Marketing Plan IBC Engineering Services, INC.

Integrated Building Concepts

Gabrielle Cypher, Daniel Istvanek, Sean Valentine, Sean Cleveland, Maja Romanovic

IBC Engineering Services, Inc.Wisconsin : Illinois : Florida : Washington, DC

Phone 262.549.1190, Fax 262.549.1620

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

IBC Engineering Services, Inc. is a privately owned and woman run small business. They operate in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, and Washingtion D.C. IBC is headquartered out of Waukesha Wisconsin. They have never missed a deadline on a single project and pride themselves on quality and energy efficient work.

IBC’s current competitors include companies like Engineering Consulting Services, Cedar Corporation, Harwood Engineering Consultants, LTD, GDS Associates, Inc, Ruekert Mielke Engineering, and SCS BT Squared.

IBC desires to increase sales from 3% to 5% in the next 5 years. Marketing objectives for the company are to expand into new market locations, create new business, keep an up to date online presence, create a defined organizational structure, and differentiate their services as superior and more attractive.

IBC should expand into new locations throughout the Midwest that offer high potential customers and low potential competitors. Locations with high rates of city renovations and revitalization are promising areas for new business.

Creating a more direct button or tab to access the employee page on the IBC website would make the website easier to navigate for prospective employees. Promoting the lack of hierarchy on the employee page and including role titles with employee pictures would signal to perspective employees of company culture, ability for upward movement and where they would fit in the company. This would help to aid in employee retention.

To keep roles defined and employees specialized, IBC should acquire a business development or sales department/employee. IBC can hire a new employee for this or can designate an intern to this department.

IBC should create an internship program to help them with business development and online advertising. Creating an internship program would eliminate costs as the help would be free. The interns would provide new insight on how to move the company forward.

IBC already has good relationships with current clients. IBC should continue these relationships but create more with more clients in new markets.

IBC’s current marketing strategies utilize word of mouth a great deal. IBC should have an active social media presence and be present in the lives of their potential customers. IBC should also clearly define their mission and clearly differentiate themselves from their competitors. This will help to grow the company in the future.

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

Increase sales from 3% to 5% in 5 years

• IBC Engineering would like to increase its sales. They are stagnant in growth and

would like to expand economically. This plan will work to achieve this.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

IBC Organizational Structure is Undefined:• Many IBC employees appreciate the lack of company hierarchy. It allows them to

speak about the company and interact with customers and coworkers freely. (Appendix, Figure 12).

• This lack of company hierarchy is attractive to employees that have been at the company for a very long time but may not be attractive to new employees. This may be a cause of poor employee retention (see cause maps in Figures 5-10 in Appendix). Forbes.com, in an article, states that employees will perform their best and therefore want to and will stay at a company that is conducive to growth or advancement in the company. LinkedIn Talent Solutions also states that one of the top motivators for employees is opportunities for advancement in the workplace. If the employees are unable to tell if there is room or a way for advancement they will not be motivated to work for the company. (Appendix Figure 13).

• The way IBC displays its employees is fun and interactive which shows that the company would be fun to work for and is like a family. For a potential employee, the positons held by the employees is not easily seen as compared to competitors’ websites. This can make it hard for potential employees to see where they would fit into the company and where, if they could, advance. (see Appendix Figure 14).

Current Market is oversaturated:• IBC is having trouble gaining new customers in the current market. They are being

outbid by bigger companies for some jobs. This may be the cause of poor business development but also the cause of a small, overly saturated market. These conclusions were drawn from cause maps (Figures 5-6) shown in the Appendix.

• Expanding into neighboring markets would allow IBC to increase market share and expand business.

• Shown in the Appendix, figure 1 shows the current location and competitors and Figure 2 shows competitors in neighboring locations. Figure 3 shows target market businesses in current location and Figure 4 shows target market business in neighboring locations. Figure 4 shows possible new locations as defined by the red circle.

Business Development is Low:

• IBC does not have a business development or sales employee. Having this employee will help grow the company as there is one person or department actively seeking opportunities for business. This will be faster than word of mouth or waiting for new customers to come to the business. IBC relies on word of mouth and previous clients of project managers to recruit business. This does not allow for new business. An employee and interns that specialize in business development is key to growing the company. Creating an internship program would help keep the business development department costs low. Figure 25 shows what business development is and its importance and necessity in growing a company.

