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Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

Digital Marketing Leads to Physical Expansion for Orbetron

With the help of: Polaris MEP

About

Orbetron, LLC, was established in 2011 to fill a niche market: they work with clients to design, engineer and manufacture unique low-rate bulk material feeding systems that larger companies do not offer. Originally founded in Wisconsin, the company moved to Rhode Island and maintains consistent focus on customer needs for bulk dry and liquid feeding equipment that will feed low rates (below 1 gram/hour). This led to the design and production of innovative feeders, including some that you could hold in your hand.

The Challenge

The team had approached marketing with the same attitude they took to solving customer challenges — Orbetron’s owners rolled up their sleeves, created a simple website themselves and drove growth primarily from personal networking. Magazine advertising had been expensive and disappointing. As CEO Roger Hultquist said, “For us to expand our business, we had to get out of this realm of depending on the customers we already had. We needed to get into new markets.”
Working with Polaris MEP and Sidewalk Branding seemed seamless. SEO gets us in front of targets more effectively. Now, we are seeing benefits we would never have imagined.
— Roger Hultquist, CEO, President & Co-Owner

MEP's Role

Hultquist reached out to Polaris MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, after attending several informational events. Polaris MEP connected him with the digital marketing specialists from Sidewalk Branding. Sidewalk’s Chris Sheehy and his team emphasize function — how a website pulls in and captures new leads — over form.

Sidewalk put together a plan for web optimization that included: creating a new structure for the website that is optimized for search and helps sales reps effectively show products to prospective clients;  expanding Orbetron’s digital footprint with social media and video; implementing automated campaigns and lead tracking, online and off; and developing engaging, search-optimized blog posts targeted to Orbetron’s priority verticals (plastics, OEM and pharmaceuticals).
Sidewalk’s search engine optimization (SEO) program prioritizes education and training for sustained results. Orbetron and Sidewalk meet monthly for content planning. What are the key messages, based on sales priorities? Where and how will that message be delivered?

The web messaging strategy was carried over to email marketing and sales. “Before, marketing was like tossing spaghetti to see if it would stick to the wall,” said Hultquist. “Now our messaging is streamlined and focused.” The website structure now allows for cross-promotion, and because of that Orbetron also has been able to strengthen and build new partnerships.

Created April 6, 2022, Updated July 16, 2022