SME business owners are often forced to wear many different hats, and in family-run businesses, this can include marketing, on top of customer service, financial admin, and HR, as well as delivering the business’s primary service. In this case study, we look at our ongoing work with a family-run plastering and rendering equipment business, explaining the issues they faced with marketing – common to many SMEs – and how we were able to help them.
Customer background
The customer is a specialist supplier of plastering and rendering machines, paint spray machines, liquid screed machines, and consumables, serving the construction sector across the UK. The company provides plant and equipment on both a hire and purchase basis. They also sell spare parts, carry out machine repairs, and offer a variety of servicing and maintenance packages.
As a small, family-run business, one of the customer’s core USPs is personal and friendly service. The company is committed to giving their customers the best advice possible, and laying the groundwork for long-term business relationships.
The challenge
Before approaching JDR, the customer faced numerous problems and challenges with their marketing, such as:
- Not having enough time and people available to get everything done! The customer does employ a marketing executive in-house, but at the time she was on maternity leave, and no cover had been arranged.
- There was no defined marketing strategy: everything they did was very much ad-hoc.
- There was no system in place to carry out marketing activities smoothly and cost-effectively
- There was no measurement in place for what they were doing, so it was difficult to determine what was working, how much things cost, and what the ROI was from different activities.
Objectives
The customer had several goals from their relationship with JDR and issues they wanted to resolve. To start with, the company MD/business owner wanted to step back from the business and transition into retirement. However, he was unable to do so with where the company was at the time. They therefore wanted to put systems and processes in place for their marketing, business growth strategy, and their wider business operations. They also wanted to reach a specific turnover target.
How we helped
We recommended a full marketing programme including the following services:
- HubSpot Marketing Professional
- HubSpot setup, implementation, and full training
- Managed marketing automation and A-B testing for all content
- Annual website conversion review and ongoing website management
- Content development and support
- Ongoing search engine optimisation, including e-commerce product page optimisation
- Implementation and ongoing management of Google Ads (including Shopping Ads)
- Email marketing
- Call tracking
- Monthly reporting
On her return to work, we worked closely with the customer’s marketing executive to develop a comprehensive SEO strategy, based on four new, really comprehensive pillar pages. One of these pillar pages is in the process of being turned into a downloadable guide to provide them with some awareness-level interest. Online enquiries and sales have also significantly increased following a successful Google Ads campaign (see below).
Since starting the campaign in 2021, the business owner has successfully stepped back from the business to enjoy more relaxation and time with his family, knowing his business is being fully taken care of. Their marketing exec has also just gone on to have her third child (congratulations!) and has said she has every confidence that the marketing strategy will continue to build and grow in her absence. The business now understands the importance of ensuring they have maternity cover in place for their in-house marketer, and have appointed someone to take over during this time.
Results and progress
Let’s take a look at the customer’s results so far in some of the key areas we’ve been targeting:
SEO and keyword rankings
Between July 2021, when their programme started, and January 2024, the customer’s website had a 73% average increase in organic website traffic, from 2,588 monthly visits at the beginning, to 4,483 visits at the beginning of this year. (See the graph below. Traffic has continued to grow since January. In July 2024, website visits topped 5,200 per month.)
The number of keywords they ranked for has also increased. At the start, the customer ranked for 868 keywords, while they are now ranking for 1,643 keywords – an 89% increase in keyword saturation. Their average position has also increased by 9.45 positions for each keyword, putting them in a strong position for a range of highly competitive and nationwide keywords.
Content
While the marketing executive was on maternity leave, the customer had no articles published on their blog for over six months. Since then, they have published over 100 new blog articles and now rank for 280 keywords as a direct result of their blog. The customer’s content has a great strategic direction, with a balance of SEO-targeted blogs, thought leadership pieces, and company/industry news.
The customer now publishes a new blog article each week, with social posts linking back to these, and with all articles connected into topic clusters to present a cohesive online presence. Blog articles are a classic example of an evergreen digital asset. One of the blog articles that the customer published in April 2022 is still one of their best-performing pages even now, bringing hundreds of people to their website each month. This particular article has clocked up 7,700 views and is still going strong.
Advertising
Google Ads has been a core part of the customer’s marketing programme since coming on board with JDR. They had dabbled with Google Ads before but not gained many results. Over the first 6 to 12 months of their campaign, we extensively tested and measured different approaches, before arriving at the perfect solution for them in July 2022. Since then, Google Ads has been driving exponential growth for the business. Originally, the customer set a budget of £400 per month, which has been gradually increased over the past two years. In August 2024, this was upped to £2,000 a month, following a successful ROI time and time again.
Between July 2022 and July 2024, the customer spent £18,860 on Google Ads, but generated over £100,000 in online sales, as well as over 400 phone call enquiries and countless form submissions they’ve had through their website during this period. For every £1 spent on advertising, the customer is now receiving over £5 in return.
The customer’s success in online advertising has also had a dramatic impact on their overall website traffic. We’ve already mentioned the upsurge in organic traffic. When combined with traffic from Google Ads, the customer had a gross total of 14,582 visits to their website in July 2024, amounting to a 165% increase from where they were three years ago. The customer has been astonished by the growth, and even mentioned recently that had we told them where they would be now three years ago, they would never have believed us.
Customer feedback
The customer had the following to say about their time with JDR:
“Starting our marketing journey with JDR could not have come at a better time, and their personal yet professional support has been so valuable for our company. Personally, I was transitioning from maternity leave back to my marketing role and working with Ellis at JDR has given my return to work even more purpose and direction. Ellis has been a fantastic help in making this transition and the new drive into digital marketing so seamless, and an exciting new venture for the business.”
Find out more
To find out more about our work with small businesses and to discover how we can help you grow and expand your company, please contact JDR today by clicking here.
Image Source: Canva
