AEL environment

About Futureproof Inc.

Futureproof Inc. is a full-service, digital-first marketing agency.

Futureproof supports entrepreneurs and owner-operated businesses in North America in their sales and marketing initiatives. Our services and offerings change as the market demands. That’s why we use market research and trends in order to understand your customers and provide a customized solution for your business. We partner with you and harness the expertise of our team in order to achieve your business objectives and grow your brand. We believe in a collaborative, data-driven approach to marketing.

About the Company

The company is a professional engineering firm in the environmental consulting industry focused on providing value-added services in the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites. With over 30 years of experience, the company's expert engineers can address any remediation and risk assessment concerns on their client’s property.

The company employs a dedicated team of engineers, geoscientists, chemists, risk assessors, GIS and technology professionals, and related specialists. Their track record of successfully completed projects, ranging in value from thousands to millions, is a result of their expertise and innovation in the environmental engineering industry. 

Problem Statement

At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the environmental engineering company went from working in person for decades to conducting business remotely. As the pandemic progressed into 2021, the company was looking for a marketing team that could not only assist with marketing initiatives, but also assist with outreach, lead capture, and sales generation. During this period, the company's clients were concerned with compliance, due diligence, and risk avoidance in the transforming landscape.

Historically, the company relied heavily on traditional sales channels such as word of mouth, referrals, phone calls, and online form generation. The environmental engineering company not only required assistance with revamping its marketing materials but also with developing an omnichannel sales funnel. This revolved around generating sales from new channels and capturing more sales from existing sales channels. Enter Futureproof.

Process

A thorough business audit was conducted in order to assess current processes and practices.  The audit identified that traditional sales channels were the most common means of generating business. Additionally, there was no structured platform in place to track and manage sales goals, performance, and/or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Futureproof went to work, starting with identifying customer personas and building out buyer journeys in order to successfully understand the different audiences the company serves. 

Opportunities and Solutions

The results from the audit provided a roadmap to the opportunities and improvements that can be made at the organization. The nature of the environmental engineering company’s services varies in terms of time to close. A handful of services are repetitive in nature, and the quote can easily be generated. On the other hand, the remaining services are much more complex and require much more technical expertise. Therefore, the marketing tactics implemented needed to be customized according to the service type.

After identifying customer personas and buyer journeys, it was vital to implement a structured system for generating leads and tracking sales. Hubspot, an inbound marketing platform, was implemented for team members across the organization in order to manage marketing efforts as well as sales opportunities. Additionally, tracking was added to the website through Hubspot to generate data where further insights could be drawn from.

The sales strategy was divided into inbound and outbound streams. The inbound marketing strategy revolved around closing existing deals in the pipeline and categorizing all deals in the system so that all team members could see where deals stand at a glance. Some assets that were developed for this strategy include updated case studies with new copy and design, a template so the proposal process could be streamlined, and a do-it-yourself calculator for users to plug in their requirements on the website to receive an immediate quote.

The outbound strategy revolved around generating a capabilities deck, journey mapping proposals for post-proposal projects, sales script creation, objection handling training, and case studies that focused on full project completion (from proposal through solution).

In addition, a paid advertising strategy was implemented across traditional paid platforms as well as LinkedIn In-Feed ads. Monthly webinars with external experts were also managed and conducted. As the years progressed, the organizational focus moved toward a website revamp in order to improve the overall UX/UI experience. Further, a sales training workshop was conducted for the whole team in order to level up sales strategies.

Currently, in 2023, the company continues to evolve and so do the marketing opportunities. At the beginning of the year, another audit was conducted in order to identify further areas of opportunity. Insights revealed that there was an opportunity to develop customized marketing and sales materials, such as an interactive pitch deck for new sales opportunities. There has also been discussion around implementing outbound software to prospect and engage with cold leads within the industry. Further support to marketing efforts includes content that is consistently being developed in the form of case studies, one-pagers, brochures, new service booklets, etc. Additionally, thought leadership focused on industry-leading topics has been developed and posted on the company blog.

With a focus on data-driven decision-making, monthly reporting on sales efforts have continued throughout the years. Data is shared with the organization every month in order to evaluate the effectiveness of these various tactics, draw conclusions from the information, and track changes over time.

Results

The requirements of this company have significantly changed as the years have progressed. Looking ahead, the focus will be on exploring more non-traditional sales channels in order to develop even more opportunities with their expanded network.

As an agency, Futureproof is agile and able to pivot strategies and tactics as business requirements and economic conditions change. This organization has since expanded and opened up another office in Eastern Ontario. We are looking forward to seeing what next year holds for this organization!