About the Project
THE NEED
As a leading supplier of specialty oils, Renkert Oil needed a content marketing strategy that would hit its niche audiences, such as:
- Lubricant makers (motor oil, industrial oils) in the market for refined base oils
- Thermoplastic elastomer (rubbery plastic molding), sealant and adhesive manufacturers who use process oils in production
- Food producers and farm operators who need a steady supply of food-grade white mineral oils for various applications
- Personal care and household product makers seeking isoparaffins (modified white oil) as a key ingredient
Content needed to address the needs and interests of each audience to attract interest and help generate leads.
THE APPROACH
- AUDIT: I began with a content audit, which revealed that a) the website’s blog content could be better targeted and b) LinkedIn was underutilized for content promotion and connection.
- RESEARCH & STRATEGY: Out of a combination of consultation with Renkert Oil and keyword research, I identified the best opportunities for keyword-focused topics that aligned with business goals.
- DEVELOPMENT: We began meeting regularly to discuss industry developments and new products. These conversations and ongoing keyword monitoring drove the direction of content development.
- PROMOTION: We used LinkedIn and email as channels to promote new blog content. We also leveraged LinkedIn to republish old blog content natively (as “Articles”) and to share news items from third-party sources.
- TRACKING: To monitor our progress, we analyzed rankings for target head terms and experimented with a variety of longtail keywords (key phrases). The results were published in a monthly report.
THE RESULTS
Improved Target Keyword Rankings
Baseline rankings for head terms prior to content optimization were extremely low (e.g. “white oil”), many not even showing up in the top 100 results.
- Within six months, we saw huge gains in our Google search rankings for targeted head terms.
- Within 12 months, several were beginning to show up in the top 10.
- And through the strategic use of longtail phrases (e.g. “white oil supply”), we were able to maintain strong positions.
Increased Lead Generation
More importantly, as soon as year-over-year data was available, contact form submissions were up every month. Leads generated during the 5-month YOY analysis period as a percentage of the data from the same month in the previous year:
- July – 111%
- August – 179% (nearly 2x)
- September – 213% (over 2x)
- October – 340% (over 3x)
- November – 600% (6x)
In summary, content marketing is helping to raise Renkert Oil’s visibility through Google searches and generate leads for the sales team. If you would like to learn more about applying this approach to your B2B business, let me know!
Click the logo to visit the Renkert Oil website.