The Customer Journey Maestro

If you can't beat them, join them. I have resigned from my own career as a freelance writer because AI is replacing people like me, and there's no point in waiting around for the inevitable. Now I'm focused on learning how business people can leverage AI. I don't yet have a service to offer around this, but I'm happy to discuss the practical applications of AI anytime.

B2B Strategy Advisor and Consultant

I specialize in building and executing content marketing strategies for companies seeking sustained revenue growth. My process is to create a customized messaging framework (aka, “brand story”), develop a content strategy and calendar, and execute the content strategy by building a content team and/or writing brand content.

Fractional Content Director

I love to write and create content of all kinds. My broad and deep experience across sales, marketing, and customer success gives me a unique perspective and the ability to write compelling content for just about any industry. My approach is to get the inside truth from the people behind each story, and I don’t believe in taking shortcuts. I write and publish for your customers, to engage them, educate them, and compel them to take action. The SEO stuff comes along for the ride. Let’s talk about your freelance writing/content needs.

Freelance Writer

I help B2B companies build and execute modern marketing strategies focused on customers.

B2B Marketing Advisor

Hire me on a full-time or part-time basis to up-level your go-to-market strategy. And it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Go-to-Market Strategy Advisor

Your customers have their own Journey that may not match your Funnel or Flywheel. If you want to understand their journey and be there when they need you, that takes work. Designing a customer experience that builds trust, now that's another level entirely. I'm here to help - on your journey.

Customer Journey Guide

On-demand expertise in marketing strategy, demand generation, content marketing, social media marketing, product and customer marketing, sales and marketing alignment, and customer success.

Fractional CMO/VP Marketing

CMO for Hire

Are you in transition? Starting from scratch or making a pivot to a new revenue growth strategy? My Virtual CMO services provide proven expertise to help you jumpstart sales, marketing, and customer experience prior to hiring executives and staffing departments. It's a low-cost, low-risk way to get the strategic advice you need.

Virtual CMO

Riptide Business Press

Ed Marsh and I have written a book, titled Common Sense Revenue Growth, that helps CEOs understand the digital and consumer disruption facing them today and develop plans to grow in spite of those challenges. Buy the book at www.commonsenserevenuegrowth.com.

Author, Podcaster and Consultant

Kuno Creative

Co-owned one of the first and most successful inbound marketing agencies, Kuno Creative. Grew the agency from a handful of talented marketers and designers to a 50+ person agency with clients ranging from national healthcare and technology companies to international consortiums and manufacturing giants. Specialized in marketing technology and sales enablement - helping companies fix leaky funnels and sales pipelines via strategy, marketing automation and optimized CRM utilization. Please visit Kuno's website, www.kunocreative.com for more information, or follow me on LinkedIn.

EVP and Co-Owner

Awakening Technology Company

Developed corporate websites from scratch using HTML/CSS, then created a proprietary CMS for creating client sites backed by a SQL database using ASP.net and later, Ruby on Rails.

Web Developer

Zydeco Energy

Independent oil and gas exploration company in Houston, TX. No longer in business.

Executive Vice President and CTO

INEXS

Exploration Geophysicist

Raytheon - GeoQuest

Product Marketing Specialist

Shell

Research professional working in electron microscopy for Shell Research and in geophysical interpretation research for Shell Exploration and Production.

Research Geoscientist

B2B Marketing Strategy Advisor With Company, Agency, and Freelance Chops

I retired in 2017 from a 40-year career, mostly in sales and marketing, for a variety of energy, manufacturing, and software companies. My penultimate position was co-owner of Kuno Creative, a digital marketing agency and one of HubSpot's first agency partners. My contributions continue as I seek to help other agency owners, professionals, and free-wheelers navigate their way through gnarly challenges in business and life.

John McTigue

CloudNC

Sales and Customer Success Engineer

RSLV.agency

My ultimate goal is to help you attract more of your ideal customer to increase business performance. No long-term expensive commitments, just results. 

-Brand Strategy
-Sales-Focused Websites
-Content Creation Systems
-Premium Ghostwriting

Drive revenue for your manufacturing business with a brand and content strategy that just works.

Founder

ProShop ERP

Leverage my deep understanding of our core product to articulate what is different and better and remarkable about our offering when compared to competitor solutions. My primary focus has been to create the brand strategy, positioning, messaging, and sales enablement tools to close a higher volume of qualified leads.

-Clarify the brand message so that prospects burn less calories trying to understand how the ProShop platform will improve their life and business, resulting in prospects taking action to purchase within a shorter sales cycle. 

-Execute on the GTM plan for our add-on products with a focus on simplifying the complexities of highly technical manufacturing software and positioning these products as the resolution to known customer pain points. 

-Equip the growing sales team with sales scripts, competitor battlecards, video recordings, and talking points that articulate the benefits of our products.

Product Marketing Manager

Engaged several qualified prospects each day with technical demonstrations of our core software product to position it as the solution to their business challenges. Technical demonstrations were often uniquely tailored to the specific customer to help them envision their success with the product.   

-Led 3-5 technical demonstrations of our core product on a daily basis to small and large companies alike both in-person and remotely via zoom (majority via zoom).

-Developed effective messaging based on customer profile, industry, and unique challenges. Effectively positioned the product as the solution to their pain points.

Product Solutions Engineer

G.S. Machine and Tool Inc

G.S. Machine and Tool Inc. is a precision metal component manufacturer for a variety of industries.

-Installed a business operating system to realize significant growth to revenue and profitability.

