DAUBER COMPANY
DIGITAL MARKETING
CASE STUDY
Modern, user-focused website redesign improves navigation, engagement, and conversion opportunities.
Dauber Company, Inc. (DCI) is North America’s largest processor of metallurgical silicon carbide (SiC). Family-owned since 1987 and headquartered in Tonica, Illinois, DCI specializes exclusively in producing high-quality SiC briquettes and grains for foundries and furnace melting.
The Challenge
Dauber came to us for help with a significant challenge: hiring. Despite their large footprint and reputation in the industry, their digital presence didn’t reflect the size or strength of their operation.
The company’s website was outdated and did not effectively highlight its products or career opportunities. The online job application process was not user-friendly and involved downloading, filling out and reuploading a PDF. It was a frustrating process that deterred candidates from applying. They also had no active presence on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn to connect with potential applicants.
With a growing need for skilled workers, Dauber sought a solution to increase visibility, streamline recruiting and attract more qualified candidates.
Strategy Execution
The digital marketing campaign we developed to help Dauber focused on modernizing its recruiting funnel and increasing its overall visibility.
New Website
In 2024, we started by focusing on the website, which would serve as the central hub for job applicants. Work included:
- Building a new, modern, mobile-friendly website that showcased Dauber’s products, spec sheets and job openings
- Creating a new, easy-to-use Join Our Team page that replaced the clunky PDF process with a streamlined short-form application that led to either an online application or a downloadable version
- Structuring the new funnel to capture partial submissions, enabling Dauber to follow up with prospects who didn’t complete the application
- Completing on-page search engine optimization (SEO) tasks
Digital Advertising
After the new website went live, we launched a three-month, three-pronged digital advertising campaign to attract new employees. The campaign targeted adults aged 18-54 in Central Illinois communities, including Peru, LaSalle, Ottawa, Mendota, Tonica and more. The advertising included:
- Behavioral Display Ads – We built awareness by targeting users by demographics and interests that aligned with skilled trades.
- Device ID + Geofencing – We also built awareness by retargeting users who physically visited competitor manufacturing sites.
- Retargeting Ads – We reengaged people who previously visited Dauber’s site. This ultimately proved to be the highest-performing channel
Local SEO & Visibility
We also took steps to improve Dauber’s local SEO and make the company more visible online. They included:
- Optimizing Dauber’s Google Business Profile (GBP), helping the company rank in the Google 3-Pack for “silicon carbide” and “manufacturer” searches in its region
- Launching and optimizing Facebook and LinkedIn company pages, including branded post templates for future use
Reporting & Insights
It’s always important to collect data for reporting campaign insights that guide ongoing improvement. With this in mind, tasks consisted of:
- Adding site tracking and Looker Studio dashboards for the first time
- Structuring application data into detailed reports to reveal hiring trends: wage expectations, skills and candidate profiles
The Results
The impact of the digital marketing work we completed was immediate and measurable at every point in the funnel, from top to bottom:
Visibility & Traffic
- 993 new users visited the site during the 3-month campaign
- 532 visitors landed on the Join Our Team page
- Ranked in the Google Local 3-Pack for core industry keywords
- Facebook & LinkedIn presence was established for long-term recruiting
Advertising Performance
- Behavioral Display Ads – 113-119k impressions/month; clickthrough rate (CTR) ~0.17-0.21%
- Device ID + Geofencing – ~70–108k impressions/month; CTR up to 0.32%
- Retargeting Ads – Highest efficiency — directly drove confirmed application conversions and lifted completion rate
Applications
- 59 applications in just 3 months (compared to 43 applications over the previous 17 months)
- 50 completed online applications
- 9 PDF downloads (may or may not have been submitted)
- 82 short-form submissions — including 32 who have not yet completed a full application and are now on a follow-up list for Dauber
Application Quality & Insights
- Reporting insights gave Dauber clarity on wage expectations, skill sets and their ideal candidate profile
Follow-up Efficiency
- The new funnel enabled Dauber to reconnect with partial applicants, turning what would have been lost leads into warm candidates
- Average application time of 21 minutes showed high intent
By eliminating friction from the application process and launching a digital-first recruiting strategy, we helped Dauber Company transform hiring from a major obstacle into a measurable success. They generated 3x more applications in 90 days than the previous 17 months combined, improved applicant quality and gained valuable insights into candidate expectations.
Simultaneously, Dauber’s digital visibility increased through SEO, Google rankings and new social channels, building a sustainable pipeline for both talent and business growth.
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