Page 26 - MetalForming January 2011

Turn Your
Website into a
Powerful Marketing Tool
When Virgil DeLay, president of Chicagoland metalforming company Diemasters Manu- facturing Inc., sat down a couple of years ago to begin in earnest a website redesign, he never envisioned becoming so pas- sionate about the site’s direction and con- tent as he eventually did. The goal of the redesign was to focus on marketing the company’s unique areas of expertise.
“Our existing website at the time,” DeLay says, “looked like that of every other stamper. We displayed parts we made, and explained the manufactur- ing processes we were using. But from a true marketing perspective, we did not differentiate ourselves. We didn’t touch on our niches, nor did we do a good job explaining why we’re better at some types of work than at others.
“Early in the redesign process, work- ing with a website-development ven- dor, I was skeptical that we’d be able to develop a new approach that would make a difference and generate leads that would turn into real revenue,” DeLay shares. “So, I decided to manage and champion the redesign process myself, rather than delegate it, so that if it failed I’d fully understand why.”
Today, nearly two years after that first brainstorming session, DeLay has no such concerns. The firm’s new site is
...that not only invites prospective customers to learn more about your capabilities and strengths, but also convinces them that an onsite visit is a must. After that, let the revenue build.
24 MetalForming/January 2011
www.metalformingmagazine.com
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
a clear revenue generator, and DeLay took some time to explain to me exact- ly how it works.
All Metalformers are Not the Same
While a lot of stampers can make the same parts, to the same delivery sched- ule, at the same level of quality and for relatively the same price, why is it that some companies out-earn others, grow and prosper, while some struggle or dis- appear altogether? That’s precisely the question DeLay and the development team he formed pondered when it began conceiving the new site, working with local developer Killian Branding.
“Everyone makes a cool part or two and is proud of its processes,” DeLay says. “And after we began thinking of our cool parts and processes, I looked at dozens of other metalforming-com- pany websites and I couldn’t identify anything that we brought up that I
didn’t see on those other sites.” Becoming skeptical that a new web- site design would help differentiate Diemasters in the marketplace, DeLay and his project team then set out to answer a more deeply thought-pro-
voking question:
“What are we doing (right) that has
allowed us to survive and thrive, while other companies around us have failed?” Answering that question honestly and openly led to a discussion of the most proprietary and “secretive” processes that the company had devel- oped over years and years of process- management focus. “We talked about our system and the special things we do to keep inventories down, which keeps capital in the company,” DeLay says. “We came up with about 10 core com- petencies in all, most of them related to lean processes, that contribute to our
success formula.”