Small Robots, Big Challenges: Inside the Art of Marketing Industrial Automation

Discover how Academic Industrial Robotics turns the complex world of micro automation into a cool, accessible, and marketable tech space, tackling marketing hurdles and uncovering the secrets behind small part automation success.Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of the Hard to Market Podcast.Why marketing industrial robotics is tougher than everMicroAutomation: Automating tiny parts for big industriesOvercoming space constraints with compact robotic armsCreative education & content over NDA challengesLessons in collaboration & data-driven marketing strategiesResources:Mecademic Industrial RoboticsPodcast ChefDevNoodleConnect with Sam El Falah:LinkedInConnect with our hosts:Alex Garashchenko - LinkedInBrian Mattocks - LinkedInQuotables:18:29 - I would say that is one of the hardest parts for us because of all the things around NDA. It's hard for us to do use cases. And one thing that we're slowly pivoting towards is kind of revitalizing the whole concept of a use case and maybe just call it like an application note. I know those exist, but for us, we refer to those as ways that we can incorporate the technical know-how of a systems integrator that knows our products well and just give us kind of like a step-by-step of how they created the automation without mentioning any industry or end user or customer. And so when those come into play, I find it super useful, especially during the sales cycle, because as humans, we really need to see it to believe it, right? And the proof is in the practice.21:11 - One thing that really helped us is maximizing the complementarity of paid ads like retargeting as well as lookalike lists. So from the use cases that were very successful but not necessarily open to public, we tried to market and retarget companies that look like them or similar to them. So that was a lot of work that was done on the marketing side. I know usually prospecting is something that we see around sales, but more and more, you know, sales and marketing start to overlap one another. And so we definitely try to help as much as we can in terms of prospecting through what we already know22:33 - As we're growing, maturing in who we are, we're understanding that, you know, having a voice towards 10,000 people might not always be as beneficial as the right 10. So we're trying to diversify. Coming from the banking and financial sector, I think any portfolio should be diversified, and marketing should also be seen the same way. So the more I diversify our initiatives in terms of prospecting, the more I can help better understand the audience that can really leverage are robotic solutions within their automation and/or production line.29:11 - So I think that one of the challenges with a lot of this stuff is you get into situations where, like you said, everyone's got IP, and it's all locked behind legal paperwork and all that kind of stuff. It becomes difficult in a lot of cases to do marketing to say like, oh, yeah, we do this really cool thing where we put this chip inside this other thing. Because if it's involved in a defense system or if it's involved in, you know, somebody's proprietary product, you know, you run the risk of getting in trouble. So you can't even tell your whole story, which is problematic37:21 - So make them, big proponents of AB testing. I would say the second one is, you know, always being on the forefront of the marketing landscape. I think the technical component, you have your SMEs for that. Just focus on making sure that you are your top expert within marketing. So whether it's webinars, newsletters, just be staying up to speed with what's out there, even if it's a trend. And then third component, I would say collaborating with all departments as much as you can, because surprisingly, a lot of them have very creative mindsets. So whether we're talking R&D, engineering, procurement, finance, a lot of great ideas have come for us when we do collaborate as a company-wide team. Connect with our host, Brian Mattocks:LinkedInEmailSchedule a Free Podcast Consult