Dutch Synergy

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am responsible for marketing at Yanmar Europe, a company that since 1989 is the regional office of YANMAR Holdings Co., Ltd., headquartered in Osaka. The European subsidiary is responsible for YANMAR business activities in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dutch Synergy, and what were your goals?

We have been drafting the strategy of a campaign that adds an extraordinary value to machines powered by Yanmar engines being 5- year warranty. Together we have identified separate targets and created target specific visuals and messaging.

By creating of landing pages and having detailed advertising plan Dutch Synergy contributed also to the operational tasks. We consider them being our "extended colleagues".

How did you select Dutch Synergy and what were the deciding factors?

Dutch Synergy is a B-to-B focused company with know-how of internationals' distribution channels and specific customer needs. Small and dedicated without having project managers in between, no loss of information in the communication chain, pro-active and very supporting.

Highly professional at all levels, from creating the strategic road-map to benchmarking the tactics including supporting and operational hands- on activities. A true sparring partner.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

The starting point was to define the goals of the project and identify the persona's. We have identified 4 persona's and targeted the audience & market. Typical content was not that typical, we had several challenges as the applications must have remained unrecognisable yet the message must have been clear that it is about the engines, not the application.

We have created a landing page with full marketing automation in Active campaign. Identified the channels, prepared the advertising plan incl. negotiation of media offers and created the visuals. Reporting dashboards are in place and we adjust the campaign channels based on their performance.

How many resources from the Dutch Synergy team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Two and they did all described in the previous question.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The bannering delivers awareness and this being our initial goal is met with 500K views in a month. Than traffic to a landing page is measured per media and non-performing media is eliminated. Th traffic is not as high as we have expected. Other channels are being evaluated and considered.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They have been highly responsive to our needs throughout the workflow. They provided weekly meetings as well as in between meetings were done with a full dedication of Dutch Synergy team.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We are growing from our cooperation one campaign to several projects now. In the future we will diversify to other business units as well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I cannot recall.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

BEGE Power Transmission supplies mechanical and electrical parts, like electric motors and gear motors, to machine builders. I’m the international sales manager and I’m also responsible for marketing within the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dutch Synergy?

We wanted to have more online presence, so we hired Dutch Synergy to help us develop a new, more professional website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dutch Synergy first took the time to learn about our company and understand our technical products. They did this in order to create a website that was according to our specifications — properly showing our expertise, who we are, and what we do. 

We wanted our site to be mainly focused on what we offer, so their team built a large database to house and organize our different types of products. We classified all items into three categories: mechanical parts, electrical parts, and parts for engineering. They’ve developed it in a way that makes it easy for customers to find what they need. 

Dutch Synergy built the site from scratch on WordPress and did the full front- and backend development. I provided information, keywords, and all the technical data, which they then turned into marketing text.

What is the team composition?

I work with Daan (Managing Partner) and Marijke (Managing Partner).

How did you come to work with Dutch Synergy?

ABC Consulting, one of our mutual partners, has worked with Dutch Synergy and has left a review for them on Clutch. We were told that the team was very knowledgeable in the industry and would potentially be a very good fit for our company, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

Annually, we spend between €50,000–€70,000 (approximately $59,000–$83,000 USD). In total, we’ve now spent around €200,000–€250,000 (approximately $237,000–$297,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our cooperation five years ago, around August–September 2017, which is also around the same time I entered the company. We are still in an ongoing partnership and are in really good contact.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

In the last five years, we’ve set the base for a substantial marketing strategy that we’re now innovating on by adding more features to the website. 

We’ve also seen a drastic improvement in the different parameters on our website such as the duration of sessions, number of visitors, and conversions. There have been 4,000 downloads of our catalog, whereas in 2018 there were only 250, and almost 600 visitors have filled in the contact form on our new website, where on our old one, we only had around 50.

Dutch Synergy really understands the technical products and how the B2B industry works, so they know how to ask the right questions to get the right answers from customers. I’ve only needed to provide short answers to their queries, but they can grasp what I mean. They’ve operated very efficiently.

