Case Study: Saint-Gobain (Vetrotech) North America
Saint-Gobain North America, a leading manufacturer of sustainable building materials based in the United States and Canada, turned to Eberly & Collard Public Relations’ Alanta and New York teams when they determined the company’s business-to-business specifier marketing was in need of rejuvenation.
While the company’s 350 years of manufacturing excellence included near-countless product development innovations, our customized Research & Discovery assessment revealed that modern architects, high-tech construction companies, and leaders in infrastructure needed to be informed of Saint-Gobain North America’s quality manufacturing capabilities and the ways in which the company continuously makes a positive impact on the environment.
Our integrated marketing leads at Eberly & Collard Public Relations took an immediate deep dive to uncover how Saint-Gobain North America’s internal brand and product perceptions differed from their customers’ perceptions of the company and its offerings. The result exposed cracks in marketing communications that were adversely affecting key product messaging across numerous industries focused on Architecture and the Built Environment.
How we got there:
The Ultimate Guide to Demand Generation:
When our client sought product demand generation strategies and to reach more architects and glaziers, we rallied behind the challenge.
A comprehensive program was created to leverage and drive inbound leads by promoting Saint-Gobain North America’s thought-leadership content and building product resources. This led to amplified company awareness, growing B-to-B connections, and generating product demand on the part of specifier prospects throughout their buyer and customer lifecycles.
Through strategic S.W.O.T. Analysis, market research and conceptual brainstorming, we guided processes that led to a new message and marketing strategy that better communicated the company’s essence, that of being a United States, North American and global leader in sustainable construction through the design, manufacturing and distribution of exemplary budling materials for the Construction, Industrial and associated markets.
One of our core focuses involved building product marketing strategies that addressed Saint-Gobain North America’s customers’ pain points by supplying them with solutions at every turn. This entailed narrative and pictorial case studies, blogs, e-newsletters, downloads and press content with highly impactful white papers and intel quoted by our client that the target market needed for their commercial design-build projects.
This was infused with researched Search Engine Optimization through vetted short- and longtail SEO Keywords. This was paired with the development of positive product reviews and testimonials from key architects, construction company leaders, and cruise ship builders who had specified and built with Saint-Gobain North America’s select commercial building and manufacturing products.
Marketing Building Products to Specifiers:
For the company’s Vetrotech fire-rated glass and glassier systems, we positioned the entire branded product collection as a specifier’s solution for visual transparency and security in interior spaces and to create compartmentalization and safe separation distances in case of fire.
We did not stop there. For the Contraflame line of EI-class protection and certified applications, including indoor and exterior glass, doors, facades, windows, skylights and partitions, our team conceptualized and implemented an advanced marketing program rife with annual campaigns to create demand generation among our client’s business-to-business target audiences and to shorten and streamline their sales and marketing funnel.
This model was thoroughly applied and consistently managed across dozens of building products, manufacturing products and brands, achieving accelerated demand generation month over month following the initial program planning and campaign launches.
Notable KPI's Achieved
The Results:
– Developed a Demand Generation Guide with high-value content and thought-leadership strategies to serve as the core of demand generation content. Focused on educating and engaging each applicable audience with industry insights, product benefits, technological data, and design-build project inspiration.
– Defined 8 target audiences and created 12 buyer personas to help Saint-Gobain North America better understand and engage with the most productive audiences within the applicable building product and fire-rated glass sectors.
– Created multi-channel digital marketing approaches to help reach our client’s potential customers at different stages of their buyer journeys. Concentration included a 100% increase in Account-based Marketing strategies with CRM-based email campaigns and personalized drip campaigns.
– Nurtured leads though personalized outreach, marketing automation and contact sequences to delight and draw connections with them, such as a Welcome Series, Educational Sequences, Product-solution email follow-ups, and Digital Demo offers to generate deeper engagement with sales.
– Designed, deployed and managed first Paid Search and PPC Advertising through Google Ads, Retargeting Ads and LinkedIn Ads campaigns for Vetrotech Fire-rated and Bullet-resistant Building Materials. Expanded click through rate by 36% and site traffic by 57%.
– Managed Channel Marketing and acquired 33 new industry and marketing partnerships, leading to AIA-accredited course affinities, free contractor and glazier product installation training webinars, and promoted construction company incentives to choose our client’s products.
– Secured 90% growth in earned media publication of stories showcasing building product installations, from features about fire-rated glass specification for One World Trade Center to articles about fire-resistant steel frames and glazing for Carnival Cruise Line.
– Increased Search Engine Optimization for product line website by 41% through Keyword phrase research, competitive gap analysis, search ranking tracking, adjustments and oversight.
– Provided consultation for photo shoots and video production planning, supplementing a North American library of videography and imagery to showcase multiple branded product collections being tested, manufactured and utilized in actual built environments.
– Saved 45% in costs for traditional trade media outlet advertising through strategic print, digital and online ad campaigns via savvy negotiation, achieving discounted advertising rates and layers of value-added bonus ad space for our client.
