The Society of Automotive Engineers
The Challenge
How can we increase top-of-funnel lead volume for a a business looking to establish themselves as the premiere destination for engineering resources?
Background
SAE International provides engineers around the world with resources to do their job - whether it’s a set of Standards that ensure a safe and quality design, a professional development course that helps engineers make the next step in their career, or research reports that provide state-of-industry examinations of the most significant topics facing the mobility industry, SAE is a global leader in advancing engineering knowledge and expertise.
Our team was tasked with developing a top-of-funnel marketing campaign to introduce new engineers to SAE by showcasing their expertise and showing the wide variety of products and resources they offer.
My Role
As the lead designer and strategist, my role was to design and develop the landing page and LinkedIn ads for this campaign.
Discovery
Before starting on design work, I scheduled a meeting with SAE stakeholders to ask questions to better understand their goals and gather insights.
What does success look like to you?
What priority products are most important to feature on this page?
Outside of purchasable products, are there free resources that we could feature to increase engagement?
Are there any design limitations I should be aware of?
How does SAE differentiate itself from its competitors?
User Journey
I also mapped out a user journey to ensure we established appropriate touch points with our audience and were engaging at every stage of the marketing funnel. It’s important no note that with this strategy, there are planned content and creative refreshes every month to avoid user fatigue and keep our audience engaged.
Concepting and Wireframing
Below is my initial wireframe. I’ve added some stickies that show the feedback that we received from the client.
Final Landing Page Design
The primary piece of feedback that we received from the client was that we needed to decrease the scroll and consolidate some sections - engineers want to be able to skim a page for crucial information! We did so by using carousel modules and using icons for the resources section.
Ad Creative
Messaging:
One of SAE’s key differentiators is their wide variety of engineering products and resources that cover multiple industries and topic areas. In our messaging, we wanted to capture SAE’s ability to adapt and pivot to emerging topic’s and trends.
Imagery:
SAE is always looking into the future and staying ahead of the curve, but also remains grounded in reality and focused on the issues of the present. To be in line with this ethos, I searched for images of diverse engineers in a futuristic lab working together to solve a problem, and made sure to color-adjust the image using Photoshop to match their brand identity.
Outcome
The outcome was a full funnel marketing strategy that will help SAE grow their customer base and increase sales.
The LinkedIn ads capture our audiences attention with bold imagery and copy that is focused on solving today’s problems while also looking into the future.
When users arrive on the landing page, they are introduced to the wide variety of products and resources within the SAE ecosystem. They are invited to fill out a form (Name, email, phone, business) to receive a free resource focused around aerospace engineering. SAE’s sales team is also notified of form fillers and encouraged to reach out to these people directly to see how SAE can offer a custom solution or packaged deal to fit their needs.
In addition to receiving the free resource, users are entering into a monthly newsletter to learn about all things SAE - upcoming events, podcasts, webinars, publications, professional development courses, and so much more. This newsletter serves as a nurturing and upsell opportunity for people who have engaged with content or made purchases in the past.
