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 Case Study: Callahan Creek  
Understanding the Needs of Specialty BrandsAt the beginning of the project, we worked with the client to understand the challenges facing specialty brands and how they go about selecting a marketing firm. A blog, a newsletter, and whitepapers give Callahan a variety of channels to publish expertise-oriented content to demonstrate their up-to-the-minute knowledge of the industry. A portfolio section displays how they've helped determine their past clients' marketing needs, and, at the same time, showcases their range of production capabilities. The “Our Story” section not only explains the evolution of their specialty brand positioning, but also includes detailed bios of the executive team. Defining a Conversion-Focused Content StrategyCallahan had already developed a discipline for content creation with their previous site, but the content was scattered and lacked focus, making it difficult for users to follow. We consolidated the blog, newsletters, and whitepapers into a single "Insights" section, making it easy for users to search across all sections by topic and author. We encouraged deeper visitor sessions by building a system that automatically pulls related content into the right sidebar of all articles within this section.
Creating an Inspirational PortfolioOne of the most impressive transformations from the old Callahan Creek site to the new site is in the display of work from past campaigns. Prior to the new site, work samples were strewn across various blogs throughout the site, making it extremely difficult for newcomers to see the high quality work they had produced. We placed the “Work” section in the top navigation and made the initial landing page a panoramic view of inspiring images from their best client work. We created a custom slideshow capability that allows the client to mix a wide variety of media into a unified user experience, including video, audio, and large scale detailed images of their print work.
A Mobile Version to Match!About a month after the site launch, we built a customized mobile experience of the newly redesigned site. It features a select subset of content from their main site, targeted to the needs of mobile visitors. Their content strategy, work samples, and executive team bios were the focus of the mobile experience. We also made sure that the most important calls to action were easily accessible in the mobile site experience, including the subscription form for their blog and newsletter, social media sharing capabilities, and their contact form.
Recipient of a 2011 WebAwardWhile we were plenty proud of the Callahan redesign on our own, it was great to see that the we weren't the only ones that thought it deserved special notice! The Web Marketing Association awarded it with a Marketing Standard of Excellence in 2011.
Project Team |
Instead of offering unique sign-up options for each of the areas in the "Insights" section, we streamlined these down into a single subscription form that exists on all pages of the section. All leads gathered through this system are automatically added to Callahan's CRM system. Other notable calls to action include a “Share this Page” feature that allows a visitor to email the page to a friend with a personalized message, commenting in the newsletter and blog areas, and the ability to request certain team members as speakers at industry events.
Newfangled's unique approach to website development proved to be very useful in the planning (and ultimately -- the outcome) of our website. Their philosophy helped us define our online business goals and map them back to user experience. Furthermore, their "see it before you skin it" prototyping tool provided a framework that generated long term solutions rather than short term reactions. We are very excited about the final product and would be happy to recommend Newfangled as a valuable development partner.
