Let's face it. Industrial webinars can be...forgettable. But what if yours could keep people watching for hours? Aya Takase produces 40 webinars a year. She breaks down how to turn technical expertise into binge-worthy content that educates, builds trust, and leaves viewers coming back for more.

In this episode, Aya Takase, Head of Global Marketing Communications at Rigaku, shares how her team transformed webinars into a powerful, scalable content engine.One of the biggest insights is simple but often overlooked: meet your subject matter experts where they are. Many technical experts struggle to write blog posts, but they’re comfortable presenting. By turning webinars into the primary content format, Aya’s team unlocked expertise that would have otherwise stayed hidden.

Aya emphasized that “binge-worthy” webinars are possible, even in highly technical industries. The key is to understand your audience. For technical audiences, break down complex concepts clearly without oversimplifying. For less technical users, focus on real-world pain points and practical solutions. Engagement is another critical factor. Instead of relying only on polls or chat, Aya recommends using rhetorical questions throughout the presentation. This keeps viewers mentally involved, prompting them to actively think through the content rather than passively listen.

Preparation also plays a major role. Aya goes through multiple dry runs with her team and reviews the structure and flow of the webinar to make sure it applies to the audience’s knowledge level.

Perhaps the most counterintuitive advice is to stop selling. Promotional content erodes trust and reduces credibility. Instead, focus entirely on delivering value. Over time, consistent, helpful webinars build brand recognition and position your company as a trusted authority.

Finally, don’t let your webinar content go to waste. Repurpose recordings into blog posts, summaries, eBooks, and more. A single webinar can fuel an entire content strategy.

Resources

• Connect with Aya on LinkedIn
• Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Rigaku
• Explore Rigaku's webinars and videos
• Purchase the Industrial Marketing Digital Pass

Your marketing efforts may be strong, but are you using your sales team to take them to the next level? Many industrial marketers overlook sales as a powerful extension of marketing. In this episode, we show you exactly how to build relationships with your sales team to amplify your marketing efforts.

In this episode, Wendy talks with, Luke Wittenbraker, Sales and Marketing Director at Mactech, about how building strong relationships with your sales team can significantly amplify your marketing efforts.

Luke’s career spans both disciplines, giving him a unique perspective on bridging the gap. One of his biggest insights? Marketers need to understand what truly motivates salespeople. While marketing teams often focus on content and campaigns, sales teams are driven by outcomes like revenue and incentives. When marketers frame opportunities in terms of potential earnings or pipeline impact, they immediately capture attention.

Luke emphasizes the importance of getting in the trenches with sales he advises marketers to attend trade shows, join conversations, and understand their day-to-day challenges. Just like marketers seek to understand customer pain points, they must also invest time in understanding their internal sales audience.

One standout example from Mactech is a simple LinkedIn engagement initiative. By encouraging sales reps to like, comment, and post content, Luke saw not only increased participation, but lasting behavior change. One team member even took ownership of posting regularly, extending the company’s reach organically.

Resources

• Connect with Luke on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Purchase the Industrial Marketing Digital Pass
• Register for the 2026 State of Marketing to Engineers Webinar
• Related Episode: Sales vs. Marketing

Missed the Industrial Marketing Summit? Wendy and Lee recap the biggest takeaways and behind-the-scenes moments from the event and even tease a few plans already in motion for 2027. Tune in to hear what industrial marketers can’t stop talking about this week.

In this episode, Wendy Covey and Lee Chapman debrief the recent Industrial Marketing Summit, sharing behind-the-scenes insights, key takeaways, and innovative strategies discussed at the event.

One of the most notable changes since last year’s summit was the dramatic increase in AI adoption among industrial marketers. While only about 10% of attendees reported using generative AI in their daily work the previous year, roughly 80% raised their hands when asked the same question this year. The discussion extended beyond experimentation to practical implementation, including custom GPTs, AI agents, and workflow automation.

Another major takeaway came from keynote speaker Rand Fishkin, who highlighted how buyer behavior is evolving in the era of generative search. Website sessions may be declining, but revenue continues to rise suggesting that traditional attribution models are becoming less reliable. Instead of focusing solely on traffic metrics, marketers should prioritize high-quality engagement and conversions from more informed buyers.

The Industrial Marketing Summit is already gearing up for its 2027 event, which Wendy and Lee said will be returning to Austin, Texas in late February. After another successful year, the team will review attendee survey feedback to refine the program and continue growing the conference experience. Planning will ramp up in the spring, with calls for presenters and sponsors expected around June. A notable addition for 2027 will be the introduction of the Industrial Marketing Summit Awards, designed to recognize standout work and innovation in industrial marketing. As the conference enters its fourth year, the goal is to build on its momentum while continuing to deliver a highly relevant, community-driven event.

