Coalition Web Design

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the primary owner and founder of a company specializing in detox of patients who have become dependent on alcohol and drugs of abuse.

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Web Design, and what were your goals?

Our company had employed a full time marketing person responsible for creating our website, developing a digital footprint, and advertising our services to the public. Other responsibilities included person to person marketing to potential referral sources in our geographical area. We learned that very little had been done and made the decision to hire an experienced professional marketing company to accomplish many of those tasks.

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

We researched marketing companies and spoke to colleagues who had previous experience working with similar organizations. Ultimately, we decided to contract with Coalition based on a positive recommendation from an individual who had previously worked with a one of Coalition's partners.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had an initial meeting to discuss and evaluate where we were at that time, where we needed to be, and what it would take to get there. We also discussed how to accomplish this with a fairly limited budget. More specifically we needed help in improving our website and ensuring that the correct message was being conveyed. We also discussed our need to enhance our digital footprint. We developed a plan to make that happen.

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

Coalition consists of 2 people, each with specific areas of expertise. Jennifer was responsible for IT, managing our electronic ads, and making changes on our website. Angela was responsible for overall design, color schemes and placement, and writing content. We worked closely with both. There were many areas of overlap and the descriptions above may not be completely accurate, but that was my impression of the division of labor at Coalition.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Improvements in our website and the launch of electronic ads led to a substantial increase in traffic for us. Not only in numbers of people accessing our website but also in phone calls. We are a startup company and recognize that it takes time to reach stabilization but we've made substantial progress toward reaching that goal.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly meetings. They were available and easy to work with. They were very positive and fully committed to us. They were at all times prompt in responding to emails and always on time for meetings.

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

They made every effort to get to know us personally and understand what we were attempting to achieve. It became a close and productive relationship, yet they were at all times professional and goal-oriented.

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

We still had work to do in enhancing our social media presence but because of budget constraints, we had to drastically cut back on our relationship with Coalition.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company takes the overwhelm of marketing away from spiritual coaches & leaders by providing done for you social media marketing. I am a Social Strategist - and Founder/CEO of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Web Design, and what were your goals?

I have been in business for almost a year now and don't have a website at all. The idea of building a website was overwhelming to me, but not having one was decreasing my credibility as my services and desire for higher paying clients grew. I hired Angela and Jennifer to build a unique, converting Wordpress website for me that would not only give me full credibility, but clearly define my niche market as well. I was also in the process of rebranding when I found Angela and Jennifer, so the second piece of our project was to develop a logo and branding colours + fonts that represented the upcoming developments in my company. It was key for me to appeal to my niche market in a stronger way.

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

I do some other work for Angela and Jennifer and have watched them transform websites in front of me, one step at a time. It has been amazing to see a website go from a plain, informational site, to one that stands out. Angela has a brilliant mind and can see all sorts of things when it comes to branding, that I've never seen from anyone else. It's like magic, really!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Angela and Jennifer booked a few different meetings with me to get a clear understanding of what I wanted - they spent a lot of time with me, which was really great service. Once we had a clear understanding of what I needed, they took some time to send a proof of the logo and branding - I got three copies to choose from. When we had settled on that, I got my full logo + branding package as well as three proofs of the website. I got to take my time choosing the website and was able to request changes... I was given a second proof with all of my changes. Angela and Jennifer were more than willing to add things as I went, and they really dove into asking me all sorts of questions... They helped me narrow down my packages, write a bio, change my style & position to suit my clients, and even sent me tips on how to do the video for my website! They went above and beyond!

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

Both Angela and Jennifer worked with me - I believe they had their copywriter do some of the website copy as well. Angela did a lot of the design work, getting to know me, etc. And Jennifer pieced the website together.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Angela and Jennifer helped me get so completely clear on my niche market, that I scheduled EIGHT discovery calls with new clients in the week before Christmas!!!!!!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicated fairly easily over email, and had booked several zoom calls. They sent me all proofs via Google Drive for easy access.

