This is the third in a series of posts focused on how Irish SMEs are delivering real results using Internet marketing. This case study features an interview with Patrick Buckley, Sales & Marketing Director at EPS Group, a client of Enterprise Ireland. EPS Group received support from the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit to assist with the development of their Internet marketing strategy.

EPS gets website traffic flowing with SEO

A solid SEO strategy has seen EPS Group drive new business and raise brand awareness as it looks to expand into overseas markets.

Sustainable water solutions provider EPS Group has transformed its website into a key marketing tool with an SEO strategy that puts the focus firmly on content and clever use of keywords.

Operation ‘website transformation’

Following a marketing review in 2010, EPS Group realised that its website was not being used to its full potential. “We weren’t really focused on our site as much as we should have been,” explains Patrick Buckley, sales and marketing director with EPS Group. “As a result, we noticed that our site was quite poor; there was too much content and we were saying all the wrong things.”

With less than 150 website hits per month, it became apparent that EPS Group was pretty much “invisible” online. “Basically, if someone wanted to find us online, they couldn’t; we didn’t exist as far as online was concerned.”

EPS made a start by employing a full-time person to deal exclusively with its online presence, and dedicating more time to improving the performance of the site. It also worked with a web development firm, Webtrade, as well as a marketing company, AMAS, to develop a content and marketing strategy.

Identifying keywords boosts visibility

In the sustainable water solutions market, the majority of Google searches feature the word ‘water’ e.g. ‘ water harvesting solutions’, ‘waste water treatment’, ‘rain water pumps’, ‘water purification systems’, ‘waste water pumps’. Armed with this information, Patrick decided to include the word water in the group’s URL – www.epswater.ie, as well as snapping up epswater.co.uk, epswater.fr and epswater.com.

Using keyword research tools and analytics, EPS also identified a selection of the most relevant and popular industry search terms, and decided to scatter these words throughout its website content. “We consistently track these keywords each month to see what page we show up on in Google search results. Previously, with some of the keywords we were appearing at page 6 or 7, but now we are on the first page every time, which is a significant improvement.”

Regular tweaking keeps content relevant

Continuously adding content and making amendments to existing content helps keep the EPS site fresh and relevant, says Patrick. “We regularly add news items to the site and constantly tweak metadata words in the background. By keeping a close eye on Google Analytics we can see what pages people are coming to and what they are looking for. If there’s a page that’s not as active as we want it to be, we will tweak it to make it more relevant. If we want to direct people to a certain page we’ll add content to the homepage that highlights particular sub-pages and try to funnel traffic through that way too,” he explains.

How it presents itself online has become a critical factor for EPS. With such a diverse range of products and services, confusion was a common element with customers who weren’t aware of EPS’s full range. “Our website had to address that issue and raise awareness of all our products and services. With our previous site, there was too much content, and this was confusing visitors, who struggled to find what they were looking for,” Patrick explains. “With the new site we’ve improved the navigation and the content, making it easier for people to get to the relevant pages. Also, by focusing on key search terms, we are seeing more traffic coming through to sub-pages of the site, and getting the information they’re looking for, quicker.”

This strategy is reflected in EPS’s analytics, which show that as site page views have decreased, length of time spent on the EPS site has increased. “Typically, people spend between 3.5 minutes and 4 minutes on our site, and with the page views down it leads us to believe that visitors are finding what they are looking for a lot quicker.”

Focused approach pays off

In just over a year traffic to the EPS website has rocketed, 150 hits per month to a consistent 3,500-4,000 monthly hits. And all this new traffic is translating to new business for the firm, according to Patrick. “With this increase in visitors, we’ve seen a huge boost in the number of enquiries through our site. The majority of these are sound enquiries which have led to new business.”

But EPS isn’t resting there. The company plans to use some of what it’s learned on the Irish site to enhance its newly launched UK site, with the aim of hitting 1,000 visitors per month by June 2012. Also on the cards is a global site, which Patrick says will be used to drive more traffic back to the Irish website.

Patrick credits advice given by Enterprise Ireland  as the impetus EPS needed to make changes to its website. “The Enterprise Ireland support and guidance  was of great benefit to us at the beginning of this project. That investment in time and resources is now paying off for EPS in both our domestic and export sales.”

