Danielle Neely is the Co-founder of KNC Marketing, where she creates custom marketing plans to help businesses increase sales. As a seasoned digital marketer, she has worked in the food service, manufacturing, automotive, finance, and nonprofit spaces. Danielle specializes in content creation, social media marketing, and digital advertising.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[3:42] Danielle Neely shares how she moved from Southern California to Tennessee
[7:56] The early days of KNC Marketing and how the company has evolved
[10:25] What Danielle learned about distribution marketing while working at Franke
[17:25] The importance of proactive communication and following up
[24:22] Content creation and SEO strategies for educating customers in the industrial industry
[30:33] How KNC Marketing helps companies create engaging video content
[34:35] Danielle’s perspective on being a woman in a male-dominated industry
[39:36] Leveraging AI and social media platforms for B2B marketing
In this episode…
Proactive communication and strategic marketing are key to business growth in industrial sectors. Rather than waiting for leads to come in, companies must take initiative by following up promptly, creating educational content, and leveraging digital marketing tools. How can businesses optimize their marketing efforts to attract high-quality leads and establish thought leadership?
With expertise in B2B marketing, Danielle Neely has mastered strategies to help industrial companies enhance their brand visibility. She suggests leveraging SEO-driven content, Google advertising, and video marketing to engage prospects effectively. Additionally, she highlights LinkedIn’s role in B2B marketing, explaining how thought leadership and active engagement can foster credibility and attract your target audience. By enhancing these strategies with AI, businesses can streamline content creation while maintaining authenticity.
In today’s episode of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, Mark Hiddleson chats with Danielle Neely, the Co-founder of KNC Marketing, about marketing strategies for industrial businesses. Danielle shares her experience navigating a traditionally male-dominated industry, insights on distribution marketing, and how to create engaging video content.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. contact phone: 707-732-3892
Mark Hiddleson's email: markhiddleson@aol.com
“Breaking Barriers in Roofing: Service, Leadership, and Driving Progress” with Michelle Boykin on Industry Edge
“Leading With Legacy | Building a Culture That Keeps Employees Around with Dustin Dowdy” on Industry Edge
Quotable Moments:
“There’s power in timeliness; following up right after a conversation shows initiative and keeps things moving forward.”
“If it takes less than five minutes to do, just do it right then. It clears mental space and keeps projects from stalling.”
“People don’t care about all the details; they care about knowing the project is on track and that expectations are clear.”
“AI is a great tool, but you have to know how to work with it. It’s a starting point, not a replacement for strategy and creativity.”
“If you’re confident and know your stuff, you’ll be respected — regardless of industry or gender.”
Action Steps:
Prioritize timely follow-ups: Following up immediately after a conversation or meeting ensures that details remain fresh and momentum is maintained. Proactive communication demonstrates reliability and strengthens professional relationships.
Leverage video content for marketing: Creating educational and engaging video content helps establish authority in your industry. Even if you're not comfortable on camera, having a well-thought-out script and a strategic partner can enhance your brand’s presence.
Optimize your website for lead generation: A well-structured website with clear messaging, SEO-driven content, and easy navigation ensures potential clients quickly understand your offerings. Including case studies, FAQs, and a simple contact process can improve conversions.
Use AI as a starting point, not a crutch: AI tools like ChatGPT can assist with idea generation and content creation, but they should complement rather than replace strategic thinking. Always refine AI-generated content to maintain authenticity and brand voice.
Engage actively on LinkedIn: Consistently sharing insights, engaging with industry discussions, and positioning yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn can enhance credibility. Encourage key team members to participate to amplify your company’s visibility.
Sponsor for this episode:
This episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions Inc.
Listen...
I have been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades. I know I don’t look that old, but it's true.
We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide.
So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs Rack, Shelving, Carts, Conveyors, or Mezzanines, we help with....design engineering, installations, inspections, and repairs to help clients optimize their logistics operations.
Sometimes people don’t even realize that we can actually help with permit acquisition services.
We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continually improving your operation.
To learn more, visit specialracks.com or give us a call at (707) 732-3892. One of the best ways to learn more about our products and services is to follow us on Instagram. And there’s a link on our website to do that.
I will even give you my personal email address for podcast listeners, so email me at markhiddleson@aol.com if you’re ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:01
Welcome to The Tao of Pizza, where we feature top logistics leaders, entrepreneurs and supply chain innovators and share their inspiring stories with a holistic twist.
