The Durkan Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a private equity firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We hired them for web design and content creation. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Durkan Group has designed and developed our new company website. They also provide content creation. Initially, we had many discussions about our firm, what we do, and the opportunities we wanted to take advantage of through our website. 

What is the team composition?

We usually work with three teammates from Durkan Group. However, there’s been a team of engineers working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

We found them by looking at other websites within our industry we admired. From there, we interviewed 5–6 web development companies. We chose Durkan Group because they demonstrated a unique understanding of our company and industry and were very good at listening to our goals and ambitions. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2023, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Durkan Group has delivered a tremendous website that enables us to better communicate with our target audience: founders and entrepreneurs of multi-unit companies. Overall, Durkan Group’s work has exceeded our expectations.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve delivered on time and within budget. We have regular weekly or biweekly meetings to provide updates, ask questions, and ensure we understand where we are in the process. 

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Sean (Digital Strategist) is particularly good at listening to and translating our needs into actionable and responsive design ideas. He’s also excellent at client services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Durkan Group listens to our needs and goals, resulting in an effective website — that’s very hard to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should consider adding more video content creation to their product development repertoire. We’ve added video to our website but had to hire a third party to provide it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise any friend or colleague to consider working with Durkan Group. If you work with them, invest the time at the start to sit with the team and thoroughly describe the project you’re hoping to undergo. Help them understand your company; Durkan Group excels at taking that information, processing it, and incorporating it into their development process to deliver good branded web content.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Principal of Inverness Graham

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Private equity firm focused on purchasing controlling interest in privately-held technology, software, healthcare & manufacturing businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Durkan Group to accomplish?

• New website

SOLUTION

How did you find Durkan Group?

Referral

Why did you select Durkan Group over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

What was the size of Durkan Group’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We needed a complete overhaul of our website, including photography, video, etc. The original point person for the project at our firm left in the early stages and I inherited the project in March of 2022. I met with Emma a handful of times and decided to scrap everything that had been done to date and re-build from the ground-up, leveraging the work they had done for similar funds.

Durkan created everything we asked exactly how we asked from a design, functionality & flow perspective, and they even introduced us to an amazing local photographer to shoot our new office space and headshots to be used on the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Visually to our liking
• Functionality

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Emma was our point person and was incredibly thorough in her communication and follow-up. We threw a lot of curve balls at the Durkan team during the process and her patience was nothing short of remarkable; their ability to deliver everything we asked for on time was outstanding. In the rare instance something would push out and to the right timeline wise, she was incredibly transparent about any delays.

What was your primary form of communication with Durkan Group?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to execute on a lot of ideas that may be a little outside the box for a traditional business that are unique to what a private equity firm would want on their website was awesome. They do not necessarily understand our business but they heard me out on every minor detail for months as to what i wanted and why, and were incredibly thorough in executing those ideas.

In the instances where they may not have agreed with something I wanted, they always presented an alternative solution (which was usually the right one!).

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at a family-owned investment office and primarily focus on real estate private equity initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We wanted to enhance our online presence and rebrand our messaging.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked on two projects with Durkan Group, both of which lasted six months from start to finish. The first was for our real estate private equity website. Once they concluded, we worked together on a website for our overarching parent company. Their process was similar for both projects. 

We had a discovery phase where they provided me with documents to outline our project objectives, examples of sites that I liked and disliked, and general guidelines for what we hoped to achieve through our messaging. 

We had a kickoff call to review the documents, and their development and design teams took over from there. They produced a handful of design concepts for us to review, and we provided feedback.

Based on the feedback, we arrived at a final design concept, and they developed a branding guide with color schemes and logos. Then, they built a mock website in development mode. We worked together on developing the site content and copy using WordPress. After going through a QA phase, we launched the site. 

They trained our team to manage and update our content on the backend. We can log in and update everything ourselves, which has been a huge help. They continue to host and maintain the WordPress sites. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Sean (Digital Strategist), Wes (Creative Director), Maddy (Lead UX/UI Designer), Mike (Web Developer), and Donna (Digital Strategist).  

