How a B2B Company Experienced a Profitable Rebirth During an Industry Downturn

Hermary Case Study

The Challenge

In 2019, mills in British Columbia closed due to softening lumber prices, the pine beetle crisis, and international trade disputes. Acting fast, Hermary’s CEO identified several relevant target industries with similar automation needs as the lumber industry (e.g. meat processing and bakeries). Hermary needed immediate help to:

  • Prepare and execute involvement in US trade shows;
  • Create a strong sales-lead pipeline;
  • Recruit and build an internal marketing team.

The Results

Hermary earned a functioning marketing system in under a year. Here are some of the core wins during the first 9-months.

New product soft-launch with cross-industry brand appeal.

New lead acquisition channels boosting website leads +600%.

In-house marketing employee recruited, trained, and fully-integrated.

Terry Hermary

"Able & Howe’s process helped us scale our marketing operations from virtually nothing to an effective marketing machine."

~ Terry Hermary, CEO, Hermary

How it Happened

Leveraging the in-source marketing model™, Hermary was able to immediately execute on marketing operations while simultaneously building their internal capabilities for future deployment. This involved:

  • Customer research & analysis
  • Marketing technology infrastructure consulting
  • Email automation implementation
  • Trade show operations and playbook creation
  • Web storytelling and messaging
  • Internal talent development and deployment
  • Marketing process mapping

Project
Timeline

July 2020

Implementation of CRM and analytics (including training).

August 2020

Route-to-market channel partner program (including personas and trade show identification).

September 2020

Trade show planning and development.

October 2020

Booth design for product soft-launch and pre-trade show marketing.

December 2020

Product soft-launch, trade show execution (including operationalized playbook).

January 2021

Revised website, including new messaging and branding.

March 2021

Marketing Manager successfully hired, onboarded, and trained.