Mark Hiddleson 0:14
Mark Hiddleston here, host of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, where I talk with top industry innovators in the warehousing, logistics and supply chain business with a holistic twist. Some of our outstanding past guests include some of our best industry partners, our top clients, who are all leading edge warehousing and logistics professionals, and some of my friends in the personal and professional development ecosystem. Before I introduce today's guest Danielle Neely. I want to give a shout out to Jeremy Weisz of Rise25 and he's also the host of the Inspired Insider and co-founder of Rise25. He's been a great friend, coach, business mentor, and he actually introduced me to today's guest, Danielle Neely. So big shout out. Check out Jeremy's podcast and the Rise25 website. So before I introduce Danielle, this episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. And I think everyone's starting to figure it out by now. I've been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades, so what that means is we're able to provide industry leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide. So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs rack shelving, carts, conveyors or mezzanines, we help with the design engineering installations and inspections and also repairs to help our clients optimize their logistics operations. And Danielle, it's even funny, some people don't realize we can actually help with permit acquisition services. What we do is take a holistic look at your entire business, supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continuing, improving your operation to learn more. Visit our website at specialracks.com, give us a call at 707 730-238-9021 of the best ways to connect or learn more about our products and services. To connect with me on LinkedIn, and I also give out my personal email address for podcast listeners. So email me at markhiddleson@aol.com if you're ready to take your warehouse and storage and retrieval systems to the next level. So today, we're joined by Danielle Neely. Danielle is the co-founder of KNC Marketing, a full service agency specializing in helping B to B industrial companies grow their brands and increase sales through expert brand development, website design and marketing services. She's also the co host of the Industry Edge podcast. Danielle dives deep into the stories and strategies of leaders shaping the world's hardest working industries, manufacturing, distribution, construction and beyond. Her passion for people and work at KNC Marketing is focused on helping industrial companies stand out, connect with their ideal audience and achieve their growth goals with thoughtful branding and marketing strategies. Danielle, welcome to The Tao of Pizza.
Danielle Neely 3:05
Thanks for having me that. What an intro. I love it.
Mark Hiddleson 3:08
You're a rock star.
Danielle Neely 3:12
When you hear it like that, you're like, ooh, ooh. Say more love it. Thanks for having me.
Mark Hiddleson 3:16
No, it's my pleasure. I'm like, Well, I want to book an appointment. I'm like, wait a minute. I already have, you already did that. You already did it. So today we get to have a little fun. I want to find out more when we first met, I saw your phone number was a 951, I'm thinking, Oh, Southern California. And I'm from California, so you're actually somewhere else. So, share a little bit about the journey, how you got to Tennessee?
Danielle Neely 3:41
Yeah, I do still have a 951, number. So represent Southern California, absolutely. So when I was born and raised in Southern California, was there through college, and then I actually interned with my cousin and now business partner, she is the other co-founder of KNC marketing. I interned with her. She was living here in Nashville at Bridgestone tires when she was working there at the time, and came here, fell in love with the place, actually met my husband within the first week of being here, and then decided to make the move after college. And then I have never changed my phone number so that there's that I probably should change it at some point to a 615, phone number. But yep, so still represented that phone number, the 951, but yeah, when it came here after college, I went and worked for a Swiss manufacturing company called Frankie. They do large industrial food service equipment for big companies like McDonald's, Burger King, some of those fast casual restaurants. So worked there, and then I was a part of, like, a big corporate layoff with their company. And it was a blessing in disguise, because that's kind of how K and C marketing was born. So me and my business partner found that, you know, we work really well in the. B to B, rugged industrial space. We know it. That's what our backgrounds are in. So that's kind of how we've fallen into that niche of serving those particular clients. So that is the the journey from the 951, to the 615, in a little recap.
Mark Hiddleson 5:17
Yeah, I love it. And what part of Southern California were you? Were you born and raised? Because the river is huge. Somebody was showing me a map. It's like Santa Monica in LA is using them. Like, wait a minute, most of our clients are in the Inland Empire, which is, you know, an hour and a half from LA. So the
Danielle Neely 5:33
IE, that's actually where I'm from. So Riverside is where I was born and raised, and then I went to school in Fullerton. So like the Orange County area, but Riverside, and that's where my parents and my brothers still live, and have plenty of friends and stuff that are still there as well. So yep, the IE, when I explain to people, I go, it's about an hour east of LA, it's nowhere. It's kind of closer to the desert than it is to the beach, in a sense. So if those are the old stomping grounds.
Mark Hiddleson 6:01
This is awesome. I almost went to college at UC Riverside. I was in baseball. I was on the baseball team. I had a baseball scholarship, and I got hurt my senior year in baseball. I hurt my rotator cuff. I still could have went to I still could have gone to Riverside, but I was nervous about going that far from, I'm like, a Northern California boy, and it was for but we went back. We toured Fullerton. My daughter just, she just graduated from Oregon State a few years ago. We looked at Fullerton, what an awesome school. We love the location, everything about that.
Danielle Neely 6:34
Oh yeah, I loved it very close to the beach. It was a, like, ideal location we'd go to Disneyland on like, you could go to Newport in 25 minutes. It's such a good location, if you're it was a dream going to school there. So pretty,
Mark Hiddleson 6:50
yeah, we drove by the junior college in Fullerton. I looked at that and I was like, that's where I want to like, that's where I want to go to school. Is really the daisy. Yeah,
Danielle Neely 7:03
it's just as nice. Absolutely, it's right next to, yeah, right next to down Dan, you're bringing me back that road. I would do that road a little often, from where I was, where I lived, closer to campus, to downtown. You know, you know that goes, you got to be downtown when you're in college. Absolutely,
Mark Hiddleson 7:20
I wanted to be there. I was like, this is where guys, if I had it to do over again, I would be going to school. I wish I would have to tour that school instead of UC Riverside. Yeah. So yeah. Share a little bit about the early days at KNC, uh marketing and how you got started. What are the early days like? And share I love because I'm in the industrial space. All my clients, I love this. So share a little bit about early days and then. And then, what you like about this? Yeah, the rugged industrial
Danielle Neely 7:56
Yes, absolutely. And I will say, when we first started, it was very much like typical business owners, okay, we know we have a skill set. We know there's a need in this community for it. What? What? What are we really good at? Just really that come to the kitchen table, figure out what our business is going to be. We actually rebranded last year. So we used to be keckler kneeling CO, which is my last name, and then my business partner, and then we evolved into KNC marketing, just because our vision grew with our company and keckler kneeling co it served its time, but it was time to kind of go on a bigger things. But I think when we first started, we both had really small goals, if you would, and vision for what it could be. It's like, hey, if we could have a couple clients and do some work and, you know, make a little bit of money, great. And then we just found that there was the need that kept growing in the community. And then it expanded to, you know, started just within our city of like, serving clients there, and we started kind of just taking on anything and everything in the beginning. You know, you just take what you what comes your way, and then we really lean into we do a really good job, and we really enjoy working with those more rugged industrial manufacturers. We have material handling company clients. We have equipment rental company like water and waste water, those more, you know, again, the B to B, industrial, rugged businesses is what we did a really good job, and we just loved and thrived in. It doesn't mean we don't have other clients in those, those other sectors, but I think as it grew, we realized, okay, we do a really good job at this. And we work, we work really well with those people, so we kind of leaned into it then, and further have refined like, Okay, this is what we're really, really good at, and this is what we do really, really well for companies. And have really leaned into that versus going and doing a bunch of other things.