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

I had worked with Durkan Group in my previous role. One of my peers had a site I admired, so I reached out to find out who they’d partnered with, and they referred me to Durkan Group.

Based on other referrals, I interviewed three potential partners and felt Durkan Group was the most organized and creative. Their cost proposal also presented the most value. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested roughly $50,000 in the partnership with Durkan Group. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Durkan Group from June 2021–July 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Durkan Group helped us enhance our messaging and brand awareness within the marketplace. They’ve helped make our processes more efficient by training us to update the site's backend. Now, it’s easier to update the site and keep the information current. 

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Donna, our main point of contact, ensured everything ran smoothly for both engagements. She delegated tasks to the development and design teams. They delivered everything on time; if we experienced any project delays, it was because our team was slow to review deliverables and provide feedback.

We had regular check-in calls via Microsoft Teams and communicated via Slack, which I found helpful. We also utilized InDesign to provide feedback for the sites. Whenever we had follow-up requests, they’d respond to us within minutes.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated their flexibility and willingness to hear our feedback and implement it. We’ve worked with other creative partners who’ve been protective of their ideas and reluctant to receive feedback, but that’s not the case with Durkan Group. They were very open to our ideas, receptive to suggestions, and happy to iterate to deliver a final product that aligned with our asks. 

They put forth significant effort to understand our brand and how we wanted to position ourselves. Each design proposal they submitted was on the mark with our requests, and they listened to us. They were also just very easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Durkan Group could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise developing a clear idea for your brand and how you want to represent yourself in the marketplace. Invest time during the discovery phase to show Durkan Group examples of what you’d like. Be specific when communicating feedback to help them deliver a great final product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute. We are three graduate programs that are interdisciplinary between design, engineering, and business. I’m a digital content manager, and I lead our digital advertising strategy, maintain and curate our website and social media platforms, and develop content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We were refreshing our digital advertising strategy, and a huge part of that was creating some really innovative, interactive, and engaging landing pages. Previously, we had a standard inquiry form, and since we were investing in our new strategy, we wanted our landing pages to demonstrated the innovative nature of our programs and community. Durkan Group created four separate landing pages for our digital ads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We met for an extensive kick-off meeting and collaborated on storyboarding and brainstorming our concept. The sites were built on WordPress; they were innovative and utilized a narrative-style roadmap. Durkan Group implemented some really delightful features that we’d never thought about. Additionally, they established comprehensive tracking tools and guided us through the WordPress CMS so we could make changes and edits as we evolved. This final part was above and beyond our expected level of support. The transition went smoothly; they were prepared every step of the way as they handed over the keys to us. It could have been nerve-wracking, but it was seamless.

One specific feature they developed was a floating, sticky icon. We talked early on in the prototyping process about only wanting forms that encourage people to apply, but we also have a nurturing part of our strategy so people that come to the website are in different places in their user journey. Durkan Group created a floating icon that gives people access to all sorts of materials, including an interactive tool to decide which of our three programs is right for you, as well as information on how to apply. They were great about teaching us how to recycle content, too. The interactive tool was originally a PDF document we provided to them.

What is the team composition?

Sean (Digital Strategist) was our right-hand man and project manager. He made himself available at all hours to offer support. I can’t speak highly enough of him. We also collaborated with Wes (Creative Director), who brought our goals into beautiful, effective visions. He’s very design-oriented and willing to experiment. There was also a development lead that turned the visions into a functional website. Finally, their UI designer and frontend developer supported us.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

We’d researched local agencies, as well as agencies with existing relationships with Carnegie Mellon. There are always contract obligations when working with a large organization like ours so we were hoping to find someone with an existing relationship. After we saw Durkan’s group for our university’s advancement team, we moved forward to contact them for a bid. We were very impressed with their work. Their research, project management method, and resources were clearly the best fit for our time. They set very clear timelines and budgetary expectations as well.

