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Industrial Marketing Summit

This blog post has been re-posted. See the original article on Manufacturing Happy Hour, here.

Podcast: Timeless Industrial Marketing Strategies and New Ways Manufacturers can Reach Their Ideal Customer

It’s been five years since Wendy Covey, CEO and co-counder of TREW Marketing, and Joe Sullivan, founder of Gorilla 76, first joined Manufacturing Happy Hour; back when everyone was scrambling to figure out digital marketing during the pandemic.

Chris Luecke sits down with them to explore which marketing fundamentals still deliver results and what new tactics manufacturers can’t afford to ignore. The core truth hasn’t changed: your best content still comes from extracting knowledge from industry experts. But where that content needs to live? That’s completely different.

PR is making a comeback, or as Wendy calls it, “the second coming of PR” while Joe shares how manufacturers can build knowledge bases from existing content to feed AI tools the right way.

Both agree that becoming the best resource for your audience beats trying to game the system every time. And with showing up in ChatGPT becoming both more important and more challenging, manufacturers need to think beyond their own websites to build credibility across digital platforms.

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3 Quick Things from this Episode

  1. Your website isn’t enough anymore for building topical authority. Wendy explains that engineers increasingly trust third-party publications over branded content, and large language models pull from these same sources for citations. You need credibility across industry publications, Reddit, YouTube, and other platforms where your technical buyers actually seek information.
  2. Build a knowledge base before jumping into AI content creation. Joe recommends harvesting your existing technical white papers, webinar transcripts, sales recordings, and expert presentations to create a company “brain.” This approach ensures AI tools work with accurate, expert information rather than generating generic fluff that damages your credibility.
  3. Marketing success means building trust before buyers need you. Joe explains that 97-99% of your total addressable market isn’t actively looking to buy right now, but they will be eventually. Smart executives track early signals like message resonance and audience engagement over 12 months, knowing that building credibility today creates completely different (and better) sales conversations when those buyers are finally triggered to look for solutions.

Tweetable Quotes

  • “With generative search, they’re placing more value in third-party placements. So it’s still the idea of being a topical authority, but you can’t just do it on your website. You need to be a topical authority in industry publications, Reddit, YouTube, and all these other sources.” – Wendy Covey
  • “Whether it’s Google or ChatGPT, they’re trying to display the best information and the most helpful possible information. It’s just getting packaged up differently. And how do you make sure you’re part of what shows up? You build credibility for yourself.” – Joe Sullivan
  • “A lot of digital strategies have evolved but are still tried and true. So that’s educating your audience, and publishing content on a regular cadence. Knowing your audience and building a strong value proposition that speaks to their pain points.” – Wendy Covey

Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode

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What Chris Discusses with Wendy and Joe

  • Why the best content still comes from extracting knowledge from industry experts
  • Which timeless marketing strategies still deliver results
  • The surprising resurgence of PR and why engineers are starting to trust it more than ever
  • How showing up in ChatGPT is getting harder and what actually works
  • The patience problem among industrial marketers and why ROI questions after three months miss the point
  • How manufacturers are successfully using community-driven marketing
  • What to look forward to at the Industrial Marketing Summit 2026 and why attendees keep coming back

Recommended Resources

  • Industrial Marketing Summit 2026, an annual three-day gathering where manufacturing and industrial marketers connect to share practical insights, learn emerging strategies, and build community with peers facing similar challenges
  • TREW Marketing, partners with B2B technical companies to establish strong marketing foundations, create engaging content strategies, and accelerate growth through research-backed campaigns tailored for engineering audiences
  • Gorilla 76, an industrial marketing agency that helps B2B companies in the manufacturing ecosystem grow through outcome-focused marketing programs built specifically for industrial markets