10-20 Marketing

10/28/2025

Most industrial companies don’t fail because their products or people get worse. They fall behind because the market moves faster than their mindset.

“We’ve always done it this way” used to be a strength. It meant reliability, consistency, and pride in proven results. But today, that same phrase often signals resistance to change. Buyers don’t discover suppliers the same way anymore. They’re searching, scrolling, and validating before you ever get a chance to speak.

Modernizing your marketing doesn’t mean abandoning what made you great. It means expressing those same strengths in a way that connects with how buyers make decisions today.

The companies winning in industrial markets aren’t the loudest. They’re the ones who translate their expertise into clarity, their reputation into proof, and their experience into trust.

That’s what evolution looks like.

Learn more in our latest post: https://vist.ly/4byye

10/22/2025

Is your brand reflecting the value you deliver?

Our latest blog post, “What Happens When Your Brand Doesn’t Match Your Value?”, examines a common issue we encounter across industrial and B2B companies: when the brand conveys an outdated narrative about who you are and what you offer.

When your visuals, messaging, and online presence no longer accurately reflect your current capabilities, people tend to make quick assumptions. They may think your company is smaller than it is, that your technology hasn’t kept up, or that you’re not the right partner for their needs.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way. When your brand aligns with your true value, it builds trust early, empowers your sales team, attracts better talent, and removes friction from growth.

If it’s been a while since you’ve revisited your brand, this article is a good place to start.

Read it here: https://vist.ly/4bcdg

10/14/2025

Even the clearest message can sound like noise if it’s spoken in the wrong language.

In business, this happens more often than we realize. A supplier thinks they’re communicating value, quality, or reliability, but what the customer hears doesn’t connect. Both sides are talking. Neither is being understood.

Our latest blog, 'When the Message Gets Lost in Translation,' uses a short story called 'The Frog and the Fly' to illustrate how easily meaning can be lost when we speak from our own perspective instead of our audience’s.

It’s a reminder that clarity isn’t about how confident we sound. It’s about whether the other side can actually hear us.

Read the full post here: https://vist.ly/4ad36

09/29/2025

Doug Gilmour played for six NHL teams. He even won a Stanley Cup with Calgary. But to some fans, and especially to our agency's lead, he was always a Maple Leaf.

That’s identity at work. Once someone represents something in your mind, it’s hard to see them any other way. Which is exactly what happens in business.

In industrial markets, suppliers build reputations around strengths that stick. Colour consistency. Scrap processing. Technical innovation. Over time, those strengths become their identity in the eyes of buyers. Even if the product line grows or the story shifts, perception is tough to change.

That’s why positioning matters so much. It’s not just what you sell, it’s who you are in the minds of your customers.

In our latest blog, I break down how identity and loyalty shape business decisions and what suppliers can do to own the identity they project.

Read it here: https://vist.ly/48j5d

Do you agree that identity and loyalty can outweigh performance or price when customers make decisions?

09/18/2025

Do your customers see the ocean, or the tree?

When you talk about your business, you might see the ocean. Your scale, your full range of products, your years of experience.

But your buyers may only see the tree right in front of them, which is the specific problem they need to solve today.

If you only talk about the ocean, you risk overwhelming them. If you only discuss the tree, you risk being perceived as narrow. The real art is helping them understand both the immediate solution and the bigger picture of what your company can deliver.

That balance builds confidence. It turns a transaction into a relationship. And it makes you the supplier they trust in the long term.

https://vist.ly/479jd

09/11/2025

Everyone wants to believe they’re working with “the best in the city.”

It’s human nature. Patients want to believe it about their doctors. Manufacturers want to believe it about their suppliers.

But “best” isn’t a slogan. And it isn’t static.

For coatings, metals, adhesives, or any industrial supplier, being seen as the best requires more than tradition or long-standing relationships. It takes proof. Performance. Adaptability. And a clear understanding of the pressures buyers face in production and procurement.

Because just like patients seek second opinions, manufacturers are always evaluating whether they’re truly getting the best.

Read the full post here: https://vist.ly/46f3i

09/03/2025

Stop Writing for the People Who Already Know You

Too many industrial companies fall into the same trap: writing content for insiders. The people who already know your acronyms, your specs, your shorthand.

But your best prospects? They’re not insiders yet. They’ve just landed on your site from search. They’re comparing five tabs. They need to explain your value to their team next week. And if they can’t quickly see how you fit, they’re gone.

When you write only for the converted, you shrink your audience, confuse new buyers, and force prospects to do extra work just to figure out if you’re worth a conversation.

The solution isn’t to dumb things down. It’s to meet buyers where they are. Show them you understand their world before you ask them to understand yours.

We wrote more about how to rethink your content for people who don’t speak your language (yet). Link to the comments below.

08/28/2025

When “High Quality” Doesn’t Cut It

Every industrial brand leans on the same words: high quality, reliable, trusted. Buyers have heard it all before, and without proof, those promises fall flat.

What they believe isn’t adjectives — it’s evidence. Certifications, test results, application data, even photos of products performing under pressure. That’s what builds credibility.

Most prospects are comparing you to competitors before you ever speak. If they’re showing proof and you’re leading with clichés, you’re already behind.

The takeaway is simple: back it up or cut it out.

We explore this in more depth in our latest blog: https://vist.ly/44vv9

08/26/2025

Stop Guessing. Start Targeting.

Too many industrial marketers chase volume instead of value. The result? Wasted time and wasted trust.

Buyer data changes that. It shows you who’s researching, what they care about, and when they’re ready to act — so you can focus on the conversations that matter.

With the right insights, sales stops feeling random and starts feeling relevant.

Read the full post: https://vist.ly/44kea

08/21/2025

Why Your Engineers Shouldn’t Own the Messaging

Most industrial companies let the product team shape the message. That’s a mistake.

Engineers know the product better than anyone. But turning features into a compelling buyer story? That’s a marketing job.

When marketing leads the messaging, sales has something they can repeat, buyers actually understand the value, and product teams get real feedback from the market.

Translation beats explanation. Every time.

Read the full post:

Let marketing lead the messaging by Mark Goren | Aug 6, 2025 | Uncategorized When Marketing Leads the Messaging, Everyone Wins How shifting storytelling out of R&D’s hands can accelerate growth and simplify sales In many industrial companies, product development runs like a well-oiled machine. Spe...

08/12/2025

In many industrial companies, product development runs like a well-oiled machine. Specs get written, features get tested, and the engineering team is proud of what they’ve built. But when it’s time to share that story with the market, things start to slow down.

Why? Because the messaging — the “why it matters” — often lands with the people who built the product, not the ones trained to communicate it. And while engineers are experts in how a product works, they’re rarely equipped (or eager) to translate that into compelling buyer-focused language.

The good news? Shifting storytelling out of R&D’s hands can accelerate growth and simplify sales. Read on for more!

https://vist.ly/434c4

08/08/2025

At 10|20 Marketing, we help companies in Industrial Materials Supply rethink how they engage with manufacturers. We specialize in performance marketing that generates high-quality leads, increases revenue, and positions your business as a trusted partner in the supply chain.

We’ve honed and developed a proven, holistic approach to marketing because it’s the most effective way to align strategy, creativity, and distribution for measurable growth—growth that impacts not just your bottom line, but also how manufacturers perceive your value.

Ready to get to work? Contact us today, and let's go!

https://vist.ly/32pvr

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