Language no barrier as marketing communications drives new business growth at Ervin Amasteel

BIRMINGHAM, U.K. - July 22, 2016 - PRLog -- Phil Ripley, Commercial Director at Ervin Amasteel selected Longbridge-based consultants Aardvark Marketing to advise and assist in transforming marketing communications. Together, Phil and Chris Hutchinson of Aardvark Marketing, achieve their objective to reflect Ervin's modern global market leader position in the supply of abrasive shot and grit to manufacturers. Ervin in the UK are based at Tipton in the Black Country from which they support a commercial team across Europe and Asia.

Communication for the business is complex, as there is a wealth of important technical detail to be shared with customers in 8 different languages, yet this needs to be quick and easy to understand. Aardvark Marketing helped the business change strategy from one of product story to one of delivering outstanding customer applications in a very diverse marketplace. Ervin Amasteel are experts in supplying metal shot and grit that finishing surfaces to the highest standards, working with aerospace, automotive, shipyard, rail and other industries across the globe.

Phil Ripley, Commercial Director at Ervin Amasteel, Europe & Asia was the initiator of the marketing program.   "When I joined Ervin in 2010 it was apparent that our marketing materials and website needed updating and rationalising. Aardvark Marketing have delivered a complex and evolving brief with a healthy mix of humour and professionalism."

The immediate challenge was to create a striking impression at the 2011 International GIFA trade fair in Germany, to reconnect with existing customers and meet new potential global accounts. This is an important event for the sales team, where it's critical to the first impressions right, as it's only repeated every 4 years. Both this trade fair and the recent GIFA 2015 were a success for Ervin with very positive comments from customers and prospects who visited.

A long term program to review and refine the marketing mix was agreed. All the new branded marketing materials, comprising website, exhibition materials, videos, technical brochures, technical bulletins, case studies and press release templates showcase the strength of the Ervin products and their superior performance. A 150 slide customisable sales presentation aids the team in presenting technically accurate information to European and Asian customers. All the materials, translated in 7 foreign languages are supporting the growing sales team to be successful in expanding their customer base. "Our sales team now have a new range of marketing materials that present a very wide range of products and applications in a simple and effective format" commented Paul Abram, Head of Technical Services for Ervin, Europe.

Chris Hutchinson, director at Aardvark Marketing, explained his role in the program. "The Ervin sales and management teams are based in multiple locations and marketing has traditionally been given a low priority until there is an imminent deadline." Says Chris "To get the communication design and the right content involved meeting both internal and external timescales, we had to balance robust project management methods with a touch of practical pragmatism!"

Co-director Gill Hutchinson said: "Ervin aren't our first client who trade overseas, and both of us have experience in international marketing prior to starting Aardvark Marketing. Building and maintaining a consistent brand across multiple languages and cultures and navigating different legislative requirements can be a minefield for the uninitiated. For the website development, we used a local translation company because of the high volume of text, but generally our approach is to create the original version in English and then use the Ervin overseas sales team to translate it because the high technical content doesn't always lend itself to direct translation".

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