B2B Integrated Marketing for Machine Vision Distributor

Phase 1 Technology Capitalizes on Emerging Industries to Become a Leading Distributor

Amplify Helps a Machine Vision Distributor Find and Convert Leads with High Potential Lifetime Value

Phase 1 Technology, a vertically-integrated distributor of custom industrial vision systems, has been a client of Amplify’s since 1996. Today, Phase 1 Technology is a leading distributor of vision and machine vision systems components in North America. Amplify has worked in-step with Phase 1 since the beginning, transitioning as customer needs changed, adapting as the market changed and constantly finding innovative new ways to grow their business. At every major turning point, they’ve needed an agile marketing strategy to facilitate this strategic growth, as well as a business partner to provide guidance for online lead generation and offline sales.

Challenge

In the beginning, Phase 1 was comprised of a lean team of executives and sales people. Their core competencies were distribution logistics and educating existing and potential customers on the immensely difficult process of buying components to build a custom vision system. Marketing was not a core competency. They needed full-service integrated marketing and support to drive sales volume while they focused on what they did best.

The vision and imaging markets have grown dramatically since it’s nascent stages in the 90s, and will continue to grow rapidly for years to come. As new technology has emerged, Phase 1 has had to pivot and capitalize quickly. With entirely new industries popping up relying heavily on machine vision capabilities, they’ve had to strategically generate leads based on potential lifetime value to not only drive sales volume, but to establish their business as premier supplier in highly profitable emerging markets.

They needed an industrial marketing firm to go above and beyond the traditional scope of digital marketing. They needed a business partner who could take a holistic view of their vision, strategy and operations to facilitate the growth that would one day elevate them to the top of their industry.

Solutions

Amplify worked with Phase 1’s executive and sales teams to develop mock personas of their targeted buyers before launching campaigns into new verticals. These buyer personas ensured all marketing was on message, on the right channels and optimized for lead generation. Buyer persona development also brought Amplify’s strategy in close alignment with the vision of Phase 1’s executive and sales leadership.

With a Growth-Driven Design (GDD) approach, Amplify continuously optimized Phase 1’s website, guided user behavior, website analytics and conversion attribution. This has been an ongoing process of increasing the volume of quality leads generated online based on what’s working and what’s not. Supporting this initiative, Amplify has developed niche microsites for particular products or verticals to focus lead generation efforts on strategic markets, while also enhancing search engine optimization (SEO) for greater visibility in these markets.

For boosted traffic and industry visibility, Amplify has managed digital and social advertising, inbound content marketing, and organic social media marketing. This has created a digital environment where high-value potential customers are coming to Phase 1, rather than the other way around. These digital assets have effectively served as sales channels working around the clock to generate quality leads.

Amplify also provided a range of marketing support services to streamline Phase 1’s investment of time and resources. Amplify managed Phase 1’s website hosting services to free up more time for their executive and sales teams. Marketing automation was set up and linked with internal sales database to allow for sophisticated attribution modeling – information that dictated ongoing tactical adjustments. Other services included sales training, internal communications, business development consulting and more. Phase 1 has needed more than traditional industrial marketing services. As Amplify and Phase 1 work together to reach growth and sales goals, the scope of the relationship broadens so that Phase 1 always achieves their business goals, not just their marketing goals.

Results

With digital assets in place to attract a large audience, a web presence optimized to generate the right leads, a suite of marketing and business support, and a foundational marketing strategy closely aligned with the goals of executive and sales leadership, Phase 1 has had a highly effective industrial marketing campaign that’s provided significant return on investment (ROI).

They’ve grown into one of the leading distributors of vision and machine vision components with strategic footholds in the factory automation, aerospace, agriculture, robotics, UAV and electronics industries, among many others.

Amplify’s close collaboration with Phase 1’s leadership teams has resulted in a marketing and sales strategy with the agility to respond to swiftly changing market forces, accurately reflect the executive and sales teams’ vision for growth, and generate high quality leads at scale to grow their sales pipeline.