Mark Hiddleson 10:01
So share a little bit about your I was thinking the experience was it Frankie? Frankie's was the company that made the it was ovens and everything for McDonald's. So what did you learn? Because I bet you learned a lot, not just about ovens and McDonald's, but what did you learn about distribution, sense, systems and the way things work in in that kind of a business like, what are some of the things that, you know,
Danielle Neely 10:25
it was a great learning experience, especially because when I came into working with Frankie, I was actually kind of coming in to work under a girl who was going out on maternity leave. So they were like, she did a really good job, but I was only with my manager for a couple months, and then I had to kind of figure things out as I went. But that is the best way to learn, especially if you are a new like newly graduated person, if you can just jump into a career and run with it and not get tactical experience, hands on experience makes such a difference. And then you look back and you go, dang, it was really, really hard, and I had to learn a lot on the fly, but it's there's such valuable lessons that you learn there. But as far as, like, what I learned from, you know, the distribution model of like going through reps and distributor groups and marketing to those channels, and knowing that when you're marketing to those people, it's more about equipping the people that are selling your products and services out to the world, equipping them with the right tools that they need to do their job versus this is who we are. This is what we sell. Like, if you're not equipping those distributors and those reps in the marketplace with what they need to do, like what they need to push your product, they're not going to push your product, they're going to push other products on the market. So learning what they need and listening and really building marketing collateral and tactics around that was something that was a big learning curve in the beginning, because I'm like, oh, it's not just marketing to one set of people. You're marketing to different groups, and they're all different messages that you're having to come up with so that was understanding the different audiences that we're talking to and how to equip them was vastly, vastly important with just learning messaging and branding overall, because you're not
Mark Hiddleson 12:13
more so the end users of that product is be like McDonald's or Burger King or Carl's Jr, right, or something like that. So you're not marketing to them, you're marketing to the people who actually sell to them, right? Who's distributors, or was it other manufacturers or contractors? What are some people that you've worked with just in that space alone? What are some of the different types of distribution that like,
Danielle Neely 12:36
for instance, if you look back on if there's various, you know, there's various vendors that are a part of that make up the makeup of a McDonald's or a Burger King, or things like that. So it's like, Why? Why is this distributor partner choosing Frankie, or pushing the Frankie product over anything else? Is it easy to use for? Because the at the end of the day too, you're not talking to people who go eat at McDonald or people that eat at these restaurants. You're talking to the people that are working in it. So how are you able to differentiate your product? And you're also not speaking to them, you're talking to the people that manage and build these on a mass scale. But how are you differentiating yourself from the competitors and supporting the people who sell it from that front?
Mark Hiddleson 13:28
Nice, so there's a lot. I figured there was a lot to learn, and you were involved in the marketing. Frank, he's that was the department. Then the first job that you got when you took over, somebody who left it was, what was the role, just as out of curiosity, the role that
Danielle Neely 13:44
was on maternity leave, yeah, so she was the marketing manager, and I, me and her had a wonderful relationship, and she was a wonderful boss, but she, yeah, she was like, I'm she's having a baby. So, and then I was her marketing specialist. So I think it was I got hired, and I have to, gosh, I, I feel like I had a few months with her before she left for a couple months, she came back, and then we, we were a power a power tree a couple after that, within it. But so, yeah, I was a marketing specialist, and she was the marketing manager. And primarily what I did in my LED was a lot of like trade show planning and coordination. Frankie was heavily involved in the big restaurant and equipment shows that happened. There's one in Chicago, the National Restaurant Association, and then there was one nafam, which was National Food Service. Gosh, I'm going to forget all of that, the acronyms. Now, it's been a minute since I've been right in there, but playing those trade shows and all the logistics that go along with it, which you, I'm sure you understand, as well being from logistics, but that was a lot of my key role, too, was planning those kinds of things.
