Shelving Design Systems Case Study

Managing partner of Shelving Design Systems (SDS), Robert Walthall, Jr. bought the company with his father in 2011. SDS is a specialized retail and healthcare design and installation firm. They serve as a one-stop shop for independent pharmacies and retail stores, including sales, design, manufacturing, and installation of shelving systems.

Before deciding to invest in an inbound marketing strategy, the majority of customers came through referrals. While SDS attended regional and national trade shows throughout the year, they were not seeing a great return on investment. The company also relied on quarterly print publications from pharmacy associations and virtual resources such as RxInsider for new leads. While referrals, trade shows, and publications attracted quality leads in the past, SDS was no longer receiving many quality leads from these sources. In addition, SDS previously developed their website using their own resources, which meant they needed a new website design that could attract and convert more qualified leads for their business.

As a business with a niche market competing with other companies that offered the same products and services, SDS was struggling to differentiate their offering. As a result, many of their leads were not marketing qualified leads.

Ultimately, Walthall wanted to extend the company’s national reach to continue growing the business, but he wasn’t sure of the best course of action and was hesitant to spend more time and energy attending national trade shows that brought little to no results.

Walthall decided to work with Spot On after hearing positive feedback from other Birmingham companies that worked with Spot On. As small business owners, co-founders Rebecca Graves and Susie Kelley were familiar with many of his business challenges. Perhaps most importantly, Walthall said that he trusted Spot On and believed in their determination to deliver the desired results.

SDS started working with Spot On in the fall of 2012 and started with developing an engaging, mobile-friendly website and created an archive of rich content on their blog.

Spot On also collaborated with SDS to create a content marketing strategy for a new blog. The blog, titled “Shelf Obsessed”, became a comprehensive resource for leads throughout the buyer’s journey, especially for pharmacies. The content was shared across social channels and repurposed into other offers that attracted additional marketing and sales qualified leads.

Although the inbound marketing strategy was successful on its own, SDS also blended their new inbound marketing savvy with tried and true tactics. While the company’s online presence was becoming more successful, Walthall knew it was important to maintain their in-person presence and reputation through word of mouth, as this was still significant in their industry.

How Shelving Design Systems Achieved National Reach with Inbound Marketing

Shelving Design Systems

Pell City, Alabama

Interior Design and Construction

Inbound Marketing, Website Design

Transitioning from Traditional Marketing to an Inbound Marketing Strategy

Partnering with Spot On

Developing a Mobile-Friendly Website & Content Marketing Strategy

Increase in Quality Leads and Conversion to Customers

One example of a successful offer is the Pharmacy Design Inspirations ebook, which has received an overall 40% conversion rate from visits to submissions.

Schedule a consultation with one of our inbound marketing experts.

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