Ley Holdings
Unifying Two Brands with Clear Strategy
Client
About
Sector
Team Size
increase in LinkedIn impressions
average engagement rate ON SOCIAL
average email open rate ACHIEVED
“Highly recommend Jake. he gives us an excellent service for all our marketing needs.”
- Dean Wealleans
- CEO
- Ley Holdings
The Challenge
Ley Holdings, the parent company of Ley Rubber and COH Baines, faced a common challenge in traditional manufacturing: they had no internal marketing resources and limited understanding of what digital marketing could deliver for the business. Although they had a strong brand heritage, their marketing efforts were unstructured, inconsistent, and often reactive.
They were also working with an external agency that was expensive and lacked strategic input, relying on the internal team to lead direction despite the team having limited bandwidth and experience in marketing. Social media was being handled reactively, email was used primarily for sales rather than customer engagement, and CRM segmentation was almost non-existent. There were also no clear processes or frameworks in place to support content creation or campaign planning.
Ley Holdings needed more than tactical support. They needed leadership, clarity, and a marketing function that could scale across two distinct brands with shared goals.
Key Challenges
- Excessive agency costs with low return on value
- No internal marketing expertise or structure
- Team lacked strategic direction for content and campaigns
- Social media activity was unplanned and reactive
- Email marketing was not being used to engage or nurture
- CRM was unsegmented and poorly integrated
- Digital presence lacked consistency and visibility
- Brand guidelines existed but weren’t applied across channels
- No clear process for content production or planning
What we Did
The engagement began with Ley Rubber and later extended to include COH Baines. The initial focus was to review the value being delivered by their existing marketing agency. After assessing the output and costs, we recommended moving away from that setup and sourced a more cost-effective digital agency to handle web and SEO responsibilities, with clearer KPIs and accountability.
My role focused on the broader marketing strategy and day-to-day execution across both businesses, complementing the new agency’s web-specific work. A consistent content strategy was developed for both brands, supported by defined themes and messaging that reflected their positioning in the market. Later, a new internal marketing hire joined the business, and I worked closely with them to guide, upskill and jointly manage the increasing volume of marketing activity.
With the scale of Ley Holdings and its two distinct brands, it became important to clearly define roles across the internal resource, agency partner and myself. I continued to own and lead the overarching strategy to ensure cohesion and drive results across all channels.
Strategy
The strategy was designed to clearly map who was responsible for each area of marketing and how those pieces worked together to support both Ley and COH Baines. We began with quick wins, including activating legacy CRM data, segmenting audiences and introducing workflows for both email and outreach.
I developed ideal customer profile and buyer persona documentation for each brand, along with a clear breakdown of all services offered by both businesses. This allowed us to better target prospects online and support future campaigns with more strategic direction.
Social Media Management
We built a structured content plan based on defined pillars, combining technical knowledge, product education, brand heritage and industry credibility. A core part of the content involved creatively showcasing Ley’s position as a long-standing UK manufacturer, finding ways to make rubber and plastics engaging and accessible for digital audiences. We also ensured consistency of tone and branding across platforms, using their existing brand guidelines effectively for the first time in a digital context.
Email & CRM Marketing
After cleaning and segmenting the CRM, we launched consistent email activity for both Ley and COH Baines. This included regular newsletters and targeted campaigns aimed at reactivating past customers and keeping the brands front of mind. A key technical focus was ensuring CRM data aligned with email systems, allowing for reliable and centralised reporting. Engagement steadily improved as we tailored content and messaging based on how each audience responded.
Upskilling
A key part of the collaboration involved mentoring and upskilling the new internal marketing hire. Through ongoing support and hands-on collaboration, their capability and confidence have grown significantly. This approach allowed me to shift into a more strategic role while supporting the long-term sustainability of the marketing function in-house.
The Result
Over the course of our collaboration, Ley Holdings has developed a stronger and more consistent marketing function across both Ley Rubber and COH Baines. I have continued to act as the strategic marketing partner throughout, evolving the approach as new business priorities and opportunities have emerged.
On the email side, we’ve built an engaged database of over 10,000 contacts. Open rates now average 35% across campaigns, more than double the industry standard. This success has come from consistent segmentation and a thoughtful mix of trust-building newsletters and targeted, action-oriented campaigns. The emails have become a valuable tool for staying front of mind with customers and have received positive feedback from both brands’ audiences.
Social performance has also seen significant growth. Both brands have increased reach and engagement, even over the past six months. Comparing the period from October 2024 to March 2025 with the previous six months shows marked improvements in both visibility and interaction. Regular posting across carousels, image-led content and occasional video has helped reposition Ley and COH Baines as more active and credible voices within their industries. See below for the stats alongside some social content examples.
WHAT’S NEXT
As our collaboration continues, the focus will remain on maintaining strong momentum across social channels while expanding into new areas of opportunity. One key priority is to take more ownership of the two company websites and begin shaping a unified SEO strategy, working closely with the newly appointed internal marketing manager.
We’re also planning to support Dean’s personal LinkedIn presence through targeted outreach and content campaigns. This will strengthen the business development pipeline and complement broader company marketing efforts. With both internal marketing resources becoming more confident and capable, they will begin to take on more day-to-day responsibilities, creating space to explore additional services and deeper strategic opportunities.
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