Mark Hiddleson 14:54
Cool. I love industry events. I'm going to get more into it. That's what we built our business. So. Lot of that of being a pro map, which is our industry show, which is in Chicago, the warehouse Education and Research Council they put on. So that's where you meet. That's where you really meet the leaders. And I love your story of the trial by fire, like you're saying there's no other way to learn, to just be. I heard the saying that some people are born into leadership. Some people achieve leadership, and some people have leadership thrust upon them. That's what happened to you. You had to thrust upon you,
Danielle Neely 15:29
yes, and I had to. It makes you be crafty, too. I think there's something of like I was new. I was young. I was the youngest person in my division, and I was brand new, trying to figure all this out. And because, you know, when she did go out on maternity leave, I'm like, Well, who can I lean on to ask questions? We had an amazing president at the time, which, but he was busy. He was on the road, so I had to kind of just ask a ramp for things that I knew, like people that had been there for a long time, asking them questions and learning from different departments and areas, and it just made me be assertive, like it taught me some assertiveness as well. But, yeah, you Trial by Fire is definitely what that is, but that's, that's where you come out. You come out of it so much stronger. Doesn't kill you. Make it stronger. So,
Mark Hiddleson 16:17
yeah, no, I like that. So I can tell. And I wanted to bring this up in the form of a question, but one of the things I admire about you already, and we've just met only in a couple weeks, is you were really proactive, and we were introduced by Jeremy. And I always pride myself on I follow up on stuff, right? If you give me a lead, which is funny, you gave me a lead that I haven't followed up on you after the show on that. I'm glad you didn't ask me before, because now I got to say first, but you beat me to the punch. You went on to my calendar and booked your own interview. And I'm like, I like that. So what is it? You know, I call it being proactive. It's not aggressive. You use the word assertive, like, it's, it's, it's just part of your natural, natural self expression to follow up, conscientious. So what? Just share a little bit about what? Like, why are you set to Dynamo? And then you even said, Thank you. Like, I'm always good. Like, no one ever says thank you for the referral, right? Nobody does. It's like, your referral to go so, so I'm always good, like, I'm gonna say thank you, then I go to say thank you. It's like, She already said, Thank
Danielle Neely 17:26
you. I'm on it. Okay, sure about that. Yeah, I'm a details person by an age. Like, that's just kind of how I roll, um, within KNC, I kind of lead all things operations and creative, which I get to use that side of my brain as well, but I'm very detail oriented. And I think there's like, there's power in timeliness of like, if you talk with somebody about and you do what you say you're going to do right after not five minutes. Or, hey, I'll get back to you tomorrow. There's certain things that take more time, but there's some power in right after having a conversation with somebody, following up with exactly what you said you were going to do, taking that initiative, being really proactive, and already thinking of if it's going to be a potential meeting with somebody, you need to throw out some dates of what can work for you, or look on their calendar and it shows that you're eager to work with them and Be proactive. Um, I also my husband had this tactic that he does, if it takes less than five minutes, then you should do it right then. Like, there's no reason why you can't make five minutes to do something. And I've taken that to heart within my business of, like, if this can take me just a couple minutes to knock out and do for somebody, I'm going to do it. So I always try to do it right after. If it's like, Hey, I'm gonna send you this presentation that we just went through, I'm gonna send it right after, right and, you know, it's gonna be in your inbox. So there's some power and timeliness. People are really bad at communicating these days and email, you know, getting back to people responsiveness, it's there's such a problem with it that if you can separate yourself and go over and and pick up the phone if you need to, or text somebody if you need to, and not hide behind email, um, I think there's such power in that of like, Hey, I didn't, I don't know if I press record on this, it this, uh, this recording. Can we, can we see and owning up to things when you know owning up to when you when you do something wrong or you may have a mistake, people are way more apt to work with you if you're honest and you're upfront about the mistakes that you've made in the past, too. So that's that's definitely the way that I roll. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 19:35
like, if you ever recorded a full podcast and didn't have it recorded, and that half of that is on me, too. If that ever happens to you, I'll take credit for partial, because it was my zoom thing. And I think I'm such a pro with Zoom. Sometimes you can get over confident, but I love what you said about the time, the timeliness of like to me, it's an energy, and I call it. Energy. And it's not like, woo, but it's like, who are the people who keep the ball rolling? Because that's what you need in art. Like, we're always any project that we do involves multiple resources. There's an engineering team, there's a layout team, there's a permanent processing team, there's an install, 3456, manufacturers and electrician. And it's like, if you stop anything on that critical path method, everything affects everything else. And so we have, and our team is really good, but there's improvement within our team. Like, I want to have you come and put a like, this is how it's done, because you did. I pride myself on beat on being like, I'm going to be more proactive. And you beat me on like, every single like, oh, for three so I was like, Well, I like that. Oh, hey,
Danielle Neely 20:45
it showed some initiative, right? And it marked some things off in your book, of like, so
Mark Hiddleson 20:51
that's the way it's going to be if you're working on a project too, right? Like, this is other stuff that we're doing. It's like, oh, schedule an interview or schedule a meeting. But like, when the when stuff needs to get done, and you do only have 24 hours to do it, I know I could count on you. So right of
Danielle Neely 21:10
setting expectations, like what you're saying, of like, if there's multiple people, especially in what you do, where there's so many different lines of command that are all affecting the job, like, at the end of the day, the person that your community, like the client, the one that you're or the customer that you're communicating to, as long as they know, hey, this is what we're working on. This is what is what required of them to keep things streaming along, and then everything else keeps moving moving. Typically, people don't care about all the details, as long as the project is getting moving on time, and that they feel fully aware of what's going on, and that expectations are set, then people are happy with it. But it's when people are left in the dark and there's no communication that they're like, they're making up a story in their head of what could potentially be happening. Oh, we're over budget, oh, we're not on time, oh, all these different things start happening if you're not doing that proactive communication to explain to them, nope, these are happening. This is what's happening. This is what's happening. Having that person to be able to communicate is huge. And
Mark Hiddleson 22:10
I also think, I also think that habit of when first of all, closing the loop. So like, you just booked a meeting, well, that sends me a notice. Like, Danielle booked a meeting, so I already had it, already knew, but then you followed up with the email, then you followed up with the thank you thing. And so I think a lot of people could just stop, like, you book the interview, like, that's enough. But when you can close the loop, and close the loop, the other thing I think it does with P and I tell people, like, I'm gonna do it's either 24 hours, two hours or 15 minutes for me, and I'll kind of look at your husband for me, it's a 15 minute like, if it's less than 15 minutes, like I did one before the interview, and I probably shouldn't have, but it was like, this is a 15 minute thing I'm gonna do. But if I can get back to you 24 hours, it means I missed something. And I do, you know, I mean, from time to time I miss something, so that's what I tell my team, is, if you sent me something and I haven't responded in 24 hours, means I missed it, because I'm at least going to say, Hey, I'm working on this. I'm waiting on more information or so. It's just that habit that somebody a week doesn't go by and they're like, Well, I gave it to you on Wednesday. You know for a fact, I would add it back to you on Thursday, just because of who I am. So anyways, we're going to have some fun. And I lot of people appreciate that approach.