• IBC currently has good relationships with current customers. As stated, IBC’s customers are obtained from previous contacts, word of mouth, or the customers come to the company. This creates a close atmosphere with customers. IBC should capitalize on their good relationships because, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, acquiring new customers can cost as much as 5 times more than retain customers.

• Social media is a great tool for reaching out to possible new clients. Figure 22 shows the importance of social media.

Online Advertising is Poor:• IBC’s website is not easy to follow. In a survey (Figure 18) conducted at Carthage

College 23 out of 50 people stated that the website was easy to navigate but they were not sure where they were going when looking around the website. 7 of the respondents said they could tell what the company did by the website and 37 stated they had some idea because they knew about engineering. 23 out of 50 people said that the website was appealing. These results indicate that the website is appealing but and somewhat easy to use but difficult to understand. This indicates that changes need to be made in the design of the website.

• IBC does not spend much money on advertising. A low cost way to advertising IBC in the current market and new markets is flyer/poster advertising (Figure 22). This can be done online also and shared through social media. These ads can promote the company or certain jobs. So far IBC does not do this kind of advertising Figure 20 shows other competitors utilizing such poster/flyer online ads.

• IBC needs to have and active and constant social media presence. In Figure 21, it shows that IBC has not updated their Facebook account in some time. Their twitter account is more active but does not have many company specific promotions in the feed as compared to competitors. Figure 22 states that social media promotion is invaluable to your company and it costs almost nothing to utilize.

Brand Awareness Is Low: • IBC is having trouble making people more aware of their business and what it is that

they do. Typically customers do not place a lot of value in quality engineering, which makes it hard to distinguish their company from others. There is also a perception that architects have to lead design teams, which makes it hard for them to make people more aware of their quality of work. These conclusions were drawn from the cause maps (Figures 7&8) shown in the Appendix.

• IBC has low brand awareness because according to the National Academy of Engineering (www.nae.edu) there are many challenges engineering companies face when it comes to branding, but there are also opportunities they can capitalize on. Also, in order to create a strong brand IBC needs to follow the five laws of branding. (Appendix Figure 16).

• IBC has low brand awareness because they need to make their company more well known to potential customers and one way to do that is by using social media. According to Simpson Strong-Tie (seblog.strongtie.com). They need a social media strategy and they need to offer content that is informative and interesting to the target audience. (Appendix Figure 17).

• By differentiating their services as superior and more attractive to potential customers, IBC will be able to create better brand awareness.

SAM DIAGRAM

KEY ISSUES/OPPORTUNITIES• IBC Engineering has a flexible hierarchy. The current employees value a flexible

structure but potential employees may not be motivated by this. This leads to poor employee retention.

• IBC Engineering’s current market is overly saturated with competitors and current business. This market is turning stagnant and moving to a new location would allow for company growth and development.

• IBC Engineering does not have business development. They do not have a sales/development employee. An internship program would assist in the formation of a business development department and carrying out the tasks of this job. This would decrease the cost of adding this needed position. In addition, LinkedIn activity is lacking which could also be done by the internship program.

• IBC Engineering has poor use of online advertising. Their website is not easy to navigate. Also, their use of social media is low and their posts do not relate well to promoting their company.

• IBC Engineering also has poor company brand awareness. They need to position their company as superior to others. IBC does not clearly advertise their superiority on their website or other outlets. They also do not clearly define their mission and vision statements and advertise their many awards. Leveraging their success and excellence will set them apart from competitors and make them more attractive to potential customers.

TARGET MARKETS

The Target Market of IBC Engineering is renovations, municipalities, and healthcare systems.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES Create a clearer organizational structure and employee page

• To grow economically, IBC needs to make its employee website page and structure more defined and easy to navigate. This will help to attract employees that fit the company and will stay with the company.

Expand into new market locations• IBC needs to expand into new locations in order to attract new business. This will

help them grow economically. Create more business

• IBC must work to create more business. More new projects, in different locations, will help to grow the company.

Keep and Up to date online presence• IBC needs to keep its online marketing and presence up to date and easy to use.

This will attract customers and press which will lead to company growth. Differentiate services as superior and more attractive

• To attract new business and presence, IBC needs to differentiate their services. This will help to grow the company economically.

