Case Studies
Effective marketing strategies that produce results
Pennsy Supply Ad Campaign
Description:
Pennsy Supply is the leading manufacturer of aggregate, sand, asphalt and concrete throughout the North and Central Regions of Pennsylvania providing materials for commercial construction, infrastructure development and residential building. Serving the region for more than 90 years, Pennsy Supply operates over 15 asphalt plants, 12 aggregate quarries, 3 sand sites and 6 ready mix concrete plants. In addition to providing professional paving services, Pennsy Supply is dedicated to manufacturing quality aggregate, sand, asphalt and ready mix concrete.
Pennsy Supply first teamed up with Mid-Atlantic Media Hub in 2017 in order to grow their brand and amplify their messaging through paid advertising. In this particular industry, finding and retaining quality workers is among the top priorities to ensure they are able to meet the demands of the businesses they serve.
Mid-Atlantic Media Hub was up for the challenge! Next we’re going to share the goals, strategy, outcome and lessons learned from this unique case study.
Finding and retaining quality workers is among the top priorities
Pennsy Supply is the leading manufacturer of aggregate, sand, asphalt and concrete throughout the North and Central Regions of Pennsylvania providing materials for commercial construction, infrastructure development and residential building. Serving the region for more than 90 years, Pennsy Supply operates over 15 asphalt plants, 12 aggregate quarries, 3 sand sites and 6 ready mix concrete plants. In addition to providing professional paving services, Pennsy Supply is dedicated to manufacturing quality aggregate, sand, asphalt and ready mix concrete.
Pennsy Supply first teamed up with Mid-Atlantic Media Hub in 2017 in order to grow their brand and amplify their messaging through paid advertising. In this particular industry, finding and retaining quality workers is among the top priorities to ensure they are able to meet the demands of the businesses they serve.
Mid-Atlantic Media Hub was up for the challenge! Next we’re going to share the goals, strategy, outcome and lessons learned from this unique case study.
Goals
The primary goal of Pennsy’s advertising campaign is, and has always been recruitment. Because of the nature of the industry, it is difficult for them to find, train and retain skilled trade workers and drivers. When Mid-Atlantic Media Hub first stepped in, Pennsy had a huge need for more staff and were actually turning away jobs because they didn’t have the people needed to fulfill these jobs!
The secondary goal of Pennsy’s advertising campaign is branding and community support. Pennsy has been a longtime support of Breast Cancer Awareness, participating as a key sponsor during October’s awareness month. Additionally, their Holiday advertising has a charitable focus with community outreach. Through their advertising, we wanted to draw the connection between Pennsy and the community, as this is an essential piece of their branding.
Pennsy has since had a significant uptick in job applicants
Strategy
Amplifying word-of-mouth employee referrals – All of our advertising messaging and placement focused on taking word-of-mouth referrals to the next level. We wanted to strategically place Pennsy’s brand in locations where it would reach their targeted audience, and with messaging that hit on the key points that mattered the most to them.
Social and digital advertising – The social and digital ad placement focused on lead generation and was the most successful piece of the advertising strategy, as anticipated. We used this type of advertising to capture interested applications, making it easy and seamless for Pennsy to follow-up on these leads.
Outdoor digital billboards – Our outdoor digital billboard placement was the ideal strategy for promoting career fairs for Pennsy. The outdoor strategy proved to attract the “passive” job seekers more effectively, while the digital online solutions were great for targeting both passive and active seekers.
Outcome
Before Pennsy worked with Mid-Atlantic Media Hub, there was never an organized recruitment effort that included advertising any further than job boards and online listings. Since implementing a comprehensive paid advertising strategy, Pennsy has since a significant uptick in job applicants, particularly those that are of good quality. The good “problem” they now have is strategizing internally to determine the most effective way to stay on top of all of these new leads! Fortunately, there are various tools and technology available to Pennsy to make this an easy challenge to overcome. Pennsy plans to continue to invest in and prioritize their paid advertising strategy to keep this momentum going. Additionally, the long-term benefit of aligning its brand with the community will have a growing impact on Pennsy’s ability to recruit new employees and maintain its reputation as an engaged business leader in Central PA and beyond.
Lessons Learned
1. Advertising amplifies word-of-mouth referrals. While word-of-mouth referrals continues to be the number one way Pennsy receives new employee leads, paid advertising is a highly effective way to amplify the business’s core values and benefits while growing its brand in the community.
2. Messaging and creative will set you a part from your competition. Just like any business, Pennsy has competition within its industry and outside its industry from businesses that are looking to attract similar talent. Through creative and unique messaging and visual elements, we are able to effectively make Pennsy stand out among its competitors and grab the attention of its target audience.
3. Get ready to respond. Another key takeaway from this case study is that paid advertising can sometimes work so well that a business is not fully prepared to respond to the new traffic driven its way. Though it’s what you want to happen, the lesson learned here is to be prepared and map out your internal response strategy at the same time you’re developing your advertising strategy.
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