Danielle Neely 23:20
That is so true, though, just like the selfish part of it, even, of like, if I have a conversation with you, it's fresh on my mind of what you just said, why not get it done right there? When you instead, you're sitting there going, Well, what did they say? Or did I not? Where did that note go? Or if you do it right then, when it's fresh in your head, like you get it, it's off your brain space and in an email, and you've gotten it all taken care of, if you wait too long, you're going to forget what that conversation was most likely. So that love that if
Mark Hiddleson 23:51
you're not taking great notes, and I'll bet you, you're taking great notes too, I'm not even going to ask you about that, but I'll bet you take great notes. So I do want to ask you, what, what are some of the things so you're called, a lot of your clients are the same as our clients, or even our competitors. What are some of the things that's working on the marketing side? Or things, even better, might be what's not working. It's yeah, or to share what in this industry, specifically, what, what's, what are the things that are?
Danielle Neely 24:21
Yeah, that's a great question, I think. And it, it's, there's a couple things there. So the first thing is, I feel like this is an industry in which education, of, like, educating your customer, right? Like, of why things could get better, or why things could be optimized or changed or tweaked more is so important. So how do you educate your customer? Unless you're sitting right in front of them, educating them on a particular service and how you can help solve a problem? That's great. We love that. But where do people go to get education? They go to the internet, right? So your website? What is your website like, teaching your ideal customer about what problems you solve, how you can help, and making it easy to get in contact with you. So how do we answer that from a marketing perspective, that could be anything from creating really powerful informational videos that can go on YouTube. So when somebody's searching for, say, you're like what you do, like rack, you they need a particular type of rack. Maybe Mark pops up on a video explaining the benefits between push rack versus this rack. Well, all of a sudden, that makes you become the thought leader in that space, right? So content, the power of content, and putting the content out on your website and on the internet for people to be able to see that's a huge thing that is working in this space, and that's not even just in this industry, but educating people comes from content. So that's one thing. Another thing is, when people search for you, where do they go? They go to the internet, right? That's where everybody's going. If they have a problem or if they need help with something, they're going to go to the internet. So are you proactively getting the people that are looking for your services or looking for something that you offer? Are you proactively advertising on the platforms that they're searching for to be able to pop up. First, for instance, Google advertising, which we've talked about in the past. So those are where those kinds of methods come into play. So there's a lot of things. Those are the two that stand out as content, creating content for your website and online video, video content, and then also having a really strong Google advertising program in place to be able to capture those really hot leads that are looking for your services. So that's definitely working,
Mark Hiddleson 26:48
and ours is similar to the Frankie's example, that a lot of our clients, there's a pretty fair mix, but because of my experience in the industry, a lot of the clients we deal with are other dealers. So we're in a other dealers. So we're, in a way, we're marketing to them, because we have more experience in things like systems like drive in or pushback. We've got a huge amount of used inventory, you know, hundreds of truckloads of use. So it's other dealers. But then also we have end users, and they're all different levels of sophistication. I mean, when I first got in this business, I learned a lot that what I learned is from my end users, they knew more about racking than I did, but I picked their brains, built on what they knew. And now there's certain verticals, like, it's the beverage industry. So how do you how do you work with something like that? And then we want people have the tools to succeed on our website, like if there's installation manuals or pictures of systems, like you said, videos. So how do you kind of split it? I guess is my question. If you got anyone retail customers to call you, but then you also for us, we want people all over the country so we can add to our network, right? I mean, hopefully there's a Toyota dealer in the Mid South, but, yeah, I will call Sean Thomas probably within 15 minutes of this phone call.
