Case Study: AAA Pool Service, Wheeling, IL

Using Research to Identify Effective Differentiators

For marketing to produce results, every component of the operation must work in concert; the right message must reach the right audience through the right channel at the right time. Case in point: AAA Pool Service.

Simple Machines' research indicated that potential buyers within AAA's market were perceiving pool maintenance service as a commodity. With perceived quality of service relatively constant across competitors, potential clients appeared to be more concerned about things like trustworthiness and punctuality. Given AAA's relentless commitment to reliability, there existed an excellent opportunity to carve out a powerful position within the market.

Simple Machines designed a website that was modern, flexible, and supported all of the brand and messaging objectives that would effectively differentiate AAA Pool Service in a competitive market. Next, Simple Machines designed and executed a strategic SEM campaign, blending organic search optimization with targeted PPC ads to take advantage of what Google usage data identified as a growing number of web searches for pool maintenance services.

Over the course of just 5 months, AAA's website traffic more than doubled. Visits from designated 'high value keyword' (HVK) traffic -- defined as searches that indicate first time visitors that hadn't previously heard of AAA elsewhere -- grew by more than 500%.

"My organic rankings have been so high that I don't think I will [need to] resume a PPC campaign next spring, which will save me considerably."

- Pat Downes, Owner of AAA Pool Service

By aligning AAA's message and strategy with the opportunities present in the current market, Simple Machines was able to help AAA execute the best channel to reach its audience effectively. The result was dramatically increased sales over just a matter of months -- and putting AAA in a position for even greater success going forward.

"My experience with Simple Machines Marketing has been nothing but positive. They delivered on all they said they would and did so in a timely manner… most importantly, business is up from last year."

- Pat Downes, Owner of AAA Pools Service

Client Profile

For over 15 years, AAA Pool Service has been keeping Chicago suburbanites happily poolside by applying an old-school work ethic to modern swimming pool maintenance and repair. Since day one, AAA's trademark punctuality and reliability have translated to high customer retention levels and steady growth via referrals.

Problem

With the economic downturn cutting revenue from the industry as a whole, Harry and Pat Downes, owner of AAA Pool Service, knew that it was time to get more aggressive than ever with their marketing efforts -- and that the internet was the way to get it done. However, they were unsatisfed with their old website and didn't know where to begin to create visibility and drive traffc -- so they turned to Simple Machines Marketing.

Solution

Simple Machines Marketing began the process with a complete re-evaluation of AAA's marketing strategy. After researching AAA's market and competitors, Simple Machines Marketing delivered recommendations for a branding, messaging, and digital channel execution plan. Simple Machines Marketing built a modern, agile website in the image of AAA's new message and executed a strategic SEO campaign, blending organic optimization with targeted PPC ads.