They started off by asking great, relevant, well-researched questions about our goals. At the conclusion of the process, they really understood our goals and had an idea of how to realize them. No other firm came to us with that much confidence and research.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget was $35,000. We’re also maintaining a small retainer plan for hosting and support for $200 a month. There were no surprises with this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching our site, our leads have become more informed about our program, and, thusly, are of higher quality. At our university, we’re focused on quality over quantity, and we’ve seen a lot of direct applicants from the website. Many of our competitors reported a difficult year but our site, in tandem with our current digital advertising strategy, has yielded great results. One of our programs is up by nearly 40%.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The beauty of this project is that I learned a lot from them. Their management style was really helpful and communicative. We met regularly using InVision to make decisions about the prototype, as well as spoke over Slack. InVision allowed our many stakeholders to comment and offer suggestions digitally without having to get down into the trenches of the project.

Our collaboration was smooth; we didn’t have to spend time addressing issues. They were really willing to work with one of our other vendors as far as developing other tracking tools and working on our digital ads. They were excellent collaborators.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very well-versed in our brand without our side having to do a lot of work. We didn’t have to hold their hand at all.

Honestly, most impressive to me was their project management style. It was fast-paced and comprehensive; I felt very involved without feeling overwhelmed by technicalities or decision making. They worked independently and worked hard. If we ever had to change a decision, then they were accommodating and helpful. We grew to trust their process, their judgment, and, ultimately, their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve been thinking about this, and the answer is no. They’re such a pleasure to work with. We’ve started comparing every other vendor to them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be confident in the process and willing to deliver feedback. They’re very accommodating. Keep everyone in the loop that needs to be. If you see an area you could push further in, then push further because they will make it happen.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of a growth equity investment fund.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We felt that our website was outdated, so we engaged Durkan Group to refresh our online presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Durkan Group led us through a lengthy discovery process where we explained our business and our aspirations. We presented all of our old materials and collateral and tasked them with creating a new look. They designed a new logo for us, and we asked them to include specific pages and technical features for our website. We had a general outline of what we wanted the website to be, and we relied on Durkan Group to refine all of our ideas.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with a project manager and an art director.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

We appreciated their work when redesigning a competitor’s website. We considered a few other firms, but we felt the most confidence in Durkan Group.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2018–January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've received a lot of positive feedback from many people outside of our organization. We’re very happy with how the website turned out. We received exactly what we hoped for.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t believe we were the easiest of clients to work with, but Durkan Group did a good job of going with our flow. Niall (President/Founder, Durkan Group) was instrumental in advancing our project and keeping my team on track. We communicated well through a Slack channel, and they were always very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They worked very well as a team. The project manager and the art director stayed in their own lanes, but they made the other person better at the same time. They were committed to making sure that all parts of their team worked well together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Near the end of the project, it was not totally clear where the project ended and where their follow-up services began. That was a little awkward to manage, and it would have been nice if that was more clear. Overall, that’s a relatively minor complication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would strongly recommend working with Durkan Group.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at Sustainable Generation, which sells and services scalable commercial composting systems for all organic waste types and project sizes. We aim to reduce the cost and complexity of composting and meet environmental compliance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We were looking to completely revamp our website with a new look and improved navigation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As part of a complete rebuild, Durkan Group managed web design, development, hosting, and SEO services with an emphasis on creating a top-notch user experience. They also made minor updates to our logo to make it look a bit cleaner and more modern. They were instrumental in fleshing out our ideas and determining the ideal user flow for our audiences. We worked collaboratively to make sure the site is interactive in a way that facilitates deep-dives into the services and products we provide.

They also helped us set up our automated marketing system with SharpSpring. We’re currently using it to track visitors and drive traffic to the site via targeted campaigns.

What is the team composition?

Sean was our project manager, who served as our primary contact. I also worked with the owner in budgeting, planning, and getting the project started.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

I had previously worked with Sean, their current project manager. I was very impressed with his approach and the company’s overall capabilities.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2017, and the site launched in January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our first email marketing campaign with them had a 27% open rate, which increased our site traffic dramatically. From an SEO perspective, our keyword rankings have been consistently improving. We just launched a second campaign yesterday.

