Gast Manufacturing – providing a UK marketing team for an international business
Background
Gast Manufacturing is an international designer and manufacturer of air-moving products including compressors and vacuum pumps. The business supplies a number of industries including industrial manufacturing, healthcare and environmental cleanup applications. Gast’s headquarters are in the USA and its European offices are in both the Netherlands and Germany.
Challenges
Gast’s European office faced several marketing challenges. While the organisation is recognised for the quality of its products, some markets are not aware that Gast offers a solution for their needs at all. The UK and European sales team recognised Gast needed to strengthen its PR and branding but lacked the in-house expertise to deliver it.
Gast Manufacturing’s products appear under two brand names, Gast and JUN-AIR. While there is a strong business case for this decision, it has made brand recognition more challenging, with some customers not fully aware of each brand’s identity and capabilities.
As an international organisation, Gast also faces the challenge of overcoming cultural differences and remaining relevant in each of the territories where it markets its products. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the British and European offices do not have their own local marketing teams.
Solutions
Digital marketing expert Rio began by developing Gast’s LinkedIn presence. She now creates regular LinkedIn posts for Gast, rolling out industry news, product updates and more.
The Gast JUN-AIR team and Get Ahead also saw that two practical tools could move Gast towards its strategic goal of improved brand recognition. The first was an up-to-date corporate presentation for the commercial team to use in client meetings. The second was a stand for trade shows: Get Ahead’s virtual digital marketing expert Rio worked with Gast’s United States office to deliver graphics and corporate material to help the business connect with new customers.
The final requirement was to translate Gast’s product user manuals into thirteen different languages, reflecting its diverse international markets. We called in expertise from our partner translation company, with Get Ahead acting as a central point of contact to simplify communications for Gast.
Outcomes
The EU team are delighted with the trade show stand and the presentation. They both reflect the business and describe its strengths accurately, helping Gast communicate with its target markets. The trade show stand has already been used at three business exhibitions – its evergreen headlines and on-brand design make it suitable for future expos too.
In addition, knowing that they have up-to-date marketing tools means the team is always ready to meet a client or exhibit at an expo. This represents a great saving of time and energy, freeing up the commercial team to concentrate on their core responsibilities and drive business opportunities forward.
The ongoing social media support has yielded great results too. Rio tailors the posts to Gast’s different markets, delivering a targeted, effective approach. LinkedIn followers have increased by 205%, significantly raising Gast’s profile and reinforcing the legacy and brand within the industry. This is a great success for Gast and Get Ahead is very proud to be part of it.
Testimonial
Working with Get Ahead has been hugely successful. Their willingness to interact with all levels of our business both directly and indirectly is a massive factor in why this relationship continues to flourish. Rio and the team have shown excellent attention to detail – she’s prepared to go the extra yard to ensure our customers know we deliver a high-quality product.
Michel Berendsen, Sales Director EMEA, Gast Manufacturing
