Astriata

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing and brand strategy at ArcherPoint, a professional services technology company in the Microsoft Dynamics space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Astriata?

We were in the midst of some significant market and product changes from Microsoft, so we needed to rebrand our organization to be more in line with a Cloud-based, technology-focused consulting firm. 

Our goal was to establish a brand that better reflected our goals and position in the market whilst maintaining our rankings and improving our conversion rate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Astriata delivered a detailed project plan before we started the project. The first thing that we did after that was performed user testing, which we did by finding multiple C-level people who weren’t familiar with our brand and conducting detailed interviews with them to find out how they would respond to our brand and website. We level set there and outlined our goals in an effort to understand where we were and what their experience truly was versus the perceived experience.

Aside from that, Astriata also helped us with a website overhaul and relaunch, which encompassed the site’s usability, design, and messaging. We worked with them to improve our site’s buyer experience and usability.

We already had a very established online presence — in fact, our previous site had over a thousand pages and a lot of its content was highly visited. We didn’t want to lose our rankings and online presence, so they helped us migrate to another CMS platform and brought in an SEO expert for our site.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Aline (CEO & Creative Director), who was involved in the project every step of the way, and a project manager, who was our key point of contact. We’ve also worked with two designers, two developers, and three SEO people.

How did you come to work with Astriata?

I already knew about Astriata because I had worked with Aline before. We did go through an RFP process, but we ultimately went with Astriata because their RFP was significantly more detailed than the other ones we received, which allowed us to more accurately predict how the project would go and how much it would cost.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $130,000 in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We've maintained our search engine rankings, and our conversion rates never dipped after the site’s launch and continue to steadily increase.

We still haven’t done user testing on the rebrand and the website yet, but the response that we got was overwhelmingly positive. A lot of people said that the site’s new look accurately represented our organization and put us in a position of leadership in the space.

How did Astriata perform from a project management standpoint?

Astriata has performed really well in terms of project management — they have an established methodology and a results-focused plan, both on the branding side and on the website design and architecture.

Everything was outlined in the project plan before we got started, and we methodically went through the project to make sure that we were hitting all of our milestones along the way. We met weekly throughout the entire project, and they provided detailed reports after each meeting. 

We also have a central repository where they manage all communications as well as a portal where we can access design mockups and notes from past meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are a lot of great things that came out of our engagement with Astriata, but the outcomes of the project are the best part. I’m really impressed with how they helped us achieve our goal of establishing a better brand without sacrificing our online presence.

I also appreciate how solution-focused they are when it comes to addressing the challenges we encountered throughout the project. Overall, it has been a really positive experience and I would definitely continue working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything Astriata could improve upon — I would absolutely recommend them and work with them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to clearly communicate your expectations with Astriata before you start your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the managing partner for Public Policy Partners. We provide public policy and governmental affairs services to clients on a state and national level.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Astriata?

Our logo and all branded materials (website, e-newsletter, business cards) had not changed since we founded the company. We needed a new look that reflected our the energy that we bring to our work.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had seen Astriata's design work for several other organizations. We were impressed with the freshness of those designs and their highly polished looked. We researched other designers through the web, but we decided to go with Astriata because of the quality of their work and the high degree of one-on-one attention they provide to their clients.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had a very focused meeting with the CEO of Astriata and her design team. They had already reviewed our current logo, our website, and all of our print materials. The team asked us many questions about our work itself, our relationship with our clients, and our approach to marketing to new clients. From that meeting, Astriata developed three options for our logo - with multiple options for color schemes for each design.

Our firm's team reviewed those options and also got feedback from colleagues outside our firm. We selected the option that we felt communicated how we wanted people to view our firm. Once we made our selection, then we worked with Astriata on honing the design. Astriata listened very thoughtfully to our feedback. In a short period of time, we had a final design logo.

And then Astriata produced multiple versions of that logo - horizontal, vertical, etc. so that we could use it in multiple ways. Then, Astriata used the logo to redesign our e-newsletter, business cards, letterhead, and other marketing materials.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the CEO and a coordinator who handled all the logistics of the process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We've had very concrete and exciting positive outcomes:

1. First, our logo design won a design award, the prestigious Communicator Award of 2021
2. We did a launch of our new look. Astriata was a great partner in the marketing, including using their platforms to push out our launch - https://astriata.com/top-questions-for-robyn-elliott-of-public-policy-p…

We got more positive feedback than we had with almost any prior post on LinkedIn. We heard from all sorts of people - including some of our competitors complimented us on the new look.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very smooth. Astriata was very efficient in guiding the process and their response time was very fast.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was completely amazed that they were able to capture the entire philosophy of our firm in a logo. I just never thought that would happen. The logo has transformed how we look to the outside world, but it also has energized us internally.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

They handled everything so well. My only regret is that I had not reached out to them sooner. I knew our logo was stale, but I was stymied on how we could fix it. They made it really easy.