Danielle Neely 28:14
Yes, I think so. Content on your website. And again, I don't want to get too like technical here for what but as far as when we create a website, or we are creating content and pushing that out, what that does over time is it helps with organic traffic. So what that means is free traffic coming to your website, free traffic coming to your YouTube channel if you have videos. So over time, that builds so investing in quality content that is jam packed with SEO and keywords that you're wanting to go after is a long term play for kind of continuing, mainly getting those kinds of leads and people that are looking for those services. But then on the proactive and the more like advertising side of it, it's all about identifying what your ideal customer is, because I think there's always going to be people that come to you that you're like. They might not be your ideal client, but they're you're always going to get those kinds of trickling leads, if you would come in, right? But if that's not the most, you know, which one is going to drive the most revenue for your business. Like, if we can nail in on who that client is, like for you, for specialized storage, you know, it's a x million dollar job, or this type, we can all of a sudden start targeting people that are going to be making those kinds of decisions, not just a onesie twosie shop, off the off the street that might find you online anyway. But how do we weed out, you know, a higher quality lead versus a lower quality and really go after those ones that are going to generate more revenue for you? I think that's a targeting play and understanding who your ideal customer is. Like working with. You know. It would be me and you and our team figuring out who that is, and coming up with a Google advertising program that targets that does that answer, Chris, your question a little bit.
Mark Hiddleson 30:10
It does. It does so the whole the website, it's gonna attract everybody, I guess is what you're saying. And then the reason like how people find you is in how they contact you and then. So I also want to just clarify, really cool, you guys actually help with the shooting of some of the videos, right? You weren't you sharing an example where you guys actually helped create some of the content. And yeah,
Danielle Neely 30:33
yeah, we're not like a video production company, but we have a really strong partner, like strategic partner network, that do shoot. And what we do, there's a really, really fun collaboration with it is because we help, you know, manage the logistics. We help manage storyboarding and making sure that we want to help, like you, specialize storage, get exactly what you need out of that video. And so we help plan, coordinate, scripting all that kind of stuff with our video partner in order to execute something that we can use, because, at the end of the day, powerful video, educational content, professional photos, that is going to help me as a marketer do our job better for you and communicate better. So we kind of help support and get those those videos coordinated, but we have strategic partners in place to create those things.
Mark Hiddleson 31:25
That sounds like a cool part of it. It's like, well, actually, I talked to other people. I have my old boss did it on. He was one of the first to put video on his website, huh? Like that. It's, it's professional. It's professionally done. He's like, I hate it, because he doesn't want to be he just doesn't, he doesn't look at it and say it's any good. Like, I thought it was really good, but, uh,
Danielle Neely 31:47
you're the message too, right? Of like, some people don't like being on camera, we also help identify that. Of like, Who is the person? You know it might be the President is very well spoken and needs to be on camera, but it also might be a technician or a project manager or somebody who has a completely different perspective that's on camera. And I think there's something really when you work with people like us and a really good video partner, people that can ask questions and make you feel natural as natural as you can on the camera, because so many people, especially in this industry, are not comfortable or familiar with being on camera, but having people that can kind of help and coach you through and ask the right questions. So it's not like you're reading off a script and you have to say this word for word. It's so much more conversational. And we're always amazed at, you know, when you're behind the lens, and you're watching somebody do a video, and then what actually comes to life once, editing and scripting and music, and it's just, it's, it's remarkable what can happen. Like, you're like, Oh, I butchered that. I booked and then all of a sudden they spliced it up together, and it says, beautiful, like, beautiful things. So it's, it's a powerful tool, yeah, and it's fun.
Mark Hiddleson 33:02
And all the people, so I've invited all these people. I've invited hundreds. So I know that lot of them the best operators, and they don't want to go. And a lot of them have been surprised, because I'm like, I'm gonna ask the question. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be more like a conversation. Just wanna hear like, what you learned, and people wanna hear these stories. You got 20, 3040, years of experience. So it's been fun, and people do, yep, you kind of forget that it's being recorded. Sometimes it's not even being recorded. That's all the pressure is on. Sometimes,
Danielle Neely 33:35
yes, that's that's the goal, right? Yeah, yeah, capture it good stuff, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 33:40
Or be excited about doing over. So I want to ask you a question I thought about earlier, but so I want to say the best way to phrase this one of my best friends is Nancy fatine, and she's in the engineering part of our business is one really, you know, 2030, years experience in the business. I've Well, deal with it for a long time, but she shared with me that it's hard in this industry is kind of a man is one of the last industries is male dominated. And I had her on the podcast. She was one of my first guests. She's awesome. And I think she wanted me to ask about that, and I didn't. So I want to ask you, like, what are what are you finding? Maybe that's not true. I think it is. But share some you know, what you're finding or strategies. I mean, for me, I'm like, it's the person who can get the job done, right? But Share, share a little about your experience, about, if you don't mind, yeah, of
Danielle Neely 34:35
course. No, I, me and my business partner. We're actually a team of all women so and in a very heavily male dominated space, it works to our benefit. I feel like it's something that we've never had, like, where we felt disrespected or under like, you know, I need to talk to the man. We've been very fortunate in our space of like, it's worked to our benefit that. Like, having that woman's touch and that woman's approach, and hey, we are that, like so many of our clients and people that were there, like we came to you because we don't know what you guys do, and we don't know what the best you know how to position this, or what the most creative thing is. So being able to, like, lean into the fact that we know what we're doing. We're the experts in this space, and we can explain why like and back that, back that up, our clients are always so receptive to the fact that they hired us for a reason. And we've never, ever once had to struggle with that kind of respect or disrespect, which we're really fortunate, too. We actually talked with another girl on our podcast. She Her name was Michelle Boykin. She's the CEO of Rackley roofing. They're a roofer here in Tennessee, really big business. But she talked about she did a presentation where she put a picture of her and her husband up on, you know, a screen in a presentation room of like it was a roofing conference or something like that. And she said, which one of these look like the roofer? Like? Is it who looks like the roofer? And they were like, oh, or does my husband look like a roofer? That's what it was. And everybody's like, yeah, yeah. Everybody, you know. And then she goes, Well, what does a roofer look like? And everybody got really quiet and really awkward, and she was like, actually, would you be surprised to know that I'm the roofer? But kind of just showing that exactly what you're saying. It's not about woman or man, but like, who has the expertise and who can get the job done at the end of the day, and breaking through that mold, because there is this perception of what, you know, those kinds of people are like, what does a roofer look like? Why is that a man? We don't know. She could go up on the roof just as easy as a man can, you know, but we've never had any sort of disrespect or anybody say in this world, even though it is a more male dominated industry, for sure.