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

What I found most impressive about Coalition Web Design was how much they went beyond what the tasks required... Instead of simply asking me what I liked in a logo, they dove into who I am as a person, what my values are, and what impact I'm trying to make with my company. It blew my mind how much they cared to know about me and the people I serve!

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

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of SuccessView Coaching and Consulting Group. We are a group of coaches that collectively work with organizations to coach and develop leaders.

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Web Design?

We were mainly getting business through referrals, so we wanted to build more presence in the marketplace.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Web Design has done a variety of work for us. They worked closely with us to create our brand identity and go-to-market strategy. Then, the team developed our website, helped us set up a newsletter, and did some design work. They continue to manage the site and the newsletter.

In terms of marketing, the Coalition Web Design team devised a plan to help boost our presence in the marketplace. The team has worked closely with me to create questions for and gather testimonials. Additionally, they’ve helped me edit my writing and create a capacity profile.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with two principals, but various teammates have done work for the project.

How did you come to work with Coalition Web Design?

I’d worked with one of the principals in my previous company.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2014, and it’s ongoing.

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

One of our goals is to direct more people to our site, and the team definitely works hard to increase our traffic. A lot of people have also signed up for our newsletter.

How did Coalition Web Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done a great job — Coalition Web Designed has stayed on task and delivered the work they promised. In addition, they’ve kept us focused on the project by helping us determine our marketing priorities.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Coalition Web Design is a very creative and authentic team — they genuinely care about our company and want to help us achieve our goals. I also like that they’re a woman-owned business like we are.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s any way they could improve; they’re doing a great job, and we’ll continue working with them for a long time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them guide you through the process. Coalition Web Design will work with you to develop your strategy and implement it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager at a CPA firm. We primarily focus on international tax, and most of our client base is in Canada.

We work with a lot of entrepreneurs and investors who are great at what they do and are expanding their business. We walk them through what their obligations and tax advantages are when they expand into the US.

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Web Design?

We were looking for someone to develop a new website for us so we could reach markets that were not local to us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Web Design helped us with building a new website from the ground up using WordPress. They walked us through some questionnaires over a couple of Zoom calls. The questionnaires gathered information on what we do and who we are as an organization. That was a fun process — they were very organized and good at helping us talk through what was below the surface and digging a bit deeper than just saying we do taxes. They worked to understand our personality so that it could shine through on the site.

They built our homepage, and we went with a design that has more bold colors and makes use of negative spaces so that images stand out. The team also created an about page that describes what we do as a tax firm and who our client base is. Then, the page gets into the more targeted markets: real estate, artists performing in the US, and businesses expanding to the US. 

The service page details what we can offer to our clients and possible concerns for their business model. We have a careers page that talks about what it's like to work at our firm and lists job openings when we have them. 

They also added a contact form so that people can email us to initiate a relationship. We have a newsroom page where we plan to post blogs once we get through the busy season and have more time to dedicate to it. Right now, there are a few articles about the IRS that we wanted to make accessible to our clients. 

The initial project was completed after the website was launched in November 2020. We had to put the project on hold a couple of times due to our busy season and scheduling photos. However, we continue to work with them for maintenance. They help me add articles to the website and facilitate any updates that need to happen.

What is the team composition?

We are working with Jennifer (Marketing Director) and Angela (Creative Strategists). Both of them have been on most calls. Angela does more of the visual design, and Jennifer focuses on the coding and copywriting. They compliment each other so well — you can tell that they love working together. That comes through in the excitement that they bring to the process. 

How did you come to work with Coalition Web Design?

Wendy, the owner of Innov8 CPAs, knew Jennifer from way back. They worked together at another CPA firm. Wendy knew Jennifer had gone off on her own, so she reached out to her company.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent about $7,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and our partnership is ongoing.

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

People are beginning to find us — we have received a handful of leads from the website’s contact forms. With the nature of our business, we don’t usually get hundreds of calls a day. Referrals in our industry are pretty much word-of-mouth. 

How did Coalition Web Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Their timelines and schedules are very organized, yet they are also very forgiving when we need to make adjustments to that schedule because of our business needs. 

