Our relationship with Tender was much more than a traditional provider/ customer relationship, and a great deal of this was because of our first meeting with the company. As marketers, we understand the value of what we do and know it generates real results, but the decision makers at Tender were wary of trying new methods. At the same time, we also saw some of the amazing things Tender was doing, and the passion they brought to crafting quality log homes was contagious. We knew that their craftsmanship and business model paired with our marketing prowess could move mountains, so we did something unheard of in the industry. We took on full responsibility for the project and agreed that Tender wouldn’t pay a thing until real sales were generated; we shook hands and shouldered the entire marketing plan ourselves.
Our strategy for the Tender website centered on building trust regarding Tender’s production methods. By creating useful content that readers could learn from, we not only educated potential customers, but demonstrated Tender had the expertise and superior results they were looking for. This method also helped nurture leads. After all, purchasing a log home, cottage, or sauna is a big investment, which people tend to decide upon over time. By keeping people engaged with content, they continued to return, even if they weren’t ready to make a purchase right away.
Six months into the project, we measured the results; the company had generated EUR 4 million in website inquiries. Of course, an inquiry is not the same thing as a sale. It’s not profit. However, there is no sale without an inquiry, and this was a good start, particularly because the previous site did not contribute to any sales. In fact, it may have even been deterring sales.
Moreover, the site previously ranked on the fifth or later page of Google, which means it was not ranking well enough to generate any interest or get clicks. Today, Tender has won its place among the major producers.
Organic search has largely been stable since 2016. The steep increase is directly linked to the content strategy we applied.
In addition to organic search improvements, we devised an e-book to serve as a lead generation tool. “Your Dream Log House in 7 steps” explores the stages of building log house, describing what’s important throughout, and details how to avoid exceeding a budget while building a log house. People can download the book free on the site, purely by providing an email address, which Tender can then use for marketing purposes. So far, the e-book has been downloaded more than 600 times.
Throughout this project, we addressed several issues, such as how to convert more visitors, how to get more inquiries in the Norwegian and Swedish markets, and how to cultivate the Finnish market. Moreover, it was a win-win situation for both Tender and our team.