“We’ve learned so much about the importance of our website over the past couple of years. We now see our site as a very important part of our overall strategy in growing our business,” Patrick concludes.

This article was written by ENNclick for the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit.

Share

This is the second in a series of posts focused on how Irish SMEs are delivering real results using Internet marketing. This case study features an interview with Michael O’Brien, Head of Marketing at Celtrino, a client of Enterprise Ireland.

Quality content on its website is helping supply chain management specialist Celtrino develop its brand and differentiate itself from competitors.

A veteran in the supply chain management world in Ireland, Celtrino’s recent re-vamp of its website is allowing the company to showcase its expertise through a successful blog, as well as boosting brand recognition as it aims to expand into new markets.

Content strategy begins with research

After joining Celtrino in 2009, marketing director Michael O’Brien’s first port of call was to do a full marketing audit. With online becoming more and more important, Michael set about focusing on the Celtrino website and online presence.

“For me, the relevance of the website and being found online was of paramount importance.” Michael said his plan started with in-depth research. “I can’t underestimate how vital it is to understand the words being used online by your competitors, analysts and customers. Once you understand the ecosystem within which you are operating you can then set down a content strategy both for your own website and how you are going to engage with other online tools, like social media.”

Web content critical to search results

Celtrino’s new website went live on 27 May 2010 and within six months Celtrino dominated search engine results for all of its relevant key terms. “If I’m on the phone talking to somebody, chances are they are online typing our name into Google. Being found easily online is important for our continued success in the Irish market, but is also vital as we look to break into the UK market,” said Michael.

Developing relevant, quality content is key to Celtrino’s search engine success, according to Michael: “We need to keep producing quality content or we will lose people and cease to be relevant, and Google will pick up on that too.”

Continually refreshing the site’s content is also an important factor in Celtrino’s content strategy. “Our market is constantly changing and so our web content needs to be regularly updated to reflect that. Of course, regular content updates improve search engine visibility too.”

Content directs customers to next steps

While the homepage is the way most people will enter a website, Michael explains that because the Celtrino site is so optimised for search engines, there is a high chance people are coming to internal pages on the site through targeted search results.

Bearing that in mind, Celtrino developed dedicated content pages for each of its solutions, as well as identifying a list of ‘business needs’ that lead the visitor to relevant product pages. Clear action points were also added to each page, which makes sure that any visitor can see at a glance how they can contact Celtrino or get more information on certain products.

“It was imperative to us that someone coming to the site through a Google search for, say, ‘accounts payable solutions’ would have a clear call to action on the page they land on. This call to action could be a number of things, such as ‘email us’, ‘call us’, or ‘download a whitepaper’. Essentially, the key for us is understanding what the visitor is trying to achieve and giving them every opportunity to do so.”

Blog content gives Celtrino a voice

Keen to provide regular, fresh content on its site, Celtrino launched a blog in September 2011 and typically push out a new blog post three times a week. Michael says the blog has been a great success to date and has broadened the company’s reputation online. “The blog gives us a voice and the opportunity to engage with our audiences that we wouldn’t always have with the website. It also helps us to stand out in the market. For any companies considering a blog I would advise them to look around their sector and see what they can take ownership of in terms of content: ask themselves, ‘what can I write about that makes us stand out?’”

And when you do write a blog that gets noticed, that’s when you can really make an impact, according to Michael. “If your blog post is picked up by another blogger or commentator and shared, then all of a sudden you move up to a different level. Having your content reused around the web ensures that you are seen as a relevant and trusted source of content; the net result is that you will be favoured by Google and other search engines as they focus on delivering relevant and trusted content to their customers.”

Celtrino’s focus on developing quality content for its website has helped it create a strong online presence, which Michael said it is keen to take advantage of. “In February we plan on doing a major refresh of our website content to reflect changes within the sector and changes to our customers’ requirements. And within the next year or so, Celtrino aims to launch an e-commerce function on its site.”

This article was written by ENNclick for the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit.

Share

As mentioned in my previous post, this is the first in a series of case studies focused on how Irish SMEs are delivering real results using Internet marketing. This interview features Siobhan O’Dwyer, VP Marketing at Nualight, a client of Enterprise Ireland.

Nualight puts email marketing in the spotlight

LED retail lighting specialist Nualight is using email newsletters to build its brand and promote itself as a thought leader in the fast-growing LED lighting market.

