Case Story: Focus Technology Group.
Marketing knowledge & expertise, plus delivery focus
Highlights
Created a strategic marketing plan and developed a tactical activity plan
Identified and developed messaging & approach around key customers (Ideal Customer Personas)
Developed core messaging and tone of voice
Increased cadence of tactical marketing activity to raise brand awareness
Developed a campaign approach for lead generation
Developed and launched a new website
Recruited a new marketing specialist
Brought sales, marketing & product to work together
"Through the help of Helen, we are streets ahead of where we were before she came to help us"
The Client
Focus Technology Group (Focus) is a New Zealand IT services firm, established in Invercargill in 1994 by Rod Sinclair
They have 70+ staff, with 7 offices around the South Island
They help small and mid-sized Kiwi businesses with their IT needs - from cloud and cyber solutions, through to technology strategy
They also have an ERP division and software development team selling proprietary software apps
See the Focus Technology website here
The Challenge
Experiencing continued growth over a number of years meant that Focus had identified a few key areas they wanted to work on from a marketing perspective.
They wanted to gain more consistent traction, as they felt their approach in the past had been inconsistent and reactive
They wanted to create a marketing framework and growth engine that would enable them to establish best practice and develop a marketing strategy and rhythm that was aligned with who Focus are and the regions they serve
They wanted clear messaging and brand positioning across all areas of the business
Focus had previously engaged a digital marketing agency for their SEO and to build a new website. They wanted a marketing expert who understood the IT industry and could help them create content that clearly articulated the wide range of service offerings in a way that website visitors could understand
Whilst there was some internal marketing resource, they were looking for guidance and direction at a more strategic level, so that marketing activities were consistent in delivery
They also needed to educate the wider team to understand the principles of how marketing supports business objectives, new sales and growth of existing clients
Overall the business recognised that for their size and growth marketing was an important tool to their future success
What We Did
Our main objective was to bring in some marketing knowledge and expertise into the business while we assessed our need to establish a permanent marketing role for the organisation.
Helen joined the team as a fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) to provide direction, delivery implementation and guide our thinking in what we needed for the organisation going forward.
Results - Outcomes
As a result of this engagement, the team says:
Helen became a member of the Focus team and worked closely with the management team to define our marketing strategy
Thanks to Helen our business now has a clearly defined marketing strategy with a strong marketing framework that has enabled us to move forward confidently
Our sales, marketing and product management areas are aligned
Our staff engage with both existing and new clients in a far more proactive way
Newsletters, thought leadership, social media and client events are now all regular features on our marketing calendar
Messaging across the business and externally is consistent and represents how we at Focus like to engage with our customers
Our new website is live and we are continuing to evolve our content and make ourselves more visible through our SEO optimisation
Helen's understanding of the IT industry meant she was quickly able to get across our business and formulate our key pillars to provide a framework for us to work by
She was instrumental in bringing sales, marketing, and product management together by introducing regular meetings and structure
In her 18 months with us, she built a marketing engine that included refreshing our website, developing our marketing strategy, defining our messaging, tone of voice and ideal customer personas
