Marketing Case Studies

CASE STUDY: C. F. Martin & Co. survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, and both World Wars. Inspired by its past, the guitar maker thrived in 2009. more

CASE STUDY: Senior management at scuba-supply outfit Divers Direct weren't convinced they needed to run promotions or offer discounts to increase Web sales. A test using Sitebrand's personalization platform quickly changed that perception. more

How does a university up its visibility with an increasingly wired target market of both students of alumni? By orchestrating a Web 2.0-focused Web site redesign that set the foundation for an ongoing social media campaign. more

Continental Warranty used pay-per-click ads to generate leads by providing free quotes for extended-warranty coverage. But lead volume had plateaued. So it began to profile its web visitors, then direct them to microsites matching their profiles—and nearly doubled leads. more

Internt fax service provider MyFax wanted to tap into the power of word-of-mouth referrals by improving the customer experience and maintaining highly personalized customer interactions. But as an online company, it faced the issue of how to individually engage customers to ensure long-term relationships. Here's what it did. more

As a tiny Florida player in the field of advertising for small businesses, Karl Long knew he should consider unconventional ways to promote his company. Taking a cue from a competitor, Long launched a campaign that upped traffic to his blog 500%, raised his Google profile, and led to new business. more

Makana Solutions needed an inexpensive way to reach the elusive small business market. Rather than chase small businesses, it hired an online "inbound marketing system" to help small businesses find Makana. The results: Web site traffic climbed 75%, and sales leads have doubled. more

Softrax Corp.'s enterprise software automates a company's entire revenue cycle. With the advantages of automation not always apparent to potential customers, Softrax based its marketing strategy on educating the market, while competitors relied mostly on advertising. Webcasts featuring government and industry experts—with only an indirect connection to Softrax apparent—formed the core of the new strategy, and within four years helped double revenues. more

The manufacturing sector is more traditional than most. Many of its customers aren't high tech—some don't even have Internet access. Fabcon, a Minnesota builder of precast wall panels, struggled with marrying its desire for high-tech operational efficiency and its need to service customers in the method that they preferred. more

Earthlink, one of the country's smaller Internet service providers, serves just over 5 million customers. To differentiate itself, it has decided to provide superior customer service. An early adopter of chat technology, it has sought to actively offer efficient online customer service via chat—both shifting customer support away from the less-efficient phone channel and increasing customer satisfaction while dramatically reducing expenses. more

The nonprofit Oregon Sports Authority (OSA) was striving to bring new sporting events, teams, and tourist dollars to the state. It also wanted to become the official sports resource for state residents. An overhaul of its promotions and more compelling communication of its brand were the ambitious goals that the four-employee nonprofit set for itself--and achieved, with a little help from a capable member base, which included the likes of Nike. more

With Web hosting fast becoming a commodity, Web hosting firm Rackspace realized it needed to stand out from the pack. Its founders decided they would stake a claim to "fanatical" commitment to customer service. Rackspace wove the concept into its very business structure, even trademarking the term "Fanatical Support." And it worked: Revenues grew more than 60% from 2005 to 2006, and the number of employees more than doubled. more

When the clients of SalesTrac, Inc., were looking for more in-depth consumer insight to determine the effectiveness of their promotional events, SalesTrac seized the opportunity to provide increased value through an all-in-one system that added survey management and real-time reporting of consumer feedback to its services. Check out the results. more

By dynamically changing content on its start page to targeted segments of site visitors, along with testing the placement of additional product offerings within the transaction funnel, American International Underwriters upped the conversion rates of several of its products. more

For more than a century, Boston's Museum of Science has depended on government grants and donors to finance its stated goal of encouraging "interest in and further understanding of science and technology and their importance for individuals and for society." The Museum attracts about 1.6 million visitors a year, including more than 50,000 members who visit regularly. Corporate branding and marketing for fundraising purposes hadn't been given much thought, but in 2001, as the U.S. stock market collapsed and the global economy slowed, the Museum found itself stretched for donors. It realized it was time to start marketing itself. Pioneering any major change naturally involves its share of challenges; this study reveals how one very traditional organization was able to make the transition. more

BearingPoint, a global provider of management and technology services, had won a major contract to implement a complicated voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system for a financial company and wanted to leverage off that success. But it was competing with larger telecommunications brands to educate potential new customers about the new technology. By using multiple channels to get potential customers to visit its Web site and fill out a "BearingPoint VoIP Readiness Assessment Tool," the company was able to educate customers, gain sales leads, and often accelerate the typical nine-month period it took to close a large sale. more

How do you sell a niche product with a limited potential audience? Try an in depth-television infomercial. Professional Tool Manufacturing's infomercial for Drill Doctor, a drill-bit sharpening machine, is one of the longest-running infomercials in TV history. It has consistently driven retail sales—more than two million Drill Doctors have been sold—while substantially saving advertising costs. Professional Tool Manufacturing and its direct response television (DRTV) agency Atomic Direct created an award-winning infomercial by avoiding the traditional yell-and-sell approach and instead honing in on communicating the benefits of drill-bit sharpening to a sophisticated, do-it-yourself audience. more

The Points of Light Foundation's annual event had grown moribund, and the house list stagnant, says Chief Creative Director Todd Potochnik. But he and his team were able to boost attendance from the previous year's conference by more than 25% and garner an 85% "satisfactory or above" approval rating from attendees. more

The Sideways Wine Club, launched in April 2005, improved sales 161% year over year through July 2006, despite the fact that most online wine marketers experience an average visitor-to-buyer conversion rate of about 0.0085, or 0.85%, much lower than most other online retailers' conversion rates. The company's founder, Dave Chambers, knew he could improve sales even more dramatically, if he could improve those miserable conversion rates. more

A software company in rural Montana was able to acquire major pharmaceutical company accounts and increase tradeshow traffic 300% by developing and promoting the educational content that its target industry craved... more