The process of working together is great; they're just so supportive. Coalition Web Design uses a system for idea development. They go through their process and tailor that to us. We got through the discovery process of what we wanted to say and how we wanted to present ourselves. We actually learned more about ourselves through that process and realized we wanted to go in a different direction, and I really appreciated that they stuck with us until we were happy with the site. They really work on what makes you special and conveying that through your website.

We communicated weekly via email and Zoom calls as we got set up. We’d flesh out the questions and then have time between the calls for them to put together copy and images. They set up a tool that tracks our website’s performance. The team also used design tools, which had sharing features.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They balance creativity, technical expertise, and organizational management, which doesn’t usually come in one package when you're doing this kind of project. Their technical skills are top-notch. I’ve worked with other providers who were hard to get in touch with and didn’t follow through on the timeline, so they definitely stand out in that respect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know of any. I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Absolutely hire them. They are just a joy to work with, and they have so much fun with what they do. They’re professional, and you can tell that they attract the clients that they want to work with. It feels like they are a really good match for us. Once you start with that, it's so much easier to do good work.

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the owner of a firm that creates rollover business startups. This is a tax concept that allows people to invest their retirement money into their own company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Web Design?

I needed to attract clients from the internet. I had a website that I designed myself, and it wasn’t really working for me. There were a lot of things happening on the internet that I didn’t understand and needed help with.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Web Design designed my website from scratch. They reviewed my old site and found that a lot of its content was very technical. They adapted a lot of that content into their design, but they wrote the copy in a language that people can understand using marketing theories. They used the concepts that I gave them, but they created all of the content that appears on the website. 

I don’t know exactly what they do, but my understanding is that they’re doing SEO. We’ve developed online advertisements. It was a fairly broad proposal that they pitched to me, and we are working through it systematically. 

What is the team composition?

I work with two people, Jennifer (Marketing Director) and Angela (Brand & Creative Strategist). 

How did you come to work with Coalition Web Design?

I reached out to some people that do web design work, and one of them was a friend of mine who I trust. My business was too small for my friend’s company, but he recommended Jennifer — she was close to where I was, and my friend had done some projects with her. He said she was really great, so I contacted her. 

I don’t know what Jennifer and Angela’s relationship was at the time, but initially, Jennifer was working by herself. Then, she partnered with Angela, who had her own company, and they formed their coalition. Angela has a different skill set than Jennifer does, and they work great together. 

How much have you invested with them?

The web design was the initial project, and that was under $10,000. When it was over, I still needed help. We kept going and developing our partnership.

Now, they are maintaining the website and developing email marketing campaigns. Over the expansion of the whole project, I have spent more than $10,000, but less than $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

My partnership with Coalition Web Design began before there was a coalition, when Jennifer was on her own. That was probably around early 2019, and I will definitely keep working with them. Results keep growing, so we’ll see where this goes. Right now, I have no plans to change our engagement.

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

There’s a big change between the number of visitors to my old website and the new one. I’m getting results, and I have more clients than before I started working with Coalition Web Design. 

I’m very happy if I get 2–3 clients a month, as my company is in a very narrow niche and there is not a lot of competition. One competitor owns the vast majority of this concept online, and it’s really tough to compete with them. 

More people are finding my website each month — the stat increases aren’t huge, but it’s significant to me. I’m probably having my second-best month ever, and that’s with COVID and everything going on economically. I’m happy about that. I achieved my best month ever pre-COVID. We haven’t been able to repeat that yet, but when the lockdowns began, I got nothing.

We had to find a different way to reach the people we were looking for with our message. The number of people creating rollover business startups in the country just went way down. For 2–3 months, there was no traction whatsoever. I contacted Coalition Web Design and told them that we needed to make some changes. We came up with the website and we’ve been doing other things. We started off with nothing, and although we’re not yet back to the high we enjoyed a couple of months before COVID hit, I believe we’re getting there.  

