The Story Web Design

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Diallog Telecommunications is a provider of hosted PBX, PRI and other telecom products of all types. I was the director of marketing for the company when they first worked with The Story.

I’m also currently working with The Story again for Eddy Home Inc., which is a smart-home water-monitoring system being developed in Canada. We have amazing technology, but people don’t know about us yet. Our biggest challenge is spreading the message, and we’re using The Story again after the work they did for Diallog Telecommunications got such positive feedback.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Story?

The existing website for my former company hadn’t been updated since 2006, and needed to be redone.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Story developed our WordPress website. They kept much of the brand essence, but created an updated look and feel on the WordPress platform, making it much easier for us to update the site. Some of the suppliers we had reached out to had asked for wireframes, but it was really not necessary for this project. We had a simple website, and The Story understood that our technical capabilities were limited. They were able to quickly put together what we needed, without the need for wireframes. I’m sure that their team could have created some, but it wasn’t necessary.

They provided some Google Analytics work for us, setting up our SEO, but they didn’t provide any social media or content marketing. We decided to use a different service provider, although they do offer the service.

How did you come to work with The Story?

We found them through an organization called The Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals, or CAMP, which I am the founder of. Trevor Hamilton is a member, so I reached out to him when I had a project. I did contact four other suppliers for quotes, but we decided to choose The Story. They came back with the best overall quote, relative to our limited budget.

Even though, at the time,I hadn’t worked with the company before, I liked what they were able to provide, and found that they were willing to go through what we needed, during the information-gathering stage.

How much have you invested with The Story?

They delivered the website for a little over $5,000, which is almost unheard of these days. The Story had half the cost of other suppliers, but they have the same output. We received a lot of value from our website, which is why we’re moving forward with The Story for the company I’m currently working for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with The Story in May 2016. They’ve done clean-up work on the website, and The Story has been working with the telecom company on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We saw a significant improvement, compared to what was there before. We hired a new sales team, and results started going up considerably once we introduced the new website. The feed-back was positive from our own team, and the site also helped people researching our company. It left a better impression overall.

We saw a slight uptick of about 10% on our Google Analytics, simply because we had better SEO and were doing content marketing. The website impacted our overall bottom line positively.

How did The Story perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn’t use project management tools, but did have a video-conferencing platform in place. We had meetings with The Story through Join.me, during which they shared a screen and took me through the process. We had email exchanges and phone calls when needed, and deliverables were always met. Unless the supplier really wants to, I tend not to use project management tools like Basecamp. The Story tends to follow the lead of the client, so nothing was implemented in our case.

They have been extremely responsive. Within minutes of emailing The Story’s team, I would hear back with answers to my questions. I’ve never had to wait more than a couple of hours to hear back from them.

What did you find most impressive about The Story?

They took the time to get to know us as a client, as well as what we want, and deliver a very good end-product at a very reasonable price. Designers are willing to charge whatever they think the customer will pay, which can range drastically. I find that the value we’ve gotten from The Story is amazing. We’ve had a top-notch person managing our site, who was able to bring big-agency skills, without a big-agency price tag.

Are there any areas The Story could improve?

It’s hard to say because we’re using The Story again as a technology partner.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with The Story?

If the client is looking for a cost-effective technology partner, The Story is a great option.