Resources

• Connect with Lee on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Purchase the Industrial Marketing Digital Pass
• Register for the 2026 State of Marketing to Engineers Webinar

Chatbot technology has evolved dramatically in just the past few years. Powered by today’s large language models, what was once a clunky, frustrating tool is now transforming industrial websites into dynamic, conversational buying experiences while also giving marketers unprecedented visibility into what their buyers truly want to know.

In this episode, Wendy Covey sits down with John Greely, VP of Marketing at Navu, to explore a pressing question facing B2B marketers today: What is your website for anymore? For years, industrial and B2B websites followed a predictable formula. Drive traffic through SEO and campaigns, guide visitors through structured navigation, capture a form fill, and nurture from there. But as John explains, that formula is breaking down. Buyer behavior has shifted dramatically. Prospects are increasingly turning to AI tools and large language models for answers, often getting the information they need without ever clicking through to a website.

This shift forces marketers to rethink the role of their website. In industries where purchases involve significant investment and technical detail like infrastructure, manufacturing, or engineered products, buyers need fast, specific answers. Traditional navigation and even older chatbots often create friction rather than clarity.

John shares how modern AI-powered chat tools are transforming website experiences by making content conversational rather than purely navigational. Instead of digging through PDFs or layered menus, this technology allows visitors to ask detailed questions and receive precise answers pulled directly from approved site content.

This not only improves user experience but also surfaces valuable insight for marketers. The questions buyers ask reveal content gaps, misunderstood messaging, and emerging needs.

Key Takeaways

• Buyers no longer rely on websites as the primary source of truth.
• Many get answers from AI tools before ever visiting.
• Modern buyers expect to ask specific questions and receive direct answers.
• Content Is only valuable if it’s accessible.
  
  

Resources

• Connect with John on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Navu
  
  
• Register for the Industrial Marketing Summit

What if your customers could explore every angle of a complex machine, product, or system without ever stepping onto the factory floor? For industrial buyers evaluating intricate systems and components, static images and brochures rarely tell the full story. That’s why immersive 3D visualization is transforming how manufacturers showcase, explain, and ultimately sell their products.

In this episode, Mark Worger, Managing Director of MarTech3D, shared how 3D product visualization is helping manufacturers modernize both their marketing and their sales funnels. Brochures, static images, and even trade show booths struggle to fully demonstrate large machinery, embedded systems, or intricate components. It's also very challenging to set up in-person demonstrations or ship large equipment to in-person events. So, sales and marketing teams must figure out how to effectively present a 10-ton machine or a fully integrated process line during an early-stage sales meeting.

That’s where interactive 3D visualizations come in. By transforming engineering CAD files into marketing-ready, photorealistic 3D models, manufacturers can create product visuals, animations, augmented reality experiences, and even virtual showrooms. These tools can be applied to a variety of marketing channels and serve multiple stages of the sales funnel. At the top, they create visual impact and differentiation. In the middle, they educate buyers with interactive demonstrations that showcase internal workings and unique selling points. And at the bottom, they help shorten the sales cycle by allowing prospects to fully understand the product before scheduling in-person visits.

Key Takeaways

• 3D accelerates complex industrial sales funnels.
• It's easy to transform CAD files into marketing-ready visual assets.
• Interactive demos improve buyer education and engagement.
• Better visualization shortens the sales cycle.
• Marketing processes should match manufacturing efficiency.
  
  

Resources

• Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Learn more about MarTech3D
• Register for the Industrial Marketing Summit

For marketers who’ve felt that video is too expensive, too technical, or too time-consuming, this episode offers a clear takeaway: you don’t need a big budget or a big team to make video work, you just need the right approach and tools.

Video is one of the most powerful content formats for marketers, but for years it also felt out of reach. That’s no longer the case. Today, creating high-quality video for every channel is easier and more affordable than ever and video consistently ranks as one of the top-performing content types across channels. In this episode, Elise Beck, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Wistia, shares how today’s marketers can create impactful video easily and affordably, even with lean teams and limited budgets.

Video is uniquely effective for companies with complex products, long buying cycles, and technical audiences. From product demos and explainers to webinars and podcasts, video allows marketers to scale knowledge, replace in-person demos or plant tours, and communicate ideas that are difficult to explain with text alone.

Video creation has become far more accessible in recent years. Elise explains how modern tools for recording, editing, and polishing video, has lowered the barrier to entry for marketers who don’t have video production backgrounds. Features like screen recording, simple editing, AI-powered audio cleanup, social clip generation, and automated captions help marketers develop and publish quality video content.