I believe that the way we’ve been creating our marketing approach has helped my business to stay afloat. We are now on our way to succeed, rather than close. That’s how important Coalition Web Design’s team is to me. If I stuck with my pre-COVID approach, I wouldn’t have my business anymore. I’m very happy with the fact that the business still exists, and I believe that once things turn around, we’re going to do even better than before.

How did Coalition Web Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Every time I meet with the Coalition Web Design team, we come up with a to-do list that they accomplish by the next meeting. When we are going down into details of who will do a task and when it will be due, they follow through and do what they promise to do.

To me, project management is about two things: knowing what to do and then doing it. They seem to do both, and they know how to resolve the issues we encounter. Not everything works 100% of the time, but we make modifications and adjustments as needed. I’m very happy with the ideas they bring to the table.

We started off the engagement by having Zoom meetings every week. Jennifer and Angela handled separate tasks, and there were always things for me to do as well. Now that the website is a little more established, we do bi-weekly phone consults.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed that we are getting results and that Coalition Web Design fulfills their commitments — those are two things that are important to me.

They also took the time to listen and understand my complicated business; there are even other attorneys that don’t understand what I do. They took the time to showcase my services in a way that would resonate with potential clients, even though the vast majority of people don’t understand what I do. They listened, and that was huge to me.  

There are people in other industries that proceed with blind confidence without taking the time to listen, and then results get skewed. Coalition Web Design did take the time to listen, and that contributes to the results that are coming in. I’m sticking with their team because this relationship is working for me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know enough about their business and how they operate.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One of the things that has worked for me is providing feedback when necessary, and expressing my disagreement if something doesn’t go with my taste, style, or way of doing things. They have always been responsive to that, and they find a way to make it work.

I’d recommend being honest and flexible. If the ideas they are presenting are not really your style, let them know. I was honest with them, and they took my feedback into consideration. While they changed the way we approached the project based on my input, the goals didn’t change, and I liked that.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Director of Joshi & Co. Real estate agent

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Web Design?

brand identity and finding out our target market

What were your goals for this project?

clear messaging for our brand

How did you select Coalition Web Design?

I was referred to them by my mentor and I had an opportunity to see a presentation

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They went through a series of questions and really helped narrow down exactly who our target market is, what our brand colors are like and really hone in on our brand messaging.

What was the team composition?

My husband and I worked directly with Coalition

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

I have been using the messaging and will keep it the same across the board. I'm able to think about my target market when planning out social media posts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was seamless. They answered every question we had and really put thought and effort into the results of the brand playbook. We feel that they really cared about our company and brand to be able to narrow down exactly what we're looking for.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciated the amount of time they spent on understanding the stories that really make us who we are and the great differentiation we have from our competition. With this information they were able to give us a playbook that easy to refer back to and keep us on track for our brand.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Allotting sufficient time for each section with a bit of breathing room would be more realistic. Possibly any homework that is available for the client to do before hand would help. Any examples or videos on what certain questions ask for would help with any deeper thinking.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner and Principal of the firm.

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Web Design?

Creation of content for marketing and sales purposes.

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

We were referred directly to Coalition Web Design.

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

We had an initial discovery meeting so the consultants from Coalition Web Design (CWD) could learn more about our business and the services we were interested in receiving. We sent our current marketing material to the consultants are CDW. They used all this information to come up with much improved marketing material.

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

We worked with two consultants from CWD. Both were content design specialists.

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

We are using the new content provided by CWD and have received great reviews on the content from clients and prospective clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. We met periodically to review content drafts and fine tune the messaging and design.

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

Both our consultants were extremely knowledgeable in the field of marketing content and design.

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

No. We were very happy with all of the services provided.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CPA firm, founder

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Web Design?

Linkedin online campaign and marketing strategy

What were your goals for this project?

Improve presence online and build a brand

How did you select Coalition Web Design?

Personable, approachable and flexible

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Linkedin online campaign and marketing strategy

What was the team composition?

I work very closely with the two owners

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

Improved online presence

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

excellent

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am impressed with their creativity and flexibility.

Are there any areas for improvement?

everything is great!