IBS injects Velocity into turnaround

When we met them in 2009, IBS, the specialist ERP vendor, was in turnaround. They’d just finished a major restructuring to focus the entire global business on one sector, wholesale distribution, and asked Velocity to clarify their positioning, develop a new story and take it to market.

As part of this process they needed a swish new website and some fast thought leadership content and campaigns.

The Project:

The Consulting Bit:

We came in, made a lot of notes, drank a lot of their coffee, and listened really hard to what they (and their customers) had to say. Then we:

·Simplified and focused the story – to position the company as leaders in the distribution business

·Gave IBS a new language – so they can talk about their products and services clearly ad compellingly – including their new category name: Distribution Resource Management

·Rationalized their product portfolio – so customers know exactly what’s on offer

The Web Bit:

As the first step in getting the new story to market, we:

·Ran analytics and content audits – using personas to develop the site navigation, architecture and SEO

·Wrote and designed a new website – to work as a lead generation platform – all in 6-8 weeks. Which isn’t bad.

·Helped move to a new CMS – by EPiServer, the best CMS on the planet (and a Velocity client)

The Thought Leadership Bit:

Leaders share their views on the marketplace with their customers and prospects.We’re helping IBS with a range of content marketing campaigns including:

·Web pages that are more than just product descriptions – they offer opinion and views on the market

·A series of eBooks –the first one on ‘margin killers’ in wholesale distribution is just the start

·Web video –our perennial favourite — in this case for a user conference series. With more on the way.

The Future Bit:

The foundation is in place.Now it’s time to build:

·Lead nurturing – we’re exploring using tools like Marketo to automate campaigns, and build a marketing funnel

·A customer portal – a mini-Facebook for customers to share their ideas with each other

·Blogging and social media – to promote IBS and engage in the web conversation

·More video – because it really is a fantastic way to tell stories. Just ask George Clooney

The bottom line

It’s too early to report hard results but the new story is getting real traction in the market, the website KPIs are all trending (or leaping) up, and Neil can’t stop smiling.

We have to say this is our ideal kind of project –plenty of tough challenges to get our strategic and creative teeth into, working with great people who are really on our wavelength.

‘’As always with a website project, it wasnt just a website project. I wanted it to be the catalyst for lots of things; yes, a new website, but also a new message, to re-energise people, and to bring us into the 21st C. The Velocity team have been great. They quickly got under the skin of the market, helped us craft a crisp story, oh and yes they built a great website too.” –Andy Bailey, CMO