The power of inbound marketing has proven itself yet again, this time with Edinburgh company Superwarm seeing an increase in sales of 187% in just six months.
Superwarm’s John Carmichael first came to Inbound marketing agency Stargazer Digital under a year ago, looking to increase his leads and sales. He initially looked at SEO as a solution, and was also doing PPC, but felt that he’d learned as much as he could by himself.
John’s biggest goal was to increase his revenue to £1 million per year, but wasn’t sure how to get there without outside help.
John said: “I knew I needed to get double the amount of leads, and I knew people were out there buying boilers, but I just couldn’t seem to engage with customers. Blanket marketing and paid for ads didn’t seem to be working, so how could I do it? Then I realised that inbound marketing was this great, untapped source”.
Laying the foundations
In order to begin the project, the team at Stargazer learned as much about John’s business, goals and ideal customers as they could, before working together with John to come up with a content strategy for Superwarm – otherwise known as a Content Marketing Blueprint (CMB). This involved understanding the type of questions his customers asked, and what they are looking for when they first make contact with the company.
Once Stargazer had a solid strategy for Superwarm in place, it was time to put it all together in Hubspot, the all-in-one marketing software. Hubspot provided the perfect blogging platform, as well as allowing for landing pages, email marketing and relevant CTAs which only showed the right information to the right people, at the right time.
After a three-month period, Stargazer analysed the data to see which content was effective and which created the most leads, before devising a further four-month strategy to help generate more leads and sales for John’s business.
The results? An incredible 187% increase in sales that exceeded everybody’s expectations.
John said: “We’ve now got more than double the amount of work and over double the amount of leads we had this time last year. What we have now is almost like a rolling juggernaut, in that every single day, we know that leads are coming in. Every single day there’s people visiting our website looking for what we’re offering.”
Stargazer’s Background
Stargazer Digital was first created in 2012 by founder Kevin Gallagher, after he noticed a significant change in consumer behaviour. The pushy sales messages of old simply weren’t getting the same results anymore, and marketers were seeing tactics many still use simply weren’t generating clients the amount of leads and sales they once did.
Kevin began searching for ways to connect businesses with their potential customers more effectively, and on his journey, discovered inbound marketing. It quickly became his passion, and he left his job of 10 years as a digital marketer to start his own business. Now, he takes delight in driving other businesses forward towards their goals by harnessing the power of www.
Kevin said: “The biggest reason I believe that inbound marketing worked so well for Superwarm, is that John believed wholeheartedly in the process. He put a lot of faith in inbound, and was able to work with us every step of the way instead of trying to pull us in different directions. I’ve found companies who do that have the best success.”
The power of inbound
More and more companies are slowly waking up to the amazing success that is inbound marketing, which focuses on increasing leads and sales by delighting the customer with helpful and valuable content throughout the process. This content helps them to make a more informed decision and establishes trust early on.
John said: “I know now that as long as we give the information, they will come – even if it’s nine months down the line, which is something I couldn’t get my head around to begin with. The more information you give to potential customers, the more chance there is that they’ll be willing to buy from you.”
So, what would John say to anyone else considering inbound marketing?
“Well, I wouldn’t tell anyone in my industry (laughs). Okay, it’s like this: the market’s changed, the world has changed, and people have now got information at their fingertips. Everyone, whether they’re buying a washing machine, double glazing, an extension, or a new kitchen, basically researches all the information online first. Buyers are very, very savvy now, so businesses like mine need a solution that fits. This is what Stargazer has done for me.”
Mind-blowing results
Superwarm’s organic traffic growth
Such encouraging results (with a little support from Stargazer) make it clear to see that inbound marketing isn’t just another meaningless buzzword.
John said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic with the results Stargazer has delivered with the help of inbound marketing. There’s a massive leap of faith before you start, because you think: is it going to work? But when it starts working and you can see the results, digitally tracked, your faith grows as you can see it happening before your eyes.”
In addition, Stargazer was also able to utilise Hubspot’s CRM tool to automatically send an email reminding John’s existing customers when they needed a service – something John’s team would have had to do manually before, and it saves them countless hours a month.
Kevin said: “It’s all about understanding the customer’s journey and also picking the right technology to help you every step of the way. I can say for a fact that without Hubspot, we wouldn’t have achieved the results that we did.”
He continued: “Businesses not only need to understand their customers’ behaviour, they also need the right technology to help them generate leads and sales, and personalise the information they send. All of this counts towards delighting your customers – and Hubspot is essential for doing that.”
However, not everyone’s a true believer in inbound marketing – the sceptics are still out there in force.
To the naysayers, John says: “A lot of people are very sceptical, and think to themselves ‘will writing a few blogs sell product?’ But a few months down the line, they’ll see how many people have read the content and how many are interested in products and services, pretty much ready to buy – it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve actually had people call me up from across the UK, and I’ve had to turn down sales because they’re just too far away.”
There are many more inbound marketing success stories out there, as more and more companies begin to realise the results they can achieve. So, what does the future hold for Superwarm and Stargazer?
Kevin said: “I’m delighted that the results exceeded our expectations, but I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg for Superwarm. I look forward to continuing our work with John for many years to come.”