In this episode of the Industrial Marketing Leaders Podcast, Jacob Baldwin of United Grinding shares how his team uses video content, the scientific method, and macroeconomic insights to guide industrial marketing strategy. He explains why understanding customer pain points and industry trends—like EV growth and legislation—is key to crafting relevant content and lead generation campaigns. Jacob also discusses how storytelling, automation tools like HubSpot, and alignment with sales teams drive measurable success in the manufacturing space.
Key Highlights:
Jacob Baldwin highlighted how United Grinding uses video to tell customer stories, spotlight application success, and bring the manufacturing process to life, moving beyond polished, sterile imagery to capture the true grit and skill of their clients’ work. He explained that video’s ability to show nonverbal cues, emotion, and real results not only builds trust and authority with prospects but makes customer-driven storytelling far more compelling than anything produced solely from the company’s perspective.
Steady Progress Over Haste: Jacob’s roots in fast-paced tech startups showed him how different the industrial sector moves. He notes that meaningful transformation, especially in large organizations, doesn’t happen overnight. There’s value in respecting the natural pace of change, setting clear expectations, and making room for incremental improvement.
Human Connections Matter: Industrial sales often involve significant investments and complex machinery, where trust is built over time. Jacob stresses the long-term benefits of nurturing relationships within the team and with customers. For United Grinding, repeat business and referrals hinge on these steady bridges, making relationships just as valuable as any marketing strategy.
Riding the Tides of Legislation and Economy: Jacob gives concrete examples of how market shifts, driven by government incentives or changes in regulations, create opportunities for new business. By tracking these trends, United Grinding is able to pivot content and communications to speak directly to what’s relevant for their audience, from EV components to defense contracts.
Meeting Customers Where They Are: One of Jacob’s guiding principles is diving deep into the daily realities of the customer. By mapping out buyer Personas and understanding who’s involved at every stage, United Grinding creates resources and messages that address the real concerns, priorities, and questions that arise throughout a lengthy industrial purchase.
Top Questions and Answers from the Podcast
What stands out as the most important lesson in your marketing journey?
Jacob reflects on how respecting different work cultures and managing expectations can mean the difference between successful transformation and frustration, especially moving from a startup environment to global industrial organizations.
How does economic policy change your day-to-day work?
Jacob reveals how much they rely on macroeconomic intelligence, legislative activity, and projected trends to adapt content and communication. Those who stay in tune with these forces can better connect with what their customers are living through right now.
Is video worth the investment in such a technical field?
Video has a unique way of connecting with people, even in technical industries where precise details and numbers matter. Jacob has believed in using video since his early days at a software startup. Back then, he started a case study program where customers shared their experiences on camera instead of just being quoted in written documents. He saw firsthand how having someone speak on video brings out much more than words alone. Body language, tone of voice, and those small moments—like a genuine smile or an excited gesture—show just how much a solution or product means to someone. You just can’t capture that kind of emotion or impact on a page.
Jacob and his team have fully embraced that approach at United Grinding. They created a series called “Unstoppable Grit,” which highlights the perseverance and commitment that customers show in their daily work. These videos take viewers inside real shops, sometimes immaculate and sometimes bearing the marks of hard work, to tell the stories of people making products with incredibly tight tolerances, down to microns. Whether it’s parts for electric vehicles, orthopedic tools, or aerospace components, showing the process alongside honest stories from skilled technicians adds another layer of credibility and connection.
Seeing the places where things are made, along with heartfelt perspectives from those doing the work, helps build trust. It goes beyond technical descriptions, giving viewers a complete picture of the people, the process, and what’s at stake. That openness helps others see not just the product but the people and passion behind it.
For Jacob, video isn’t just something extra. It’s a key part of how he builds relationships and showcases real achievements. By letting real voices and experiences come through on camera, he shows the results that matter most—people helping people, solving problems, and pushing through tough challenges. Video helps make all of that tangible to anyone watching.
Why focus so much on Personas and buyer journeys?
In purchases made by committee, messages and content need to reflect the needs of different stakeholders. Jacob advocates for research and empathy, crafting marketing that makes each Persona feel seen and understood.
What’s your go-to marketing tool?
Jacob names HubSpot, which supports everything from automation to lead qualification—a workhorse platform that helps tie sales and marketing together and brings clarity to marketing’s results.
Closing Thoughts
Jacob Baldwin and Jeff Long peel back the curtain on industrial marketing, showing that it’s just as much about people and progress as it is about machines and numbers. Patience, curiosity, and empathy drive steady results, while storytelling—especially through video—lets the spirit of the industry shine.
Experience the full conversation on the Industrial Marketing Leaders Podcast. Subscribe to learn from leaders like Jacob Baldwin, who remind us that even in the most technical industries, marketing is about responding to people: their needs, their pace, and their stories.