Fusion 21 is a procurement organisation, established in 2002 to offer expertise in the built environment. Their aims go beyond purely procurement purposes, however. Through their frameworks, they ensure communities and projects are built in a sustainable way, maximising social impact by working closely to identify where efforts would be best spent and supporting wider projects of significance through the Fusion21 Foundation.
Fusion 21 provides a range of services. Including:
In a competitive market, FUSION 21 has a core differentiator, a demonstrable emphasis on social value to leverage contracts for people in the local community. By benefitting from the opportunities provided by FUSION 21 procurement contracts, contractors are obliged to commit to projects within the local community to benefit the local economy through employment, training, or community work. A commitment to “genuinely transform lives”.
So, when Fusion21 approached us in the summer of 2021, we knew immediately that our matching values would make it both an exciting and successful relationship.
The team approached us at a time when they were under immense pressure to use procurement to best help communities during the pandemic. Whilst they had an existing in-house marketing team, they needed some steer with their marketing and sales strategy to ensure that they were hitting the right notes and applying their approach to make the biggest impact across their marketing and sales channels.
At the time, the team wasn’t fully fleshed out – leaving them understandably low on capacity. Not only this, but there were changes going on, leaving those who remained overstretched, under resourced and in need of some guidance. After all, it takes a big time-commitment to redo a strategy on top of business as usual.
Our team was brought in to help consult and support Fusion21. The brief was to empower the team to sustain their day-to-day roles whilst consulting on a longer-term, complimentary marketing and sales strategy to aid wider business growth.
Despite strong organic growth, it was explained that the business is now looking to consolidate and accelerate future growth by addressing strategy and skills gaps in marketing and sales. A number of challenges have been shared with us, outlined below:
Our general approach was built on true collaboration. We aimed to steer strategy and give examples that Fusion21 could learn from. We did so whilst identifying opportunities for upskilling and knowledge sharing, adding value and integrating our efforts to complement their in-house skills.
We recognised that one of the key ways to build long term success was to build and maintain membership engagement.
This would take three forms:
In order to encourage new member sign ups from a sales perspective, we developed a new member sales funnel. This detailed the journey from leads to conversions, with each stage of the process being explored and built out in a way that would bring the largest chance of conversion.
The team also developed a direct outreach programme for existing, inactive members. The goal was to re-engage such members to result in an uplift in opportunities, with the estimated revenue uplift being calculated to give the client an idea of the potential success of the programme.
This sales plan was supported by a campaign mindset and methodology. This was to ensure that Fusion21 could be systematic and strategic in their approach, drive real momentum, be noticed and build resources and insights off the back of each campaign.
We agreed on a quarterly campaign model that would align sales, marketing, category teams and member engagement under a common purpose.
What’s more, we explored demographic targeting, paid social, intent based searches, SEO process, email marketing, and a detailed website approach.
The branding project helped to cement Fusion21’s brand DNA.
The main task here was to communicate their value through by bringing to life their ‘why’, the true reason Fusion 21 exists, Social Impact. Fusion21 deliver social impact through the procurement contracts they deliver and the Fusion21. However at the time, this message had become blurred, and some customer we interviewed had little understanding of how Fusion21 impacted communities. We needed to rethink how we communicated this business ethos through brand, messaging and campaigns.
We were very keen to not just rip up the hard work that had been put into the existing brand and just start again. What was needed was a brand evolution.
One of our priorities was making the brand accessible, in order to stay better aligned with key messages and who Fusion21 wanted to be as a brand. So, our steer was to ensure the brand fitted equality and diversity guidelines, all whilst still remaining fresh and practical.
The brand guidelines that we provided for Fusion21 were extensive. We created an approved image bank, typography, colour schemes, graphic language, and a brand definition, all whilst checking the aforementioned against accessibility and application measures. This is an ongoing document which will constantly evolve as the brand evolves in its own right.
These guidelines have been integral in allowing the whole company to apply the brand consistently and with confidence, thus ensuring a professional and on-brand experience. This has supported the creation of their diverse needs, from large print jobs for events, to daily brochures and beyond.
The first campaign, Procurement with Purpose, was important to help convey the key message of Fusion21.
This was framed around a Homes UK event, where we produced everything from event artwork to lead gen tools, digital communications to paid ads and reporting.
Fusion21 acted as a sponsor for the November 2021 conference at Event City, London.
This saw our sales specialist Lee Ali giving guidance on:
This was designed to act as a blueprint for them to replicate going forward to help them co-ordinate business as usual with campaigning and make momentum more sustainable.
We worked alongside Fusion21 throughout their recruitment process to bring their marketing team up to full strength, getting involved in everything from scoping requirements to interviews, to help them get the right fit.
Our main roles involved scoping out job descriptions and specs to encompass the brand and their values, to ensure they found the right person for the job. This resulted in the appointment of ambitious and skilled new Head of Member Engagement and Marketing Manager.
One of the junior members of the Fusion21 team joined us on one of our Build workshops where we helped guide her, and other delegates, through campaign methodology. Another team member worked closely alongside our digital guru AJ to refine paid strategy and embed recommendations.
Our team has acted as a sounding board of expertise and best practice, allowing the team to be supported in their relative specialities.
The Procurement With Purpose campaign has provided a blueprint of success and inspiration to be carried forwards with future campaigns. Not only did this campaign demonstrate how momentum can build, but also gave a model on how to repurpose to the best effect. The team have been bolstered by the arrival of a new senior marketer and embedding of new systems, processes and technologies.
Our role now is to step away from the day-to-day support and enable the team to drive the strategy forward. We’ll be here to support on key campaigns and strategic projects where the team needs some additional guidance or capacity.
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