143: How to Identify and Speak to Your Ideal Customer with Emily Joann Wilkins, Founder of Marketing Metal

This is a branding, marketing, and sales focused episode…but everyone needs to hear this! Our guest this week is Emily Wilkins, Founder & President of Marketing Metal, a company focused on helping radical job shops make big profits by creating a killer brand and building out a stupid simple marketing machine. Given this very loud mission statement, there's no better person than Emily to cover the strategies outlined today. In this episode, Emily shares the importance of focusing on a niche audience through the lens of her own story that led to her founding Marketing Metal.  We also cover tactics and strategies that job shops and other manufacturers should consider adopting using one of her recent projects, Manufacturing Champions, as an example.  Finally, Emily shares a short list of things manufacturers should start and stop doing when it comes to marketing, plus a few final tips and personal stories on leveraging your unique voice. In this episode, find out: How Emily got started in manufacturing marketing Why job shops sometimes forget their audiences First steps for building a brand The benefits of personal branding The best ways of identifying your audience The advantages of focusing on a niche audience What job shops should start and stop in their marketing Why job shops need to evolve online How to mix your personality into personal branding How Emily turns her struggles into strengths in her personal brand Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going! Tweetable Quotes: “When you bring some personal elements to (your brand), you look more human. That’s something all of us need right now.” “When you’re talking about a very specific person, it’s a lot easier for them to identify themselves and for potential referrers to send you the right people.” “Stop taking any project that comes to your door. It’s hard to say no if you’re in a cashflow problem, but how much is that job that’s not a right fit going to cost you?” Links & mentions: Marketing Metal, building out meaningful, stupid-simple branding and marketing for machine shops, fab shops, OEMs, and systems integrators Manufacturing Champions, a community of up-and-coming voices in manufacturing that you can leverage to help tell your brand’s story The Southerner, southern–style dishes & cocktails are served at this relaxed lakeside venue with a comfy interior in Saugatuck, MI Pumpernickels, modern and upbeat restaurant and bar in downtown Saugatuck, MI and Emily’s other go-to destination for bourbon old fashioneds Taco + Bar, a community taqueria showcasing craft mezcal and agave cocktails alongside uniquely handcrafted