BrightBlueKite

Clients

I like it when we have a little bit of a headwind. The kite actually lifts when you have a headwind and doesn't when there is lift from the back.

Borje Ekholm, Ericsson CEO

Our clients come to us for a number of reasons:

– they want more customers
– their website is years old and needs an overhaul
– they’re launching a new business and don’t have a website…….or a content and social strategy
– their website is not working the way they thought it should (even if its quite new)
– they are performing poorly in search rankings (and someone has quoted them an eye-watering sum to put it right)

Our website portfolio: we have developed dozens of websites and here is a small recent sample: www.trequartistaconsulting.com, www.unionstreatkitchen.co.uk, www.nusservices.co.uk, www.theretailer.co.uk, www.neilcott.co.uk, www.crescentpetroleum.com, www.thinkcs.org, www.capecaringcentre.co.uk, and, of course, this site!

If this sounds like you, get in touch!

Case Study: Transpire

Transpire is a training and coaching company for Directors and aspiring Directors. It was formed in 2012 but the sector was becoming more and more competitive and the company was struggling to make its business model work.

Transpire: The Director Network

Objectives:

Transpire is a training and coaching company with a membership-driven business model. In a highly competitive sector, its mix of paid for training/networking sessions, 121 Coaching and Masterclasses was struggling to cut through. The proposition was unclear and the benefits of Membership not clearly defined.

BBK was approached to analyse the issues and develop a sustainable business model and positioning for Transpire.

Implementation:

BBK ran a series of workshops with senior execs and Members to understand their aspirations and motivations. The key insight we developed is that most providers in this sector see their qualification or accreditation as a one-off where Directors themselves were looking for ongoing support. Being a Director is a journey, not a destination.

Collectively, we developed a clear proposition: Essential tools for effective Directors, clarified the role of networking events (moved online in response to Covid 19) and developed a compelling membership offer with appropriate pricing.

The website had not been updated in 7 years and it showed. We redeveloped the site to communicate the new offer in a compelling way, present the training/networking events clearly and refine the membership process so potential members could easily join online. The SEO improvements we made included developing a keyword list used in the site content and page tags and optimising for mobile. 

The marketing strategy is built around email, a quarterly content plan and social media focused on LinkedIn.

Outcomes:

In the first six months, Members signed up at four times the rate they had in the six months prior to the activity. 

There are record levels of engagement on LinkedIn and one long-standing member described what has happened as 'a transformation'.

Case Study: Case Station

Case Station is a mobile phone case brand. It is the B2C arm of a well-established case manufacturer which had been making cases for other brands for years. It had not made the hoped-for impact despite operating in a very dynamic sector.

Case Station

Objectives:

Case Station was launched as a quality-focused brand in a very competitive but growing market with a premium price to match. The market leader's products were seen as low quality but their marketing was aggressive and well-funded. Case Station was not making the impact or sales anticipated despite attempting to follow the market leader's strategy. Marketing was generating site visits but conversion rates were low. BBK was brought in to offer and execute solutions that would turn the brand around.

Implementation:

Our initial analysis showed that the brand's website was difficult to use and was not SEO friendly.  The company's senior management had never actually used it to order a phone case, so were unaware of its limitations. The brand was also struggling to make any headway in search, one of the main ways new customers find phone case companies. Social media and email were being used but in a haphazard and unplanned way.

We began by optimising the site structure, reconfiguring the 'case-builder' functionality and e-commerce process and setting up landing pages for new phone model releases we knew were scheduled.  We then created a 12-month content plan including gift giving events like Valentine's Day and organised email and social media execution around the content plan. 

Fundamental to the success of the strategy was developing a competitive keyword list which we deployed on the site, in blogs and in social media. 

Influencers are very powerful in this sector, so we identified a list of appropriate social influencers, ran a set of due diligence checks on them and made approaches to the top targets. This resulted in a top influencer signing up to work with Case Station.

Outcomes:

In the first six months of the activity the value of sales increased by a factor of 10 without any price discounting.

The email and social media system was refined to the point where it could be taken in-house, further enhancing ROI.

Case Study: The Bond Board

The Bond Board’s charitable purpose is to reduce homelessness in Greater Manchester.  It enables vulnerable people to find homes by offering cash bonds to private landlords in place of the standard deposit and credit checks. Their challenge is finding enough landlords.

The Bond Board

Objectives:

Unfortunately, the Bond Board is never short of people, often desperately, looking for homes. They are normally vulnerable people without the means or credit history to rent privately. The charity has been helping people find secure places to live for over 25 years and has an excellent reputation. As a consequence, it is being invited into larger projects covering a wider area. 

This presents two significant challenges: recruiting more good staff to run the projects and finding enough private landlords willing to house people with a poor or non-existent credit history.

The Bond Board wanted a consultant to help them: 

- develop a system for bringing new Landlords into the charity and

- put tools in place to provide a consistent, high quality experience once they are there. 

BBK was brought in to lead this fundamental change programme.

Implementation:

BBK ran a series of workshops with the Bond Board staff to introduce sound marketing principles and develop a common understanding of the issues around recruiting and retaining Landlords.

The workshops produced a raft of ideas, strategies and tactics which have been developed into a structured programme. Emotion is often overlooked in B2B marketing but it is a central idea in successful marketing. So throughout the development of materials, including website copy, email and social media, we have been determined to make that emotional connection. Yes, Landlords want to know that they will find services and resources to help them managing successful tenancies but they also want to know that the Bond Board understands their concerns, their anxieties and their ambitions. 

Our touchstones are:

  • a structure which can be duplicated and
  • a standard which can be maintained.

Outcomes:

The website now has a password protected Landlord-specific area with a range of resources and functionality enabling Landlords to manage their Bond Board accounts. There is an email programme aimed at current and prospective Landlords and a clear set of tools and templates for staff to manage Landlord relationships.