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increase in marketing-attributed sales YoY
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increase in marketing-attributed revenue YoY
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decrease in Google Ad spend YoY
The client
Crane Garden Buildings is a family-run premium timber garden buildings company originating in Norfolk, with fourteen other show sites across the country. They have been operating for 50 years and pride themselves on their quality, hand-crafted products, which can range from summer houses to sheds, from studios to workshops, in both modern and traditional designs.
They offer bespoke options and their products are of superior quality and build. Therefore, they position themselves at a higher price point than their competitors as what they offer is more than just a product – it ties into a lifestyle and is a luxury, aspirational product.
Hallam partnered up with Crane in 2023 to work alongside their internal Marketing team, with the ultimate aim of increasing a year-on-year uplift in marketing qualified leads and revenue to the business via online channels, sending traffic to their on-site Price Builder tool and enquiry forms.
The challenge
There were various challenges in building momentum for Crane. As we came out of the pandemic we were seeing huge drops in interest in the home improvement category overall, as people were less inclined to stay at home.
We had to factor in the challenges of seasonality and ensure we budgeted correctly throughout the year to account for natural spikes and drops in consumer interest, generating demand in lower seasons to convert in peak seasons. Moreover, our unreliable British weather has played a huge part in demand throughout our relationship. This challenge is tied to the difficulty of a long sales cycle – anything from one month to a year for an enquiry to become a sale, emphasising the need to nurture prospective customers all year round.
Challenges at the heart of our Paid and Organic Search efforts came down to increasing competition, from both core competitors and more budget-friendly ones, who bid aggressively in their own Paid Search. What’s more, Google Core Updates have had a knock-on effect on the website’s ranking and volume of organic traffic, which has required us to pivot our approach on multiple occasions as Google is prioritising e-commerce sites over lead gen in lots of instances.
What we did
Through our paid media efforts we have built up new customers in 2024, acquiring them to the website through a mix of Paid Search, Paid Social and Programmatic advertising. We have adapted our approach to the seasonality of the business, for example putting more emphasis on certain products, e.g. Summer Houses, at particular times of the year, and in low season ensuring a seasonal approach to content whilst promoting the wider Brand, ready for when users are ready to convert later down the line. We have also helped to boost sales through physical showroom locations with dayparting, weather-based ads and location-based targeting tactics.
With regards to the website experience, putting our focus on quality leads, we have given more attention to the completion of the Price Builder rather than general enquiry submission, which we’ve seen generate a lower CPA as well. We have reinforced a strong brand presence in Google Ads, splitting Brand into prospecting and retargeting, in order to outrank our competitors, and we’ve seen an improved impression share and cost-efficiency through doing so.
Whilst certain factors caused a decline in organic traffic in 2024, our strategy has still driven more conversions than last year, as we’ve focused on quality, high-intent traffic and UX improvements to improve the customer journey. Our SEO team considered the various aspects of Crane’s websites and a full-funnel approach in producing blog content to increase awareness & consideration traffic to the site, and updating both ‘category’ pages and ‘common use’ pages to ultimately increase visibility, traffic and leads.
The results
Since working with Crane’s Marketing team, we’ve made great efficiencies within our strategy to deliver more for less. Comparing the first 6 months of the financial year in 2024 versus the same period in 2023, we have generated 25% more marketing-attributed leads and 23% more marketing-attributed revenue, whilst spending 8% less on Google Ads with Crane. We did instead pivot that budget into Meta Ads, in order to account for the multi-touchpoint conversion journey of such a considered purchase for the home.
Through our unified search efforts, and our understanding of the competitor landscape, we have been able to understand which areas of the business need boosting through paid campaigns versus organic efforts to improve our page one ranking. As we draw to the end of the year we hold a 51.9% share of voice as a result of our Digital PR activity and our Share of Search has stabilised putting us in good stead for continued growth in 2025. Our collaborative approach to Crane’s marketing has allowed us to consult on various aspects of Crane’s marketing and digital presence, from their creative approach to landing page experience amongst so much more. We look forward to what the partnership holds going forward!
“Since working with Hallam the squad has really been an extension of our team, whether that’s through streamlining our online efforts and budget, closing knowledge gaps within our internal team, or proactively providing us with new ideas to pursue. We have expanded into new areas with Hallam and they have pivoted their approach to fit the needs of our business continuously over the duration of time we’ve worked together.”
Grant Boonzaier, Head of Marketing, Crane Garden Buildings
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