Building a People-First Brand in Aerial Lift Trucks

How consolidating two brands into one tripled website traffic and generated 300+ inbound leads for UTEM, a 50-year aerial lift and fiber-splicing truck manufacturer.

Manufacturing / Utility & Telecom Equipment

The Work

The partnership began in mid-2025 with a strategy and brand workshop to define what set UTEC/UTEM apart and where it could win. The UVPs came from what customers already valued: trucks delivered in as little as two months instead of the year-plus waits common with larger manufacturers, splicing rigs purpose-built for fiber crews, and customization on orders of any size. Just as important was the team that customers trust — one that’s easy to work with and stands behind every truck long after the sale. We focused the company on its strongest opportunities in fiber and municipal markets and a growing dealer network, and proposed it consolidate its brand under a single name: UTEM. One name would end the confusion between the two companies, concentrate its search visibility in one place, and give every channel the same story to tell.

From there, we rebuilt the brand to carry that story, refreshing UTEM’s identity and producing sales collateral for its truck and aerial lines. A new website brought everything under one roof, designed to turn visitors into inquiries and optimized for search. We launched new Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn channels and rebuilt UTEM’s YouTube presence, so the new brand, website, and social channels reached the market together in March 2026. When UTEM broke ground on its new facility later that month, we extended the launch with event signage, branded shirts, and a press release we wrote and distributed to share the company’s growth and community involvement.

Since launch, our ongoing marketing mix has kept UTEM in front of the buyers prioritized during our strategy engagement. Targeted advertising runs, separate campaigns for end users and prospective dealers, and segmented email sequences speak directly to fiber, municipal, and dealer audiences. Video is another way UTEM is set apart from the bigger names in its market. Each quarter, our team plans and produces a one-day multimedia shoot that turns into a slate of humorous, personality-driven short-form videos, putting the people who build and service UTEM’s trucks in front of the camera. In a category where most marketing leads with spec sheets, that content gives buyers a clear sense of the people they’ll be working with.

Once UTEM had a single, searchable home, buyers started finding it right away. Organic search traffic more than doubled in the month the new site launched, and by late summer UTEM was averaging more than three times the monthly website sessions it saw before the consolidation. The site has also begun drawing visitors from AI assistants, a sign that UTEM is now part of the answers buyers get when they ask about aerial and fiber-splicing equipment. Search advertising builds on that organic growth, averaging a click-through rate above 10% and sending targeted buyers straight to the site. Together, the new site and targeted advertising have turned visibility into conversations, with more than 300 calls and form submissions in the first seven months after launch.

On social, UTEM’s content is reaching far beyond the people who follow it, with monthly Facebook views roughly tripling since launch. The videos have become part of how buyers get to know the company, and prospects have brought them up when reaching out to UTEM. Inside the shop, the shoots have become something the team looks forward to, which is evident on camera and reinforces the people-first brand the strategy set out to build.

UTEM is also building for what comes next. In March 2026, the company broke ground on a 25,000-square-foot facility on more than 13 acres that will expand production and inventory and bring a broader range of aerial lifts to market. As it moves into that space, Four Columns is helping build the demand, dealer relationships, and market presence that will support its continued growth.