I recently had the chance to visit and talk with Carrie Halle, who is the new Director of Marketing, Americas for Dover’s Pump Solution Group (PSG), headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.  Carrie shared her insights about the company’s customer centric strategy and the role social media is playing with customer engagement.   

All signs indicate that the pump industry will continue to grow but will actually get smaller in the coming years.  Regional companies are becoming national and national companies are becoming global.  As a result, many companies are integrating social media into their marketing strategy to create conversations with their customers around the world.

Just a few years ago, the pump industry was struggling to understand and embrace social media.  However, I’ve seen more companies working harder at integrating social media into their marketing strategies.

I recently spent time with the one of the first companies in the pump industry to really embrace digital and social media:  PSG.

Dover’s Pump Solutions Group (PSG®), headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, is a global leader in the manufacture of industrial pumps and related flow control technologies by delivering value-added pumps and systems that serve customers across many industries and applications that require the safe and efficient transfer of critical and valuable materials.

With many of the industry’s most recognized brands, PSG is a global company with a localized presence in over 100 countries, servicing many key industries such as Energy, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Transport and Military & Marine, to name a few. In addition, PSG is passionately committed to the development of innovative “sustainable” technologies.

One of the great things about PSG is its culture and the value it places on its employees.  I see it every time I meet with someone from PSG at a trade show or visit one of its facilities.  As a result, the company identifies, retains and fully leverages some of the smartest people in the industry.

To help drive growth and fully leverage its brands, PSG recently recruited Carrie Halle to lead its marketing efforts in the Americas.  With a strong brand management background, Carrie is a great match for the company.

“PSG is a very dynamic company,” said Halle.  “With great people, products, culture, and a strong growth strategy, it’s a great time to join the company.”

During our conversation, Carrie described the criteria she wanted at a company for her next role before joining PSG:

• Global company
• Strong brands in the market
• Smart people that I could learn from
• Organic growth strategy
• Aggressive acquisition strategy

She found that with PSG.  Since joining the company earlier this year as the head of marketing for the Americas, Carrie has spent the last few months with a simple strategy:  To listen, learn and observe.

“PSG has 17 brands, and it’s growing so fast that I’m consciously listening more than talking.  This business has an experienced and talented team with great insights and knowledge that I’m trying to absorb,” said Halle.

In the coming months, Halle will be focusing in four key areas:

• Maintain growth of the PSG leadership brands
• Leverage the PSG name to drive growth with strong, yet less-visible brands within the product portfolio
• Grow the portfolio with new product introductions
• Continue to embrace social media as a customer retention and growth strategy

To help reinforce its customer centric strategy, the company recently aligned itself by geography (Americas, EMEA and Asia) and by key industry verticals (Energy, Chemical, Hygienic, etc.) and is in the process of putting strong leaders in each position.

“This new alignment is exciting because it helps PSG as a company align with our customers on a local basis to understand those markets, their needs and how we can help them succeed,” said Halle.  “We understand that there are differences in markets and product needs around the world and this alignment just puts us in a better position to truly understand the pressures our customers face on a day-to-day basis and what they need to be successful.”

PSG has embraced social media as a compliment to its customer centric strategy.  With an indirect distribution strategy, the company has learned that social media provides a forum to engage directly with its customers.

While social media is relatively new to the pump industry, including Empowering Pumps (which is in its second year), companies are beginning to embrace digital media for many reasons.

PSG was one of the first pump equipment manufacturers to migrate content to online by offering newsletters, white papers, etc. through its web site.  Then, the company directed its attention to fully capitalizing on the distribution channels to reach its customers, prospects and others in the pump industry by fully embracing Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other channels.

For example, the company has more than 150 videos hosted on PSG TV, which is found on www.psgdover.com.  The videos cover a variety of topics across its entire product portfolio on product demonstrations, maintenance and customer success story videos.  The best part is that PSG TV was built so that viewers never have to leave the PSG web page.  Page visitors remain captive on the PSG web pages.   However, the company also houses the videos on YouTube to create additional viewing opportunities.

“Even though PSG was one of the first companies in the pump industry to utilize digital media, we want to get better at it because we appreciate how valuable social media can be in driving engagement with our customers,” said Halle.  “We see it a vital component of our strategy in creating advocates for the PSG brand.”

One of the things I really admire about PSG is its approach to social media.  There are a lot channels available to companies and sometimes it can be overwhelming.  Or, I see companies focus their resources on only one channel and neglect others.  With PSG, its approach is to appreciate the value of different channels and leverage them as best they can.

For example, LinkedIn tends to be a little more serious and the focus is on discussion groups while Facebook can be more fun and engaging with not only its distribution network, but also its end customers.  The company actively uses Twitter at events like trade shows to help customers, prospects and show attendees stay connected with the PSG while at a meeting.

During my conversation with Carrie, she shared that PSG will be rebuilding their web site this year with more exciting functionality.  Other areas of focus in their digital strategy include:

• Own search engine optimization (SEO)
• Build an advanced web site (desired state)
• Create interesting and relevant content
• Help our distribution fully embrace digital and social media

“The thing to remember is that we are still very new at this.  Even though PSG has been active in digital media for the last several years, social and digital media is constantly changing,” said Halle.  “As a result, we are building a strategy so that we are focusing our energies in the right areas to get more aggressive and smarter…but with a proactive plan.”

To fully engage their distribution partners, PSG is also investing in new Print On Demand (POD) and Digital Media Archive technologies.  In addition, PSG will be hosting a session with their partners this year to help them better understand the tools and implement their own social media strategies.

“Our distribution really owns the relationship with our end customers so we want to help them understand how social media can strengthen these relationships,” said Halle.  “Our ultimate goal is to simplify how our distributors and customers interact with PSG.”

I can’t wait to see what the results from this company that understands the power of digital media!