The client
Activia was a small training company operating in a competitive market with no recognised alternative to traditional (and often unproductive) telephone-based sales activity.
In order to grow, Activia needed a means of competing against much larger, more established rivals.

The brief
To build a website and market it so that the Internet could be used as a primary marketing vehicle. Although Emarketers was given a very free rein to do what we felt was best, the small initial size of the company meant that activity had to be profitable at all times.

The execution
Website: To give easily accessed information on a wide portfolio of courses.
Marketing: Combined of Search Engine Optimisation, Paid Search and listings.
Reporting: Up to date reports on marketing spend, visitor levels and enquiries.

Results
Activia's continual Internet activity has driven significant sales increases in each year since its introduction in 2002. The upgrade path has been continual, and in addition to unique on-line Skills Appraisals, Bespoke Course Builders and a Client Portal, the website includes a custom-built Bookings system with its own Call Management software.

A database-driven Product Management system was put in place in January 2007 and a completely revamped website was launched two months later.

This has meant that Activia now enjoys not only one of the most prominent positions in a very competitive market place, but it has an IT-driven technical edge that places it well ahead of probably everyone else in the market.

The success of website marketing has directly financed the operation of a direct mail activity and the creation of a corporate telephone sales team.

The client
Thames Side Sensors Ltd has grown over the past 30 years by a combination of acquisition and organic growth to establish itself as the UK leader in the design, manufacture and supply of load cells, transducers and instrumentation products.

With an international network of distributors, it is well-placed to expand its operations overseas, and the Internet provides an excellent means of reaching new markets while simultaneously automating some facilities to provide an enhanced service at lower cost.

The brief
Although the company had a web site when we originally met in 2002, it was poorly designed: navigation was confused, operation was extremely slow, appearance and content were out of date and there was little functionality.

It did not take long to decide that, not only was a completely new site required, but the old site had nothing to offer the development process.
Objectives were twofold : to enable new customers to be attracted, and to support existing customers.

The execution
The site was designed as a showcase for the company and its products. Content included general corporate information, regular press releases and extensive technical data.

Functionality included two levels of product image enlargement, download of technical details in pdf format, and lead generation via the capture of visitor details.

Later addition of a 'Special Offers' page with on-line ordering further enhanced operation.
All details were automatically emailed to the sales office, making response times instant and removing any need for staff to log into the site.

Results
Within ten days of launch, sales directly generated from the web site had completely paid for the project! After a further two months, the web site was providing a constant stream of new leads and opportunities. Clients - and support staff - were finding the availability of technical information on-line to be an enormous benefit.

Ever since that time, the website has provided a means by which market position has been strengthened and new opportunities gained. The company has invested in continued development of the site and its Internet profile, retaining its position at the front of the load cells market.
After a management buyout of the company in 2006, Emarketers was commissioned to build a completely new website for the new company, with full maintenance and Internet marketing services.

The client
The Solids Handling and Processing Association (SHAPA) was formed in 1981, and has become the UK's leading industry association. It is a primary source of technical and legal information to its membership of around 100 companies, as well as providing a networking forum and access to wider markets through shows and exhibitions.

Through its website, SHAPA also provides a valuable source of suppliers for companies who are looking for the products that SHAPA members provide.

The brief
The SHAPA committee decided to use the Internet as a primary means of promotion for itself and its members. The existing website did not attract many new visitors, nor did it motivate visitors to browse the site. Additionally, it needed a more active members' information service.
Emarketers gained the contract in the face of opposition from industry specialists because of our strength in technical issues and Internet Marketing.

The execution
Traffic building: a large list of high-volume key phrases was researched to ensure that when built and optimised, the website would attract a continual stream of 'free' traffic from search engines.
Visitor conversion: in order to maximise the number of enquiries from visitors, an easy-to-use Product Finder section has been set up with member pages that link direct to member websites. In addition, visitors are encouraged to send information requests from forms on the website direct to
SHAPA.
Banner advertising: bespoke server-side scripts have been written to rotate paid-for member banner adverts so that no members received preference. Each banner has a click-through to the member website.
Varied content: to add further interest to the site, many pages have images that change when revisiting -- or even refreshing -- the page.

Results
Within two months of launch, fresh visitors were arriving at the site from the new search engine listings, and overall traffic and enquiries were up.
After three months, website traffic had trebled, with all the increase attributable to search engine referrals.

After three years, there were thousands of visitors arriving at the website as a direct result of the work by Emarketers.

Along with continual updates and website traffic increases, a complete redevelopment of the website as an information portal was accomplished in 2006, a further project to build a bespoke database-driven Product Management system was completed in 2007, and a visitor forum was added to the website in 2008.