It's been five years since Wendy Covey, CEO and Co-Founder 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.
We sit 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.
In this episode, find out:
- 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 3 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
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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
Links & mentions:
- 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
Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.
