Case Study – Geomagic
Quick Facts
- Helped with transition from development-driven to marketing-driven culture
- Discovered insights from stakeholder research
- Facilitated vision, mission, positioning, tagline, and product messaging sessions
- Prepared team for key media interviews
- Provided Interim marketing leadership and recruited permanent team members
Company Overview
Geomagic is a leading provider of 3D software for creating digital models of physical objects. Professionals involved in the design, reverse engineering and inspection of parts and products use Geomagic Studio®, Geomagic Qualify™ and Geomagic Wrap® to shorten time to market and improve quality. Geomagic software is also used in the dental and medical markets to create customized restorations, appliances, prosthetics and treatment plans that help improve patient care. Customers include Ford, Harley Davidson, Richard Childress Racing, Timberland, Fisher Price, Pratt & Whitney, NASA, Alcoa Howmet, Danaher and Invisalign. Geomagic is based in Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, with subsidiaries in Europe and Asia and partners worldwide. www.geomagic.com
The Challenge
The co-founder and CEO of Geomagic, Ping Fu, and her team had successfully built a strong technology and viable customer base, and wanted to move from a development-driven to marketing-driven culture in order to aggressively grow the company through (1) formalizing market-driven processes (2) building a consistent and clear brand position, and (3) being proactive rather than reactive to sales opportunities.
Savvy Solution
After the first meeting and understanding Savvy’s credentials, Fu quickly engaged the firm to bring leadership, strategic thinking, consistent messaging, and market input and planning to the marketing functions of the company. Savvy also provided advisory services to the CEO and executive team to help Geomagic achieve aggressive revenue growth goals.
Savvy quickly reviewed all company information and met with staff and then gained key insights from customer, prospect, lost deal, and partner interviews to better understand the Geomagic value proposition, customer satisfaction, and how to best position Geomagic going forward.
Savvy then moderated an offsite messaging session with management to marry the market feedback with competitive category analysis. From there, the firm identified the top key marketing issues to address and outlined a marketing plan and budget to do so.
Results
The initial two month project resulted in Geomagic’s revised mission, name, and tagline as well as identification of key marketing issues, required resources, and development of a new marketing plan.
After the plan was shared with the team and an in-house marketing executive was hired, Savvy was retained to help in the management of the transition including the selection of outside marketing resources, prioritization and implementation of the marketing plan, as well as next steps from the messaging initiative.
Savvy was also hired to train key staff on media interaction in anticipation of a writer coming to shadow the company for a week. The CEO and her team did a superb job to land not only an extensive and poignant cover story, but also Fu being named Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
As a third-party observant of Geomagic’s impact on timely efforts such as NASA shuttle safety with the initial Discovery mission, Savvy worked closely with the marketing team and PR firm to advise on how best to tell the Geomagic story so that media would take note.
As a strategic partner to the marketing team, Savvy was brought in throughout the following years by management. Savvy worked to engage with team leaders to review the business and plan for the coming fiscal year and work on selected marketing projects, serve in an interim marketing leadership role, and develop the appropriate internal and external marketing resources.
The marketing team members expanded their thinking and were challenged to take opportunities to the next level under Savvy’s mentorship and direction. Ueng always responded quickly to the CEO and her executive team who sought Grace’s third party counsel on timely issues.
While the Geomagic technology was fascinating to many, Savvy’s research validated that the ease and simplicity to get desired results was the key benefit versus competition, and resulted in the tagline that iterated out of content from Savvy’s initial moderated messaging session. Many years later, “The Magic of Making It Simple” remains the corporate tagline.
Another issue that Savvy’s research uncovered was that Geomagic’s products had the opportunity to be known at higher levels in the corporate organization of both existing and prospective customers. With innovative technology that strengthens industries facing increased global competition, and a CEO that is able to share her personal and professional story with unsurpassed impact, Geomagic owned the right ingredients to expand compelling outreach. Over the years, Savvy contributed to the team effort that has resulted in Geomagic’s increased presence beyond industry coverage to high effect and far-reaching business coverage in the marketplace. Savvy’s efforts are apparent through Geomagic’s success in telling a meaningful story and exemplifying high levels of thought leadership.
Having already built a successful technology and product, we wanted to continue aggressive growth goals which would necessitate taking marketing to the next level. Finding the right marketing partner is often challenging – after learning of Grace’s credentials, however, we decided quickly to engage Savvy Marketing Group.
Through her proven ‘Discovery Process’, Grace quickly analyzed our business and added strategic insights into our marketing plan. Savvy Marketing Group was able to add value in a short timeframe – we look forward to continuing to utilize their services to grow our marketing team and insure we meet our corporate objectives.