The Situation

Central Monitoring Services (CMS), a leading provider of alarm monitoring services, had grown organically over 35 years but had not yet aligned its outward-facing brand, marketing, and sales strategy with the high-quality services and products the company had become known for. 

With a 10-month project timeline, CMS engaged Ask Marketing to transform its branding, digital presence, and internal operations, ensuring that all aspects of the business were positioned to support sustainable growth.

One of the first workshops we hosted - Ask Marketing, Sherry Design and the Ask Marketing Team.

‍The Objective

CMS aimed to achieve several key objectives as part of the transformation process:

  1. Establish a modern, cohesive brand identity and messaging that reflects the high-quality services CMS provides.
  2. Revamp the digital presence to ensure it is aligned with current market expectations and improves user experience and lead generation.
  3. Align and inspire its internal team with a unified vision, fostering a culture of growth and efficiency.
  4. Develop a robust sales and marketing strategy and subsequent budget, to ensure the business is able to meet its new revenue goals and focus on a specific market segment. 
  5. Research, analyze, identify, and implement a brand-new CRM system, including a large migration from the current system to a new solution.
  6. Implement a new operational productivity tool to align the teams.
  7. Provide training to the internal marketing team to ensure they can execute the newly developed strategy effectively and work tightly with operations. 
  8. Initially, deliver high-touch, supportive fractional CMO leadership for the first year to guide the execution of the newly developed strategy. Then, transition to a strategic advisory role. 

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Our Ask Marketing Solution

Ask Marketing worked closely with Central Monitoring Services (CMS) to deliver a tailored solution that addressed the company’s evolving needs. Our approach was multifaceted, ensuring that CMS could enhance its market position and align internal operations to support future growth.

1. Comprehensive Brand Overhaul: We project-managed a large-scale rebrand project in collaboration with Sherry Design and Melotti Media. This included developing a new brand strategy, refreshing the visual identity, and crafting messaging that captured CMS’s innovative spirit while honoring its 35-year legacy. The outcome was a modern and cohesive brand that resonated with both existing customers and new market segments.

The original logo from 35 years ago, and the new logo.

2. New Website Design & Development: As part of the rebranding process, we completely redesigned and developed CMS’s website to create a more modern, responsive, and user-friendly experience. The new site was designed to reflect CMS’s updated brand identity and effectively communicate its market-leading services, ensuring a seamless and engaging journey for both current clients and potential leads. Within just two months of the website going live, inbound leads increased by 100%, showcasing the immediate impact of the new design and marketing efforts on lead capture.

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The newly launched Central Monitoring Services Website.


3. Robust Sales and Marketing Strategy: We worked with CMS to design a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy that aligned with its revenue goals and targeted new market opportunities. This included refining customer segmentation, crafting tailored messaging, developing lead generation campaigns, and implementing content marketing strategies. The goal was to attract new clients, build stronger relationships with existing ones, and set the stage for sustainable growth. You can read more about this type of project here.

4. CRM and Technology Integration: After identifying HubSpot as the ideal CRM solution, we managed the full migration process from the old system to HubSpot, ensuring the transition was seamless. HubSpot’s capabilities were tailored to meet CMS’s specific needs for customer relationship management, marketing automation, and analytics, significantly enhancing CMS’s ability to track leads, monitor sales pipelines, and improve overall customer engagement.

5. Improved Operational Efficiency: The introduction of Monday.com as a project management and collaboration tool improved internal communication and alignment across departments, enhancing productivity and ensuring that projects were completed on time and within scope. Additionally, two other departments—Service and Operations—adopted Monday.com, further streamlining workflows and improving overall departmental collaboration.

6. Team Empowerment & Accountability: A key part of our solution was equipping CMS’s internal marketing team with the skills and tools they needed to execute the new strategy effectively. We provided hands-on training and ongoing fractional CMO leadership to guide them through the implementation phase, ensuring they had the expertise to drive sustained growth. You can read more about our ongoing Fractional CMO leadership here.

Ali from Ask Marketing, presenting the new strategy to the CMS Team alongside CMS Managing Director Scott Kiely.

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The Results

The solutions we delivered had a significant and positive impact on CMS's operations, brand positioning, and growth trajectory. Here are some of the key outcomes:

1. Enhanced Brand Presence and Market Perception: The comprehensive rebranding and updated messaging led to a refreshed public perception of CMS. This, in turn, strengthened their position as an industry leader, differentiating them in a competitive market.

2. Increased Website Traffic and Lead Generation: The new website design, paired with a targeted digital strategy, resulted in improved user engagement, increased web traffic, and enhanced lead generation. Within just two months of the website going live, inbound leads increased by 100%, showcasing the immediate impact of the new design and marketing efforts on lead capture.

3. Stronger Sales and Marketing Alignment: The development of a robust sales and marketing strategy helped CMS better align its teams and processes, driving more consistent marketing efforts and improved sales conversion rates.

4. Optimized CRM System: The implementation of HubSpot CRM provided CMS with enhanced capabilities for managing customer relationships, tracking sales activity, and automating processes. The migration from the old system to HubSpot was seamless, enabling better customer engagement and operational efficiency.

5. Improved Operational Efficiency: The introduction of Monday.com as a project management and collaboration tool improved internal communication and alignment across departments, enhancing productivity and ensuring that projects were completed on time and within scope. Additionally, two other departments—Service and Operations—adopted Monday.com, further streamlining workflows and improving overall departmental collaboration.

6. Empowered Internal Marketing Team: The training and fractional CMO leadership empowered CMS's internal marketing team to execute the new strategy effectively. This resulted in a greater level of self-sufficiency in their marketing efforts and sustained growth without needing ongoing external support.

Ali and some of the CMS Operations Team at the recent Brand Launch Day at the CMS Monitoring Centre at Kings Park, Sydney.

The entire team is looking forward to continuing this incredible momentum into a new calendar year. 

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Alexandra King

Ali has a proven track record of aligning with commercial business objectives and translating research into key insights that result in exceptional marketing strategies, online user experiences and positive financial results.