CASE STUDY — TRADE & CIVIL EQUIPMENT HIRE

Kelton

Family-run, Queanbeyan-based dry hire business. 15 years of local reputation. Two very different audiences - trades and civil - being spoken to as if they were one.

THE BRIEF

Turn 15 years of goodwill into a documented growth system - sharpen what Kelton actually stands for against nationals, work out whether trades or civil is the real growth lever, and stop treating a dormant customer database as a sunk cost.

01 Foundation

Kelton had the thing most 15-year-old businesses have and don't know how to use - genuine trust, built one job at a time by a founder who used to hire equipment from the other side of the counter himself. What it didn't have was a documented position. Against national players like Kennards and Coates, "everyone knows us" isn't a strategy, it's a fading advantage. And a business talking to both trades customers and civil contractors was using one generic voice for two audiences with completely different reasons to hire.

THE PROBLEM

Competing against nationals on convenience and app-based booking is a fight Kelton can't win, and shouldn't try to. The real asset - a 15-year local reputation, a family that shows up - had never been put into words anyone could act on. Trades and civil buyers were getting the same message despite wanting to hear completely different things.

STRATEGY SESSION

We ran a structured P2P Strategy Session covering business goals, brand positioning, customer journey mapping, audience segmentation, competitor review, automation opportunities and a 12-month roadmap - deliberately weighted toward where a 15-year business actually needed the thinking.

POSITIONING & MESSAGING

We locked Kelton's brand personality - real fleet, real sites, real people, never stock imagery or the templated "educational" tone every national hire company runs. We defined the master positioning line, "Gets the job done," and built two distinct registers off the one brand voice: a direct, peer-to-peer, on-site tone for trades, and a more measured, proof-led register for civil contractors and councils who need reliability and fleet condition front and centre.

02

Insight

Hire equipment is a considered cost dressed up as a simple transaction - the real driver isn't the machine, it's what happens if it isn't there.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

We identified two genuinely different buyers inside the one customer base. Trades and SME customers feel workload volatility directly in their cash flow. Civil contractors and council project officers are weighing reliability, fleet condition and account terms as part of a professional recommendation.

COMPETITOR REVIEW

We mapped where Kelton genuinely competes against national players - Kennards, Coates, Onsite Rental Group - and, just as importantly, where it shouldn't bother trying. The nationals win on convenience and app-based booking. They can't replicate 15 years of a family business remembering a customer's name and last job.

THE INSIGHT THAT DROVE EVERYTHING

A machine going down isn't an inconvenience - it's a ripple effect. Today's job stalls, tomorrow's slips too, and the money's gone. Kelton isn't selling equipment hire. It's selling the guarantee that the ripple effect doesn't happen on their watch. Every piece of brand voice, every content pillar, every campaign line was built to either name that fear directly or deliver the relief of it being handled.

03

System

Fifteen years in business means fifteen years of customer data - most of it sitting cold. Before any campaign could run, we needed a structure that treated trades and civil as genuinely different journeys, and a way to put the dormant database back to work.

Sales Pipeline Design & Build - designed and built a structured pipeline covering every step of the sales journey. Each stage triggers its own automation logic.
CRM Setup & Contact Management - mapped Kelton's customer base into active, lapsed and dormant tiers, each requiring a different nurture approach rather than one generic newsletter.
Automation Flows - built the complete automation ecosystem across the full customer lifecycle.
Website Design & Development - built and launched the website at www.keltonrentals.com.au including full technical setup.
Calendar & Consultation Setup - configured the consultation booking calendar connected to the website including availability settings, booking confirmation email and SMS, reminder sequence, internal lead alert notifications, and missed booking handling.
Dashboards & Pipeline Visibility - configured lead overview and sales pipeline dashboards.
AI Brand Voice Skill - produced a branded voice skill that edits every piece of communications to make sure it is on point and has the right tone.

04

Creation

With positioning and voice locked, we built the assets that let Kelton show up consistently across two audiences without sounding like two different businesses.

Brand Voice & Personality Guide - (trades and civil registers, Tradie Truths tone).
Kelton the Kelpie - 3D Animated Mascot & Story Arc.
Campaign Strategy - full digital campaign strategy developed and campaign messaging, "Right Where It Matters" for top-of-funnel awareness, "Gets the Job Done" reserved for retargeting.
Digital Media Ad Creative - concept and design of static and video ad creative using Kelton's assets, with messaging aligned to the campaign narrative and all ads directed to www.keltonrentals.com.au with UTM tracking for performance measurement.
Social Media - Four-Pillar Content Framework, editorial calendar and ongoing creation of copy and creative.
Email Nurture Sequences — behaviour-driven email sequences developed for each audience segment and pipeline stage.
SMS Sequences — automated SMS communications built across the pipeline.

Kelton the kelpie

A brand needs a face that travels further than any one team member can - something that carries the Kelton personality into social and digital content on its own, without needing Anthony, Kelvin or Brent in front of a camera every time. We created Kelton the Kelpie, a 3D animated mascot built to embody the same brand personality locked in Foundation: dependable, a bit cheeky, never corporate. A kelpie works on every level for this brand - it's a genuine working dog, it's instantly at home on a trade site or a civil job, and it gives Kelton a character that's ownable in a category where every competitor still runs generic stock photography and templated "educational" content.

Kelpie isn't a one-off asset - he's the vehicle for an ongoing story arc across social and digital, giving Kelton recurring, recognisable content that doesn't rely on a single format or campaign burst to keep working.

05

Activation

Kelton's biggest activation asset isn't a media budget - it's a search presence competitors already watch and envy. Our job was to build the strategy and content system that earns the right to that reputation going forward, not just protect it.

MEDIA PLANNING

Developed the full digital media strategy targeting Kelton's core audience segments across the market. Channel selection was based on where each audience segment actually researches hire equipment.

MEDIA BUYING & MANAGEMENT

Campaign traffic directed to www.keltonrentals.com.au with UTM tracking applied across all placements for clear attribution. Ad creative designed and produced with messaging aligned to the campaign narrative and segmented by project type and audience.

06

Evolution

Campaign Sequencing — "Right Where It Matters" runs top-of-funnel to build awareness before "Gets the Job Done" takes over for retargeting, keeping the two campaign layers distinct rather than blurred into one message.
Automation Rollout — same-day delivery and instant changeover messaging activates in campaigns and sales copy.
Content Calendar Execution — ongoing delivery of the seasonal, quarter-by-quarter content plan across both trades and civil audiences.
Database Reactivation — ongoing work turning the lapsed and dormant tiers of Kelton's 15-year customer base into active pipeline, rather than a one-off exercise.
Kelpie's Story Arc — ongoing development of Kelpie's narrative across social and digital content, extending the character beyond a mascot into a recurring, evolving presence audiences follow over time.

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The Henry

In a city where everyone knows someone who knows you, your reputation often arrives before you do. A drip-feed campaign - like a 10-part video series delivered over weeks - lets you shape that reputation deliberately. Each video shares your expertise, your thinking, your way of working.