The old adage of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' has no place in today's digital marketing landscape.
Quite simply, for any organisation to establish, maintain and grow its profile and market share, all promotional activities must stay abreast of today’s rapid and continuous technological developments.
What better example of this than Breckenridge's recent revision of the existing Stannah Lifts website, also by Breckenridge. This was an Herculean metamorphosis to help future-proof Stannah’s status as the UK's largest independent lift company, as their Marketing Manager, Jo Monro, explains:
“stannahlifts.co.uk is a large and complex site which needs to address different areas of the business and audiences, with the ultimate visitor goal varied based upon these two factors. Breckenridge has a strong understanding of the business and was successfully able to address all our requirements with the new site, even when we added a few more at the last minute!
“As an additional challenge we made the decision to introduce a marketing automation system halfway through the process. This was all taken in their stride, with the digital and design team working hand in hand with us, ensuring every comment and amendment was worked through.
“The whole process was very smooth and everyone worked hard to bring everything together. I didn’t consider any other agency for this project and I think the results speak for themselves. A huge thank you.”
How Breckenridge achieved the transition
Design, programming and optimisation
The bulk of the job landed firmly in the expert hands of our Senior Web Developer, David Essery, Junior Digital Developer, Jamie Rose, Senior Designer, Diarmid Langley, and SEO & PPC Specialist, Shawn Harding. Between them they evaluated the requirement and devised, orchestrated and monitored its transition.
Initial scope of work
- Rebuild the existing site on a more modern platform with a full CMS to facilitate easier updates
- Ensure full responsivity across all platforms, eliminating the need for a separate mobile site
- Change site focus from detail-orientated to overall capability – less about individual internal divisions, more about a united front
- Clearer, more numerous CTAs, with rationalised channels of communications
Halfway alert! Marketing automation system required…
At our prompting, Stannah was considering incorporating the HubSpot marketing automation system, an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers – a must for today’s businesses.
As the project was well underway when the decision to use HubSpot was made, this dramatically increased the scope of work but, as we use HubSpot ourselves, we were able to accommodate the integration with agility.
Diarmid expands on the design aspect of the new Stannah website:
“The scope of work was considerable and had to allow for last minute changes, not to mention the big decision to integrate HubSpot. Considerable strategy planning and research established the scope of work – an essential process that created a firm base from which to proceed to site structure development, concept and design work, from initial ideas to all page types.
"The integration of HubSpot generated extra work such as initial collateral, a blog, landing pages and CTAs. I also had to liaise with clients at every stage, and work closely with David and Jamie to ensure that every aspect was technically sound and delivered on time.
"Populating the site was very much a team effort, and it also fell to our design and development teams to provide Stannah with ongoing support and training in HubSpot.”
Copywriting
Every section – and they are legion – had to be written from scratch. Fortunately, our 38-year heritage as Stannah's marketing agency softened the sting; they are in our blood – fact! Input came from all our copywriters and key Stannah personnel.
“As far as the copywriting was concerned, it had to reflect the tone of the new website and this had to be sustained over many pages.
Learning to be an administrator for the new Concrete system was a challenge. It was time I hadn't accounted for, but now I have acquired a new skill. It challenged my logical thinking and took me back to O Level Maths. Gathering content from branches made me appreciate how difficult it is to get only part of the information and the time it takes to keep revisiting to make changes. The whole process confirms that, although digital admin appears to take seconds, it really doesn't!”
Angela Breckenridge, PR Director
“Although different to its predecessor, the new CMS was just as easy to assimilate. It streamlined the process of moving across news from the previous site, which, although time-consuming, was relatively simple and effective. Besides, a good WYSIWYG gives an enjoyable sense of omnipotence, albeit undeserved!”
As with the previous site, we are responsible for ongoing regular news updates and case studies, but now this has become more of a team effort with contributions from Stannah on both the news and blog sections.”
Helen Berners, Copywriter and PR Executive
Photography
Images are a vital part of content and, thanks to our UK-wide raft of freelance professional photographers, the new website gets the quality images it deserves. These photographers are the unsung heroes behind Stannah’s marketing presence.
Result? A resounding success
Despite its relative infancy, the new website has been well received by all divisions of Stannah – Lifts Limited, Lift Services and Stairlifts.
Feedback is good from existing customers:
“Thank you very much for your email announcing the launch of your newly designed website. I had a brief look and it seems very user friendly, informative and easy on the eye so well done. Wishing you continued success and a prosperous future.”
Janet Collins, Estates Administrator,St Hugh’s College, Oxford
And, importantly, initial statistics are good and prove that HubSpot is delivering its behind-the-scenes digital marketing expertise:
“The new website works seamlessly on all platforms and is delivering an enhanced visitor experience. We are monitoring the statistics (tracked by HubSpot) and anticipate escalating traffic and customer conversion rates, just as we have seen with our own HubSpot-integrated website.”
Shawn Harding, SEO & PPC Specialist
The last word – from Ross Breckenridge, Breckenridge's Managing Director
“As a Hubspot Platinum Certified Agency Partner and the first full-service Google Partnered agency in Southampton, we were able to tailor a complete design, programming and automation package for the new Stannah Lifts website. After months of collaboration – the proverbial blood, sweat and tears behind any seismic sea-change – the website was launched in July 2016. Its flawless transition reflects the high level of expertise that created it. Well done, team Breckenridge”
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