Case study: AGC drives sales, 200% increase in readership - SmartBrief

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Case study: AGC drives sales, 200% increase in readership

AGC and SmartBrief collaborated on a member engagement effort to help AGC increase industry engagement.

3 min read

ConstructionInfrastructure

Two men in construction hats look at a report.

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Overview: 

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) is the leading association for the construction industry, representing more than 27,000 firms in the contracting space across the country. Serving as the voice for the industry, AGC is an organization of qualified construction contractors and industry-related companies dedicated to skill, integrity and responsibility. AGC has worked with SmartBrief since 2002, partnering to produce four publications as part of their overall thought leadership and content strategy: AGC SmartBrief, AGC Risk Management SmartBrief, AGC BIM SmartBrief and Specialty Contractors SmartBrief.

Opportunity: 

AGC was looking to increase industry engagement, elevate their position as the voice of the industry, and broaden awareness of available benefits at the state and national level, including member access to its four SmartBrief publications. The thoughtfully curated content in AGC SmartBrief publications has proven to be a valuable and trusted benefit to members for more than two decades. As partners, both SmartBrief and AGC recognized the opportunity to expand the reach of an already-proven member engagement vehicle. 

“Our suite of SmartBrief products provides valuable content for our members and offers an effective vehicle for keeping members current on our work on their behalf,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “It is absolutely in our interest to get as many people in the industry reading our SmartBriefs as possible.”

Solution: 

The member engagement campaign between AGC and SmartBrief utilized an email method that’s been proven by extensive SmartBrief testing and research. AGC and SmartBrief worked together to promote AGC SmartBrief to all AGC members through a three-day email recruitment campaign, created by a collaborative effort between the association and SmartBrief’s partner and audience development teams. 

Result: 

The member engagement effort yielded a 200% increase in the publication’s total audience, which bolstered engagement between AGC and its members and established AGC SmartBrief as a leading publication in the contracting space. As an added bonus, the 200% increase in the publication’s audience subsequently led to a 220% increase in sales, year over year, just six months after the member engagement effort was completed. 

“AGC is the voice of the construction industry, and the SmartBrief member engagement growth model allows us to help them further that mission by delivering timely and relevant content to even more readers. By reaching a larger audience and delivering the content that matters to them, the relevancy of the publication also increases,” said Chris Warne, industry vice president and group publisher of the infrastructure team at SmartBrief.

About SmartBrief

SmartBrief is the leading online publisher of targeted business news and information by industry and produces more than 200 newsletters in partnership with trade associations, professional societies, nonprofits and corporate entities.