Supconnect
Case study
Running an online publication, especially one considered to be the industry leader, requires both a broad range of expertise and an obsession with performance.
Without i9media, we just wouldn’t be able to do it – that simple. i9media’s team brings a mix of top talent and personal commitment that’s a rare breed. Constantly assessing, innovating and setting all-time records, i9media is the gift that keeps on giving whetherit’s in top placement on search engine, email list growth, and beyond.
– Andre Niemeyer, Supconnect Founder & Publisher
Overview
The relationship between i9media and Supconnect is a unique one in that i9media both owns and operates all aspects of Supconnect’s business. Founded in 2007, Supconnect was one of the original 5 websites globally that covered the sport of stand up paddle boarding (SUP). Andre Niemeyer, i9media’s CEO, was an early adopter of SUP and quickly recognized the market need for a website dedicated to the sport, hence, Supconnect was born. Since 2007, Supconnect has become the leading global publication in the digital space for stand up paddle boarding because of the efforts and strategies put in place by the i9media team.With i9media’s backing of Supconnect, the i9media team has been able to thoughtfully execute on multiple fronts, developing everything from Supconnect’s brand identity and design, to website design, build and management, to media production, social media, SEO strategy, lead generation and much more. The efforts put in by the i9media team have driven Supconnect to be the leading digital publication for stand up paddling globally, standing the test of time by continuously improving and innovating the brand forward as a trusted entity in the SUP industry.
Services
Branding
SEO
Website
Social Media
Creative (Graphic Design)
Lead Generation
Copywriting
Media Production
Email Marketing
Branding
From coming up with the company name to the logo design, color scheme, typography and more, i9media built the Supconnect brand from the ground up. The Supconnect brand and its slogan, “Your Connection to Paddling” instantly gave the company a distinctive position in the industry that both informed and attracted consumers eager to be a part of the SUP community.
Search Engine Optimization
As the Supconnect platform established itself as an authoritative and trusted source in the industry, the SEO strategy was one of the top priorities of the i9media team. Over the years, the i9media team has achieved incredible success and has propelled Supconnect to become the number 1 platform in organic search results for brands and products in the SUP space through Supconnect’s review program, even sometimes having a higher organic search rank than the brands themselves on their own products! For Supconnect, these results have led to increased sales and retention of Supconnect sponsorships, the main revenue source for Supconnect.
#1
on organic search
Website
Since its inception, i9media has controlled, maintained, designed and built the Supconnect website throughout it’s 10+ year history and various iterations of the website. In a remarkable feat, after only 2 years Supconnect’s website drew in a larger audience than that of Surfing Magazine, which at the time was the #1 website for surfing online. In the years since, Supconnect continues to attract more than a quarter million unique visitors to the website annually, all due to the team behind the scenes at i9media.
250k
People reached annually
Social Media
As with all other aspects of Supconnect’s operation, the i9media team created all social media accounts across 9 different channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Tiktok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Youtube) and secured consistent handles across the various platforms for Supconnect. Over the years, the i9media team has consistently and steadily grown the Supconnect audience across these channels and combined has more than 114,000+ followers across these platforms and delivers nearly 4 million impressions annually.
4MM
impressions annually
Creative
i9media’s in-house team has been and continues to be the sole resource for creative and graphic design since Supconnect first began. At the very core of the brand, i9media’s team crafted the basics such as the Supconnect logo and brand style guide but also designs all brand assets including media kits, event posters, award badges and trophies, newsletter templates and more. Every creative ever built for the Supconnect brand has been done in-house by the i9media team.
Lead Genereation
As a media company the goal is always to try and find new audiences that might be interested in your content but also for the brands that are sponsors of the website. To capture these new audiences and help lower acquisition costs for our partners the i9media team put a variety of measures in place to capture these leads. Each year, the i9media team organizes and executes lead generation campaigns such as an industry awards, photo contests and also quarterly giveaways, all capturing leads during the year. For each of these campaigns, i9media’s internal team does 100% of the work, from outreach to collaborating brands, to building the campaigns on the website, to graphic design, social media, advertising and more. Through these lead generation efforts, Supconnect has now has a list of over 55k leads/email addresses in the database and it continues to grow each year.
55K
Lead Genereation
Copywriting
As a media company, copywriting is at the core of a lot of what Supconnect does. Whether it’s a destination article, tips, product reviews, etc., copywriting and creating content is a necessity. And who might execute, create and organize all of this content? You guessed it. The i9media team.
Media Production
Media production and publishing go hand in hand. Many times when creating written content, photos and/or videos are needed to accompany the piece. This is where i9media has stepped in and taken charge. The i9media team has organized and set up dozens of photoshoot / video shoots over the years creating media for specific content needs on the Supconnect website. The i9media team even creates media that the Supconnect sponsors are able to use on their channels featuring their brand and products. Over the years, thousands upon thousands of images have been created and countless videos as well. And what’s more, over the years, the i9media team has set up and organized various live shows whether on Youtube or Instagram, generating tens of thousands of views.
Email Marketing
When Supconnect first started the email list was non-existent so the i9media team had building the Supconnect email audience as one of the top priorities on the to-do list. First, Supconnect was set up on Mailchimp, a robust email marketing platform and built mobile friendly email templates from scratch to match the Supconnect branding. Furthermore, email automations were set in place that were directly integrated with the email capture pop up on the website. Fast forward several years and Supconnect’s list continues to grow annually and now has a contact list of more than 55k subscribers with an average open rate at nearly 20% which is on par with industry standards.
Results
Branding
SEO
Website
Social Media
Creative (Graphic Design)
Lead Generation
Copywriting
Media Production
Email Marketing
250k+
#1
People reached annually
on organic search
4MM
impressions annually
55k
Lead Genereations
20%
Open rate
Conclusion
In 2007, Supconnect started as a passion project and through the last several years has ultimately become the leading online global publication for stand up paddle boarding, all due to the efforts, strategies and innovations put in place by the i9media team. Through strategic SEO efforts, premium content, lead generation efforts, detailed branding and more, Supconnect is a major revenue generator for i9media and is a massive success story for the i9media team.
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FAQs
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Businesses where we can add value. Whether you're looking for an agency of record to help you handle all your marketing needs or you're in need of a single service to fill an operational gap, we're available to service where we can add value. And if we're not a fit, we will tell you. Our priority is the long game, so much like you, let's focus on the work and identify the opportunities where we can help you drive the business forward. Our experience ranges from working with businesses large and small, wholesale, retail, and startup, from lifestyle and software to manufacturing and lodging.
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Branding and performance marketing, from strategic to tactical. We start with a market competitive analysis, running a discovery to inform all the downstream work, using those business insights to give you an edge to gain market share over your competitors. Making things pretty and a proper technology stack are not enough. The business needs to polish its unique value propositions and properly align with the addressable target market. From there, our branding services include the full gamut of design, from logo and typography to digital and physical assets, like websites, flyers, tradeshow booths and beyond. On performance marketing services include advertising, e-commerce, email marketing, social media, website management, and more, setting clear objectives and repeatedly assessing results and identifying optimization opportunities.
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We start with a discovery, which includes a competitive analysis of your 3-5 competitors, both head-to head and aspirational, looking at key performance indicators on multiple marketing channels, from website and advertising to reputation and beyond. Next is using those parameters to sharpen your positioning with clearly stated unique value propositions and communication guidelines for your product and service catalog, boosting your competitive edge. Lastly, drawing on that strategy, it's a plan of execution, and resource allocation, right-sizing on budget to the scale of the business and the success criteria requirements.
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If we believe we can outperform your current efforts. We have lots of experience to draw from, which gives enormous insights on the expertise and work-hour requirements to perform at different levels. We've seen a lot, from teams having the humility to seek help to boost performance to teams being overly enthusiastic about mediocre performance. We don't want to waste either your or our time. We'll take a look at your marketing efforts and if we believe we can give you more productivity and profitability cost-effectively, we'll tell you. And if we can't, we'll tell you.
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Our benefit is exactly in our range, from local to global and small to enterprise, serving various industries, which helps us avoid blindspots and gives us fresh perspectives to approach different industries. Our past industries include but are not limited to technology, manufacturing, biosafety, software, automotive, military, lifestyle, farming and gardening, accessories, aviation, and more.
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Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll walk you through our method and whether we think there is a fit, where and the type. If we don’t see an opportunity to add value, we ‘ll tell you. For us, performance matters more than simply signing a new client. Our goal is retention. For that, we look for fits to drive results. Email or call and we’ll help get you started if the opportunity to add value is there.
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Yes but also one-time services. You may need a comprehensive marketing solution or just a one-off service, such as a new website build or some branding assets, for instance. We’ll listen to what you are looking for but then also give you our insight on where we think you may most benefit from an engagement with us.
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Net sales increase on lower discount rates and smaller advertising budgets with a cost-effective solution – that’s our preferred key performance indicator. Money in the bank. But sometimes the marketing is not performance, it’s branding. In that case, marketing assets must be inspirational, informative, and drive an inquisitive behavior to covert, retain and advocate to new prospect clients, building the momentum for growth.
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