The Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program Puts ABTech On A Clearer Path

Company Background:

Ken Abbott started ABTech Inc. in 1998 when a company approached him to supply them with air bearings.

At first it was only himself running the company. But the business grew quickly and moved into a 12,000 square foot facility in Swanzey, NH. They outgrew that facility and in 2017 moved into a 27,000 square foot facility in Fitzwilliam, NH. ABTech now has 29 employees.

The major markets ABTech serves are aerospace, optics, and semiconductors.

Situation:

“My background is mechanical engineering,” said Ken Abbott, President of ABTech, Inc. “I am not a sales person, I am not a marketing person. I really did not understand the difference between sales and marketing.”

So Ken put his faith in hiring a sales manager or marketing manager that unfortunately led them down the wrong path. Even contracting with an outside marketing specialist did not reap any benefits. He continued to feel he was going in directions that did not feel right. “I decided to wake up because I know my business, I know my customers, I know what they are looking for. I just needed help getting our message out there,” said Abbott.

Around that time Ken was contacted by a representative of NH MEP who let him know about a marketing information session workshop being offered by NH MEP and presented by their 3rd party partner TribalVision- a cutting-edge digital marketing firm.

Solution:

Ken attended NH MEP’s marketing information session workshop and afterward was interested in learning more. This led him to sign up for NH MEP’s full series of marketing training workshops called the “Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program” put on by TribalVision.

The Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program was a four-part series of online workshops for small and medium sized manufacturers looking to accelerate their sales growth and compete better on the local and global stage. It was designed to develop new markets, a marketing strategy, and branding materials, and to enhance the lead generation process. From four to six companies participate together to learn and share ideas.

The training sessions consisted of one day of classroom training with all the participating companies. Then one week later another day of classroom training. That was followed by a day of individual company training. Then after all the individual company training had been completed, there was a half-day debrief session with all participating companies.

Results:

“Before it felt like a shot gun blast approach. We now have a more targeted marketing message that is targeted more geographically,” said Abbott. “We learned to be much more strategic and selective. It allowed us to quote to the right people and be more efficient on the marketing front end and that turns into more orders.”

The following results for ABTech Inc. can be credited to having gone through NH MEP’s Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program:

• $700,000 in new sales over the last 12 months
• Added 3 new jobs over the last 12 months
• Retained 3 jobs over the last 12 months
• Increased investment of $50,000 in new products or processes over the last 12 months
• Increased investment of $50,000 in information systems and software over the last 12 months
• Increased investment of $20,000 in workforce practices or employee skills over the last 12 months
• Avoided $25,000 of any unnecessary investments or saved on any investments over the past 12 months