Brand / Content

Translating Technical Expertise
Into Market Demand

HTS Coatings is in the business of protecting equipment that operates in some of the harshest industrial environments on earth — mining operations, oil and gas infrastructure, power generation facilities, steel mills. Their thermal spray work demands deep technical expertise, and for years, that expertise lived in the head of an internal engineer who also happened to write the company’s marketing content. When that engineer left, HTS Coatings inherited a familiar problem: a technically excellent business with no one left who could translate that excellence into language buyers outside the trade actually responded to.

HTS Coatings Industrial Thermal Spray & Machining

About this engagement

HTS Coatings

Large-Scale Thermal Spray Capabilities

HTS Coatings is a family-owned machining and grinding shop with large-scale thermal spray capabilities, headquartered in Madison, Illinois. Their 30,000-square-foot facility houses six robotically controlled spray booths and supports a team of nearly 30. For ten years, HTS has engineered thermal spray, fusing, welding, grinding, and machining solutions for clients tackling problems most shops can’t — corrosion at scale, steel mill roll production, turbine component repair.

Ignition Canvas

Middle-Market Marketing Built on Research

Ignition Canvas serves owner-led and mid-market companies that need strategic marketing depth without the overhead of building it internally. Every engagement begins with research — into the client’s customers, their competitive landscape, and the gap between where the brand is and where the evidence says it could be. Execution is handled by an in-house team across strategy, design, paid media, content, web, HubSpot, and PR — coordinated under one roof.

The Challenge

Losing the Person Who Spoke the Language

For most middle-market technical companies, marketing capability is one person deep. At HTS Coatings, it was an engineer who happened to be a strong writer — someone who understood thermal spray well enough to explain it and clear enough at the keyboard to publish it.

When that engineer left, the writing stopped. So did most of the marketing.

Ashley Hunsaker, CEO of HTS Coatings, was already absorbing more than her share of the company’s operational load — hiring, payroll, accounting. The departure of the in-house translator added marketing strategy to her plate at a moment when she had no remaining capacity to take it.

The strategic problem was bigger than the workload. HTS had ambitions to attract larger, more profitable clients — the kind that required a marketing presence the company didn’t have the bench strength to build. They needed external support that could replace their lost capacity and upgrade what that capacity was producing.

“I was overwhelmed. You know, you could say, I was sitting in too many seats.”

Ashley Hunsaker, CEO, HTS Coatings

The Approach

Research First, Then Messaging

Most agencies in HTS’s situation would have started with creative — a new website, a content calendar, a campaign concept. Ignition Canvas started with interviews.

The engagement opened with structured primary research: conversations with HTS’s best clients to understand what they actually valued, where they spent their time, and what triggered them to seek out a thermal spray partner in the first place. That research ran in parallel with internal interviews and a competitive analysis to identify the gap in the market HTS could credibly own.

That research surfaced something HTS had been minimizing in their own marketing: a personal, family-oriented brand identity that stood out in an industry that mostly presents itself as faceless and industrial. The research-derived messaging shifted the focus from internal to client-focused — and made the family-business identity central rather than incidental.

“We interviewed their best clients. Gathered data on where they spend time, what outcomes matter, and what triggers the need. We also analyzed competitors to identify gaps. Then we wrote the messaging.”

Mike Black, CEO, Ignition Canvas

The Work

A Working Content Engine

From there, the messaging was deployed across the channels that HTS’s actual buyers used. Cadence and consistency mattered as much as creative — a working content engine, not a launch event.

Primary research: client interviews and category entry point analysis
Competitive gap analysis to identify ownable positioning
Research-derived messaging platform shifting focus to client outcomes
Family-business identity made central, not incidental
Blog content, LinkedIn, email, and webinars positioning HTS as technical authority
Consistent publishing cadence replacing the one-person dependency

“They get the vision, they know where we’re going. So they come up with ideas that just align.”

Ashley Hunsaker, CEO, HTS Coatings

The Results

A Marketing Function That Runs

The numbers from the engagement reflect a working marketing function rather than a campaign spike.

LinkedIn impressions per post increased from 2,000 to 5,000 — a 150% lift in organic reach.

Click-through volume rose by 50+ per post on the same channel.

Site views increased by approximately 68%.

Inbound inquiries traceable to specific content pieces — direct attribution from publication to pipeline.

“They get the vision, they know where we’re going. So they come up with ideas that just align.”

Ashley Hunsaker, CEO, HTS Coatings

“The relationship has continued to evolve, with content strategy and SEO development now layered on top of the messaging foundation built in the original engagement.”

Mike Black, CEO, Ignition Canvas

Let’s talk

Ready to stop guessing
and start growing?

Tell us about your business and your goals. We’ll be honest about whether we’re the right fit, and if we are, we’ll show you exactly what’s possible.

Start a Conversation

Translating Technical ExpertiseInto Market Demand