This featured case study, easily the most lengthy in this Case Studies silo, is presented as overview of our Whole Brand™
development process, as applied to re-staging an established business.
It’s about a retail Brand + website re-stage; but it’s not only about retail businesses. Because the people, names, goals, jargon + details may change, but the basic strategic discipline + process applies to any business looking to increase revenue.
It’s about process driving outcomes – not where we’ve been, but where we can go to find new opportunity. And whether CEO, educator or teen, we all want the same thing. Satisfaction. And it comes in many forms. T-
Challenge + Approach
Growth issues aside, the real objective of the Quebrada website was to make people hungry.
When the founder + head baker of Quebrada Baking Co., a two-location business going into its 34 year, came to us to talk about her website, she proclaimed: ‘We need to do this because when people call me a say they’re on my old website (a first generation templated site), I just cringe.’
But it was more than that. She knew the business + Brand could be more. And she believed what she knew.
• The Brand image + website needed to be updated to better reflect her style as well as that of her stores, both of which are smart, comfortable + quietly inspiring.
• The ‘Brand Story’ – what it did, how it does it + why it mattered – needed to be renewed + refreshed to create greater awareness + interest. And to better reflect the practices + self-interests of customers in parochial neighborhoods + defined trading areas
• The business had to be where its CUSTOMERS + the MEDIA could find them online to interact + transact
• SALES COULD BE BETTER really the only reason to take on a marketing project
What’s more, a number of competitors had opened up in her trading areas. It was time to create a fresh + relevant online presence or go the way of Hazel’s Bakery. Who? Exactly.
So the charge became not just to design a more useful website, but a more meaningful Brand. But first we needed to know what we had to work with. So we quickly + in this case, very informally, took inventory of all people, product + system ‘touch points’ to more fully understand its dynamics. And we listened deeply + interpreted its features + benefits, its soul, from all points of view – stakeholders to customers + staff.
Because we don’t create a Brand. We focus, articulate + amplify them. Its core lives within its owners. And it’s defined by how customers view + adopt it as part of their Brands.
While watching a video about the store by a newsmagazine, the reporter asked the owner: ‘so everything is made fresh every day?’ To which my client answered exuberantly: “fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh!” I jumped up: ‘It’s her Julia Childs!’ And she agreed. Thus the baseline position + Brand ‘tagline’ for the bakeries came from listening.
Fresh, Fresh, Fresh™
This breakthrough prompted further discussion, which took the strategic baseline a little deeper. Not only were Quebrada baked goods + desserts very fresh:
• Quebrada is a neighborhood bakery (vs. a franchise or web bakery)
• Its products are made only from: The Freshest, Simplest Wholesome Ingredients Available.™
Quebrada was in effect today’s version of your Mother or Grandmother’s kitchen, fresh + wholesome. A place you could be comfortable + confident of freshness. Love in a Petite Pain au Chocolat croissant. Yum.
We were off + running.
Hungry yet?
Results
Once the new Quebrada website was in place, within 12 months we were told both locations increased sales by a double digit percentage over the previous year the best in the business’ history. Even in a challenging economy.
But perhaps most significant + telling was the owner’s statement of approval:
‘I now see my business in its entirety, its products, our staff + how we serve customers. And how we can better serve them with products that will drive + sustain our growth + satisfy new customers.’
These are not little challenges + issues. Focusing the Brand brought it all together for everyone to see.
Website features
• WordPress Content Management System (CMS) for easy updating without need to know html or programming code
• Easily-to-use navigation + on-site search so everyone can find the products they want – even those not that comfortable on the Web
• Kay’s Fresh Ideas A sidebar ‘widget’ that’s easily updated with fresh content – without changing the main text of the page.
• Newsletter sign-up A simple form for ‘people who raise their hands to join in on the Brand.’ This info goes to a secure database hosted on the site, which can be downloaded into Excel as a .cvs file. Then used with an email service provider (Verticle Response, Constant Contact, Exact Target, etc.).
• Easily updated menus, prices + images stored securely on the site library, easily accessed + placed in correct spots
• Google Analytics shows how customers navigate through the site + what products they were most interested in. Here it confirmed the path for new product development + growth – previously only suspected as opportunities
• Unlimited growth Add pages, even whole new sections + a blog at will – no programmer needed
Read our website development partner’s account of the Quebrada website design + build process.
ThomasBoston then applied the new Quebrada Visual Design System to:
Now the aligned Brand is viewed by 1000s daily on the web + on the road.
• Brochures/menus
• Coffee sleeves, bakery labels + gift cards
• In-Store merchandising + signage
• Business vehicles
Just walk into a store today + you’ll see its Staff (formerly called ‘associates’ – another reflection of the business’ newly-defined Brand values) proudly wearing Fresh, Fresh, Fresh baker’s aprons + T-shirts. They ‘get the Brand’ + live it to everyone’s best interests.
Ultimately it’s Quebrada quality that makes the sale. But first they have to create awareness + comforts levels to get customers in the door.
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