Having connected on LinkedIn we were asked by the (then) prospect for advice on how to build a printing business with the view of fattening it up for sale within 5 years. The advice was to move away from what had traditionally been a lifestyle business and mould it into a major player in the print, signage and (especially) the events and exhibitions sector.
Initial investigations determined that whilst the company had a robust roster of clients, the lack of previous marketing activity meant that name awareness outside of the client lists was minimal, even within the locale of the main business site. What name awareness there was, was generally based around lower value products and not the more lucrative, exhibition-based products sets that were to be the focus of the expansions plans.
One particular issue the company had was that by aligning itself to a limited number of specific sectors (including Leisure and Tourism) they were very much seasonally dependent with an erratic cash-flow to match.
We set about getting under the skin of the business via interviews with each team member; getting feedback from the front line delivery operation. We gleaned as much information as possible about how the business had gotten to this point; what the historical product set had been; general feedback received etc.
We established a marketing database to register and control lead gen. and then undertook a campaign of direct contact (calling), (supporting) marketing campaigns, event hosting and networking.
Once we started prospecting, delivering the key messages and respositioning the offering, quotes began to increase. By creating an expansive spread of prospects across a number of sectors including the lucrative retail market (which would spread out cash-flow) name awareness spread, and business begin to increase. This work culminated in a number in a number of key account wins including a first foray into the large exhibition stand creation which set the tone and process to take forwards.
With a view to building our reputation within the large event industry we pitched for the longest running show in the events calendar and after creating the full pitch document and presentation and following 2 rounds of discussion, were successful in landing the show which has opened doors into largescale events across the country.
ROI. Investment; £19k.
The campaign delivered a 3-year contract to supply all signage and print to the Southampton Boat Show, the longest running event of this type in the UK. This contract was worth ITRO *£300k pa. (*ongoing). We also delivered circa £75k of general print business.
Project profit; *£356k (year 1).
