A Black Country manufacturer is looking to grow sales by 20% after boosting its online presence thanks to support from the Optimising Business Technology Programme (OBT).
Hydron Protective Coatings – a specialist in the development of high performance paint coatings – has tapped into expert consultancy to improve its website content and to implement a number of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to improve its page ranking.
The Wednesfield-based company has already seen traffic to www.hydronpc.co.uk increase significantly and has started to receive enquiries from new customers looking to take advantage of its wide range of floor paints and anti-graffiti and fire protection coatings.
The company’s director, Oli Meanley explained: “We’re a manufacturer first and foremost and boast a wide range of industry leading products, many of which are the envy of our rivals for their unique performance.”
“However, we sometimes need to shout a bit louder about what we do, including high profile projects like London 2012, multi-million pound regeneration projects and National Trust properties such as Dudmaston Estate. Our website is a fantastic way of getting these stories out there and showcasing the full extent of our products to a global audience.
“As an SME, we don’t have an IT department or even an expert, so we have had to look for external support to help us with our approach to digital marketing. This is where we turned to OBT, attending some of its free events and then tapping into 15 hours of consultancy.”
Stafford-based 848 Group worked with Hydron Protective Coatings to review current material and how it could implement a number of SEO techniques to improve the firm’s page rankings.
Consultant Kevin Godbert identified the need to include certain key words, made company e-shots more effective, and how it could update information on the website to keep it up to date – such as the launch of new products, including the firm’s new energy saving coatings that have been developed over the past two years.
Hydron Protective Coatings is one of more than 200 companies that have already been supported by the £500,000 Optimising Business Technology Project.
Delivered by Winning Moves and the National Business to Business Centre as part of the Black Country Growth Hub offer, the programme is free to eligible businesses and has funding left to engage with hundreds of local firms through a mix of seminars, best practice sharing workshops and one-to-one diagnostics and support.
It has been designed to educate companies, from all sectors of the economy, to the advantages of adopting IT systems that are suited to their businesses, as well as identifying the huge operational benefits of switching to superfast broadband.
Richard Lowe, who is heading up the OBT, noted: “This isn’t getting companies to invest in technology for the sake of it, this is about making sure they have access to the best possible IT to help them achieve better efficiencies, improve customer service and, importantly, boost sales…all from using technology that is readily available to them.”