As for the updated site, the user experience hits the nail on the head in terms of what we were initially hoping for. We’ve gotten some very good feedback from people in our industry.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I can’t speak highly enough about our project manager, Sean. He also has a great team backing him up. Everyone we’ve worked with has met or surpassed our expectations, and we’re very pleased with the project. They’ve been very responsive and use Slack for consistent communication throughout the engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a few aspects of the project that went longer than expected, but they were upfront and there was always a legitimate reason.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They should do as much as possible internally before approaching Durkan Group. Make sure to fully define the scope of work and have a clear understanding of what you’re looking to accomplish. They can help you refine your ideas, but the more specific information you can provide will ultimately yield a more positive and full experience for your organization.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of strategic marketing at LLR Partners. We are a private equity firm located in Philadelphia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We were looking for a partner to refresh our brand and build us a new website. We wanted the site to be modern from a look and feel perspective, as well as an infrastructure standpoint so we could launch a content marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We looked to them to come up with a more modern look and feel. We didn’t do a complete rebrand in terms of our color scheme and logo. We challenged them with coming up with a new look and structure for communicating who we are and the value that we provide to companies that we invest in.  We provided a number of other websites for reference in terms of things we liked and we didn’t like.

Our industry as a whole is starting to go through a digital evolution. We’re certainly out front with that. For these few sites that have modernized their brands, it was important for us to really look differentiated both from a visual and a messaging and content standpoint. We did most of the writing of the content. We didn’t ask them to recreate our messaging for us, but we did work together on it in the end.

The WordPress site they built features our team and our portfolio of companies. We needed a news section and a page for each of our industry verticals, which is pretty standard for a private equity firm. The really different part and the real challenge of it all was figuring out how to display and drive people to our original content. We were launching a series of original articles that we’re writing with our portfolio company. It’s called GrowthBits, and we wanted that to be featured very heavily on our website because that was really where the differentiation was going to be and where we are able to offer website visitors a lot of value. 

They updated our logo and created a one-page marketing slick for us. They helped us a lot with our images for our social media profiles. They continue to advise us on an SEO strategy for all of the pages on our website. It showed immediate results.

While we didn’t task Durkan Group with recreating our message or brand, they did come up with the “We Grow Companies Every Day” navigation, which became our widely-used tagline and has repeatedly been complimented as an innovative website navigation strategy and excellent addition to our brand.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

They were referred to us through another mutual partner. There are three main reasons we chose Durkan Group. We were very impressed with their creative work. We felt their examples of other client work were very high caliber, but also very diverse. So we didn’t feel like they had one style that they were going to plug us into. They were really going to come up with something unique just for LLR. Secondly, they had the strongest knowledge base on the infrastructure side of things. They were really going to build our website, from a coding standpoint, the right way. It was not only going to do what it needed to do from a navigation and visual standpoint, but it was going to support search engine optimization and usability from a real infrastructure standpoint. Thirdly, we wanted guidance on SEO. SEO is new for us. We’re putting so much effort and so many resources behind all of this content that we’re building, that we wanted our site to support that effort and be built the right way from the start.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $40,000-$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016 and our website went live in April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

These results are the combination of a number of different efforts. We have a strong outbound email marketing and social marketing effort, but having our website as the digital hub of all of this has made a significant difference. So I absolutely attribute it in part to the strength of the work that Durkan Group did. Since it went live, we have had a more than 30% increase in website visits over the same time period from last year. Our Google rankings are up four pages or more. For our top 25 keywords, we’re up by an average of 54 spots or four plus pages towards the top for Google rankings. We have over 27% increase in unique visitors since the website launched compared to the same time period in 2016, which is about May through August. 

