Strategic Marketing Consultants

The Situation

Holox Ltd, a medium-sized compressed gas supplier based in Norcross, Georgia knew they needed to move into the Internet age and in 2001 hired Strategic Internet LLC initially to design and build a new website for the company.  What was anticipated by management to be a 30-day project soon morphed into two months, six months and eventually an ongoing project.

Upon their discovery process, Shea Ellison, President and Founder of Strategic Internet discovered that not only did Holox need a website; they also needed backend systems to manage their business processes.  They were still doing everything on paper and storing all documents in filing cabinets.  If they were going to move into the digital realm and really benefit from implementing technology in their business, they had to be “all-in.”

The Solution

We prioritized their needs and decided to design and build their public-facing website first.  Once that was complete, we began work on their Intranet, scanning and transcribing their mountain of paper documents and loading them up into the hierarchical system we devised for them to make it quick and easy to retrieve any document with two or three clicks.

This process continued for months and while that project was continuing, we began to help them evaluate the available Enterprise Resource Systems (ERP) on the market.  After developing a comprehensive list of priorities and carefully evaluating the variety of platforms available, they opted to have us design and build a custom ERP system specific for their needs.  Additionally, in 2003 they purchased LifeGas, a medical gases company which we folded into our planning and development processes.

In January 2004 as the strategic planning and evaluation process evolved and before a final implementation plan could be finalized, Atlanta-based gas manufacturer Holox Ltd. was consolidated into Linde Gas LLC with AGA Gas Inc. of Cleveland and Linde Gas Inc. of LaPorte, Texas.

Cleveland-based Linde Gas would now leverage the combined companies with a strong focus on products, services and technology. The Linde Gas brand builds on the equity of its parent organization, Linde AG of Germany.

Linde Gas services the same industrial gas requirements of industries as Holox did such as manufacturing, food, energy, chemicals, metallurgy, environmental and construction.

The Results

Holox Ltd positioned itself for acquisition at least in part due to the public facing website and the back end Intranet systems we created for them.  All was not lost though as Linde Gas then hired Strategic Internet LLC to revamp their digital processes as well within their Safety and Compliance division.

The Situation

Airgas was founded in 1982 with the acquisition of a distributor, Connecticut Oxygen. Over the next 35+ years, the
company has grown organically and through more than 500 acquisitions to become one of the largest U.S. distribution networks
in the packaged gas industry. Airgas was acquired by Air Liquide in 2016. Together, the combined company became a world
leader in gas and services for Industry and Health.

Airgas is dedicated to improving the performance of its more than 1 million customers, Airgas safely and reliably provides products,
services and expertise to the following industries through its more than 18,500 associates, over 1,400 locations, robust e-
Business platform, and Airgas Total Access® telesales channel:

Construction
Energy and chemicals
Food and beverage
Government, defense and aerospace
Life sciences and healthcare
Manufacturing and metal fabrication
Power utilities and materials
Retail services

The Airgas SEO Solution

Leading the Airgas strategic marketing team, Shea Ellison proposed a comprehensive digital marketing effort to:

1. Add hosted gated landing pages to each business unit’s sites combined with branded and targeted lead magnets.

2. Implement a hosted marketing automation platform that integrates with in-house CRM systems.

3. Engage professional sales writers to create a series of opt-in, nurturing and closing email messages to pull prospects into and through their sales funnel.

The Airgas SEO Results

After implementation of the SEO solution, opt-ins increased by 66%, engagement with nurturing and sales emails increased by 89%
and sales increased by 61% over the course of three years. Revenue also climbed 33%. Management in both marketing and
sales lauded our efforts as nothing short of “amazing.” The system is continually tweaked and improved through multi-variate
testing on an ongoing basis. As a result of this process, numbers have continue to increase year over year.

Safety extends beyond Airgas plants and branches. With more than 8,200 vehicles in its fleet, the company remains steadfastly focused
on maintaining a safe driving record. Through rigorous training and commitment to safety by our drivers, the company continually
achieves one of the lowest accident rates in the industry.

Airgas operates the largest U.S. hazmat organization specifically trained to handle compressed gases, the Airgas Emergency
Response Organization (AERO). Specially trained AERO teams located throughout the country respond quickly to emergencies
that arise

The Situation

The background in this Linde Gas case study, we learned that in the 2004 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 14.127B.  It makes it the largest gases and engineering company in the world.  The Linde Group has approximately 65,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide.  The Group comprises three Divisions: Industrial Gases & Healthcare, Engineering, and Gist

The largest division, Linde Gas, has three reportable segments – EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia/Pacific and the Americas.  The new Marketing VP of Linde Gas of the Americas engaged the services of Strategic Marketing Consultants.  The goal was to design, develop and implement an innovative new strategic marketing plan to better engage their customer base, increase their prospect lists and grow revenue across all business units.

The Solution

Leading the strategic innovation team, Shea Ellison proposed a comprehensive digital marketing effort to 1. Add hosted gated landing pages to each business unit’s sites combined with branded and targeted lead magnets.  2. Implement a hosted marketing automation platform that integrates with in-house CRM systems.  3. Engage professional sales writers to create a series of opt-in,  nurturing and closing email messages to pull prospects into and through our sales funnel.

The Results

After implementation of the solution, opt-ins increased by 61%, engagement with nurturing and sales emails increased by 87% and sales increased by 58% over the course of three years.  Revenue also climbed 33%.  Management in both marketing and sales lauded our efforts as nothing short of “amazing.”  The system is continually tweaked and improved through multi-variate testing on an ongoing basis.  As a result of this process, numbers have continue to increase year over year.

In 2007, the program was replicated in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia/Pacific with similar results.  Of course copy was adapted for the cultural differences throughout each segment and region.