I fixed a hole in the hull of an international post-sales logistics company’s messaging and charted a new course to treasure.
As was the case with the project I completed for the international tech support company, this international post-sales logistics company initially hired me to execute a content writing & copywriting localization campaign…but ended up hiring me to rebuild their entire messaging.
Having barely scratched the surface while researching the company, I found a gaping hole in the hull of the ship’s messaging through which potential customers were being pushed out to sea…and into the hands of competitors.
This was the most challenging project I’ve completed in my career because it required me to fix a sinking ship before navigating it to positive R.O.I.
It was trial by fire: a bounce rate of greater than 90%, a conversion rate of less than 2% (as defined by a user submitting a contact form for any reason), and–the number that mattered most–a sales conversion rate of less than .01% (as defined as a site visitor becoming a paid customer).
Atrocious data aside, the gaping hole in the company’s messaging was obvious to the naked eye: Their website contained no discernible value propositions whatsoever.
Instead, the site read like a “who’s who” of company executives. Even much of the company’s homepage was devoted to biographies of the company’s executives, as shown below. (For NDA compliance and C.Y.A. thoroughness, I’ve redacted all of the documents on this page like they’re classified CIA documents. 😂)
NOTE: Everything I’ve written in red is for effect. I obviously gave the customer much softer constructive criticism.
Not surprisingly, the data also showed that, before I rebuilt the hull of the company’s messaging, nearly all sales had been coming from customer referrals or cold calling from the sales team.
The website–the very ship on which Marketing had been sailing for years–had been responsible for very few sales.
The company had been “messaging” a red alert for several years.
I was able to convince the company’s “admiralty” that–before I could create a new, localized content writing & copywriting campaign, I needed to fix the gaping hole in company messaging.
I showed them data that demonstrated that most post-sales logistics customers base their purchasing decisions on value propositions built on “customer success” data, which the site lacked altogether.
Thus, the company ultimately hired me to:
1) Rebuild the entire hull of the company’s messaging.
2) Navigate the company into new markets via a new, localized content writing & copywriting campaign.
As is often the case, fixing the company’s messaging was a matter of clearly defining and communicating the value propositions the company had (but didn’t know how to verbalize).
As was the case with the international tech support company, this logistics company did indeed offer its customers valuable services; it just didn’t know how to clearly define them as value propositions or present them as compelling content writing or copywriting.
After interviewing the executive team and conducting deeper research, I determined that the company stood out from its competition in 3 ways:
1) It’s been leading the industry for several years in the KPIs that customers care about most, such as on-time REDACTED. (I actually can’t say that word…ha!)
2) Despite the fact that the company provides an array of vertical-specific services in various regions, it’s been providing a consistently-high level of service since the 1980s.
3) It’s been able to provide a consistently-high level of service regardless of vertical or region since the 1980s because it’s been quick to adapt to evolving technologies and industry standards.
So, through a smorgasbord of content writing & copywriting such as the three pieces I’ve showcased below, I communicated the overall message of:
Industry-leading KPIs worldwide through a consistently-high level of service that’s customized for customers’ unique needs and adjusted for changes in technology/industry standards.
Again, for NDA/C.Y.A. compliance, the following pages are redacted like they’re top-secret. 🤫 (And again, the notes in red are strictly my opinions.)
The sales funnels I created have been pulling in millions in exchange for the thousands the company paid me. (And people thought meme stocks had a good R.O.I.?)
As the average service contract yields this particular logistics company approximately $1 million, the company paid me a flat $50k for the project, and my work has been directly responsible for bringing in at least 3 contracts as of this writing, my work has–thus far–yielded an R.O.I. of approx. $2.95 million, as shown on the chart below:
It’s worth noting that the $2.95 million figure is likely an underestimation, as it only counts:
1) The one sale I personally watched flow through one of the sales funnels I created to the contact form on which the potential customer inquired about becoming a paying customer. (The customer’s logo is now featured on the company’s site, indicating that the former-potential customer has become a paying customer.)
2) The two telecom vertical sales the company has made in Algeria thus far, to my knowledge. (I gave the company the idea to expand the telecom vertical into Algeria…more on that shortly.)
In all likelihood, the content writing & copywriting I did for the company, which included core web pages, case studies, one-sheets, and blog posts, has yielded–and will continue to yield–many times the number of sales that I know about.
Expanding the telecom vertical into Algeria was a treasure map of an idea I brought to the table.
I began my work for this company the same way I begin all of my content writing & copywriting projects: by thoroughly researching the company, the industry, and the competitive marketplace.
Using the treasure trove of information I unearthed, I formulated a novel marketing strategy for the telecommunications vertical by analyzing often-overlooked regional data sets from underdeveloped parts of the world.
By analyzing overlooked data sets for this company, I reached the improbable conclusion that the tech-starved country of Algeria could be a prime target for expansion of the company’s telecom vertical.
The unlikely conclusion would become a map to millions in treasure.
As it turns out, the Algerian government had been spending billions on a campaign to update the country’s antiquated telecom infrastructure; well-recognized telecom companies from all over the world were making “shiploads” of money from the country’s colossal telecom investment.
What’s more, a couple of the companies that were enjoying windfall revenues from the Algerian telecom megaproject were already paying customers of this logistics company in other parts of the world!
Expanding into Algeria was a no-brainer. So, as part of the content writing & copywriting localization campaign, I created Algeria-specific pages for the telecom vertical, such as the following:
The total revenue potential from the Algerian telecom expansion is significant, to say the least: The two sales (that I know of) came from existing customers.
In other words, they’ve only picked the lowest-hanging fruit from the money tree.
The trees I planted will continue to bear “moneyfruit”.
As I’ve noted several times on this site, “the internet is forever”. The R.O.I. of the content writing & copywriting I produced for this company will likely grow into perpetuity.
The ideas I brought to the table will continue to bear fruit, including the highly-lucrative telecom vertical expansion into Algeria.
All of that for a mere $50k. Think about what I could do for you…
