How a 30-year-old manufacturer solved its market share problem

Every company wants more market share. What many struggle with is how to get it. In the face of fierce competition and other internal and external challenges, figuring out how to grow market share can feel daunting. It’s a beast of a question. What helps—a lot—is having an experienced marketing team at the table. We say this from experience.

There is no one way to gain market share. It is commonly done by innovating, improving customer experience, strengthening brand, and making acquisitions. Today we’ll shed light on how we helped a manufacturer increase its market share and enter two completely new markets resulting in bottom line growth, as well as the growth of its sales and customer service teams.

Updating a tired brand can create a high ROI

When we first started working with this B2B manufacturer, their top priority was reducing risk by diversifying their client base. They aimed to go from a few very large accounts to multiple small and mid-sized accounts. They were in a position to service new clients well, and their product was solid. The main issue was attracting leads and getting them to a point where they were ready to speak with sales.

Our marketing team had one big goal: to resonate with and convert new buyers. We also had one big problem: the main reasons to buy from this company were their innovative solutions and top-quality service, but these were not reflected in their dated brand and vanilla website copy. It’s hard to claim you are innovative and committed to quality when you look like a relic from bygone era. And potential buyers look for a certain amount of product information before they are willing to speak with sales. The company needed a virtual rebirth to achieve their goals.

Over six months, we completed a comprehensive rebrand, including a new logo, tagline, photography, messaging and website. We carefully crafted the website to provide detailed product information potential buyers were looking for, and communicate the company’s strengths so that buyers were able to understand the benefits of working with this manufacturer over the others. We also produced a video and created basic sales collateral, to further help educate buyers and assist the sales process.

The change was drastic. And the industry and buyers took notice. Their website traffic grew from 1300 website visitors in 2013/14 to 14,400 visitors over the same 12-month period in 2015/16.

By fall 2017, two years into working with us, the company had to increase the sales team’s headcount to respond to the requests for quotes and manage the additional jobs. The customer service team also expanded. The company, which had long prospered thanks to a few large clients had now acquired dozens of small- and mid-sized accounts within the same industry. We were growing market share!

Bottom line growth by entering a new market

With our first big goal achieved, it was time to set new marketing and sales goals. We agreed to expand into the craft beer and distilling industries, which were booming and a great match with their fortes.

The launch involved two large initiatives: tradeshows and direct mail. We also wrote monthly articles, daily social media posts and ran Google Ads. These all fit neatly into a trademarked umbrella campaign we called Own the Shelf. (Search the #owntheshelf hashtag to see the social media rollout!)

This campaign further increased the website traffic and earned the company some headlines, too. As for bottom line growth, the direct mail campaign was a major contributor. The mailer was sent to decision makers of 70 Canadian distillers. A whopping 68% of them engaged in the campaign, and 7% converted into net new customers.

Our multi-faceted multi-year marketing work yielded excellent results for this B2B company. The website doesn’t just look and sound (way) better—it has become a lead-to-conversion machine. Today, a whopping 40% of web leads convert to clients. And we’re continuing to bring in new clients, in old markets and new.

Don’t shy away from a goal of increasing market share. It is complicated and won’t happen overnight, but equipped with a strategy, tactical plan and experienced marketing team, it is definitely do-able.