Over the past year, we’ve heard a lot of people say “we live in unprecedented times”. This is not without reason. The ever-changing economic landscape has affected businesses. Working with so many clients, we were able to influence the way businesses adapted to stay on top of it.
Businesses that are highlyaffected by a situation such as the one we live in since early 2020 can be found on one end of this spectrum. Businesses that are designed to thrive, not just survive, are on the other end of the spectrum.
Four B2B client examples were selected to illustrate the COVID-19 pandemic. Some clients are positioned well and others not so much.
Shipping Audit and Consulting Services provider
Our first client was an excellent example of a company that had a very good business position and experienced massive growth in the summer of 2020.
Most consumers will never even be aware that this business exists. They offer services to large ecommerce companies/any business with a high shipping bill annually to ensure that UPS/FedEx/etc. are not taking advantage of them by overcharging invoices or price gouging in contract negotiations. This client claims that they can save their partners 30% on shipping costs annually.
This can have a huge financial impact on a company that spends $1M+ in shipping each year.
Our marketing team had to figure out how to incorporate this cost-saving, highly valuable mechanism into our marketing plan. It could save jobs. In the 1989 smash Field of Dreams , Kevin Costner was told “If you build it they will come.”
What we’ve built.
Our primary focus was our organic and paid search engine marketing. In the early days of COVID-19, businesses were looking for cost-saving measures. Our digital agency expanded paid search keyword programming in order to cast a wider net than our traditional “high intention” search strategy. Our SEO team also had a huge advantage, as we already had two years worth of SEO work under our belts. This put us in a much better position to increase relevant searches for our client.
We also created thought leadership materials for their sales team, which they could send to cold leads and promote via Display campaigns. We worked together to spread the word that our client could help struggling businesses as well as those businesses experiencing a 500%+ increase in orders.
The final results included an 114% increase in monthly Sales Qualified leads, millions in revenue growth as well as a reduction in the length of the sales process. What’s the best part? The only way our client gets paid is based on what their partners save. Our client stepped up to the plate when it was needed, and as a result several businesses were able to enjoy a healthy bank account.
Digital Product Development Agency
One of our clients, who specializes in digital product development, was in a unique position to meet this increased demand. People are increasingly relying on apps to do everything from order food to share the latest hot dance. As companies rushed to meet the demands of a rapidly growing user base, many had to either enhance existing apps or quickly create new ones.
Before the Coronavirus outbreak, this company offered primarily digital product development services. We quickly realized, however, that the market was referring to them as much more than a DPD company, and that app development would see a surge in interest. We wanted to take advantage of this interest by capturing searches that were specifically looking for app consulting and app development.
We launched paid search campaigns that targeted these app development and consulting keywords. We were able, by quickly adapting to this growth in interest and changing the messaging of our offerings, to generate $1.5M worth of pipeline in just four months on a budget less than $10K/month.
Water Refill Stations Provider for Business and Consumers
One of our clients has been through a rollercoaster ride during the COVID-19 Pandemic and is stronger than ever. They saw a huge increase in sales of their modern water filling station early this year. It became a staple at offices, gyms, and hotels all over the country. The company also found a home at music festivals and races, where they serve premium water to the attendees. Then came the Coronavirus outbreak, which shut down offices, gyms and retailers around the globe.
We realized that despite a few rocky months during which we helped them pivot to allow them to sell directly consumers, they were in a unique position to help organizations evolve, and provide a safe and sanitary water dispenser option to their guests, employees and customers when they began to open. We began to promote their refill station, highlighting its essential role in the reopening of the hotel.
This complete overhaul began to pay off as companies began to plan for the “new norm” and realized that water fountains, water coolers, etc. of the past would never be useful again. The search volume increased and lead generation started to increase. Because we were able to work with the company to develop this new messaging, and to get ahead of any inevitable rise in interest and demand in the future, they had their biggest lead gen month ever.
Power Digital
Last but not least, we would like to tell you our own story. As marketers, we had to deal with our own challenges as well as those of our clients due to the Coronavirus epidemic. Businesses have to decide what to do with their Marketing Strategy Budget when times are tough: either double down and try to recover the losses or cut costs to save money.
Faced with these challenges, our team was focused on a single goal by the leadership: to find new partners who are winning now. All employees were asked to spend a few minutes each day researching these businesses and identifying the contacts. This information was then passed on to our sales team. We also encouraged the entire team to do outreach themselves! We gave rewards for reaching research and outreach goals as well as for leads that became new partners.
This effort highlighted something our team had been focused on during the pandemic: maintaining a mentality of “we over me”. We have a culture that is rooted in this kind of mentality. Each of us knew we could protect our team, help businesses we support, and get through these difficult times if we invested a bit more time, effort and emails.
The results were obvious — a healthy pipeline, and a few record-breaking months of sales to offset the losses suffered by clients who had to reduce their budgets to survive.
