Delivering distributor engagement

The Challenge

Shakespeare® Marine, the world leader in marine antenna design, enlisted additional support from ADPR to implement a regular communications strategy amongst its global distributor network due to lack of regular dealer communications, with the goal of keeping key stakeholders across the world updated with Shakespeare® Marine’s news. Recognising the importance of nurturing dealer relationships internationally, Shakespeare® Marine wanted to bolster its communications within its distributor network, to strengthen mutual business relationships, provide regular and updated communications, and ultimately drive sales amongst dealer partners. With the challenge to develop an effective communications strategy, ADPR came up with the solution to design and implement a branded, company email newsletter, to drive engagement with Shakespeare® Marine’s global distributor network.

The Solution

ADPR planned, managed and executed an email newsletter strategy utilising Mail Chimp, to foster a stronger sense of community and partnership with Shakespeare® Marine’s distributor network – named ‘The Connector’. Professionally designed in-house, the newsletter design showcases a consistent and professional layout, crafted to be visually appealing and eye-catching for distributors, whilst matching the client’s brand guidelines. The activity included audience database management, identifying over 100 dealer connections and designing an appropriate content plan for the global distributors on a quarterly basis.

The quarterly content for each newsletter includes an introduction from the client, with key company updates and news for the quarter, product launches, media coverage and features, customer feedback, events and show promotion, company initiatives and news, and finally a distributor spotlight, highlighting one of the international dealers each quarter.

Each quarter, ADPR manages the content creation, distribution and measurement of Shakespeare® Marine’s ‘The Connector’, optimising strategic opening lines and content placement for maximum engagement, scheduled at strategic timings.

The Results

Since ‘The Connector’ launched in June 2022, the results for Shakespeare® Marine have been extensive. With 102 distributor recipients, the newsletter performs exceptionally on a quarterly basis, averaging 95% of successful deliveries, which is 15% higher than average corporate newsletter successful delivery rates. Open rates average at 46%, which is more than 25% higher than average corporate newsletter open rates. Engagement is high across the global distributor network, with a unique click through rate averaging at 18%, 8% more than average corporate newsletter clicks per unqiue open rate. The newsletter itself has generated warm leads and an increased sales pipeline for Shakespeare® Marine, securing multiple direct sales from ADPR’s promotion of a key product launch, Dorsal-5912, totalling five figures of profit as a straight impact of communications delivered through the ‘The Connector’ to distributors.