Case Study: Using digital to explain a product

The story
Hiperbaric, a company of about 50 employees based in Burgos, Spain, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-pressure processing (HPP) machines for the food industry. This is a relatively new technology that allows companies to extend the shelf-life of food without heat or chemicals.

By 2011, however, the business had gone from being a leader in a low-competition field to having three new competitors with large resources. The potential market was huge – products from milk to salsa can use HPP – but, as a small enterprise, Hiperbaric had limited resources to reach them.

The challenge
Even though HPP was becoming more familiar in the food industry, the first barrier remained enabling the technology to be well known.

Hiperbaric’s potential market was also geographically widespread and complicated by a long and technical consulting sales cycle. HPP machines cost from €500,000 to €2m so any decision to buy could not be rushed and involved building trust with the client.

The strategy
Hiperbaric realised that people who discover for themselves what new technologies can bring to their businesses are more likely to buy compared with those approached cold. The discovery process typically happens through online research.

Hiperbaric invested €60,000 transforming its website, which had been filled with technical language. Instead, the company decided to educate visitors to the site by creating content that explained the technical benefits of its equipment as simply as possible.

The new website used language that anyone could understand to show how its technology applied to the food industry. Video content was also developed to explain the story of Hiperbaric and the specific benefits of its machines.

There was also a heavy focus on search-engine optimisation to increase the prospects that potential clients would see the new content, and the videos were placed on a YouTube channel. The company reinvigorated its LinkedIn and Twitter presence, focusing in particular on external community management and increasing the number of postings. At the same time, Hiperbaric launched a Facebook page and blog.

The strategy was to exploit digital less as a sales channel than as a communications channel.

As sales leads increased, Hiperbaric management hired a digital sales specialist. This new role meant there was a person dedicated to responding quickly to any prospective client that contacted the company via any digital channel. This took the pressure off the small sales team, which was still required to continue attending events and guiding customers through the sales process.

The results
After overhauling its digital presence, Hiperbaric’s sales rose from €14m in 2011 to €34m in 2012 (the initial sales forecast for the year had been €19m), and from selling 12 machines in 2011 to 22 last year.

The lessons
When selling products that involve a huge investment from customers and may involve unfamiliar technology, not all marketing activities should be geared towards selling the product, either directly or aggressively. Educating and building trust through communications is just as important. Digital is particularly useful as the first step to engaging with potential customers.

Sometimes companies use only a sales objective to assess the success of their digital strategy. But this is unfair – particularly in relation to high-cost products sold business-to-business.

Digital media is not often the last point of contact before a consumer makes a purchase, but can still have a huge impact on the customer’s decision to buy.

Finally, digital communications should be seen as a complement, not a replacement, to other activities; people who become interested in a particular product because of a company’s online marketing still need to be convinced to buy by direct contact.
- Financial Times, Jun 10, 2013