TACTICS (OVERVIEW)

Promote the lack of company hierarchy• IBC has a flexible company structure which should be promoted to differentiate the

company.Make navigation to employee page easier• Navigation to the employee page on the website is hard to use, possibly for potential

employees. Find locations with not many potential competitors• IBC should research locations with low potential competitors. Find locations with many potential customers• IBC should research locations with many potential customers. Reach out to prospective customers in new locations• After research, IBC should reach out to prospective customers in identified new

locations. Do more projects in other locations• After market analysis, IBC should do projects in new locations.Hire a business development/sales employee• To assist with growth and expansion of the company, IBC should hire a business

development employee. Create a business development internship program• To cut costs but make effective efforts, IBC should create an internship program.

This program can also be used as training for possible employees. Value clients by retaining current client relationships• IBC has good customer relationships already. As they expand, they should also

focus on keeping these relationships. Invite people from perspective market to join network on LinkedIn• To make connections with customers from new markets, IBC should join their

networks on LinkedIn, and connect with them on social media. Redesign website to make it more accessible and easy to follow• IBC’s website is aesthetically pleasing but not easy to use. IBC should redesign

some parts of the website to make it more accessible. Utilize Website ads• To increase company reach, IBC should utilize small website ads. Have a consistent and active social media presence

• An easy and low cost way to gain brand awareness and help grow the company is to have an active social media presence with relevant posts.

Reach out to prospective customers online• To help grow the company and increase advertising, IBC should reach out to

potential customers online through various avenues like social media. More ads in newspapers, engineering magazines: Flyers• A low cost way to advertise is distributing flyers. IBC should produce more flyers and

distribute them to potential customers. Position company as qualified and superior• To differentiate the company, IBC should explain to customers and on their website

how they are qualified for jobs and how they are superior to competitors. Show that engineers are capable to handle large projects• IBC should make sure to articulate to customers and on their website that engineers

are able to handle large projects and do them well. Clearly define mission and vision statements• To differentiate their company, IBC should clearly state their mission and visions

statement on their website and to their employees. Advertise awards the company has won• To show the quality service and work that IBC does they should advertise their

awards on their website and social media. Attend engineering or customer conventions• To gain more insight, credibility, and connect with possible clients IBC should attend

conventions or conferences.

TACTICS (DETAILS)Promote the lack of company hierarchy• On the people page of the website promote the lack of hierarchy and describe what

this does for the success of the company. This description will give an insight to possible employees and what type of employee would fit at this company. This knowledge beforehand will prevent employee loss after the hiring process.

Make navigation to employee page easier• Put a noticeable button on the home page that potential employees would know to

click to find the employee page. Possible buttons on the home page are “about us”, “who we are”, and “our people”. Explain the reasoning for using stick figures for the employee picture. This will give potential employees and customers insight as to affect the pictures are supposed to have and that they are “professionally fun”. This will also give IBC a chance to promote its flexible structure. These suggestions are derived from the survey in Figure 15.

Find locations with not many potential competitors• As shown in Figure 1 and 2, areas with high rates of potential competitors are in the

Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and St. Louis locations. Areas with low rates of potential customers are Des Moines, Green Bay, and large cities outside of the major cities listed above.

Find locations with many potential customers

• As Shown in Figure 3 and 4, areas with a large number of potential customers are areas like Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, and large areas in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.

Reach out to prospective customers in new locations• After the new locations are analyzed and decided on IBC should reach out to

prospective customers in these new locations. Prospective customers in several perspective locations are listed in Figure 11 in the Appendix. Ways to reach out to these customers are discussed later in the tactics.

Do more projects in other locations• Once the market analysis, research, and new customer relationships are done IBC

should start completing more projects in these new locations to diversify and grow their company economically and geographically.

Hire a business development/sales employee• Human resources or upper management should create a job description for this

positon then put out an ad for the open position. This can be shared on social media and job search engines. An average salary is stated in the budget.

Create a business development internship program• Create an internship program to assist the new employee in carrying out business

development tasks. The business development employee should take the lead with this project. They should create internship descriptions and put a job ad out on social media and look to possible schools. Interns can also be used to help keep the social media outlets up to date and relevant. Internship programs give companies low cost labor to assist in the growth of the company. As the company grows, it can choose from the interns for possible new employees because they have experience with the company. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 67.7% of interns were offered full-time positions and 83.6% of those offers were accepted. Possible schools to look for new employees are in Figure 26.

