, let them talk about their successes and their struggles and what they’ve learned and what’s working and what’s not, and be able to share that with their peers. And then we also wanted to bring in others who may be consultants in sales, or marketing in the B2B world, that can also bring perspectives from the outside. So making this less about just what’s in our brains and more about everybody else out there who can bring something to the table for our audience.
Kelsey:
I love that. And I feel like that will really resonate with your listeners, hearing stories both internally and externally, bringing in those people. That’s really cool, kind of what listeners can expect as they’re tuning in. And if a listener wants to connect with you, if they have got ideas for topics, guests, episode ideas, how can they connect with you?
Joe:
Sure. So I always direct people to gorilla76.com/learn. So that’s Gorilla, like the animal, G-O-R-I-L-L-A 76.com/learn. This is our industrial marketing strategy learning center. It’s essentially an ever-expanding bank of tools and articles and resources, and now podcasts, that are all there to purely educate and help. So I always send people there. If you want to click connect personally, you can fill out the Request a Consultation forum in the top right corner of our site. That goes directly to me. And then I’d also encourage you to find me on LinkedIn. So just look for Joe Sullivan, Gorilla 76, and I’ve built a network there and publish a lot of content there as well. So that’d be the best way to get in touch.
Kelsey:
Awesome. And that actually wraps it up for our introductory episode. Joe will be taking over the reins for episode one and beyond. Thank you so much for tuning in today. And I’m really excited to see this show grow. It’s going to add so much value to your listeners.
Joe:
Super-excited as well.
Speaker 2:
You’ve been listening to the Manufacturing Executive Podcast. To ensure that you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you’d like to learn more about industrial marketing and sales strategy, you’ll find an ever-expanding collection of articles, videos, guides, and tools, specifically for B2B manufacturers, at gorilla76.com/learn. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.