Mark Hiddleson 37:01
Yeah, I love hearing that because I'm in my 50s and and it's funny. It's like, now I have idea, like, I never thought, I thought, always have the new ideas, right? Like, I'm gonna be that's the cutting edge where now my kids laugh at me because I say things. What's that? Because I've called Lost track, and they lie and they won't tell you, that's another thing. They just laugh. It's like, Oh, you're so far out. But I'm glad to hear because in our business, I think one of the things is, is everybody, you know, there's a generation, and they all haven't retired, like a lot of people, stay in this industry. So I think that's what makes it kind of like that people get the perception, because there's a lot of old school, but I see it changing. I love your story. I'm glad you said that, and I'm glad you're I'll get tell Nancy. I'll go, Well, it's, it's actually no big deal.
Danielle Neely 37:47
And again, I'm sure there are no there have not felt the same, no, but I will say you've been very fortunate that that is not something that we've ever had to battle. If anything, it's an internal battle. And that's what I would say to any other woman, and that's actually what Michelle Boykin and I talked about, was like you're probably holding as a as a woman or man. You're holding yourself back way farther than any man or woman or anybody, boss, manager. What you tell yourself in your head and your perception of it is reality. So if that is what you get think of when you're going into a meeting, or whatever that is, then that is your reality of it, and that's what you're gonna that's what's gonna shape your perspective on it. But you know, if you're confident you know your stuff, you know that you're the expert and the bad ass in the room, all of a sudden that perspective chain, your reality changes. So I absolutely believe in that and, and to be honest, what you just said, you're like your kids say that you like Dad, you're so far off, or you're so behind, whatever. If anything, people will go, Oh my gosh, you look so young. Like how can you you look so if anything, it's You look so young. You don't look old enough to be a business. Thank you. I get that far more than hope you're a girl in industrial it's like, how old are you again? Are you old enough to be doing
Mark Hiddleson 39:13
I just, I just gave you the keys to my company. Yeah, that's awesome. So I like the last, last question I like to ask is, what is a new technology that you're using the last I would say, year, two years, what's something that you weren't doing a year ago that you're doing now? Technology?
Danielle Neely 39:36
That's a great question. I think, like a lot of companies, understanding AI and how it fits in. That's the, probably the biggest thing as far as marketing is concerned, because I think people actually did a video that on my social or social media about this of like, why do I need a marketing company? I just have chat GTP to write me a caption or write up whatever you need. Well. You have to know how to work with AI. It's just like any other tool, you have to learn how to work with it. And I think it's something that it is super powerful, but you can see through it. You can see like, especially me as a marketer, like somebody who knows and is familiar with how those things work. You can see what is a real person, or at least, but it is a really powerful tool that can be a good starting point to give you the great idea generator of like, Hey, I have this idea. Could you kind of brainstorm with me a few more additional ideas? And AI tools are really powerful for idea generation. So I think trying to figure out how AI like, how we can utilize it, but not fully rely on it, because it is like it at the end of the day, it's not human. It tries to be. And if you ask it, it did, tells you tricky things. But that is one that is one major one that just learning how that fits in, not and not only just our world, but our clients like customers world too. And then another one I will say, is Tiktok is one of the one of everybody says, Well, shouldn't we be on Tiktok? That's all we get, that so much of, yeah, well, on Tiktok. Why aren't we on Tiktok? That's another one that we've had to kind of navigate. And there are definitely businesses that belong on Tiktok and are seeing really powerful things happen there, but we always like to come back to what is. What is your goal for being on Tiktok? Is it you want a bunch of views? Are you trying to drive new leads and have new growth, or do you want mass viral? You know what? What is your goal? Because if you want the masses and viral, Tiktok could be a great place for you. However, if you are wanting more about I want qualified pop leads or people that are in your sphere that could actually become a client, Tiktok might not be our first tactic. So there's the two things that in the past year that have come up a lot more.