Feedback from our industry has been extremely positive, with our contacts at top-tier firms commenting that this is one of the best websites they’ve seen in PE and truly differentiated.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good listeners from the very beginning. That was a really interesting and strong approach for them. They came very well prepared to all of our initial brainstorming sessions and had done a lot of research on other private equity firms’ websites. So they came with a lot of examples to show us to get our feedback. They spent a lot of time asking us questions and really trying to understand what we were looking for and get a sense for our culture and the way we talk about ourselves and who we really are as people and as a firm. Ultimately, in a business like ours, we’re providing capital, but we’re also providing partnership and value creation to these businesses. So it’s so contingent on the quality of our interpersonal relationships with these businesses. They really took the time to understand that and it showed. When they came back with an initial design concept, they got it right from the beginning.

We communicated regularly and they were checking it at all the right stages to get approvals on things and good feedback as they kept moving the project along. This is my first experience interacting with an external agency primarily through Slack. They were really good at that. We always had each other on the line and could constantly shoot quick ideas or questions back and forth. We were always communicating on where things were at.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We got along well right from the start. We communicated well. We had fun doing this project together. They were very dedicated and they hustle. When there were times that I put a deadline on them to get a certain thing done so I could show it to one of my internal stakeholders, they really hustled to deliver things that we were asking for and they delivered them the right way. They make good use of technology.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Once the site went live, we had a really good continuing rapport and constant communication about how the launch went and what kind of unique feedback we were getting and little things we might want to tweak. Now that it’s been up for almost six months, we’re really watching the analytics and deciding what things we might change or tweak to make it an even better user experience and drive even more traffic. From a project management standpoint, we could be a little bit more organized on that front on an ongoing basis since we’re now out of the bulk of the project work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Frontline Education serves the education community with web-based solutions for K-12 organization management. I am a web designer for the marketing department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We just launched a new publication that’s targeted at superintendents and school district admins around the country. Because the print publication is focused around the idea of civil discourse between individuals and organizations with differing views, we needed a website built to accompany the print publication that would elevate the dialogue component and drive engagement through forums and comments.

The publication aims to address that dialogue in the education community and because you can’t really have a conversation across the print medium, we really wanted to bring that to the forefront through the website. We considered doing the work in-house, but we just didn’t have the bandwidth for something like that at the time and we needed to get it done in under two months.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created the website from scratch. We needed page templates for articles, account management sections, a way for people to comment and interact on the site, and we needed a way for publication managers to edit and moderate the community aspect. I led the project management, some of the user experience side, and some ideation stuff, but Durkan really took the project and ran with it. They had a creative director on their side, a backend developer, and a project manager and developer working 40 hours a week on our project alone. They had 3 weeks of dev time to build this site and there are some really cool features that are totally custom-built. They did a killer job.

Medium has a highlight and annotation tool. You can select text and either highlight or annotate on it. Being an education publication, we thought that educators would be familiar with this, so we really wanted to bring that elevated experience to this site and help avoid comment drift. This helps the reader stay focused and factual, which we thought would also help towards our goal of creating civil dialogue. Durkan built this annotation/highlight tool for us. You can actually highlight the text and then share it, or you can comment on highlighted text. That was all custom created by their backend developer.

We brought in Durkan Group and key stakeholders while we were still in the pitch phase, and talked to them about requirements and what we wanted to see. Once we selected Durkan, their creative director/front-end developer, their project manager and I drew up an initial functional requirements document. Once they came to us with that, we got sign-off from stakeholders on our end, and then I had a kick-off meeting with their front-end/creative director. We walked through work flows, etc. and she drew up some wireframes. She presented full-resolution mockups and everything came back exactly how we wanted, and then they just started building.

The site is built on WordPress. There are a few different plugins. Most of the stuff was custom-coded. Aside from the annotation tool, there’s no real new technology stack that we implemented. We did a lot of Marketo integration because we use Marketo for marketing automation, and we were able to tap into our database to automate the verification process for users that are commenting. If you have an account that’s recognized in our database, your comment is automatically verified, skips the moderation queue, and is published immediately. Things like that were pretty cool. We are using mostly admin-based plugins, nothing that really drives the front-end.

