The US construction industry remains a highly competitive market, creating challenges for competing firms to differentiate themselves. Meanwhile, many of these companies don’t have the internal capacity to learn modern marketing well because of understaffing, lack of knowledge, and complex marketing jargon. On the bright side, over the past year, &Marketing has been able to support the acceleration of a rapidly growing construction firm through a combination of marketing strategy & execution by overcoming these challenges.

Business Challenge Summary

&Marketing’s client partner is a manufacturer that supplies capital equipment to the US construction industry. The client had seen swift growth in the past two years based on the internal team’s industry experience and network, but was concerned about plateauing. The organization wanted to ensure they were standing out in a sea of competitors to continue this growth at a steady pace, so they turned to &Marketing for help with an outsourced solution.

&Marketing’s Solution

&Marketing started work by developing a fundamental understanding of the complexities during the purchasing process in the construction industry. The & team interviewed client team members to gather a greater understanding of ins and outs of the construction business and followed it with a structured market study of current and potential decision-makers (procurement, construction managers, company leadership). &Marketing mapped each decision maker, their selection and purchase criteria (beyond competitive price), and where each gathered information about new products, services, and vendors. Based on this, &Marketing developed a playbook which linked their strategy to a set of execution tactics and aligned the internal leadership team to it.

The &Marketing team focused initial activation efforts on the firm’s website by updating the company’s basic information, adding a dedicated section to display completed projects, recent company events, and employee profiles. This information provided the foundation for a content strategy (including a cohesive executional calendar) to keep the website content fresh. A social media plan (including scheduling software and a campaign to improve internal LinkedIn profiles) distributed this content to reach these key B2B decision makers. Concurrently, &Marketing analyzed data on each post to determine the most effective content pieces.

Finally, &Marketing implemented a Google PPC (pay-per-click) campaign centered around the client’s core services. The campaign focused on generating website leads from individuals searching the web to find similar services.

Results

The client partner’s outsourced digital marketing execution team was able to quickly and affordably complete these marketing tasks, which generated an average of 5+ leads per month, all trackable through website activity. As a result, the client’s website traffic more than tripled, the website bounce rate was less than half, and search volume increased on all major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For a firm that didn’t have an existing marketing department, &Marketing’s outsourced solution helped them build a solid case for continued effort and future investment.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

Business Challenge Summary

Our client is an engineering consultancy with a vast portfolio of services that range from temporary contractor placement and recruitment to process implementation and one-off engineering projects.

A manager and coordinator comprised the existing marketing team prior to the engagement of &Marketing. They were experienced in public relations and content generation; however, the growing company needed help with other areas of marketing including strategy, productization, web development, marketing automation, graphic design, social media, and analytics.

When the marketing manager resigned unexpectedly, their increasing marketing needs were beyond what one person could reasonably provide, so they turned to &Marketing.

&Marketing’s Solution

&Marketing brought in a team of professionals coordinated by a single point of contact. We took on several roles for this client:

• Senior level strategy advice
• Product marketing
• Web development
• Marketing automation
• PR support
• Trade show and event planning
• Marketing and sales collateral
• Regular weekly and monthly reporting
• Graphic design
• Content development (such as blogs and news articles)
• Email marketing and drip campaigns

Most importantly, the existing marketing coordinator was integrated into the &Marketing team throughout our relationship. We provided her with the resources and support she needed to elevate her efforts and achieve their marketing goals.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

Business Challenge Summary

Joe’s Next Door (https://joesnextdoor.com/) is a gourmet sandwich restaurant located in downtown Carmel, IN. Their delicious, award-winning sandwiches drew the crowds in but they were losing business due to the delay in prep time, which turned off midday patrons who need to grab lunch in a hurry. To overcome this issue of speed, they needed an easy system for customers to order ahead online so they can “pick-up and go.” They turned to &Marketing to help design their eCommerce site and integrate it with their kitchen to create a seamless lunchtime experience for both the hardworking staff and their hungry customers.

eCommerce Site Development

&Marketing designed, developed, and launched a custom eCommerce extension to Joe’s Next Door. With WordPress and WooCommerce, we were able to deliver an online store that functioned fully on both desktop and mobile devices with a simple two-step order and checkout process.

