Marketing Strategy in a Remote Model – GBG Building Services Case Study

Developing an effective marketing strategy requires talks with business owners, often their clients and employees as well. Meeting face to face and getting to know each other is optimal. Is it possible to design a strategy in a remote model? What marketing activities are we proposing to a UK renovation company?

From the following case study you will find out:

• If it’s possible to develop a company’s marketing strategy in a remote model;
• Why we often advise against automating marketing activities;
• What a premium segment company’s website should look like;
• Where to start implementing a marketing strategy;
• Who should implement personal branding activities in the marketing strategy.

Project context

GBG Building Services is a company dealing in professional renovation of buildings in London. The owner of GBG is Mariusz Gawecki, who has over 15 years of experience in construction and renovation works in the UK.

Our task was to design an introduction to the marketing strategy for the GBG Building Services brand, with particular emphasis on website auditing.

Problems and challenges faced by the client:

• Non-existing company marketing plan;
• Desire to redesign the website;
• The need to determine the next steps that will allow GBG to grow faster and acquire more and more projects.

Cooperation process

We had 3 weeks during which we conducted:

• Online kick-off workshop;
• Research with GBG customers;
• Communication channels analysis;
• Extensive website audit;
• Marketing funnel analysis;

Additionally, we have defined:

• Communication channels;
• Fundamentals of brand communication;
• Unique Value Proposition and Key Selling Points;
• KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)
• Priorities and activities for the upcoming weeks and months.

Sprint 1: Research

Online kick-off workshop

Mariusz lives in London, we are stationed in Krakow. We usually run kick-off workshops face to face, meeting our clients in person. Video conference, however, isn’t an issue, we’ve worked with clients from 14 different countries (from USA, Germany, Kenya and Singapore).

We usually use Google Hangouts for video conferences, which gives us the opportunity not only to see each other personally or write a message (send a link to a website, for example), but also to share the screen, which is a very useful and often used function.

During the workshop, we used 2 tools that usually help us understand and structure knowledge about the client’s company. These were:

• Business Model Canvas;
• Team Canvas.

For remote workshops (especially when using canvases), we recommend using online tools that allow to make changes on a regular basis. After the finished call we have digitized, supplemented canvases, ready to be sent to the client. We recommend using a free, intuitive and easy-to-use Canvanizera.

The workshop with Mariusz allowed us to learn the history of GBG, the services they offer, the company’s strategic goals and the purpose of our cooperation. Together, moreover, we agreed on further steps that we used when working in sprints.

Research with clients

Conducting research with the company’s clients is crucial for us. And this time, we wanted to talk with GBG customers.

We used 2 research methods for this, depending on the specifics of GBG’s cooperation with a specific client. These were:

• In-depth interviews;
• Online survey.

Obviously, we carried out the above methods remotely as well, in English.

What did we find out during the research?

• What the company’s strengths are;
• What distinguishes GBG from other renovation companies;
• What many renovation and construction companies do tragically wrong and what to avoid like the plague;
• What customers consider when choosing a renovation company;
• How willingly customers recommend GBG to their friends (aka NPS, Net Promoter Score).

Sprint 2: Analysis

Communication channels analysis

The automation of marketing and sales processes is a great way to optimize the time. Well used, it can save many hours of work, and thus – company money.

Unfortunately, we often face the problem of misuse of automation tools. It was the case of GBG as well – the company had combined different social media profiles into one online tool that was publishing the same content on different platforms. There are several problems here.

1. Adapting copywriting to a specific platform. On different platforms, for example, different call to action is used. Publishing identical content on various social media creates a mismatch issue.
2. Different platforms mean different uses of, for example, hashtags. On one medium, hashtags perform a more image-oriented function, and on others – a typically reach-out function, on another the function of filtering/searching.
3. Graphics often have to have certain dimensions. A certain picture looks different on Twitter and different on Linkedin.

We often recommend simplicity to our clients. This means manually creating post structure, choosing graphics and publishing. Developing a solid foundation for further activities, testing and learning to work on a particular platform.
There will be time for automation.