Value clients by retaining current client relationships• IBC can help build and retain customer relationships by giving surveys throughout

process, surveys that are on the individual level on how well job was done, and what client thinks of you. These surveys can be tracked over a period of time to see which areas of your company have improved and which have suffered. Also surveys that provide intelligence to your company, to see what aspects of your business need to be improved, what customers are at risk or leaving, what your company strengths are and so forth.

Invite people from perspective market to join network on LinkedIn• Social media is a faster and more accessible way to build relationships with existing and

potential clients/customers. Possible new clients/customers can be found in the new locations in Figure 11. IBC should link with possible clients/customers.

Redesign website to make it more accessible and easy to follow• IBC should work to make minor changes in the layout of its website to make it easier

to follow and use. These changes should be in the name of tabs and navigation panes. Some examples of common, easy to navigate, website styles are shown in Figure 19. These styles have a navigation pane that is common and recognizable.

This will allow potential customers and employees easily access the website and desired pages.

Utilize Website ads• IBC should make website ads like those in Figure 29. Prices for these ads are

estimated in the budget section. Website ads present an opportunity for promotion and growth of the company.

Have a consistent and active social media presence• IBC should utilize an intern or group of interns to enhance the social media activity.

The intern team can create contests and challenges for social media to increase “likes” and “favorites”. An example of a contest can be seen in Figure 24.

Reach out to prospective customers online• IBC should reach out to perspective customers online by liking them on Facebook,

following them on twitter, and reaching out to them on LinkedIn. Companies in locations presented in Figure 11 should be contacted.

More ads in newspapers, engineering magazines: Flyers

• Place more ads for IBC in local newspapers in cities of perspective customers, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Place ads in engineering magazines that show IBC as a quality engineering company. Prices for paper flyers are located in the budget. Figure 28 shows a possible flyer. Tips to making an effective flyer can be found in Figure 12.

Position company as qualified and superior

• Create a page on the company website and social media sites that displays reviews given to IBC by their previous and current customers. Place an emphasis on the energy efficiency and sustainability of IBC’s projects by having current customers give reviews on how well IBC’s work was done. Place an emphasis on the fact that with this type of work, price does not matter; it is the energy efficiency and sustainability of IBC’s quality work that is more important.

Show that engineers are capable to handle large projects

• Need a business development person/department to go out and meet with potential customers face to face and show them IBC’s that they have done and have reviews from old/current customers that show the quality of that work. Need to be able to explain what IBC does in a way that some who is not an engineer can understand and show them that engineers can handle large projects. Locations can be found in Figure 11.

Clearly define mission and vision statements

• Create a clearly defined mission and vision statements for IBC employees to follow and make clearly visible on the company website. A mission statement is important because it shows the aims and values that IBC is trying to display through their work. A vision statement is important because it shows IBC’s goals for the future of the company.

Advertise awards the company has won

• Use social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to advertise awards IBC has won for the quality work the company does. In addition, IBC should create online flyers like those in Figure 20 that promote the projects the company is doing and the excellent work that is being done.

Attend engineering or customer conventions

• Have a business development person/department that attend engineering conventions and display the skills IBC has. Show potential customers or other engineers the projects that IBC has done and how successful the project completions where. Rough estimates for conventions are presented in the budget. Possible conventions can be found in Figure 27.

BUDGET AND TIMETABLES

Budget:

• Redesign Parts of Website: $6,000-$30,000o Suggested Spending: $6,000-$10,000

• Hire a Business Development Employee: $50,000• Website ads: CPM $40 (cost per mile or per 1000 views)• Paper ads: 500 flyers color on one side, $75 (Vistaprint.com)• Attending conventions across country: $2,000

Total (lowest cost): $58,115

Timeline:

• Hire Business Development Employee within the next 3 to 4 months. o Development internship program by this summer. o After this is created, interns and the new employee can work on reaching out

to new customers in new locations. • Put flyers in local businesses within the next two months. • Attend engineering conferences in the year. • Start website ads in next quarter. • Make website changes within the next 3 to 4 months. • Update social media site within the next 1 to 2 months and update continuously.

EXHIBITS AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS

Figure 5:

Figure 6: Figure 7:

Figure 8: Figure 9:

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Figure 11:

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Figure 14:

Figure 15:

We interviewed 40 people at Carthage College for this survey. We asked them all several questions regarding the ease of finding the employee page, the employee page, and what would make it better.

