How B Safe Won the 2021 SAMMY Award for Best Overall Marketing Program (Small to Midsize Company)
Innovations such as virtual assistant B Safe Bobby, optimized SEO and a moving program helped B Safe not just survive the pandemic, but thrive.
The security industry is lucky in that it is one of the few that can be considered generally recession-proof. However, that does not mean companies will go totally unscathed, especially in the case of a pandemic where people don’t want anyone outside their immediate family entering their home.
Security companies rely on face-to-face interaction to help sell their solutions. The pandemic took this tactic out of the playbook and forced companies to get creative. Wilmington, Del.-based B Safe Security was no exception.
COVID-19 knocked the company’s second quarter RMR and install numbers down to 71% and 67% of its Jan. 1 planned projections, according to Anthony Paparo, B Safe marketing manager.
This caused the company to pivot its marketing efforts and create the Care During COVID Program, which utilized social media, virtual consultations, newsletters, blogs, SEO and Google reviews. The program was responsible for a third quarter in which the company brought in 107% of its planned RMR and 100% of its planned installations revenue.
“This multifaceted shift in adjusting for the times led to great success. Our social media following grew by an average of 16.25%. Our content consists of four different categories: new information about our virtual consultations, five-star reviews, videos and helpful blog posts offering safety/security tips. Posting these five-star reviews has helped build brand trust. Our videos inspired new visitors to check out our website,” says Paparo.
He adds that the company’s presence on Google My Business drove new client growth and a 26% increase in its review total during that time. A major component of that success has been thanks to optimized SEO. In 2020, more than 120,000 searches found B Safe with 86% of them being “Discover” searches, meaning the company was found organically.
April saw the implementation of a virtual assistant, B Safe Bobby. This virtual assistant drives virtual consultations on the integrator’s website via an easy three-step process.
“Customers use an orange ‘Click Here’ button to begin, choose a time and complete a simple form, as well as send pictures if necessary,” Paparo explains. “They could then get their virtual consultation from a consultant without even having them in their homes. On April 15, every security consultant in the company was given a guide to operating Zoom and facilitating this new reality.”
The company was also sure to utilize its blog, saying it was one of the first companies in the security industry to offer COVID-19 safety tips. Other blog topics include a guide to its virtual consultations, security tips during isolation and Fourth of July safety tips.
B-Safe also tweaked the content of its newsletters, moving away from advertising its solutions and more toward “providing happiness, safety and ways to assist those needing help.” The month of May featured a #ChalkItUptotheHelpers campaign to thank essential workers with chalk drawings on sidewalks. July featured a call to sign up for the Ronald McDonald House Virtual 5K. The company says its 27% open rate was 14% higher than the industry average.
Another initiative B-Safe put into place during the pandemic was creating a dedicated security specialist specifically for clients looking to move. This aided the company in completing transitions and signing the contracts.
“Our December was the best in our company’s history. This sales growth and resurgence can be felt throughout our 15-person sales team as with this marketing support many of our salespeople are doing as well as they were pre-pandemic; some are posting even higher numbers than before March 1,” Paparo says.
COVID-19 may have knocked B Safe down, but it proved that it could not be knocked out. Armed with a new online strategy, virtual assistant and moving program, the company has created a road to success it can safely ride into the future.
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About the Author
Steve Karantzoulidis, Web/Senior Editor
Steven A. Karantzoulidis is the Web Editor for Security Sales & Integration. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Communication and has a background in Film, A/V and Social Media.
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