How did Dutch Synergy perform from a project management standpoint?

I frequently contact Daan and he coordinates everything with his partner. We work on Trello, where we plan, structure, and set the deadlines of our projects. Their team is very organized and is always on time. If they can’t meet a specific deadline, they communicate it ahead of time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Dutch Synergy can easily produce 100% high-quality outputs and solutions. Even if I ask for a simple picture to use, they try to make something beautiful and only send it to me when they’re satisfied with it. I’ve never had any complaints about the quality of their work. They are very nice to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done a great job to get to know our industry and our technical products for the last five years, even though it has been a steep learning curve for them. If they keep on focusing and learning, their learning curve will only improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re a company focusing on technical components in machinery and industry equipment, Dutch Synergy can help differentiate you from your competitors. If you really want to stand out and show what kind of innovative company you are, I highly recommend working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization focuses on industry and professional consulting services for Central European and international projects. We’re based in Germany and operate through three additional offices in Switzerland, China, and the United States.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dutch Synergy?

We needed them to support our strategy development for industrial products we develop through partners and factories. Most of the international factories are located in China, Turkey, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dutch Synergy provided branding, digital marketing, and web development services customized to our industry and products. They handled everything from strategy development to design.

For our branding efforts, their team wrote the leading strategy for presenting our products to the market; this included descriptions and technical information. They took the time to learn about our company, how we work, what we’re researching, and what we sell.

Their digital marketing efforts included creating content for our LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media channels. Dutch Synergy worked closely to understand where our products would be efficiently sold and what development would be like. With this combination of strategy, marketing, and knowledge, they created designs that incorporated all of this.

These incorporated designs fed into their web development services. Dutch Synergy built three web pages from scratch, all of which were for our industrial products. When creating web pages, they don’t just go off of what we want, their team puts 40–50% of their time into research on industrial products. They go an extra mile further than just classic web design — it’s thinking combined with design.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–3 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Dutch Synergy?

We found them through one of our competitors because Dutch Synergy was working for them. I thought they had the potential for much more if they worked with us, so I gave them an offer.

How much have you invested with them?

Our biggest project was between €70,000–€130,000 (approximately $78,000–$145,000 USD). Most projects they completed were between €30,000–€50,000 (approximately $33,000–$56,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve had an on-and-off-again engagement for the last four years. Our first big project lasted from April 2016–June 2018. The second project ran from the beginning of 2018 until the end of 2019. We began the third project at the beginning of last year, and it’s still going on. We also started the fourth project in November 2019 that will take about one and a half years to complete.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our social presence has improved immensely and we received very quick results in terms of marketing impact. Technically, our traffic increased by 100%. But since we’re a new brand and started at zero, the increase is probably closer to 200%. I’d equate about 30–40% of those metrics to Dutch Synergy’s web design work. We’re a leader in professional consulting in Europe, and Dutch Synergy is fast becoming a leader in industrial marketing.

How did Dutch Synergy perform from a project management standpoint?

They produce high-quality work very speedily. We’re a fast-moving company with little management, and Dutch Synergy can keep up with that. Their team is responsive and reacts quickly to new tasks. They accept all our ideas and perform them very swiftly. In just a matter of weeks, they take an idea and complete a new web page or campaign.

Our teams hold monthly in-person meetings to discuss main topics. We use Trello daily to organize and update our 5–6 projects. For communication, we use WhatsApp and email; we also have weekly phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I wish they were bigger in size so they could support us on more projects. The knowledge and expertise of the company are good, but I wish the team members were split into more departments.

When it comes to listening, they’re professionals. They give 300% when they respond; this is in terms of ideas, designs, and market research. Dutch Synergy provides supported, credible arguments for doing something in a certain way.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Dutch Synergy can cater to a range of startup businesses to mid-sized companies, but not large companies. A company with €2 million–€30 million (approximately $2.2 million–$33.4 million USD) turnover is the right customer for them.