Meet A Landy Award Winner: How Nebo Agency Won Best Overall Search Marketing Initiative

Nebo Agency accepts the award for Best Overall Search Marketing Initiative (SEO & SEM).

Atlanta-based Nebo Agency took home the prize for Best Overall Search Marketing Initiative (SEO & SEM) at the inaugural Landy Awards ceremony during SMX East in New York City last week.

The agency was honored for its integrated campaign that supported a major website consolidation and relaunch for their client, Belgard Hardscapes, a North American hardscapes manufacturer that sells to both commercial and residential audiences.

Nebo was tasked with developing and executing a digital marketing strategy that would address key but disparate audiences: dealers, homeowners and contractors. In addition to crafting messaging and creative to appeal to each constituency, the agency had to ensure that the site consolidation went smoothly and overall traffic remained consistent throughout the transition.

The agency managed to maintain site traffic from organic and paid channels during the during relaunch. Once the new site was launched, the marketing campaigns and a new dealer locator tool helped generate a substantial increase in organic traffic and conversions. Conversions from paid media more than tripled after the relaunch and cost-per-lead dropped by half.

I caught up with the Nebo team this week to ask about them more about their work on the campaign and what advice they have for companies tackling a relaunch.

The Nebo Agency team at The Landy Awards.

A Cross-Team Effort

A successful integration requires collaboration; here’s a look at some of the ways Nebo’s teams worked together.

“The key to any successful campaign is having a fully integrated digital marketing strategy. Although specific tactics for SEO and PPC differed, we took a holistic approach towards problem solving. Additionally, after the strategy was formulated, there were many examples of cross-team collaboration.

“The SEO team used keyword data from our paid search campaigns to gather insights. The paid media team used Google Analytics to see which pages were driving [a] high volume of organic traffic to understand the decision cycle of the Belgard target audience. The design and development team worked closely with our analytics team to develop the new dealer locator tool. Overall, each team collaborated with our other teams in both the strategy and implementation of our efforts.”

Up-Front Research Paid Off

With multiple audiences to reach, Nebo Agency spent a lot of time making sure their messaging would resonate both on site and off with each target group.

“During our research phase we used personas provided by Belgard and also conducted our own qualitative research. Belgard is in an interesting position because we are marketing to very different segments — consumers, contractors and dealers — who have very different roles in the decision cycle of hardscape installation.

“We had to understand the needs, desires and wants of each of these audiences first, and spending that extra time on research paid dividends in formulating our strategy. We used these audience insights to identify the right platform for paid media and to optimize the new site with content focused for each of these audiences. We weren’t surprised that our research would lead to great results, but it was surprising just how on target our combined research was.”

“Don’t forget the ‘M’ in SEM”

Asked what SEM advice the team has for others preparing to work on a site relaunch, Nebo says, in the end, it’s about a solid marketing strategy.

“Our advice would be to focus your efforts on two areas: First, with a site migration as complex as the Belgard project it was crucial to have a strong technical SEO strategy and team in place.

“Second, don’t forget the “M” in SEM. At the foundation of everything we accomplished, we had a sound marketing strategy with the Belgard marketing team. Understanding your audience and developing an overarching strategy is crucial. You also want to constantly measure and adjust. Agility is also key.”

What is also implied in the Nebo team’s answer is how important collaboration between client and agency teams is to overall success. Congratulations, Nebo Agency, on a well-deserved win.