You are allowed to try, allowed to experiment, allowed to make independent decisions – and you are allowed to fail. Ecom encourages its employees to be courageous and to seek innovative solutions. The company's strategy also includes a strong investment in marketing.
Commercialization is about making things clear. It is about shaping a complex entity into a solution that makes sense to buy. This is how Mikko Ruoho, Commercial Director of the Turku-based company Ecom Oy, defines it.
Operating from Trivium in Turku Science Park, Ecom Oy provides software and financial management services to companies in the electrical, HVAC, and construction sectors. It is the largest operator in its field in Finland by number of customers. The company, which employs about 30 people, is part of Accountor, known for its financial and HR management services and software.
Ecom wants to offer its customers solutions, not just products.
– The most important thing is customer retention. It doesn't matter how many customers you acquire if they don't actually use the product they bought. It's the same as buying a channel package for just one show – when the show ends, you have no use for the package anymore. Customers must be trained so that they know how to use our solutions and truly benefit from them.
At Ecom, they constantly measure how customers and potential customers behave. Does a person who lands on the company website understand within a few seconds what it's all about? Does the customer quickly find help for their problem? Do customers have practices that would benefit others as well?
– Digitalization is a lifeline for us. We are constantly refining our websites and software so that nothing stalls, Ruoho explains.
Lessons are also applied to new products, through which they seek further growth. In addition, the skilled staff is encouraged to be creative and seek courageous solutions.
– Everyone here is allowed to make their own decisions and try things out, and failure doesn't matter. We then analyze successes and failures and learn from them.
Ecom invests heavily in marketing. Ruoho estimates that the marketing budget has multiplied over the last five years.
– If a company wants to grow and be visible, it doesn't come cheap, says Ruoho.
Because Ecom wants to reach people specifically in the construction industry, one important tool is radio. It's always on at the construction site.
– Through radio, we are specifically looking for conversion. For over a year now, we have been doing radio advertising for one week every month, and we see the results immediately in the number of visitors to our website.
– The most important thing is still digital, and not just commercial. Most of the traffic to our website is organic, and it is helped by good content and especially YouTube, where we have many informative videos. YouTube is also a quite effective advertising channel that converts well.