Nualight is one of the original pioneers of LED food lighting and counts Tesco, Morrisons, and Sainsbury’s among its key customers. Co-located in Cork and Amsterdam, the rapidly growing company has been making a name for itself in the buoyant retail lighting market helped by its content-filled company newsletters.

Monthly newsletter keeps customers up to date

A monthly e-newsletter – called Bright Thinking – is used to keep Nualight’s 4,000-plus customers across Europe and the US updated on company news. “We launch products on such a regular basis that it would be impossible to keep our customers up to date without the newsletter; it really is the most effective way to tell them our news,” said Siobhan O’Dwyer, vice president of marketing with Nualight.

The monthly e-newsletter is teased via a HTML email sent to a subscriber list, with snippets of content that link back to the Nualight website. “We’re keen to direct people back to our website, where we have so much content and information we’d like them to see. Newsletters are a great way to do that.”

Brand building with quarterly e-zine

In what has become a highly competitive market, with some of the biggest companies in the world vying for market share, Nualight’s newsletters have become a vital marketing tool.

“One of our main goals is to position ourselves as experts in our area. With our newsletters we can reinforce that position regularly using content that is interesting to people and, of course, telling people about our ongoing product innovation,” explained Siobhan.

The company’s 32-page online magazine – Bright – is published each quarter. It delivers company news as well as industry-related features and expert interviews. “Our expert interviews in particular are very well received, and they’ve really helped us to align ourselves as thought leaders.”

Creating company spirit globally with staff newsletter

Having just completed the acquisition of a company in the Netherlands, as well as having a manufacturing site in Poland and a global sales team, Nualight was keen to knit its team of over 200 employees together. A monthly email newsletter is sent out to all staff to keep everyone updated on changes within the company, local news from each site, as well as product launches and industry trends.

“The staff newsletter helps us integrate our global team together, and makes sure everyone knows what’s going on in the company and in the industry,” said Siobhan.

Weighing up what’s working

On average, Nualight’s newsletter open rates are at an impressive 25 to 40 percent, with a 47 percent click-through rate. Constant testing and analytics help Siobhan identify which articles are proving most popular.

“We’re learning as we go along. We know that the HTML emails are crucial to pulling people through to our site so we make sure to create really good content hooks and put some real thought into our subject lines. We’ve identified that readers are interested in innovation, so we make sure to put our product news front and centre. Visual works for us too; our industry is all about atmosphere and ambience so we have upped the image content in the HTML mail.”

Divide and conquer

With customers all across Europe, Nualight decided to develop its newsletters in English, French and German, with the subscriber database split into the three languages. This strategy has had a positive impact on open rates, according to Siobhan.

Nualight is also planning further segmentation of its subscriber database. A recently introduced newsletter signup box on its website asks people to select their interest in one of the company’s two distinct product lines: “case lighting” or “accent lighting”. Nualight plans to develop a newsletter for each of these lines.

“I would say without hesitation that email marketing is one of the most effective things we do. Customers in our sector are information-hungry and our newsletters have really helped us to tap into that requirement,” concluded Siobhan.

This article was written by ENNclick for the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit.

Share

Over the course of 2011, the Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit was busy engaging with our clients to benchmark their Internet marketing efforts. You can take a look at the questionnaire we use for the benchmarking for yourself (feel free to complete it, we’d love to hear from you!), and we also published a short report back in October detailing some of the findings.

From talking with our clients and examining the results of the benchmarks, we’ve identified 7 key areas of activity and capability that make up an effective Internet marketing strategy, as follows:

• Online Advertising
• Web Traffic Analysis
• Continuous Intelligence Gathering/Customer Relationship Management
• SEO
• Content
• Social Media
• Email Marketing

We’re not saying that your company needs to become an expert on all these areas, but you should at least have a good understanding of what they are, and what impact they can have on your existing online sales and marketing strategy. To help with this we’re going to publish a series of blog posts here on BestConnected over the coming weeks, each one focused on how an Irish SME is succeeding online by adopting the principles outlined above.
First up will be an interview with Siobhan O’Dwyer, VP Marketing at Nualight, who will be sharing her experiences of effectively using Email Marketing. Stay tuned to the blog, the interview will be published here before the end of the week. If you’ve any feedback on the benchmarking, or if you’d like to suggest some other case studies, then please let us know.

Share

This is a guest post from Amy Neale, Marketing and Programme Manager at the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC).

We at NDRC (National Digital Research Centre) have just announced that we are now open for applications to LaunchPad. This investment programme is open for applications from digital start-ups from Ireland and internationally, and 15 start-ups will be selected to work with us for a 3 month period starting 13th February 2012. During this time we provide these 2 or 3 man bands with a hands-on, intensive mentoring programme; weekly workshops and networking opportunities with experts; as well as the all important investment of up to €20,000 per project. The three months will culminate with NDRC’s ‘LiftOff’ competition, taking place in May 2012 where the start-ups will present to a room of investors and compete for access to a follow on investment prize fund.

We were delighted earlier in 2011 to be ranked in the ‘Top 10 EU Accelerators’ by the Kauffman Fellows, and – along with Enterprise Ireland’s iGap programme – we have been nominated for Best European Accelerator at The Europas 2011. NDRC LaunchPad is producing award winning startups such as Redeem&Get and Hit the Road, and developing technology entrepreneurs with early stage innovative digital start-ups. We invest in and collaborate with early stage start-ups to establish market focused, technically excellent and profitable ventures.

In 2010–2011 NDRC mentored, trained and developed 39 entrepreneurs, and has to date secured €4.8 million in commercial investment for technologies and start-ups. Just ten days ago, NDRC-backed start-up Redeem&Get won the Spark of Genius Award, giving them access to an ACT Venture Capital term sheet worth €100k. This year NDRC received a record 81 applications for 15 places on the current LaunchPad Programme, with Irish, European and North American start-ups participating.

If you are interested in NDRC LaunchPad, come along to our open evening to meet the team, ask questions and find out everything you need to know about the accelerator programme, before the application deadline of 16th December. This informal evening will be held on Thursday, the 1st of December, and will start at 6.30pm and will run to 8.30pm. It will take place in NDRC’s ‘Digital Exchange’ building on Crane Street, Dublin 8 – please register your details here.

To apply for a place on NDRC LaunchPad visit www.ndrc.ie/launchpad; deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm on the 16th December 2011.

NDRC LAUNCHPAD CLOSING DATE 5pm 16th December 2011

NDRC LAUNCHPAD PROGRAMME START 13th February 2012

Share

Better late than never: slightly distracted by the Dublin Web Summit, the Bank Holiday, and some technical hitches, but we finally managed to get the recording of the speakers from the most recent EI Social Media Club up on the Web. The ‘Q’ of the Q&A session at the end is a little ropey, but worth a listen for the good advice that the speakers responded with.

My thanks again to our fabulous speakers Capt. O’Connor and Damien Mulley. Damien mentioned a really useful resource during the session that’s worth a look, http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php?f=5, an online database of Government and Non-Profit Social Media Policies.

A big thanks to all those who showed up on the day, stay tuned here on the blog for upcoming announcements on future events in the Social Media Club series.

Share

I’ll be attending TravelHuddle Dublin,  Ireland’s largest online travel marketing conference next Thursday, November 3rd. Speaker line-up looks pretty good, and I’m hoping to pick up some tips and tricks in what must be one of the most competitive sectors online. One of the key weaknesses I see in Irish SMEs is a lack of awareness and capability around Customer Relationship Management (both processes and tools) so I’m particularly keen to see what I can learn and pass on from thoughtleaders in an industry where this is a vital part of their marketing activities.

So the good news is that the kind folk over at Merrion BD (the conference organisers) have provided me with two complimentary tickets for readers of the BestConnected blog: the first two individuals to leave a comment below will each receive a full pass for the day, including access to the Demo Zone.

Hope to see you there.

Update: tickets are gone, thanks for all the replies. Congrats to Patrick and Mary, is winging its way to you shortly.

Share

The three Enterprise Innovation Networks funded by Enterprise Ireland are hosting a joint seminar on Wednesday 9th November 2011 in the Dubin City Council offices on Wood Quay from 08.00 — 10.00. The intention of this event is to focus on the need to “Collaborate to Innovate” for a successful future. It is an opportunity to hear practical experiences in collaborating with 3rd level research institutes.

The three Enterprise Innovation Networks are: The Irish Software Association (ISIN), Industry Research & Development Group (IRDG) and the Construction IT Alliance (CITA) EIN.The seminar will feature a series of case studies on the benefits and issues of collaborating with research institutes.

Agenda

08.00 – 08.30: Networking, Tea & Coffee with Exhibition Stands

08.30 – 08.40: Opening Address by Feargal O’Morain from Enterprise Ireland

08.40 – 08.50: Introduction to each of the Enterprise Innovation Networks

08.50 – 09.10: Collaboration with Third Level Research Institutes – Richard Stokes DCU Invent

09.10 – 09.20: Case Study 1 – Changing Worlds/Heystacks – Professor Barry Smyth – Founder and Chief Scientist

09.20 – 09.30: Case Study 2 – C & C Group – Sinead Ryan, Head of Central Technical Services

09.30 – 09.40: Case Study 3: Bord Na Mona – Hugh Henry – Director of Innovation and R&D

09.40 – 10.00: Panel Discussion – Q & A

10.00 – 10.30: Networking, Tea & Coffee with Exhibition Stands

There will also be an exhibition space where the Technology Transfer Officers will be available to provide information on their research institutes. Attendance is free but spaces are strictly limited. To register please visit the registration site at http://collaboratet2innovate.eventbrite.com

Share

Just two days to go until the third EI Social Media Club at our offices in East Point Business Park – we’ve over 100 delegates registered, but there’s still spaces left if you’re interested in learning more about “Best Practice Social Media for the Irish Public Sector“.

Line-up for the day is as follows:

08.00 — 08.55

Registration and networking (light breakfast served)

08.55 — 09.00

Welcome Address, David Scanlon, Enterprise Ireland Internet Marketing Unit

09.00 — 09.20

Captain Pat O’Connor, Spokesperson & Media Relations, Irish Defence Forces

09.20 — 10.00

Damien Mulley, Mulley Communications

10.00 — 10.30

Q&A Session

As part of the Q&A Session, a member of EI’s Public Procurement Unit will also be on hand to give a brief overview of our involvement with the National Cross Industry Working Group on Open Data, for more details please see their wiki at http://workspace.opendata.ie

Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.

Image used in this article: Some rights reserved by Salid

Share

The third in the Enterprise Ireland Social Media Club series will take place on the morning of the 21st of October, 2011. Following on from our previous two sessions (“Social CRM”, and “Developing Your Corporate Voice”), this seminar is entitled “Best Practice Social Media for the Irish Public Sector”.

This free session will feature leading authorities and practitioners in the area, discussing the current “state of the nation” regarding the use of social media by Irish public bodies, as well as an overview of best practice in evidence in other countries. There will also be an opportunity to hear a case study of how one public body embraced the strategic use of social media, and successfully communicated its value and return on investment to senior management.

Who Will I See?

Damien Mulley, Mulley Communications

Communications consultant, blogger, and seen by many as the lynchpin of the Irish Web community, Damien is also the founder of the Bord Gais Energy Social Media Awards. Based on the experience of working with nominees in the “Use of Social Media by State Body/Org” category, Mulley Communications have produced a white paper on the social media experiences of these organisations: detailing up-to-date statistics on their social media presences; processes in place to manage activity and content; and real-world successes achieved through using these new channels. Damien will present the key findings from this research at the session, as well as highlights from an investigation of how state organisations in other countries are using social media.

Capt. Pat O’Connor, Spokesperson & Media Relations, Irish Defence Forces

Involved with the planning and implementation of the Irish Defence Forces Communications and Public Relations strategy, Capt. O’Connor is the key driver behind the Defence Forces success at the 2011 Bord Gais Energy Social Media Awards, winning the award for “Best Use of Social Media by a State Body”. Capt. O’Connor will share the story behind this success, discussing the “hows” and “whys” of their use of social media, and giving the audience some insight into where they see their use of the channels heading in the coming years.

Event Details

The session will take place in the offices of Enterprise Ireland in East Point Business Park, Dublin 3. Registration will commence at 08.00, and the session will end no later than 10.30. Further updates, including detailed agenda, will be published here on the BestConnected blog.

To register for this free event, please go to https://www.eventsforce.net/enterpriseireland/295/register

Share