Reviving a brand to boost enquiries and sales.

An established company

APT is a Leicester-based precision engineering firm, offering more than 60 years’ design and manufacturing expertise. The company is a subcontract manufacturer of mill turned parts and CNC machined components for a range of sectors, including aerospace, medical, security, mechanical and naval engineering.

A tired brand

APT had reached a point where they felt they were languishing. Their visual branding had become dated and their website wasn’t attracting the right customers. They were conscious of the engineering industry’s reputation for being dull and they were keen to break out of that mould.

A refresh was needed, to inject new life into their brand, to transform their website and to increase sales.

Designeering offered them a fresh approach: the perfect fusion of a technical background, coupled with graphic design and branding expertise.

We identified APT’s website as a particular cause for concern. The site was poorly coded and included a lot of markup errors, too many JavaScript files and inconsistent CSS styling. It was slow to load and wasn’t responsive, so it didn’t resize for mobile devices.

The low conversion rates were due to a poor user experience. The services were presented in a confusing way and there were no calls to action. Videos were repeated on different pages of the site, but there were no photographs of the manufactured parts.

A fresh strategy

Designeering’s recommendation was to focus on fundamentals, adopting a strategic approach and introducing more clarity to APT’s messaging.

We proposed a new marketing approach that was 50% online, 30% printed and 20% advertising.

On the advertising side, we advised on the best magazines to advertise in that would target new and existing customers. New vehicle branding was recommended for the company’s vans, to get them noticed out on the road. And a specially designed and branded phone holder was created as part of a trade show competition giveaway.

Specific market challenges

APT is working in a saturated market, with lots of competitors. It needed a way to stand out, in terms of its branding, website search terms and general marketing approach.

Having worked with several agencies over the years, APT’s visual branding wasn’t consistent across all marketing channels. It needed an in-depth overhaul to bring everything into line.

Long-term brand guardianship

Work on APT’s website is ongoing, with a monthly contract in place for maintenance, writing blog posts and posting on APT’s social media channels.

APT gets a visit from us at least twice a month. In these meetings, we assess our progress, discuss new developments and photograph any new parts they’ve been machining.

We offer additional marketing support at intervals throughout the year. This could be in the form of advertising features to coincide with industry trade shows and ideas for editorials. This includes managing the printed advertising budget and liaising with magazine editors.

When APT purchased a new delivery van, we designed full vehicle branding.

Unlike a typical graphic design agency, we also use our 3D product design expertise. We designed a unique sample box for APT to showcase its part samples. And each year, we design APT’s branded bespoke corporate gifts, that they then machine and send out to their clients. They have included a retro car photo holder, a wine bottle top, and a bottle opener.

Recently, we conceived and designed a Willy-Wonka-style marketing campaign, where customers had a chance of finding a rare gold coin in their parts order. Shiny envelopes were randomly added to boxes before delivery. Each one contained a £1 supermarket trolley token, which had been specially machined by APT. Most of the tokens were stainless steel, but the rare gold ones were made of brass. Customers who received the gold coins were encouraged to share their find on social media for a prize.

What the client says

Having used several advertising agencies in the past, with varying success, we knew we needed a fresh approach. Designeering brought exactly that.

We wanted to stand out from the crowd, as advertising for our industry can be monotonous. Designeering has managed not only to execute our brief but has taken us to the next level.

Designeering updates the website and manages all aspects of our social media and advertising each month, leaving us to focus on our core business, which is invaluable to us.

Sébastien’s technical understanding and skills are a great asset to a company like ours. We have no hesitation recommending him and his team to other companies, as their professionalism and knowledge are second to none.

Nick Baller, Managing Director

Does your brand need a guardian?

Running a business is no mean feat. There are staff and processes to manage, suppliers to liaise with and customers to please. Marketing and advertising your business properly requires time and skills your company may not have.

As your brand guardian, Designeering will take care of all your branding, marketing and advertising needs, leaving you free to focus on what you do best. Your campaigns will be creatively designed and expertly managed to bring in more of the business you need.

If you’d like to see what Designeering could do for your brand, why not call us on 0116 403 0530 for an informal chat.