This episode also explores the evolving role of video in search and AI-driven discovery. As generative search and large language models change how buyers find information, Elise explains how making video content readable by AI is becoming increasingly important for visibility and reach. The episode goes beyond creation into measurement, highlighting how video analytics can give marketers and sales teams deeper insight into buyer engagement.

Finally, the discussion looks ahead to emerging trends in video marketing, including AI-assisted ideation, localization, and the ongoing debate around synthetic video and avatars. Elise emphasizes the importance of balancing innovation with authenticity, especially for technical and industrial brands where trust and credibility matter most.

Key Takeaways

• Video’s true power lies in its ability to simplify complexity and enable authentic communication at scale
• Embedding transcripts and enabling AI to read video content transforms videos into accessible, searchable assets, increasing reach and relevance.
• AI streamlines recording, editing, and post-production, making video creation feasible for small teams or individuals.
• Features like integrated editing tools enable quick turnaround and testing of video content.
• Organizations are bringing video production internally, leveraging AI for ideation, scripting, and editing, reducing reliance on external vendors.
• Trust and genuine human connection are prioritized over AI-generated video, especially in technical fields
• All-in-one video solutions like Wistia empower lean teams to execute comprehensive video strategies efficiently.
  
  

Resources

• Connect with Elise on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Wisita
• Learn more about Wistia's State of Video Research Report
• AI Benchmark: Will Smith Eating Spaghetti
• Related Episode: How to Add Value-Driven Videos to Your Content Marketing Mix<

Jake Hall is back on Content Marketing Engineered for a deep dive into what actually works on LinkedIn for industrial brands. We break down best practices for approaching LinkedIn not just as a company page, but through your spokespeople and employees, too. We also dig into the evolving role of influencers in the marketing mix and what it really takes to build successful, authentic influencer partnerships in manufacturing and engineering.

In this episode, Jake Hall, aka the Manufacturing Millennial discusses the evolving landscape of content marketing, particularly focusing on the importance of LinkedIn as a platform for authentic engagement. He shares insights on effective content creation strategies, the role of influencers in the industrial sector, and the necessity of maintaining authenticity in a world increasingly dominated by AI-generated content. The conversation emphasizes the need for marketers to adapt their strategies to foster genuine connections with their audience while leveraging the unique advantages of social media platforms.

Key Takeaways

• LinkedIn is still a powerful platform for industrial marketing in 2026.
• Authenticity is crucial in content creation.
• Engagement is more important than clicks.
• Influencers can help brands reach new audiences.
• Posting consistently builds trust with your audience.
• AI should be a tool, not the core of your strategy.
• Content should tell a story and address real problems.
• Influencer marketing is evolving and should be embraced an another marketing tool.
• Companies need to empower employees to share authentic content.

Resources

• Connect with Jake on LinkedIn
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the Manufacturing Millenial
• Related Episode: Trade Show Tips with Jake Hall
• Related Episode: 2026 Marketing Trends: The Power of a Strong Differentiated Strategy
• Register for the Industrial Marketing Summit

Erin Moore sits down with Rand Fishkin, one of the most influential voices in modern marketing, to unpack how audience behavior, search, and content strategy are fundamentally changing in 2026. They discuss the rise of zero-click marketing, the myth that AI tools are “killing” search, and why audience research now matters more than competitive research. Rand brings data-backed clarity to some of the biggest questions marketers are grappling with right now.

In this episode, we’re joined by Rand Fishkin, founder of SparkToro, Alertmouse, and Snack Bar Studio; former co-founder of Moz; and, if we can add one more title, keynote speaker at the 2026 Industrial Marketing Summit. Rand brings decades of experience helping marketers understand how people actually discover, consume, and trust information online.

The conversation dives into why audience research has become critical step of marketing strategy as traditional inbound tactics lose effectiveness. Rand explains how data powers audience insights and why these insights are often most valuable for gaining internal buy-in, or just as importantly, for saying "no" to ineffective channels and trends.

The episode also discusses the impact AI tools have had on search, zero-click marketing, and how marketers should rethink attribution in a world where impressions and brand lift matter more than direct clicks. Rand shares advice for teams stuck in outdated SEO playbooks, emphasizing the importance of following audience behavior over competitor behavior, and pushing back against the dangerous mindset of “doing more with less”.

Resources

• Connect with Rand on LinkedIn
• Connect with Erin on LinkedIn
• Learn more about SparkToro
• Learn more about Alertmouse
• Related Episode: What is THE SEO Alligator? A New Challenge in Search Metrics
• Register for the Industrial Marketing Summit