An Untapped Demographic

Viessmann is a leading manufacturer of heating and cooling systems, and it set up its Italian branch 25 years ago. It has established itself as one of the leading players in the marketplace, selling its products directly to installers, who then sell them on to end users.

By 2015, Viessmann decided that it needed to do more to raise its profile with these end users. According to Stefania Brentaroli, Viessmann’s marketing manager, it was a demographic that they had neglected.

“End users typically do much online research before they make a purchase, and we wanted to invest on the web to take advantage of that thanks to our strong competencies. However, our website didn’t rank highly with search engines, and we weren’t giving our website visitors enough relevant information.

“We did use some point solutions, including MailChimp and a newsletter product, but our communications were aimed at our installers, not our final customers. We wanted to start interacting with them more effectively.”

Stefania realised that an all-in-one marketing automation solution was the way forward. While researching her options, she came across an article on the HubSpot blog.

“It explained how HubSpot’s methodology and software could make a real difference to our business. This was inbound done differently – the platform had everything we needed in one product. We would be able to get our installers more qualified leads and get a clear view of our end users, something that had eluded us before.”

The decision was made, and Viessmann signed up to the HubSpot Marketing Platform in 2015.

Clever Content That Converts

Viessmann teamed up with ArchiMedia, a HubSpot Partner agency with a track record for success with the platform. The first thing they did was to define Viessmann’s personas, which range from individual homeowners to large companies.

“We then created the content to appeal to them – a targeted Blog, as well as ebooks, whitepapers and articles – and used the HubSpot software’s SEO features to optimise our keywords. We started using Landing Pages with Smart Calls-to-Action and Smart Forms, which allow us to gather information on our visitors progressively,” explains Stefania.

Viessmann now has a better view on what its different personas are interested in, and it nurtures them through the marketing funnel with Workflows. Today, the Viessmann website is a go-to destination for potential customers.

“It’s not easy to be in the customer’s shoes in this tough and technological market. We are giving them a real insight into their options – for example, we have a whitepaper on how to make savings that have proven particularly popular. Moreover, as we help them, we also raise awareness for our company and our products. It’s a win-win situation.”

As well as this, the HubSpot software is helping the Viessmann sales team to forge stronger bonds with the installers they are selling to, says Stefania.

“We have a great sales team of 120 people. They have always given the installers tactical and technical advice, but now they can give them qualified leads. This translates into increased sales and happier installers.”

Connecting With Customers Like Never Before

Since signing up with HubSpot, Viessmann has achieved excellent results across the board. It gets an average of 25,000 visitors to its website every month – a 200% increase. It adds over 500 new contacts each month, and it successfully converts 2% of them into qualified leads.

“Blog visits have increased by 900% in just the past year! We have also seen a huge difference to our search engine rankings. We now rank highly for more than 45 keywords – it's used to be for just two or three,” reports Stefania.

Viessmann’s goal for 2017 is to become the first reference point for end users seeking information on heating and cooling systems.

“The HubSpot Marketing Platform will be crucial to this. It gives us an effective way to attract and nurture our leads, but really, it does much more than that. It gives us a view of what motivates our potential customers. In this competitive marketplace, that’s invaluable.”