An eBook With An ROI Of $75,000

In early 2014, Bernick’s came to Leighton Interactive with a lofty list of goals and problems to solve. They wanted to improve how their website worked, they wanted to reach people they hadn’t before … they wanted to cut through a saturated market, their competitor’s customers were too loyal to switch to them. I could go on and on telling you the story of how we (with the help of inbound marketing) quickly changed the game for Bernick’s, but that story’s been told.

In the last three or so years of working with Bernick’s, Inbound Marketing efforts have brought in nearly $940,000 dollars of new revenue. The impact is there. But the story I’m going to tell you today is about how the individual pieces - the visual, designed, strategic inbound elements – one eBook, in particular – play a leading role in that story. That impact. And how these pieces were game changers of their own.

Chapter 1: The Challenge

Bernick’s has a sales team second to none. Their people are passionate, hard working, and serious brand believers. But they have their work cut out for them; Bernick’s has a massive product portfolio, and they have to be a lot of things to a lot of customers. The sales team is responsible for knowing the products, their benefits, and the market trends. And if they don’t – it shows. This isn’t just a challenge that impacts the sales team; it’s a challenge that has the power to impact the entire company and its growth.

While Bernick’s has an exceptional leadership team and the tools in place to keep their team performing top-notch, we knew we could step in and help solve this problem. We knew we could compile and create a strategic, easy to use and understand, inbound-rich tool that could be used in so many more ways than just one.

So we got to work.
 

Chapter 2: The Solution

Our team of experts developed the Bernick’s Beverage Options eBook. This eBook contains information about Bernick’s, the benefits of offering beverages, a look at different beverage options available, and why Bernick’s can be a great partner. 

As one of the first pieces of downloadable content created for Bernick’s, we wanted to make sure the design of this eBook conveyed Bernick’s mission, values, and goals: their team and customers are a top priority, they value long-term relationships, they're committed to community involvement, and they strive for excellence. We wanted to convey each of the messages visually, so that as the content was being consumed the Bernick’s message and feel – as well as their experience and professionalism – was also prevalent. 

There was a lot of information we wanted to provide with this eBook, so we knew the design would have to be both captivating and complementary to the content. Although there was a great deal of research and information to be included in this eBook, we wanted to ensure readers had visual breaks throughout and were easily lead from one section to the next. We used a combination of photography, vector graphics, and pull-quotes to balance the copy for each section and page. Using both graphics and imagery throughout the eBook helped highlight the valuable pieces of content, while also providing a positive experience for readers.

Pages From The eBook

To bring in the key elements of inbound marketing, we also placed CTAs in the eBook to provide opportunities for readers to take the next step in their buyer’s journey. By making this a piece of downloadable content, we knew inbound marketing methodologies could also help us not only generate leads but collect their information on the landing page.

The breadth of uses for the eBook was just one part of what made it unique. Not only does it function as a great tool for the Resources section of the Bernick’s website, helping them remain a thought-leader in the industry and a hub for information, it was an ace in the hands of the sales team. They could send this in emails when nurturing leads, they could send the link as a follow-up to a conversation, they could reference the content within the eBook … it became the new leave-behind of beverage sales.
 

Chapter 3: The Results

In the first year of life, the Bernick’s Beverage Options eBook brought in 26 downloads, 19 new contacts, and two customers. In year two, the eBook collected 52 more downloads (that’s once a week, if you’re keeping track), 37 new contacts, and FIVE customers. March represented the Bernick’s Beverage Options eBook third year on the Bernick’s site and so far has collected 7 more downloads, 3 more new contacts, and one more new customer.

Let’s add this up … total, the eBook has racked up 85 downloads, 59 new contacts, and eight customers. Those eight customers have brought in nearly $75,000 in revenue alone for Bernick’s. How's that for ROI? We also found: 

And the results will keep rolling in. There are currently 24 contacts who have downloaded the eBook and are now an Opportunity for the Bernick’s team and inbound marketing to continue nurturing for conversion.

Chapter 4: Measuring Success + Impact

Version 1 of the Beverage Options eBook was created in August 2015. In March of 2016, we updated components like the landing page, CTA, and workflows associated with the eBook to expand its power. 

From year one to year two, the eBook saw:

• 17% increase in views
• 63% increase in submissions
• 76% increase in new contacts generated 

The eBook CTA and link is shared on social, cross-linked in site and blog content, used in emails, and more. We’ve also taken pieces and pages of the eBook and ‘spliced’ them up as visual content to upcycle on social media. 

As with any great piece of inbound marketing, this eBook wasn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ kind of resource. We continue to tweak, edit, track, analyze, and measure its success and performance so we can keep improving, keep converting, and keep growing.

Chapter 5: Don’t Stop, Get It Get It 

We’re currently in the process of version three of this eBook, updating the content and visuals to include new stats, changes in the industry, and new offerings available from Bernick’s and in the market. We plan to continue to utilize the momentum and inbound marketing power of the Bernick’s Beverage Options eBook in current campaigns and inbound marketing strategies. It’s been a great resource and nurturing tool and we’ve been able to gather a great deal of insight as to what does and doesn’t work with this type of visual, downloadable content for Bernick’s.