Instructions

You will be working as a digital marketing team for ShapeMaster, an independently owned company based in Ogden, IL, that provides prototyping and molding services to engineers and manufacturers. ShapeMaster is looking to expand its market by targeting a growing but currently underserved client group of scientists, inventors, and makers. Your team is charged to develop a marketing campaign with a minimum budget to discover, educate, and engage this client base through various digital media channels.

Client Profile:

Our client is ShapeMaster Inc., a company that specializes in vacuum forming, thermoforming, drape forming, plastic/metal fabrication, injection molding, and CNC machining. It has provided quality goods made of plastic, metal, wood, foam, and various resins since 1990. The company fills a gap between large suppliers of manufacturers and boutique workshops by working closely with engineers and product designers to find customized and creative solutions for their prototyping and molding needs. The company also has the capacity to meet the production needs of small- to medium-sized manufacturers.

Here is the link to their website: https://www.shape-master.com/

Case Background:

Over the last 30 years, ShapeMaster has steadily built the capacity to meet a variety of production and prototyping needs. It is among the few companies in this market that specialize in many different types of forming techniques and is able to handle sizable orders from major manufacturers. Because of the diversity of its machinery and breadth of its expertise, ShapeMaster is faces a unique challenge to fully utilize its diverse production capability while maintaining its ability to handle orders of large quantities. Currently, the company is generating a healthy and steady revenue stream from its matured product lines for several regional manufacturers. However, the company is looking to leverage its existing production capability to cautiously grow its business by targeting a new client base.

The "maker movement" is an umbrella term for a new generation of hackers, artisans, designers, artists, and entrepreneurs, who are all part of the rise of a worldwide technology-enabled extension of DIY culture. Makers are now empowered to entirely design, model and fabricate what they want themselves. The rise of this so-called "maker culture" has provided a perfect opportunity for ShapeMaster to grow because it is uniquely positioned to help inventors and makers to turn their ideas from concepts to prototypes to products.

Targeting the growing makers community through conventional marketing and advertising tactics can be difficult. The potential revenue that can be generated from this market is also uncertain. As such, the company is not yet ready to shift its main sales and marketing strategies and commit a large amount of its resources. Instead, it wants to discover, cultivate, and engage this new target client base through a low-budget, organic, and content-based digital marketing campaign.

Requirement:

Analyze their digital content. At a first glance, is ShapeMaster's digital presence strong? (Hint: Can potential clients find relevant information about ShapeMaster? From what channels? What kinds of information can they find?). If so, explain why. If not, make some recommendations as to what they could be doing to improve it. Your analysis must include the following:

oWebsite. Is the content and information on ShapeMaster's website optimized for the targeted users? What about the design and usability?

oSearch. In other words, can this website be found by those we want to target? What are some of the ways in which the website can be found through search? You can experiment with different search keywords and check the results. Please provide screenshots to support your analysis where appropriate.

oSocial media and other. In what social media or other online platforms (e.g., directories, Wikipedia pages, blogs) is ShapeMaster currently present? What kinds of content is ShapeMaster currently posting on these platforms? How often does ShapeMaster update or post? Is it working? How much engagement are these posts driving? In which social media platform is ShapeMaster doing well? In which platform is ShapeMaster not doing