From Best-Kept Secret to a Manufacturing Brand People Recognize
Imago Manufacturing turned a focused digital strategy into stronger visibility, new relationships and measurable engagement, using B2Btail’s Digital Game Plan through a grant-funded engagement facilitated by IMEC and supported by McHenry County.
COMPANY SNAPSHOT
Company: Imago Manufacturing
Location: McHenry County, Illinois
Industry: Precision CNC machining
Specialty: Production machining, mill-turn components, five-axis CNC machining and unattended robotic production
MEP Partner: IMEC
Strategic Provider: B2Btail
“That was what I had hoped for. To have a framework, an idea of what I should be doing and how to do it.” — Ryan Bankel, CEO of Imago Manufacturing
A Great Manufacturer With a Story Worth Telling
Ryan Bankel knows manufacturing.
Since starting Imago Manufacturing in 2007, he has built a highly automated precision CNC machining company producing close-tolerance parts across industries ranging from transportation and mining to heavy equipment and HVAC.
When this project began, Imago wasn’t starting from scratch digitally, either. The company already had a website, previous SEO work, professional video content and some social media activity.
The opportunity was different: turn those individual pieces into a focused system for getting Imago’s expertise in front of the right people.
Ryan wanted a framework he could actually execute.
Stop Posting. Start Building Relationships.
Through B2Btail’s Digital Game Plan, Ryan and the team stepped back before charging forward.
They explored Imago’s strengths and opportunities, clarified buyer personas, identified the questions ideal customers were searching for, dug into high-value keywords and created a targeted “Soulmate 100” approach to business development.
One insight became especially important: LinkedIn wasn’t simply another social media channel. It was where Imago’s prospective customers and manufacturing relationships lived.
As Ryan later put it:
“My fans are on Instagram, but my customers are on LinkedIn.”
That changed the objective.
Instead of producing content simply to stay active, Imago could intentionally demonstrate what makes the company different: automation, lights-out manufacturing, equipment investments, process improvements, shop organization and Ryan’s nearly two decades of manufacturing experience.
The goal wasn’t becoming an influencer.
It was becoming visible to the right people.
Small Changes. Intentional Execution.
B2Btail helped optimize both Ryan’s LinkedIn presence and Imago’s company profile, including what seemed like a tiny detail: Ryan’s LinkedIn title.
Rather than defaulting to “Owner” or “CEO,” the limited profile space was used to immediately communicate Ryan’s expertise and Imago’s lights-out manufacturing capabilities.
That seemingly small decision produced an unexpected opportunity.
After Ryan connected with the team behind MakingChips, they saw his positioning and invited him onto their Lights Out podcast.
“It’s that organic traction that you just can’t pay for.”
The strategy expanded from there. Existing professional videos were put to work instead of sitting unused. B2Btail helped distribute content across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. They added subject-matter-expert interviews, created blog content, strengthened website pages and trained Ryan on continuing the process himself.
And digital activity supported old-fashioned business development, too.
During the engagement, Ryan followed B2Btail’s recommendation to pick up the phone on an active opportunity. The conversation lasted roughly 45 minutes, uncovered additional parts to quote and revealed important production details that weren’t apparent from drawings or email alone.
Digital opened doors. Human conversation moved opportunities forward.
From Content to Visibility and Recognition
By the project closeout, early indicators were already appearing.
B2Btail’s closeout analytics showed Facebook content interactions up 157%, Instagram reach up 102%, approximately 1,500 YouTube views during the initial posting period, and a dramatic increase in LinkedIn visibility from the newly established baseline.
More importantly, Ryan kept executing.
In his later follow-up interview, he reported that Imago had doubled its Instagram followers to approximately 4,700, with individual videos moving from a few dozen interactions to thousands. Imago’s most popular video during the previous 12 months exceeded 80,000 views.
Ryan said YouTube videos that once might have received 20 views were now reaching into the thousands and, in some cases, tens of thousands across social platforms.
But perhaps the most telling result wasn’t a number.
A current customer contacted Ryan asking to bring its director of operations, shop foreman, purchasing representative and a shop employee to Imago to see firsthand the tool-storage and organizational practices they’d been seeing in Imago’s content.
The content was getting through.
“This is a great way for us to tell our story and for me to make those connections that can benefit the business.”
PROOF OF MOMENTUM
- 80,000+ views on Imago’s top video over the prior 12 months
- Instagram followers doubled to approximately 4,700
- Invitation to appear on the MakingChips Lights Out podcast
- Existing customers engaging with Imago because of what they saw online
The Partnership That Made It Possible
Imago’s digital growth story is also a story about the manufacturing ecosystem surrounding small and midsized manufacturers.
Ryan’s relationship with IMEC began through the Technology & Manufacturing Association. Over the years, IMEC helped Imago access and execute multiple improvement initiatives, including support related to ISO certification and grant-funded projects.
For this engagement, grant funding available through McHenry County helped Imago pursue a deeper digital strategy, while IMEC facilitated the project and B2Btail provided the specialized digital strategy, SEO, content and business-development expertise.
Ryan’s assessment at closeout was clear:
“Definitely one of the best grant funded projects that we’ve done, and certainly one of the best marketing projects.”
Focus. Execute. Keep Telling the Story.
The biggest change may be that Imago no longer needs to wonder what to do next.
Ryan has a framework for identifying the right audience, creating authentic content, strengthening relationships and consistently showing the manufacturing world what makes Imago different.
And he has no interest in creating content just for content’s sake.
His strategy is simpler: keep showing the real Imago, what the company is doing, how it solves problems, how it invests in automation and how its team thinks about manufacturing.
In Ryan’s words:
“I’m just gonna keep putting stuff out there that tells our story about our brand and who we are as a company.”
That’s the Digital Game Plan in action: focus on the right customers, execute with intention, and stop being the best-kept secret.