Website audit

In the renovation, construction and architecture industry, websites are a very important communication channel. Why is it so? First of all, due to aesthetic and visual issues.

On the website you can put photos of the implemented projects, case studies, customer reviews (also essential)…All this shows the brand’s professionalism, aesthetic sense, but also focus on details (on grammar, lack of typos, margins, etc.).

To visualize the recommended aesthetics of the site, we have developed a moodboard for the client – a set of inspirations that show the stylistic range that we want to follow.

Together with the client, we agreed that we would conduct an extensive website audit, along with recommendations for changes.

If you’re wondering what an extensive site audit is, you need to know that Agnieszka has prepared a file with 21 audit pages for Mariusz, along with short summaries to each paragraph. 🙂

In addition to typically aesthetic issues, we’ve also developed a more transparent sales and UX information architecture.

Competition analysis

We have analyzed 5 competing client companies.

What did we pay special attention to?

• The aesthetics of all types of content they publish;
• Communication channels (with an emphasis on popular channels in this industry, like Instagram, Pinterest or Houzz);
• Websites and information architecture contained therein;
• Whether their communication is tailored to the premium segment;
• Whether they communicate their Unique Value Proposition and Key Selling Points;

We found many interesting elements, like the fact that competing companies are poor at dealing with:

• Social media activities;
• PR content;
• Websites (these were either nice, but not very tailored to sales, or ugly, but highly converting).

On the other hand, we were also inspired by several activities, like:

• Very good quality case studies;
• Caring for collecting recommendations;
• Non-standard practices, such as, for example, showing a renovated building as a 3D walk.

Sprint 3: An effective marketing strategy

Based on the previous 2 sprints we have developed an introduction to an effective marketing strategy for GBG.

In the strategic part we have presented such elements as:

• Value Proposition;
• Basics of communication;
• Communication channels;
• Redesigned marketing funnel;
• Recommendations for actions.

Importantly, the recommendations were presented in the form of priorities, divided into 6 stages, depending on the urgency of the change. Due to this presentation of the case, customers don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of changes and know exactly what to do, step by step, to achieve their goals.

In this process, one of the recommendations was particularly unique. 🙂

Thanks to the knowledge gained from research with GBG customers, we found out that a large role in this cooperation plays…Mariusz – the owner of GBG – himself. He also plays the role of a Project Manager, whom people trust and can count on.

In the case of Mariusz (including several other factors), we recommended personal branding activities that will support company messages in marketing.

Mariusz, we’re keeping our fingers crossed! 🙂

Summary of activities

Remote work

What can we say about the whole process in the context of remote work?

It definitely didn’t disturb our activities or affect the final result – a strategy.

Conducting kick-off workshops and presenting the final strategy is the greatest difficulty. It’s always better to meet face to face, discuss strategic issues in person or exchange comments and feelings regarding new activities.

On the other hand, due to tools such as Slack, Google Hangouts or Canvanizer we’re able to work very effectively, regardless of which country we work from.

Another time zone may be a challenge as well. In the UK there is one hour backward, which you need to pay special attention to, when arranging telephone interviews (a small piece of advice – in communication, I recommend using the local time of the people we would like to talk to, always adding the official time zone, for example 11 am GMT. This allows us to avoid mistakes).

Thanks to frequent and regular communication via Slack and Hangouts, Mariusz knew what we were working on and we could ask him about necessary issues.

To sum up – everything went smoothly, without any problems or delays, but we would love to meet Mariusz in person on the next project! 🙂

Rekomendacja

The client himself will best tell about the process of cooperation with us. 🙂

Tools, methods and techniques used in the project

• Google surveys;
• In-depth phone interviews;
• Marketing funnel;
• Business Model Canvas;
• Team Canvas;.

External links:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/82851991/ARCHIT-CONCEPT?tracking_source=search%7Carchitecture
https://entre.qodeinteractive.com/
https://www.behance.net/gallery/91336353/Interior-design-studio?tracking_source=search%7Cinterior%20design
https://www.behance.net/gallery/84114839/Baroque-Architecture-Interior-Studio-Website