The questions were as follows:1. Can you tell what tab (from the home page) to click to find the employee page?2. What are your thoughts on the employee page?3. What tab do you prefer on the homepage to locate the employee page?4. As a potential employee, what are your thoughts on the employee page and how easy/not easy it was to find?

Results:1. 33 out of 40 people said they could not tell which tab to click. 7 people said they could but picked the wrong tab.2. 8 people enjoyed the stick figures on the employee page saying it was the company’s “unique thing” and it was an “interesting way to display the employees”. 20 people enjoyed the stick figures on the employee page but said it seemed a little “unprofessional”. 12 people said that the stick figures were “childish” and looked “like a kid designed it”. 3. Respondents suggested an “about us”, “who we are”, or “our people” tab on the home page to indicate where to find the employee page. 4. Many respondents said they could not tell the company structure from the pictures. Some said it would be nice to see a picture of person and their title in addition to the stick figures on the first employee page. Many respondents said that company structure was unclear and they would be “not sure where I would fit”.

Conclusion:This survey shows that people have a very hard time locating the employee page which would make it hard for potential employees or customers to find it. Many repsondents liked the stick figures but thought it was unprofessional. Many were unclear what the

company structure was and were “not sure where I would fit” inot the company if they were potential employees. This indicates that potential employees may be confused where they can fit into the company.

Figure 16:

Figure 17

Figure 18:

We surveyed 50 students at Carthage College. We asked them these three questions regarding the design, layout, and ease of navigating of the IBC website.

1. Is the website appealing?2. IS the website easy to use?3. Can you tell from this website what this company does?

The results were as follows:

1. Is the website appealing? 23 of 50 responded yes2. IS the website easy to use? 30 of 50 responded yes but they were not sure where they were going when they were looking around. 3. Can you tell from this website what this company does? 7 of 50 responded that they knew what they did, 37 of 50 responded that they had some of an idea because they knew about engineering.

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Competitors:

Figure 22:

Figure 23:

Figure 24:

Sample Facebook and Twitter Contest

Challenge: Share this picture (a picture of IBC’s logo, with a project picture, and IBC information), tag a friend in the comments, and like our page and you will be entered to win a prize!

Result: The prize will encourage people to share the picture and it will work to increase “likes” and visibility on social media.

Figure 25:

Figure 26:

Waukesha Area Schools at a GlanceSchool Name

Location School Type

Degrees Offered Area Ranking

Carroll University

Waukesha, WI

4-year, private, not-for-profit

Bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; postbaccalaureate certificates

2nd Highest Graduation Rates,

2nd Most Program Variety,

3rd Lowest Net Price,

3rd Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio

Ottawa University - Milwaukee

Brookfield, WI (6.8 miles from Waukesha)

4-year, private, not-for-profit

Bachelor's and master's degrees

Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio

Waukesha County Technical College

Pewaukee, WI (5.3 miles from Waukesha)

2-year, public

Less than 1-year and between 1- and 2-year certificates; associate's degrees

Lowest Net Price,

Most Program Variety,

3rd Highest Graduation Rates

Wisconsin Lutheran College

Milwaukee, WI (9.0 miles from Waukesha)

4-year, private, not-for-profit

Bachelor's and master's degrees

Highest Graduation Rates,

2nd Lowest Net Price,

2nd Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio,

3rd Most Program Variety

Figure 27:

Conference Date Place Description Website

International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction

May 10-13 2015

Hyatt Regency, McCormick Place, Chicago

ICSDEC 2015 is a premier conference offering a unique opportunity to academia, industry practitioners and entrepreneurs alike to share their latest research, information, ideas and products relating to sustainability and resilience.

http://www.icsdec.com/

World Energy Engineering Congress

Sept 30-Octo 2, 2015

Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL

The WEEC conference and expo explore the complete spectrum of technologies and services of greatest importance to our delegates in attendance, including, but not limited to:Energy efficiency and energy managementRenewable, green and alternative energyCombined heat & power / cogeneration / distributed generationSmart grid and electric metering innovationsIntegrated building automation & energy management

http://www.energycongress.com/

Lighting efficiencyHVAC systems and controlsThermal storage and load managementBoilers and combustion controlsGeoexchange technologiesSolar and fuel cell technologiesApplications specific to federal energy management programsEnergy services, energy procurement and project financing

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Figure 29: