1. Marketing Plan
IBC Engineering Services, INC.
Integrated Building Concepts
Gabrielle Cypher, Daniel Istvanek, Sean Valentine, Sean Cleveland,
Maja Romanovic
IBC Engineering Services, Inc.
Wisconsin : Illinois : Florida : Washington, DC
Phone 262.549.1190, Fax 262.549.1620

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IBC Engineering Services, Inc. is a privately owned and woman run small business.
They operate in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, and Washingtion D.C. IBC is headquartered
out of Waukesha Wisconsin. They have never missed a deadline on a single project
and pride themselves on quality and energy efficient work.
IBC’s current competitors include companies like Engineering Consulting Services,
Cedar Corporation, Harwood Engineering Consultants, LTD, GDS Associates, Inc,
Ruekert Mielke Engineering, and SCS BT Squared.
IBC desires to increase sales from 3% to 5% in the next 5 years. Marketing objectives
for the company are to expand into new market locations, create new business, keep an
up to date online presence, create a defined organizational structure, and differentiate
their services as superior and more attractive.
IBC should expand into new locations throughout the Midwest that offer high potential
customers and low potential competitors. Locations with high rates of city renovations
and revitalization are promising areas for new business.
Creating a more direct button or tab to access the employee page on the IBC website
would make the website easier to navigate for prospective employees. Promoting the
lack of hierarchy on the employee page and including role titles with employee pictures
would signal to perspective employees of company culture, ability for upward movement
and where they would fit in the company. This would help to aid in employee retention.
To keep roles defined and employees specialized, IBC should acquire a business
development or sales department/employee. IBC can hire a new employee for this or
can designate an intern to this department.
IBC should create an internship program to help them with business development and
online advertising. Creating an internship program would eliminate costs as the help
would be free. The interns would provide new insight on how to move the company
forward.
IBC already has good relationships with current clients. IBC should continue these
relationships but create more with more clients in new markets.
IBC’s current marketing strategies utilize word of mouth a great deal. IBC should have
an active social media presence and be present in the lives of their potential customers.
IBC should also clearly define their mission and clearly differentiate themselves from
their competitors. This will help to grow the company in the future.

3. BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
Increase sales from 3% to 5% in 5 years
· IBC Engineering would like to increase its sales. They are stagnant in growth and
would like to expand economically. This plan will work to achieve this.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
IBC Organizational Structure is Undefined:
· Many IBC employees appreciate the lack of company hierarchy. It allows them to
speak about the company and interact with customers and coworkers freely.
(Appendix, Figure 12).
· This lack of company hierarchy is attractive to employees that have been at the
company for a very long time but may not be attractive to new employees. This may
be a cause of poor employee retention (see cause maps in Figures 5-10 in
Appendix). Forbes.com, in an article, states that employees will perform their best
and therefore want to and will stay at a company that is conducive to growth or
advancement in the company. LinkedIn Talent Solutions also states that one of the
top motivators for employees is opportunities for advancement in the workplace. If
the employees are unable to tell if there is room or a way for advancement they will
not be motivated to work for the company. (Appendix Figure 13).
· The way IBC displays its employees is fun and interactive which shows that the
company would be fun to work for and is like a family. For a potential employee, the
positons held by the employees is not easily seen as compared to competitors’
websites. This can make it hard for potential employees to see where they would fit
into the company and where, if they could, advance. (see Appendix Figure 14).
Current Market is oversaturated:
· IBC is having trouble gaining new customers in the current market. They are being
outbid by bigger companies for some jobs. This may be the cause of poor business
development but also the cause of a small, overly saturated market. These
conclusions were drawn from cause maps (Figures 5-6) shown in the Appendix.
· Expanding into neighboring markets would allow IBC to increase market share and
expand business.
· Shown in the Appendix, figure 1 shows the current location and competitors and
Figure 2 shows competitors in neighboring locations. Figure 3 shows target market
businesses in current location and Figure 4 shows target market business in
neighboring locations. Figure 4 shows possible new locations as defined by the red
circle.
Business Development is Low:

4. · IBC does not have a business development or sales employee. Having this
employee will help grow the company as there is one person or department actively
seeking opportunities for business. This will be faster than word of mouth or waiting
for new customers to come to the business. IBC relies on word of mouth and
previous clients of project managers to recruit business. This does not allow for new
business. An employee and interns that specialize in business development is key to
growing the company. Creating an internship program would help keep the business
development department costs low. Figure 25 shows what business development is
and its importance and necessity in growing a company.
· IBC currently has good relationships with current customers. As stated, IBC’s
customers are obtained from previous contacts, word of mouth, or the customers
come to the company. This creates a close atmosphere with customers. IBC should
capitalize on their good relationships because, according to the U.S. Small Business
Administration and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, acquiring new customers can cost
as much as 5 times more than retain customers.
· Social media is a great tool for reaching out to possible new clients. Figure 22
shows the importance of social media.
Online Advertising is Poor:
· IBC’s website is not easy to follow. In a survey (Figure 18) conducted at Carthage
College 23 out of 50 people stated that the website was easy to navigate but they
were not sure where they were going when looking around the website. 7 of the
respondents said they could tell what the company did by the website and 37 stated
they had some idea because they knew about engineering. 23 out of 50 people said
that the website was appealing. These results indicate that the website is appealing
but and somewhat easy to use but difficult to understand. This indicates that
changes need to be made in the design of the website.
· IBC does not spend much money on advertising. A low cost way to advertising IBC
in the current market and new markets is flyer/poster advertising (Figure 22). This
can be done online also and shared through social media. These ads can promote
the company or certain jobs. So far IBC does not do this kind of advertising Figure
20 shows other competitors utilizing such poster/flyer online ads.
· IBC needs to have and active and constant social media presence. In Figure 21, it
shows that IBC has not updated their Facebook account in some time. Their twitter
account is more active but does not have many company specific promotions in the
feed as compared to competitors. Figure 22 states that social media promotion is
invaluable to your company and it costs almost nothing to utilize.
Brand Awareness Is Low:
· IBC is having trouble making people more aware of their business and what it is that
they do. Typically customers do not place a lot of value in quality engineering, which
makes it hard to distinguish their company from others. There is also a perception
that architects have to lead design teams, which makes it hard for them to make
people more aware of their quality of work. These conclusions were drawn from the
cause maps (Figures 7&8) shown in the Appendix.

5. · IBC has low brand awareness because according to the National Academy of
Engineering (www.nae.edu) there are many challenges engineering companies face
when it comes to branding, but there are also opportunities they can capitalize on.
Also, in order to create a strong brand IBC needs to follow the five laws of branding.
(Appendix Figure 16).
· IBC has low brand awareness because they need to make their company more well
known to potential customers and one way to do that is by using social media.
According to Simpson Strong-Tie (seblog.strongtie.com). They need a social media
strategy and they need to offer content that is informative and interesting to the
target audience. (Appendix Figure 17).
· By differentiating their services as superior and more attractive to potential
customers, IBC will be able to create better brand awareness.

6. SAM DIAGRAM

7. KEY ISSUES/OPPORTUNITIES
· IBC Engineering has a flexible hierarchy. The current employees value a flexible
structure but potential employees may not be motivated by this. This leads to poor
employee retention.
· IBC Engineering’s current market is overly saturated with competitors and current
business. This market is turning stagnant and moving to a new location would allow
for company growth and development.
· IBC Engineering does not have business development. They do not have a
sales/development employee. An internship program would assist in the formation of
a business development department and carrying out the tasks of this job. This
would decrease the cost of adding this needed position. In addition, LinkedIn activity
is lacking which could also be done by the internship program.
· IBC Engineering has poor use of online advertising. Their website is not easy to
navigate. Also, their use of social media is low and their posts do not relate well to
promoting their company.
· IBC Engineering also has poor company brand awareness. They need to position
their company as superior to others. IBC does not clearly advertise their superiority
on their website or other outlets. They also do not clearly define their mission and
vision statements and advertise their many awards. Leveraging their success and
excellence will set them apart from competitors and make them more attractive to
potential customers.
TARGET MARKETS
The Target Market of IBC Engineering is renovations, municipalities, and healthcare
systems.
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Create a clearer organizational structure and employee page
· To grow economically, IBC needs to make its employee website page and
structure more defined and easy to navigate. This will help to attract employees
that fit the company and will stay with the company.
Expand into new market locations
· IBC needs to expand into new locations in order to attract new business. This will
help them grow economically.
Create more business
· IBC must work to create more business. More new projects, in different locations,
will help to grow the company.

8. Keep and Up to date online presence
· IBC needs to keep its online marketing and presence up to date and easy to use.
This will attract customers and press which will lead to company growth.
Differentiate services as superior and more attractive
· To attract new business and presence, IBC needs to differentiate their services.
This will help to grow the company economically.
TACTICS (OVERVIEW)
Promote the lack of company hierarchy
· IBC has a flexible company structure which should be promoted to differentiate the
company.
Make navigation to employee page easier
· Navigation to the employee page on the website is hard to use, possibly for potential
employees.
Find locations with not many potential competitors
· IBC should research locations with low potential competitors.
Find locations with many potential customers
· IBC should research locations with many potential customers.
Reach out to prospective customers in new locations
· After research, IBC should reach out to prospective customers in identified new
locations.
Do more projects in other locations
· After market analysis, IBC should do projects in new locations.
Hire a business development/sales employee
· To assist with growth and expansion of the company, IBC should hire a business
development employee.
Create a business development internship program
· To cut costs but make effective efforts, IBC should create an internship program.
This program can also be used as training for possible employees.
Value clients by retaining current client relationships
· IBC has good customer relationships already. As they expand, they should also
focus on keeping these relationships.
Invite people from perspective market to join network on LinkedIn
· To make connections with customers from new markets, IBC should join their
networks on LinkedIn, and connect with them on social media.
Redesign website to make it more accessible and easy to follow
· IBC’s website is aesthetically pleasing but not easy to use. IBC should redesign
some parts of the website to make it more accessible.
Utilize Website ads
· To increase company reach, IBC should utilize small website ads.
Have a consistent and active social media presence

9. · An easy and low cost way to gain brand awareness and help grow the company is to
have an active social media presence with relevant posts.
Reach out to prospective customers online
· To help grow the company and increase advertising, IBC should reach out to
potential customers online through various avenues like social media.
More ads in newspapers, engineering magazines: Flyers
· A low cost way to advertise is distributing flyers. IBC should produce more flyers and
distribute them to potential customers.
Position company as qualified and superior
· To differentiate the company, IBC should explain to customers and on their website
how they are qualified for jobs and how they are superior to competitors.
Show that engineers are capable to handle large projects
· IBC should make sure to articulate to customers and on their website that engineers
are able to handle large projects and do them well.
Clearly define mission and vision statements
· To differentiate their company, IBC should clearly state their mission and visions
statement on their website and to their employees.
Advertise awards the company has won
· To show the quality service and work that IBC does they should advertise their
awards on their website and social media.
Attend engineering or customer conventions
· To gain more insight, credibility, and connect with possible clients IBC should attend
conventions or conferences.
TACTICS (DETAILS)
Promote the lack of company hierarchy
· On the people page of the website promote the lack of hierarchy and describe what
this does for the success of the company. This description will give an insight to
possible employees and what type of employee would fit at this company. This
knowledge beforehand will prevent employee loss after the hiring process.
Make navigation to employee page easier
· Put a noticeable button on the home page that potential employees would know to
click to find the employee page. Possible buttons on the home page are “about us”,
“who we are”, and “our people”. Explain the reasoning for using stick figures for the
employee picture. This will give potential employees and customers insight as to
affect the pictures are supposed to have and that they are “professionally fun”. This
will also give IBC a chance to promote its flexible structure. These suggestions are
derived from the survey in Figure 15.
Find locations with not many potential competitors
· As shown in Figure 1 and 2, areas with high rates of potential competitors are in the
Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and St. Louis locations. Areas with low
rates of potential customers are Des Moines, Green Bay, and large cities outside of
the major cities listed above.
Find locations with many potential customers

10. · As Shown in Figure 3 and 4, areas with a large number of potential customers are
areas like Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, and large areas in Iowa, Minnesota,
Michigan and Illinois.
Reach out to prospective customers in new locations
· After the new locations are analyzed and decided on IBC should reach out to
prospective customers in these new locations. Prospective customers in several
perspective locations are listed in Figure 11 in the Appendix. Ways to reach out to
these customers are discussed later in the tactics.
Do more projects in other locations
· Once the market analysis, research, and new customer relationships are done IBC
should start completing more projects in these new locations to diversify and grow
their company economically and geographically.
Hire a business development/sales employee
· Human resources or upper management should create a job description for this
positon then put out an ad for the open position. This can be shared on social media
and job search engines. An average salary is stated in the budget.
Create a business development internship program
· Create an internship program to assist the new employee in carrying out business
development tasks. The business development employee should take the lead with
this project. They should create internship descriptions and put a job ad out on social
media and look to possible schools. Interns can also be used to help keep the social
media outlets up to date and relevant. Internship programs give companies low cost
labor to assist in the growth of the company. As the company grows, it can choose
from the interns for possible new employees because they have experience with the
company. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE),
67.7% of interns were offered full-time positions and 83.6% of those offers were
accepted. Possible schools to look for new employees are in Figure 26.
Value clients by retaining current client relationships
· IBC can help build and retain customer relationships by giving surveys throughout
process, surveys that are on the individual level on how well job was done, and what
client thinks of you. These surveys can be tracked over a period of time to see which
areas of your company have improved and which have suffered. Also surveys that
provide intelligence to your company, to see what aspects of your business need to
be improved, what customers are at risk or leaving, what your company strengths
are and so forth.
Invite people from perspective market to join network on LinkedIn
· Social media is a faster and more accessible way to build relationships with existing and
potential clients/customers. Possible new clients/customers can be found in the new
locations in Figure 11. IBC should link with possible clients/customers.
Redesign website to make it more accessible and easy to follow
· IBC should work to make minor changes in the layout of its website to make it easier
to follow and use. These changes should be in the name of tabs and navigation
panes. Some examples of common, easy to navigate, website styles are shown in
Figure 19. These styles have a navigation pane that is common and recognizable.

11. This will allow potential customers and employees easily access the website and
desired pages.
Utilize Website ads
· IBC should make website ads like those in Figure 29. Prices for these ads are
estimated in the budget section. Website ads present an opportunity for promotion
and growth of the company.
Have a consistent and active social media presence
· IBC should utilize an intern or group of interns to enhance the social media activity.
The intern team can create contests and challenges for social media to increase
“likes” and “favorites”. An example of a contest can be seen in Figure 24.
Reach out to prospective customers online
· IBC should reach out to perspective customers online by liking them on Facebook,
following them on twitter, and reaching out to them on LinkedIn. Companies in
locations presented in Figure 11 should be contacted.
More ads in newspapers, engineering magazines: Flyers
· Place more ads for IBC in local newspapers in cities of perspective customers, as
shown in Figures 3 and 4. Place ads in engineering magazines that show IBC as a
quality engineering company. Prices for paper flyers are located in the budget.
Figure 28 shows a possible flyer. Tips to making an effective flyer can be found in
Figure 12.
Position company as qualified and superior
· Create a page on the company website and social media sites that displays reviews
given to IBC by their previous and current customers. Place an emphasis on the
energy efficiency and sustainability of IBC’s projects by having current customers
give reviews on how well IBC’s work was done. Place an emphasis on the fact that
with this type of work, price does not matter; it is the energy efficiency and
sustainability of IBC’s quality work that is more important.
Show that engineers are capable to handle large projects
· Need a business development person/department to go out and meet with potential
customers face to face and show them IBC’s that they have done and have reviews
from old/current customers that show the quality of that work. Need to be able to
explain what IBC does in a way that some who is not an engineer can understand
and show them that engineers can handle large projects. Locations can be found in
Figure 11.
Clearly define mission and vision statements
· Create a clearly defined mission and vision statements for IBC employees to follow
and make clearly visible on the company website. A mission statement is important
because it shows the aims and values that IBC is trying to display through their
work. A vision statement is important because it shows IBC’s goals for the future of
the company.

12. Advertise awards the company has won
· Use social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to advertise
awards IBC has won for the quality work the company does. In addition, IBC should
create online flyers like those in Figure 20 that promote the projects the company is
doing and the excellent work that is being done.
Attend engineering or customer conventions
· Have a business development person/department that attend engineering
conventions and display the skills IBC has. Show potential customers or other
engineers the projects that IBC has done and how successful the project
completions where. Rough estimates for conventions are presented in the budget.
Possible conventions can be found in Figure 27.
BUDGET AND TIMETABLES
Budget:
· Redesign Parts of Website: $6,000-$30,000
o Suggested Spending: $6,000-$10,000
· Hire a Business Development Employee: $50,000
· Website ads: CPM $40 (cost per mile or per 1000 views)
· Paper ads: 500 flyers color on one side, $75 (Vistaprint.com)
· Attending conventions across country: $2,000
Total (lowest cost): $58,115
Timeline:
· Hire Business Development Employee within the next 3 to 4 months.
o Development internship program by this summer.
o After this is created, interns and the new employee can work on reaching out
to new customers in new locations.
· Put flyers in local businesses within the next two months.
· Attend engineering conferences in the year.
· Start website ads in next quarter.
· Make website changes within the next 3 to 4 months.
· Update social media site within the next 1 to 2 months and update continuously.

13. EXHIBITS AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS

14. Figure 5:
Figure 6: Figure 7:
Figure 8: Figure 9:

15. Figure 10:
Figure 11:
Figure 12:

16. Figure 13:
Figure 14:

17. Figure 15:
We interviewed 40 people at Carthage College for this survey. We asked them all
several questions regarding the ease of finding the employee page, the employee page,
and what would make it better.
The questions were as follows:
1. Can you tell what tab (from the home page) to click to find the employee page?
2. What are your thoughts on the employee page?
3. What tab do you prefer on the homepage to locate the employee page?
4. As a potential employee, what are your thoughts on the employee page and how
easy/not easy it was to find?
Results:
1. 33 out of 40 people said they could not tell which tab to click. 7 people said they
could but picked the wrong tab.
2. 8 people enjoyed the stick figures on the employee page saying it was the company’s
“unique thing” and it was an “interesting way to display the employees”. 20 people
enjoyed the stick figures on the employee page but said it seemed a little
“unprofessional”. 12 people said that the stick figures were “childish” and looked “like a
kid designed it”.
3. Respondents suggested an “about us”, “who we are”, or “our people” tab on the
home page to indicate where to find the employee page.
4. Many respondents said they could not tell the company structure from the pictures.
Some said it would be nice to see a picture of person and their title in addition to the
stick figures on the first employee page. Many respondents said that company structure
was unclear and they would be “not sure where I would fit”.
Conclusion:
This survey shows that people have a very hard time locating the employee page which
would make it hard for potential employees or customers to find it. Many repsondents
liked the stick figures but thought it was unprofessional. Many were unclear what the

18. company structure was and were “not sure where I would fit” inot the company if they
were potential employees. This indicates that potential employees may be confused
where they can fit into the company.
Figure 16:

19. Figure 17
Figure 18:
We surveyed 50 students at Carthage College. We asked them these three questions
regarding the design, layout, and ease of navigating of the IBC website.
1. Is the website appealing?
2. IS the website easy to use?
3. Can you tell from this website what this company does?
The results were as follows:

20. 1. Is the website appealing? 23 of 50 responded yes
2. IS the website easy to use? 30 of 50 responded yes but they were not sure where
they were going when they were looking around.
3. Can you tell from this website what this company does? 7 of 50 responded that
they knew what they did, 37 of 50 responded that they had some of an idea
because they knew about engineering.
Figure 19:
Figure 20:

21. Figure 21:
Competitors:

22. Figure 22:

23. Figure 23:

24. Figure 24:
Sample Facebook and Twitter Contest
Challenge: Share this picture (a picture of IBC’s logo, with a project picture, and IBC
information), tag a friend in the comments, and like our page and you will be entered to
win a prize!
Result: The prize will encourage people to share the picture and it will work to increase
“likes” and visibility on social media.
Figure 25:

25. Figure 26:
Waukesha Area Schools at a Glance
School
Location School
Name
Type
Degrees Offered Area Ranking
Carroll
University
Waukesha,
WI
4-year,
private,
not-for-profit
Bachelor's,
master's and
doctoral degrees;
postbaccalaureate
certificates
2nd Highest Graduation Rates,
2nd Most Program Variety,
3rd Lowest Net Price,
3rd Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio
Ottawa
University
-
Milwaukee
Brookfield,
WI (6.8
miles from
Waukesha)
4-year,
private,
not-for-profit
Bachelor's and
master's degrees
Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio
Waukesha
County
Technical
College
Pewaukee,
WI (5.3
miles from
Waukesha)
2-year,
public
Less than 1-year
and between 1-
and 2-year
certificates;
associate's
degrees
Lowest Net Price,
Most Program Variety,
3rd Highest Graduation Rates

26. Wisconsin
Lutheran
College
Milwaukee,
WI (9.0
miles from
Waukesha)
4-year,
private,
not-for-profit
Bachelor's and
master's degrees
Highest Graduation Rates,
2nd Lowest Net Price,
2nd Lowest Student-Faculty Ratio,
3rd Most Program Variety
Figure 27:
Conference Date Place Description Website
International
Conference on
Sustainable
Design,
Engineering and
Construction
May
10-
13
2015
Hyatt
Regency,
McCormic
k Place,
Chicago
ICSDEC 2015 is a premier conference
offering a unique opportunity to academia,
industry practitioners and entrepreneurs
alike to share their latest research,
information, ideas and products relating to
sustainability and resilience.
http://ww
w.icsdec.
com/
World Energy
Engineering
Congress
Sept
30-
Octo
2,
2015
Orange
County
Conventio
n Center,
Orlando,
FL
The WEEC conference and expo explore
the complete spectrum of technologies
and services of greatest importance to our
delegates in attendance, including, but not
limited to:
Energy efficiency and energy management
Renewable, green and alternative energy
Combined heat & power / cogeneration /
distributed generation
Smart grid and electric metering
innovations
Integrated building automation & energy
management
http://ww
w.energy
congress.
com/

27. Lighting efficiency
HVAC systems and controls
Thermal storage and load management
Boilers and combustion controls
Geoexchange technologies
Solar and fuel cell technologies
Applications specific to federal energy
management programs
Energy services, energy procurement and
project financing
Figure 28:
Figure 29: