Strouse Boosts SEO by 100% and Lands $80K Project With 1st Inbound Campaign

A new website, SEO strategy, and paid ad campaign help an adhesive converter’s messaging stick with customers and land new business.

SUMMARY:

• 100%+ growth in several key SEO metrics
• 4 straight months of record-high website organic sessions
• 90% increase in quote requests
• An $80,000 project from first paid ad campaign

ABOUT STROUSE

With 34+ years as a precision die cutter and flexible material adhesive converter, Strouse provides results for customers requiring complex, multi-layered products, tight tolerances, cost-efficient production, and industry-leading quality. The fact that Strouse manufactures over 800 custom adhesive products per year shows that their value to customers is helping them solve their unique problems using expert engineering and manufacturing.

Strouse realized they needed to convey their market advantages using updated, modern messaging. They began to partner with Weidert Group, a Hubspot Diamond Partner, in April 2020 with the goal of leveraging the agency's website design experience and ability to write compelling, SEO-driven content.

THE CHALLENGE

Strouse’s website and marketing programs weren’t communicating what the company was delivering: truly world-class products, engineering, and support. Strouse needed a HubSpot partner to apply industry and inbound expertise to:

• Evaluate Strouse’s existing brand messaging and update it to effectively communicate what the company delivers: problem-solving solutions and adhesive products to satisfy customers’ needs
• Leverage Strouse’s experience to engage the right prospects, targeting large enterprises over startups
• Scrutinize Strouse’s SEO strategy and create tactics to improve performance
• Elevate Strouse’s inbound marketing efforts to a higher level to achieve KPIs and reach short- and long-term lead generation goals
• Update Strouse’s website to properly communicate the company’s abilities and promote why they are the premier adhesive converter
• Generate more SQLs and new sales opportunities

“We looked to the expertise of Weidert Group for their overall knowledge of inbound marketing, focus on brand messaging, and ability to help us grow our SEO metrics.” — Scott Chambers, Business Development Manager

THE SOLUTION 

FLYWHEEL TOOLS FOR SUCCESS

Strouse understood that they needed to drive results in all stages of the flywheel, so HubSpot’s suite of Marketing and CMS tools were ideal. HubSpot Marketing Hub and CMS Hub Professionals were deployed to implement a threefold solution to help them attract, engage, and delight prospects and customers:

1. Implementation of a full inbound marketing program, beginning with strategic and foundational work;
2. A powerful new website that conveyed Strouse’s visionary thinking to solve visitors’ and customers’ problems, including an e-commerce solution swiftly implemented during a global pandemic; and 
3. A paid advertising campaign to accelerate lead gen of MQLs, SQLs, and ultimately, sales.

WEBSITE REVAMP: 

Weidert Group started by analyzing Strouse’s existing site, reviewing content and other factors that influence the site’s overall performance. 

We then reviewed the company’s growth goals and identified what was needed in order for the site to deliver on expectations — both the company’s and visitors’. We leveraged technology — HubSpot CMS and SEO tools, as well as integrations like LuckyOrange, Google Search Console, and Databox — to identify improvement areas in order to offer visitors a more robust and streamlined experience.

Strouse’s new website:

• Has updated content that reflects Strouse’s strengths and a design that enhances the user experience, both of which influence the site’s overall performance
• Addresses the company’s growth goals
• Leverages technology to offer visitors a more robust and streamlined experience
• Reflects the expertise and industry leading position of the company
• Engages visitors with dramatic headlines and eye-catching visuals that communicate Strouse’s strengths
• Presents company differentiators within a brief About Strouse video
• Implemented Shopify/eCommerce to help Strouse take advantage of a new product: a face shield offering during the early stages of the pandemic

INBOUND PROGRAM (FOUNDATIONAL): 

During Q3 2020 we provided in-depth strategy work to complete Strouse’s inbound marketing plan and playbook and generate some quick wins. This included:

• Competitor keyword analysis
• Optimizing existing content for quick SEO and lead conversion wins
• Revamped case studies
• Sales enablement work to align teams with defined MQL and SQL criteria
• Implementation of lead scoring and a progressive form strategy to capture and qualify leads
• Social media strategy
• Backlink analysis
• Updated messaging, positioning, and persona development
• Helped launch a new product program (face shields) when expediency was key due to urgent demand as a result of a global pandemic
• Full website redesign and launch using HubSpot CMS for CRM-powered personalization and lead gen ongoing

INBOUND PROGRAM (MONTHLY): 

Since Q3 2020 Weidert Group and Strouse have been working hand in hand on an ongoing inbound program that includes: 

To Attract

• Weekly, SEO-focused blogging
• Social media
• Technical SEO work to improve website vitals
• Paid ads campaign

To Engage

• Gated content pieces to increase conversions via landing pages
• Conversion optimization via slide-in graphic CTAs, exit-intent CTAs, and inline CTAs

To Delight

• Continuous web improvements based on UX data about visitor behaviors
• Buyer journey-focused lead nurturing paths and automated workflows

The ongoing inbound program includes a $2,500 per month paid ad campaigns budget used for Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads. Weidert Group actively manages these campaigns on behalf of Strouse, making continuous updates to keywords, ad graphics, and allocating spend across the three platforms to optimize results.

SEO and paid ads are closely linked to one another. Having done the foundational and strategic work to identify Strouse’s buyer journeys greatly impacts the paid ad experience and results — knowing what buyers are searching for and having remarkable content that addresses their needs makes the ads helpful, relevant, and thereby more successful.

THE RESULTS

Strouse experienced an increase in organic traffic and leads due to their new website and SEO strategies. The easiest way to see results is to compare Strouse’s year-over-year website statistics: 

Compare organic keywords and traffic from June 2020 ...

… to August 2021 …

… which reveals an increase in total keywords of 189%.

Website sessions June 2020 to August 2021:

The impact of embracing HubSpot tools isn’t just felt, it’s seen:

• Intense SEO growth for Strouse in the first 12 months of the partnership with Weidert Group
• Quote requests up 55% March-May 2021 vs. January-February
• Strouse’s first paid advertising campaign resulted in an immediate $80,000 project from a major exercise/fitness equipment company with the potential for much more

THE IMPACT 

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Strouse continues to work with Weidert Group on their monthly inbound program and together we are looking to integrate video ads, will maintain weekly blogging, make consistent technical SEO updates, improve the user experience, and implement conversion rate optimization tactics and relevant nurturing workflows to maximize the number of leads gained from the increased website traffic.