The Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program Puts ABTech On A Clearer Path

Ken Abbott started ABTech, Inc., in 1998 when a company approached him to supply them with air bearings. At first he ran the company alone, but the business grew quickly and moved into a 12,000-square-foot facility in Swanzey, New Hampshire. They outgrew that facility and in 2017 moved into a 27,000-square-foot facility in Fitzwilliam, NH. ABTech now has 29 employees and primarily servesaerospace, optics, and semiconductor markets.

“My background is mechanical engineering,” said Ken Abbott, President of ABTech, Inc. “I am not a sales person, I am not a marketing person. I really did not understand the difference between sales and marketing.” So Ken put his faith in hiring a sales manager or marketing manager that unfortunately led them down the wrong path. Even contracting with an outside marketing specialist did not reap any benefits. He continued to feel he was going in directions that did not feel right. “I decided to wake up because I know my business, I know my customers, I know what they are looking for. I just needed help getting our message out there,” said Abbott.

Around that time Ken was contacted by a representative of NH MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, who let him know about a marketing information session workshop being offered by NH MEP and presented by their 3rd party partner TribalVision, a cutting-edge digital marketing firm.

Ken attended NH MEP’s marketing information session workshop and afterward was interested in learning more. This led him to sign up for NH MEP’s full series of marketing training workshops, called the “Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program” and hosted by TribalVision.

The Marketing Strategies Collaborative Program is a four-part series of online workshops for small and medium sized manufacturers looking to accelerate their sales growth and compete better on the local and global stage. It was designed to develop new markets, a marketing strategy and branding materials, and to enhance the lead generation process. The training sessions consist of, first, one day of classroom training with all the participating companies; four to six companies participate together to learn and share ideas. Then, one week later, participants attend another day of classroom training, which is followed by a day of individual company training. After all the individual company training has been completed, there is a half-day debrief session with all participating companies.