-Facilitated 3X revenue growth within 18 months with targeted sales and marketing efforts.

-Increased profitability by 20% within 18 months due to operation efficiency gains. 

-Strategic growth to customer base in new markets. 

-Implementation of ERP system and other digitization processes to improve operational efficiency.

-Lead product development projects from ideation through to pre-commercialization.

General Manager

Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (WAMIC)

The Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre is a research and development service provider for Niagara Region’s Manufacturing sector. 

-Established processes and procedures for working in a collaborative manufacturing research laboratory. 

-Manage and execute internal and external technical projects.

-Facilitate meetings with research teams to develop project plans and timelines. 

-Lead sales activity of technical service team.

-Grew technical service revenue and customer base.

-Generate and track KPI’s in accordance with growth targets.

Research Technologist

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

Research and development of equipment and processes for the horticulture industry with a focus on cost savings through the automation of labour-intensive tasks. 

-Design and development of automated equipment.

-Conduct beta testing in industry environments and determine overall equipment effectiveness. 

-Management of multi-client service-based R&D programs.

-Collaboration with industry partners. 

-Equipment commissioning in an industry environment. 

-Topical presentations, tours, and demonstrations.

𝐇𝐞𝐲! - 𝐈'𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.
  
[𝑨𝒏 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆]
 
Being a manufacturer means that you get things done.
 
Even when everyday challenges get in the way.
 
Manufacturers need to work smarter in order to achieve better results.
 
Your passion and technical expertise likely led you into this industry.
 
But perhaps you’re tired of putting out fires every day.
 
Maybe your business isn’t growing like you want it to, despite the long hours.
 
The truth is, you don’t need to go through life feeling burnt out and frustrated.
 
What if you could approach your work as a manufacturer in a way that reduces frustration while garnering better business results? 
 
This is the question I'm here to answer.
 
You just need the right tools, a plan, and a winning attitude.
 
At the end of the day, what binds us together are three simple goals:
 
1. To succeed at the work we love in a way that is personally fulfilling. 
  
2. To restore, elevate, and succeed in domestic manufacturing. 
  
3. Flexibility to get outside of the business now and again for the things and people who matter most.   



So here's a question: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤?

Without a plan, manufacturers have a difficult time growing their businesses effectively. My goal is to equip manufacturers with tips, strategies, and resources so they can achieve sustainable growth and avoid business failure.

Let me know if I can help with anything,

DV

PS - I'd love it if you joined my newsletter: https://professionalized-manufacturer.kit.com/a2f2ad810d

David Vuyk, C.E.T.

Your capabilities list could be costing you deals.

I was reviewing a customer's website last week and they buried their biggest competitive advantage under technical specs. No context. No translation. Just a "Capabilities List"

Here's the thing: buyers don't care about machines. They care about outcomes.

So yes, list your capabilities, but go one step further and tell them WHY it matters:

'We have 5-axis machines' 
Translation: 'We eliminate multiple setups, saving you weeks of lead time.'

'We hold ±0.0005 tolerances' 
Translation: 'You won't waste time on non-conforming parts or costly re-work.'

'We've invested in pallet automation' 
Translation: 'You get consistent delivery, even when deadlines are tight.'

Big takeaway here is: Take those technical specs and transform them into customer wins.

Next time you update your site or capability sheet, ask yourself: Would a buyer immediately understand why this matters to them?

That's it. Simple shift, big impact.

David Vuyk

The best manufacturing shops don't sell capabilities anymore. They sell reliability.

Buyers assume you can make good parts, hit quality specs, and meet delivery timelines. That's table stakes in 2025. If you're still leading with 'look at our shiny new CNC machine,' you're already losing to your competition.

What buyers actually want? A partner who picks up the phone. Who gives clear status updates on priority jobs. Who gives them peace of mind that their supply chain won't be the reason they miss their deadlines.

When you shift the conversation from 'here's what we can do' to 'here's what's at risk for you, and how we mitigate that risk' - everything changes.

You don't want to be another quote in a buyer's inbox. You want to be the partner they can't afford to lose - the one they call first when a rush order comes in at 4pm on Friday.

Manufacturing leaders - what's the #1 thing that makes a shop 'reliable' in your eyes? (would love to hear from Paul Van Metre, Mike Payne, & Nick Goellner on this)

P.S. - If you're selling in manufacturing and want to talk through how to reframe your pitch, shoot me a DM.

P.P.S - Digital work orders and machine monitoring make this 10x easier - you can pull up job status while you're still on the phone with your buyer. That's the kind of reliability that wins contracts.

This desk was built to last. I’ve had it for several years, but it’s been around a lot longer than me. Probably more than a few different owners in It’s 50+ year career.

I bought it from a local thrift store when I went out on my own back in 2019. Plenty of late nights that year grinding it out and getting launched. Doubt I'd ever be able to part ways with it.  

Most people wouldn’t recognize or appreciate the fine details like the joinery, the mechanical locking mechanisms, the built in drawer dividers, the pull-out handwriting pads.

It was built to last by a true craftsman and serves as a reminder for everything im doing right now

Not everyone will notice the details, the extra effort, or the late nights - but that’s not the point when you’re doing impactful work that matters.

Plenty of wear and tear on it now - big moves, stressful situations, and yeah - I should really start to use a coaster 😂 . Each mark tells a story.

Whether you're a machinist, a business owner, or in software like me: build it to last.

When you care about quality, your work endures.

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David Vuyk, C.E.T.

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