Case Study: Terzo Power Systems: Omni-channel Marketing in Action

A few months back, we explored the differences between boutique and full-service marketing agencies. Since then, we’ve been working hard on a multi-faceted marketing plan for Terzo Power Systems, a manufacturer of cutting edge electro-hydraulic products. The developed overarching marketing plan perfectly illustrates the strategic advantages of full-service agencies so we wanted to revisit the topic and view the subject through the lens of a client project.

From the Beginning

We couldn’t talk much about Terzo over the past couple years because the company has been in stealth mode while it built out its world-class electro-hydraulics and forged manufacturing agreements and partnerships. Last fall, Terzo worked with Kinetic to devise a detailed marketing plan that would fully introduce the company and its unique products to this niche industry. The plan was to emerge from stealth mode and position the company and its founder as thought leaders in the rapidly accelerating push toward electrification and power across industries.

Positioning the Hydrapulse®

The centerpiece of Terzo’s technology is the Hydrapulse®. It’s a complete electro-hydraulic system that is a fully integrated power-on-demand, hydraulic power unit with built-in intelligence.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe have been caught flat-footed in the scramble to meet the exponential growth in the demand for electrification. Terzo has developed technology that gives them a plug and play solution and a bridge to the future.

To do so, the company has been aggressively pursuing strategic partnerships and networking throughout the industries it hopes to serve. This requires a coordinated omni-channel marketing approach, and Kinetic’s team, led by Account Director Caroline Artime, put together an elaborate execution plan focused on delivering an array of projects to position the client as the leader across industries when it comes to electrifying hydraulic systems.

Components of the Strategy

The marketing projects include evolving the brand website, print collateral pieces for trade shows and industry events, product videos and both traditional and digital advertising. In addition, the Kinetic team established connections with leading niche publications in the fluid power and industrial engineering industries to explore opportunities to place thought leadership pieces, white papers and case studies presented and authored by Terzo founder Mike Terzo where appropriate.

Marketing plans with this many moving parts require a high degree of discipline in terms of scheduling and oversight to keep many individual projects aligned and moving forward in concert. The Kinetic team worked closely with the project manager and creative team to keep the trains on the track and the client’s goals for the year at the forefront. Monthly team huddles and ongoing communications have kept our team up to date with not only the execution of the marketing plan, but also the bigger Terzo picture they are contributing to.

As noted in our previous blog post on full-service marketing agencies, there are distinct advantages to this approach that simply can’t be achieved without the full range of services and expertise under a single roof. In each of the categories below, we touch on how these advantages were achieved in Terzo’s omni-channel strategy.

The Advantages of using a Full-Service Marketing Agency

IT’S COST-EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT

Mike Terzo, CEO and founder of Terzo Power Systems, is a busy man. His revolutionary engineering promises to accelerate the transformation of the fluid power industry to a greener, more sustainable future.

He needed a marketing team that could take his high-level business goals and strategy and run with them, translating his vision for the company into beautiful and effective marketing collateral. In order to assure the success of his business, he needs to devote most of his time and energy to focus on managing other critical areas of the business. The single point of contact at Kinetic allowed Mike to impart strategy and direction once knowing that it would be disseminated effectively throughout his agency marketing team.

The result: All the Terzo marketing initiatives exceeded client expectations and remained on track, on time and on budget.

DEEP KNOWLEDGE

Fluid power is without doubt a niche industry with complex engineering terminology, concepts and solutions. While Kinetic was certainly new to this industry, our experience with other EV startups in the space as well as established business in the trucking industry gave us the basic vocabulary to hit the ground running and craft on target marketing messaging.

Kinetic had all the capabilities in-house to handle every aspect of branding and marketing, including:

• Brand development and design
• Omni-channel marketing strategy development
• Website design and development
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Marketing automation and digital promotion via email and social media
• Content creation
• Print and digital advertising
• Sales collateral development
• Packaging design and production

COHERENCE AND CONSISTENCY

Is it hydroelectrics or hydraulic electrics? kW or kW? We didn’t know at the outset, but quickly learned the fluid power industry lingo and applied it accurately and consistently across all of Terzo’s communications, from business cards to video scripts. We made sure Terzo’s brand messaging was consistent across all channels. Throughout, we kept a broad perspective of Terzo’s overall brand and business. (P.S. It’s electro-hydraulics.)

TRUST

Specialists tend to favor the platforms and channels they specialize in and often lean into driving client resources and energy in that direction. When all you have is a hammer, you look for and see nails. With multiple specialists involved, you will likely face difficult decisions about where to focus resources. Each specialist may also advocate for a hand in creative direction, which can result in uncertainty about who to trust.

Because of our diverse offerings, Kinetic was able to remain objective in recommending how best to achieve Terzo’s objectives and goals. Trust is important because things don’t always go according to plan. Which brings me to our last point.

Flexibility

With a marketing plan that utilizes an omni-channel approach at this size and scope, flexibility is key. Particularly with a client like Terzo forging a new path in an established industry, Kinetic had to be willing and able to pivot when necessary, keeping an open line of communication with the Terzo team to function as if Kinetic worked in the office next door. The strategy is in place to set the structure and “paint the lanes” for Terzo to run down. But when the unique needs of the client called for agility, whether it be within the messaging or rethinking a set of deliverables entirely, Kinetic needed to be quick to recognize this and shift the plan accordingly.

In conclusion, Kinetic was, and is still able, to position Terzo for success by bringing all the capabilities of full-service marketing to the table. Now, Terzo is out of stealth mode and on track to shake up multiple industries with its cutting-edge electrification technology.