Aligning the co-operative’s web presence with their values and audience
We worked with the community-based co-operative, First Credit Union, headquartered in Powell River, BC to migrate their website to a new platform known as Forge. This change gave us the opportunity to completely overhaul the marketing and communication side of their web presence, to better align the site with their mission and values, and to reach their target audience and convert website visitors to new members.
Background
First Credit Union is the oldest Community Credit Union in British Columbia and has a long history of supporting the communities that they live and operate in with initiatives that include community impact, local economic development, and environmental sustainability.
The new site gave them the opportunity to showcase their community work and to better connect with an audience that shares their values.
What we did
We started from the very beginning on this 4-phase project, defining objectives and measures of success, and then creating a detailed project plan with milestones and deadlines. We defined audiences and product offerings, did extensive research into best practices and SEO for financial institutions, designed a new and more intuitive site structure, and developed new and optimized content. Next, we moved into the visual design of the site layout and created wireframes and mockups that fit within the limitations of the current Forge platform. The next step was implementation, building master templates and uploading and organizing content to complete the full Forge migration.
To complete the project, we also worked with the First CU to create a social media strategy that reflected their new aesthetic, spoke to their target audience, and helped to maximize the visibility of their new site for years to come.
Tools and Techniques:
- Created a shared content process for defining, drafting and approving content in a collaborative way
- Mapped out the new site hierarchy using a visual site map builder
- Designed and built the new site using the Forge platform
- Created a social media and strategy and guidelines with best practices, posting suggestions and schedule, and crisis communication protocols.
The results
The result was a simple, clear, and well-organized site that speaks to the target audience and conveys the Credit Union Difference throughout. We’ve seen an increase of 22 spots in the average search engine rankings for the site, an increase in visibility of 10% and employees and members are finding information on the site faster and with more ease, reducing technical support calls and emails.
Testimonial
“Just want to extend a huge THANK YOU to our partners at The Update Company for all the work you have done to help us get to today. Our launch went smoothly this morning and we are getting fantastic feedback about the new site. Thank you for helping us to create a site we are very proud of!” – Tara Chernoff, VP Community & Marketing