Mark Hiddleson 42:04
And so what's the fun? So you're saying the final verdict on Tiktok is, I don't know. So
Danielle Neely 42:08
here's the other thing I will say too, is so Tiktok, if you're familiar with it or on it, it's people. You have to have a personality. It's not like you know, it's not pro there you people push product, and there are companies that advertise on those channels. But if you look at who is advertising there, most often times it's somebody. It's like, it's not, I wouldn't just say influencer, because that's a buzzword, but like, it's people interacting with products and telling people why this product or service works, versus and storytelling versus an advertiser popping up for a rack you don't see that on Tiktok. That's not going to work on Tiktok like it's about the way that those products are being interacted with and advertised on that channel. It's not the same as other other markets. It's not a catalog like on Amazon, where you see just a shirt walk by. It's going to be somebody talking about a shirt, interacting with the shirt, saying why you should get the shirt. So how the human aspect is selling products on Tiktok versus other places?
Mark Hiddleson 43:19
And so what would what should I want on Instagram? So we started Instagram a little over a year ago, just because I'm not a big social like. I've never had a Facebook account in my whole life. My thing is, if I ever get really mad at somebody enough, one of my friends, I'm going to join Facebook, make them a friend, and then unfriend them. Because I think I hear about people unfriending people on Facebook. And I'm like, that is so rude. But I'm like, if I'm ever really mad, if I ever get mad enough, I will join Facebook. I will friend you and unfriend you. But I got Instagram for businesses. I just see, I saw a trend. I was like, well, we should be in the beginning of this, but what? So what does a business like ours? What do I want from Instagram? I really, honestly, I don't even know. I mean, I know I want to be early to the party versus late, but I mean, I think it's new clients who go, oh, racking Napa, I'm in Napa. I need racking, or, I don't know, yeah,
Danielle Neely 44:11
there's some power in being participating in those chat channels. From what we've seen of LinkedIn, is honestly probably, if any of the most like that's going to generate the most you know qualified people looking at your content. And I would say too, what we what we've kind of talked about offline, is, how are you on LinkedIn? Specifically, are you? Is your company showing up? How are they showing up? And then, how are you as the president and the thought leader, interacting with your business on LinkedIn, because I think there's a really powerful thing on LinkedIn number one, that's where people are, like in B to B are going for really rich content that's relevant for what you sell, but then also your connections and you showing up and. Giving your perspective on what like, it's a really powerful place for driving more actual growth, whereas what we've seen Instagram and Facebook, there's a part. There's definitely a part to play, but it's more about organic search traffic. Facebook plays with Google really well, so and visibility, right? Like, from an employee standpoint, or attracting potential employees again. Where do people go? They're going to go to Facebook. Oh, are they on Instagram? But are they on LinkedIn? What is their website looking? How are you? How are you being attractive to potential employees as well? That's where social media plays such a big part too, of pretend like, how are you loving on your employees and then trading your employees, and then also, how are you attracting new talent and people from the outside as well? So from an attraction standpoint, social does a huge is a huge move,
Mark Hiddleson 45:56
awesome, and LinkedIn, I'm glad. So LinkedIn is where we focus most of our attention over the years on social, and that's where I post. That's the only place I post the podcast. I know it's on all it's on Spotify. It's on all the player podcast players would only really advertise it on LinkedIn, because it is for that core group. Like, I'm not trying to go viral with a million people. Like, if we had 20 people call us in the next 30 days, that would be awesome. It's
Danielle Neely 46:22
the power of showing it's the power of consistency and showing up too. Kind of similar to, like, the timeliness and the proactiveness of we have a client who's in the water wastewater space. He's very active. He's the president. I had him on the show too. Dustin Doughty, he does a glorious job of you know, we run his business social media content, but he shares his content and is the thought leader and shares his perspective. He's so good about sharing things that there's so much power in that. And not only that, like his employees, key employees, also share it. And this just creates this like mass visibility of your like, of your business, and then also, what he's seen is people be like, Oh, I saw you share this post. Like, who's doing your social media? Like, it looks great. It just creates buzz and good conversation, if anything else. So that he's a very good example, also, of how it works really well. Of you know, having really good, rich business content on LinkedIn. But then how do you share it in a thoughtful way, as the leader and as the the key, you know, key people in an organization, how are they sharing it as well?
Mark Hiddleson 47:34
That is awesome. So we're gonna have links to all those people that you mentioned, Michelle. What was Michelle's last name that did the great interview about women in the roofing business? Oh, shell Boykin,
Danielle Neely 47:48
that one should be is that? That one's live tomorrow? Yeah. Okay, so we're going to
Mark Hiddleson 47:53
put links to their LinkedIn profiles, and then they'll be able to find on your podcast, the industry edge share other ways. What's the best way to get a hold of you? People want to to reach out? Yeah,
Danielle Neely 48:06
for sure, KNC marketing agency.com that's where all of our past work, and you can get in contact with us. We're, of course, on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. KNC marketing agency there. But then if you wanted to reach out to me personally, my name, my email is Danielle at KNC marketing agency.com I'd absolutely love to chat with if, if anything that we've talked about is interesting to somebody listening. Love to chat more and do a free brand assessment of kind of where they stand in the marketplace. Absolutely happy to do that as well. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 48:42
you guys generated one of those for us. It's amazing. It was like a report card, and I remember looking at it, it was, it was right on, yeah, and you're taking great notes in the beginning, you had stated. You really started the opportunity better than I could have myself. So check that out. Check out the podcast. And Danielle, this has been awesome, man. I so appreciate your energy, your enthusiasm, your misses, proactive.
Danielle Neely 49:14
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. This is fun.
Intro 49:19
Thanks for listening to The Tao of Pizza Podcast. We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.
Comments