Marketing Strategy and Website Design for HR Agency
PROJECT: STRATEGY INTENSIVE
OVERVIEW:
MDC had been in business for a little over a year by the time we connected. They had established themselves pretty well by utilizing their existing network but they were ready to take their marketing efforts, and thus their business, to the next level.
Lakia, their founder, has an infectious personality and we wanted to bring that personality into their brand while also highlighting her extensive experience in the HR world and her unique and inspiring story that got her to where she is today.
Here’s what the marketing strategy looked like for MDC:
Market research:
MDC already had a good handle on who their competitors were but didn’t necessarily know what to do with that information or have other market research and analysis to help shape their overall marketing strategy. Market research is the foundation I build all my marketing strategies on so I definitely wanted to dig a lot deeper so we could develop a solid strategy for them to move forward with.
SWOT analysis + competitive analysis & landscape: Through both our SWOT and competitor analysis it became very clear that while the majority of MDC’s competitors are more established, very few of them had a compelling brand or online presence. Combining that knowledge with Lakia’s contagious and infectious personality, I knew we could build up their brand and create a strong and compelling connection with their target market from the first touchpoint.
Unique Value Proposition & market positioning: Through our market research, I established that MDC should position themselves as “HR Done Differently”. They take a different approach than traditional HR consultancy firms and I wanted this to be reflected in their brand because it is by far their biggest strength and key competitive advantage.
Target audience & mapping the buyer’s journey:
MDC is focused on nonprofits and associations for their HR and business solutions.
Since they already had this niche and this is the area they wanted to focus on, we worked to develop a clearer client avatar to help us shape their messaging and overall brand to connect with their target audience on a deeper level.
Once we had their client avatar developed, I could map their buyer’s journey to understand their decision making process and where we can connect with them along that process.
Through mapping her buyer’s journeys, it became clear that their target market would begin their search in one of three areas: Googling HR firms, searching LinkedIn, or asking colleagues for referrals. This means these are the 3 main areas our overall marketing strategy would revolve around.
Brand purpose, core values, + attributes: Because very few of MDC’s competition have a compelling online presence, I wanted to make sure we updated and refined MDC’s brand to perfectly position them within the market to connect with their target market from the very first touchpoint. This meant refining their brand purpose, identifying their core brand values, and the tone and attributes to use throughout each touchpoint for a consistent experience.
Brand identity: MDC already had a great brand identity with their logo, fonts, and brand colors but I wanted to provide them with a moodboard to illustrate the type of photos they can use throughout their website and social media content to visually communicate their brand values and attract their ideal clients.
Key messaging & content pillars: Messaging is one of the most effective ways to immediately connect with your target market so I often spend a lot of time developing the key messaging for clients. The goal is for clients to see any single piece of content/messaging and immediately think they need to know more about this brand.
We do this by highlighting their Unique Value Proposition and combining it with their unique brand voice, attributes, and the visual brand. Remaining consistent with their messaging will help MDC stand out from their competition by giving their target market an idea of what it’s like to work with them but also help educate them on how a HR firm can help propel their business forward. It will really illustrate how they do HR differently.
Website audit & SEO recommendations: MDC had originally told me that they get comments about how people like their website so I didn’t recommend a full redesign (even though we ended up redesigning the site after the strategy was developed).
My main recommendations for MDC were to:
Restructure their site to highlight the ease of working with them
Incorporate more social proof to instill trust with potential clients
Update copy to be more client-centric
Touch on brand values and key messaging throughout to connect with client avatar
I provided MDC with a rough wireframe for both the homepage (see end of this case study) and the services page to give MDC an idea for how to restructure those pages. I paired the wireframes with suggested copy to illustrate how they can use their web copy to connect with her target market from the second they land on their website. The copy touched on their target market’s desire to have a positive impact on employees while supporting the company’s work culture.
SEO is also going to be really important for MDC’s overall marketing strategy so I provided researched keywords they can use on their site as well as recommendations on how to use them to boost her SEO.
And last but not least on the website front, I provided guidance on the website analytics they should keep an eye on to help them identify if their marketing efforts are working and/or if they needs to make any adjustments.
Customer experience: An important element of their business (that also affects their marketing efforts because it directly tied to whether or not clients may refer them to others) is creating a streamlined and mostly automated customer experience for onboarding and off-boarding clients. I helped them map out what this should look like and how they can potentially achieve this workflow within a CRM system.
Pricing and services structure: During our kickoff call, I always like to get a feel for my clients short- and long-term goals and MDC was open and willing to provide their revenue goals. With this information, I provided guidance on their pricing to help them reach those revenue goals and created a spreadsheet to help them easily price out various services quickly for clients. This can be used again and again and customized as their business continues to grow.
Marketing strategy: Once we had all the foundational elements developed and clear as well as the brand really taking shape, it was time to layout all the tactics to be used within the strategy and how each of the foundational elements works into these tactics. This included the following:
Content marketing: Because we identified that MDC’s client avatar is most likely to turn to Google in search of a HR firm, creating SEO-rich content for their website is going to be an essential piece of their marketing strategy. However, I not only wanted it to be SEO-rich but also touch on their key messaging while educating their audience on the benefits of HR consulting.
Social media strategy: LinkedIn is going to be their primary social media platform so I outlined how they can utilize both their business page as well as their personal pages to effectively reach their target market. While not their main service, they also offer career coaching as well which I identified Instagram as the best platform for reaching their target market for that service so I also included an outline on how to utilize Instagram to connect with that audience as well.
Email Marketing: While not a huge piece of their marketing strategy, email marketing is a great way to nurture relationships with ideal clients. I mapped out how they can utilize a lead magnet to grow their email list and included best practices to utilize for their email marketing efforts to not only nurture their list but also convert them into clients.
PR strategy: Getting backlinks from reputable sources will be helpful for their SEO strategy so I wanted to include a PR strategy in their overall strategy as well. As I mentioned Lakia’s personality is infectious and podcasts are a great way to showcase that! We discussed best practices for pitching themselves to podcasts and I provided some resources to help make their public relations efforts a little easier.
Timeline: I prefer to give my clients a comprehensive marketing strategy so I layout every single tactic they should use and then provide a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month timeline to show when they should implement and integrate each tactic. That way the strategy isn’t overwhelming right off the bat and will grow with them as they grow their brands.
I did include a “future marketing efforts” beyond the 12-month timeline for MDC of potentially integrating a podcast and YouTube into their strategy. I don’t think it’s necessary to add these in over the next 12 months but I do think it could be a great option for them in the future to not only bring in new clients but also to create a passive income source.
“ Mallory helped to get all the thoughts, ideas, and concerns out of my head and into a masterfully executed marketing plan. She was able to roll with my gear shifting and far out ideas, like we had been working together for years. Mallory provided insight, ideas, and intellect - she knows what she is talking about and doesn’t deliver a text book approach to marketing.
My website now has the snap, crackle, and pop that it was missing. Mallory captured the essence of our personality and elevated our web presence. The best part about this experience was how Mallory honed in on parts of our brainstorming conversations and thoughtfully infused that into the website, masterful!!”
Execution of the Website Redesign:
Upon completion of the marketing strategy, MDC was immediately interested in redesigning their website and moving it from Wordpress to Squarespace. Utilizing the brand strategy and key messaging we developed for them, here’s what we came up with:
Proposed wireframe from the marketing strategy:
Competed homepage website design:
