How a Century-Old Equipment Leader Learned Where Its Buyers Actually Form Opinions — and Rebuilt Its Go-to-Market Around It
Decision Intelligence for Energy · Go-to-Market · Oilfield services / equipment · 2021
/03 — The Client
A global subsea and surface oilfield equipment manufacturer with a century of history in the field. The company had quietly modernized — a digital, automated production offering that competed with anything newer rivals were shipping. But the North American onshore market still filed it under “legacy hardware supplier.” That perception gap was costing it consideration on exactly the modern-production deals it was built to win.
/04 — The Challenge
The company could not raise awareness of a capability the market didn’t believe it had — and it didn’t have a clear, evidence-based picture of where its buyers actually formed opinions. Marketing spend was flowing into channels chosen by habit, not by how operators really learn. The questions were concrete: Who do operators listen to? Where do they discover new capabilities? What actually changes a mind that has held the same view for twenty years?
/05 — The Solution
ModalPoint ran primary buyer-group research rather than relying on assumptions:
- Buyer-behavior interviews + a LinkedIn-activity survey across operators and competitors — how this audience actually uses each channel.
- Competitor social-engagement analysis — what was being seen, by whom, and whether operators (vs. other vendors and jobseekers) were the ones engaging.
- A media and channel landscape — magazines, podcasts, industry organizations, events, research firms.
- Named decision-maker influence profiles across major operators — who each one listens to.
Then a repeatable three-part messaging program: identify the real influencers, map a geography-by-discipline plan, and equip sellers with consistent, channel-appropriate messaging.
/06 — What We Found
- Operators learn from colleagues and existing suppliers — not advertising. They use LinkedIn for networking and jobs, not product discovery.
- They are skeptical of trade media. What cuts through is a real customer story — the kind a reader tears out and hands to a colleague.
- There is no single leading source where this buyer group goes to learn about new capabilities (the closest exception being SPE / the Journal of Petroleum Technology).
- Competitor content was seen even when not engaged with — but the engagement came mostly from other vendors and jobseekers, not the operators who actually buy.
/07 — Outcome
The company replaced channel-by-habit spending with an evidence-based engine: a clear map of the people its buyers actually listen to, a library of real customer stories built for peer sharing, and a messaging program its sellers could run consistently across geographies and disciplines — aimed at perception change, not impressions.
/08 — The Pattern: Why This Matters Beyond One Manufacturer
This pattern recurs in nearly every industrial-technology vendor we research: the buyer does not discover products the way the vendor assumes. When operators learn from peers and existing suppliers — and distrust trade media — more campaign spend does not move them. The lever is a credible, repeatable proof-and-influence engine aimed at the specific people your buyers already trust. Awareness in oil and gas is earned through peer proof, not bought through reach.