Backend/Kitchen Integration

To make sure that Joe’s ordering system integrated cohesively with their current business process, &Marketing also developed a custom backend system to coordinate with the kitchen crew. The backend system runs on a mounted iPad that notifies the crew of orders, prints out the orders for the line cook, and allows the crew to contact the customer via text message once their order is ready to pick-up. The program also allows the kitchen to open and close the ordering system on a timer that coincides with store hours.

Results

Although this system was only recently implemented, early orders have indicated an improvement in synchronization and accuracy, and there have been no technical issues between the ordering, communication with the kitchen, and financial systems. Joe’s Next Door is beginning the new year with confidence, and the management team is anticipating a 20% boost in lunchtime revenue order volume in 2019.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

Business Challenge Summary

With digital retail markets becoming increasingly prevalent, bad actors in these online spaces are rising in number. Many organizations don’t realize their products are being resold through online markets like Amazon, or that their brands are being associated with knock-off items and sold without their consent. Even those who do recognize this issue often struggle with effective retaliation.

&Marketing’s client partner, Gray Falkon (www.grayfalkon.com) is an expert in combating these third-party sellers and has a mission to share their expertise with companies that would most benefit from learning about gray market anti-counterfeiting best practices. Gray Falkon’s approach helps brands of all sizes reduce unauthorized resellers on platforms like Amazon by as much as 50% in just a couple of weeks. They focus on targeting gray market products and unauthorized third-party sellers.

Gray Falkon needed to build awareness to drive awareness and leads, so they turned to &Marketing to assist with the creation and distribution of new branded content to get their services known by the decision makers who matter.

What We Did:

The &Marketing team worked with Gray Falkon to create an inside sales program that would build brand awareness and sales opportunities, based on a five-step action plan:

• Create a digital counterfeiting-focused eBook, centered around actual industry best practices for preventing gray market activity.
• Plan an inside sales program to market Gray Falkon directly to 1000 target prospects (decision makers in brand marketing, e-commerce sales, and legal departments) by using the eBook as a free initial offering. This program consisted of a mix of phone calls and emails over a 2-3 week period preceding Thanksgiving, a crucial time for brand owners on Amazon given the proximity to the holiday season.
• Conduct an outreach initiative to potential Gray Falkon clients, aiming to create consultation opportunities and additional sales leads.
• Accumulate data and provide regular reports on lead development and sales program progress.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

Our client partner is a rapidly growing organic snack foods company with distribution in several regional and national retailers, including nation-wide club stores. Their organic growth has been driven by high-quality, delicious products and a compelling and engaging origin story. As a result of their success, this small company needed to professionalize their marketing with a variety of skills, but faced a limited budget.

Business Challenge Summary

Before working with &Marketing, our client was looking for ways to grow sales through improved consumer brand awareness and a better online presence. They already had a small but loyal consumer base, but their broad messaging wasn’t effectively reaching their target consumer segments. Online, their presence was effective but inconsistent. Their website had an out-dated store finder, and did not have a blog or other content on the site to establish consumer trust and thought leadership. Although sales were growing, no initiatives were in place to build community and leverage existing customers for additional sales (such as an influencer program or recurring newsletter).

&Marketing’s Approach

Through a comprehensive approach, &Marketing took on the role of an outsourced marketing department. First, we created a “playbook” to align the business’s vision with a defined marketing strategy and a clear action plan. To do this, we collaborated with the company’s leadership team to deepen their segmentation, develop the messaging for each audience, and create a content and social media calendar.

During this playbook period, &Marketing:  

• Built on the client’s two existing broad demographic segments to develop five precise, targeted consumer segments
• Conducted a series of pilot programs through Google, social media platforms, and influencer marketing.
• Developed a monthly reporting method to measure online and in-store sales.
• Upgraded the foundations of their website to include an updated and easy-to-use store finder, user-friendly eCommerce, more impactful articulation of their origin story, and a dedicated blog for news and updates.
• Created a rolling 3-6 month implementation plan.

