How we helped the business network infrastructure experts demonstrate the value of great connectivity.
Forfusion brings together expertise in market-leading IT technologies across multiple sectors to transform and optimise the way enterprise-level businesses operate. As an ambitious brand, Forfusion tasked us with designing and implementing a marketing strategy to push its SD-WAN network connectivity offering, while continuing to build brand awareness and reputation.
We love a good business goal to focus our thinking, and Forfusion’s is as bold as they come, with a target to drive revenue streams within its managed services division.
Forfusion’s previous marketing had been 100% orientated on the last click at the bottom of the funnel. We turned this thinking on its head, recommending a 60:40 approach to channel planning with 60% focused on long-term brand-building and the remaining 40% on short-term sales lead activation. Underpinning this strategy, a central creative platform of ‘understanding the importance of a good connection’ allowed us to talk not only about the finer details of Forfusion’s technical expertise, but also its focus on excellent customer relations, which result in better customised solutions and ongoing success.
Paid advertising took a multi-channel, digital-first approach to targeting decision makers and influencers in the IT, tech and finance sectors. Static, video and carousel advertising on LinkedIn and Google platforms was supplemented with press advertising, solus email and a concurrent PR campaign devised to boost awareness of the brand, all directing prospective clients to key landing pages at forfusion.com, where they were able to access helpful downloadable content and book free consultations with the Forfusion team.
Direct mail allowed us to hyper-target a cherry-picked hotlist of prospects in the banking, retail and IT tech sector, identified as an ideal fit for the brand’s services. Each received a Forfusion-branded Nokia phone with CEO Steven Forrest’s number keyed into a speed dial option, accompanied by a personal note from Steven himself.
Campaign PR saw the brand feature in industry titles including Business Info Mag, Technology Reseller, IT Pro and Managed IT, as well as earning wide exposure across its native North-East business base in publications including Business Live, The Journal, Northern Insight, Portfolio North, Bdaily and Insider Media. This in turn led to Steven and his team being invited to attend key business engagements as an added-value benefit.
Results
In total, the campaign achieved audience reach of 629,799. The impact on awareness was immediately apparent in the leap in traffic to Forfusion’s website, particularly to the campaign landing pages. Searches for the Forfusion brand jumped over 14% against the previous three months. Unique web visitors rose 18%, with LinkedIn ad clicks in particular increasing by 0.5% – five times higher than target.
What about lead-gen? In just three months the Forfusion team received a qualified lead pipeline worth an estimated £5,000,000.
And that’s just the beginning. That initial awareness reach has embedded the brand and its offer in the consciousness of both current and future key decision-makers, laying a solid foundation for a long tail of consideration.
That’s the value of a good connection.