Orange County Thermal Industries
Strategic Marketing | Fractional CMO
project background
Orange County Thermal Industries (OCTI) is a manufacturer of commercial insulation products that buffer heat, cold and sound for various industries including power generation, oil and gas, mining, mass transit, racing and more. A family-owned business based in California, OCTI expanded to a second location in Texas in 2017. OCTI approached Robot Creative (ROBOT) to get a fresh perspective on their marketing direction to better support their lead generation and sales goals.
Data Analysis Uncovers New Opportunities
ROBOT conducted an in-depth planning session with the OCTI leadership team to discuss their short-term and long-term business goals, identify their strengths and differentiators and build a customer journey map to capture their sales process. ROBOT also analyzed their historical client and sales data to look better understand historical trends and opportunities. ROBOT discovered specific audience segments representing high growth and profitability potential. Taking their increased production capacity into account, ROBOT identified key target industries and product lines on which to focus.
Identifying Decision Drivers & Differentiators
ROBOT then mapped the audience segments to buyer personas and decision drivers to inform which platforms needed to be used for an effective messaging campaign. A competitive analysis was also conducted that helped focus the messaging on the differentiators that made OCTI stand out from the pack.
“We have gone from feeling handcuffed by our previous partner, to knowing our marketing is working. We have every confidence that with Robot’s strategic marketing guidance and creative content, and with our ability to reach new customers as we expand into new product offerings and markets.”
Strategic Marketing Plan
In the end, ROBOT recommended a strategy that focused on content marketing for manufacturers, with a goal to educate their target audience about specific thermal insulation applications and showcase OCTI as a highly detail-oriented, quality manufacturer. We recommended a mix of thought leadership articles and project case studies that could be used across social media and digital advertising to increase awareness and gain interest among specific client prospects.
Core Branding & Infrastructure
To execute on this plan, ROBOT also identified the need for key infrastructure updates, beginning with a brand refresh and website improvements. Once these foundational projects were completed, ROBOT was able to step in as their outsourced marketing team and execute on content creation, managing a variety of programs across social media, paid search and email marketing.
Outcome
OCTI has seen measurable improvement in traffic to their website and trackable leads engaging with their content since launch. From September 2021 through October 2022, OCTI’s website traffic has increased more than 900%, from fewer than 200 visitors a month to more than 1,300 on average per month. All channels – paid, direct, organic, email, social, referral – showed gains. Site bounce rate dropped from 65% on average to less than 20%, and page views per session increased from two to nearly three pages per session. Inquiry form completions went up from zero to nearly 100 leads.
Fractional CMO Consulting
After two successful years of partnering on projects and strategy, OCTI and ROBOT entered a new engagement, adding ongoing Fractional CMO services. This offering allows for a dedicated marketing leader to be present within OCTI’s leadership team, participating in quarterly and annual business planning, working with the sales leaders to better align sales and marketing activities, working with the research and development team to identify go-to-market strategies for new products and continually assessing and adjusting course on marketing activities as needed.