Once we finalized the playbook, &Marketing commenced our coordinated monthly execution approach, encompassing several workstreams. We initiated various paid advertising vehicles, such as Google Shopping, Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram. We also absorbed daily management of Facebook and Instagram, including photography, to increase variety and liven up their social feeds. To further enhance the client’s Instagram engagement, we created a Brand Ambassador program, which the client had wanted to do for some time.

&Marketing also created consistent and compelling content through regular original articles and monthly email newsletters, which reinforced brand awareness and drove eCommerce sales. We also worked to improve the ‘path to purchase’ for website sales.

Additionally, when the client secured a major promotion with a national club store, &Marketing executed a sell-through program, utilizing both paid and organic vehicles. This promotional process included the creation of sales team collateral and an online form for consumers to download to request distribution at their own local retailers.

Through Amazon, we also enhanced the product’s online presence and optimized sales using Brand Registry, ASINs, and Amazon Prime. In order to combat Amazon 3rd party resellers, we partnered with Gray Falkon, a company focused on reducing the impact of the gray market.

Results

During the first year of our partnership together, &Marketing has helped drive tangible results across the board:

• Increased monthly sales by nearly 3x via website eCommerce, driven by paid search (including Google Shopping ads and PPC), social advertising on Facebook and Instagram, a monthly email campaign, and the new brand ambassador program.
• Nearly doubled sales through Amazon due to the elimination of 3rd party sellers, improved listings (securing ASINs, completing brand registry, better SEO rich product descriptions), and efficient shipping procedures.
• Grew the client’s email distribution list by 54%.
• Increased sales, drove traffic to the client’s website and dramatically increased engagement on social media through the Brand Ambassador program.
• Increased Facebook and Instagram followers and engagement.
• Generated strong retail sell-through and a re-orders through the national club store promotion.

As our client partner continues its growth trajectory, &Marketing remains its ‘outsourced marketing department,’ providing strategy and implementation, and continues these efforts along with capitalizing on new initiatives as opportunities arise.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

&Marketing’s client partner is an IT company that specializes in the reduction of turnover and cost of hires for companies across industries. They build longstanding partnerships with employers looking to hire local, qualified talent. The professional driver industry is growing steadily and rapidly in the USA, with 6% annual projected growth over the next five years. These companies are also facing challenges attracting and retaining qualified drivers, which makes them a potential fit for our client. The overall goal was to use this analysis as part of a broader effort to obtain further funding to support the company’s growth.

Business Challenge Summary

With a leadership team preparing the company for expansion, our client partner looked to conduct a market sizing and opportunity analysis for the hiring market for professional drivers in the United States. They faced a lack of empirical knowledge and internal resources to conduct the analysis, so they turned to &Marketing for resources, intelligence and strategic tools to help make an informed decision to how to grow within the hiring market for drivers, which faced strict regulatory requirements, high turnover, and a myriad of new entrants.

&Marketing’s Approach

Through a data-driven approach, &Marketing was able to provide an insightful analysis of the transportation sector in order to empower this client to better understand which pockets of the industry were growing, what types of companies made up the industry, examples of companies in each sub-sector, and the basic needs of each group of potential employees.

The &Marketing team conducted internal client interviews, mined publicly available data sources, and searched through the subscription-based service Statista to gather data and create a revenue model. The goals were to showcase:

• The overall size of the market (number of drivers)

• How the market subdivided itself based on the need for driver certifications & qualifications, types of drivers, and other factors
• The distinct composition and unique needs of each segment of drivers

This analysis also included customer lists for each segment, major trends surrounding them, and a revenue model to calculate potential client opportunity. &Marketing concluded this market research and analysis by delivering a recommended pilot program for a specific business unit, displaying the market potential and paving the way for the rest of the business units.

About &Marketing:

&Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

&Marketing provides seasoned marketing strategy professionals and a nimble execution team to help our clients achieve their goals. Our unique partnership model allows us to launch or augment our client’s existing teams in an affordable, flexible, and transparent way.

Have a research project but don’t have the horses in-house to get the work done? Need to spruce up your investor presentation so that its worth of a large investment?

Contact an expert at &Marketing to learn more.