They did a little SEO work. We installed the Yoast plugin and that does wonders for SEO. But where they really helped out was with Google Analytics integration. They got us fully set up with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager so every event that can be fired on the website is being tracked, and we’re able to do things based off of what events are happening when. They set up email automation for us on the sign-up process and they also set up an app called Zarget, which is a heat map and scroll depth indicator tool that allows us to A/B test. They’re a very holistic agency. They’re not just design and development. They do the whole gambit of digital marketing.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

I was Googling top digital agencies in Philadelphia, and Durkan has been on the top 10 list for the past 3 or 4 years running. I had never heard of them, but I saw that they were local to us. We’re in Malvern, PA, and they’re literally a 10-minute drive from here. That was a huge plus for us because we knew going into this that we wanted it to be a deeply collaborative process. I could drive over and hash things out as opposed to trying to draw up a virtual meeting and work out logistics there. That was really cool because we were able to meet in person several times, and I think that helped build a trusting relationship. We were able to work collaboratively like we wanted to from the start.

We pitched the project to a few different agencies and Durkan Group seemed to understand what we needed right away. They asked really relevant and smart questions and spoke to us in a way where we knew that they understood the project requirements. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our first kick-off meeting in December 2016, had wireframes around the second week of January, and the site went live in March 2017. We still work with them on a regular basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The print publication went to a small, very targeted audience and the site is still relatively new. As such, we’re still trying to boost traffic. We have around 210 registered users on the site, and we also have people who are exclusively subscribed to email updates or exclusively subscribed to get the print publication via the website. The end result of the site was remarkable. Both the design and functionality speak for themselves. 

​​​​​​How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was flawless. Because they had a project manager on their team and I was managing on our side, there were a lot of checks and balances. They stayed 100% within budget, and deliverables were consistently on time. If there was ever a hiccup, they would let me know immediately. They were totally transparent, and if something wasn’t going to get done, they let me know. As such, we were able to make decisions and pivot based on what needed to be done first. 

What did you find most impressive about Durkan Group?

They’re just so holistically good. They are rock star designers and rock star developers. Their communication skills are awesome. Relationally, they’re a great partner. They really have a strong understanding of the digital marketing space. I can’t say enough good things about them. I haven’t seen many agencies that are on their level and the fact that they’re local made it even better. There’s no other local agency that is on their level, and there’s only a handful of big city Philadelphia agencies that are anywhere near their level. 

Are there any areas Durkan Group could improve?

I think the only thing that’s probably a struggle for them is the size of their team. They have a very small team, but they’re very nimble and very fast. I think they’re growing too, so Niall will probably address that as any business owner would. Sometimes we had to make decisions because there just wasn’t enough bandwidth. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a company that sells used industrial process equipment – things that are used to make chemicals and plastics.

What is your position?

I am the vice president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with the Durkan Group?

We had two separate goals. One was to rebrand our company. We have overseas subsidiaries, and we worked under slightly different names. We wanted to bring them all together under one brand, providing us with a larger brand image in the world while at the same time standardizing our marketing. The other goal was to update our website. The Durkan Group had done the original website some years ago. It was working pretty well, but we thought a little refresher would be a good idea.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

On the branding issue, they did all the things you do when you do branding. We came up with various names with various possible taglines. We were familiar with the process. They came to us with a variety of color schemes and played around with the look and feel of both the logo and the website. We did not have a specific idea in mind. They gave us three very different approaches, some more modern than others. We purposely settled on one that looked a little old-fashioned. They brought us choices and then executed everything—what fonts to use, what colors to use, and things of that nature.

The Durkan Group took that rebranding and updated the website, which also has an online catalog. We have a very large inventory of about 8,000 items, and they reworked the site so it would open faster and incorporate the new image. They carried all that out.

How did you come to work with the Durkan Group?

We carry a very large inventory, which we used to record in Lotus Notes, and the Durkan Group is experts in manipulating Lotus. That's why we began working with them six or seven years ago. We're no longer using Lotus Notes on our website but, at the time, they were clearly the local experts.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 working with the Durkan Group.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is about 98 percent done, so we're almost finished.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

That's a little premature since the project is not quite finished. We went from 0 percent to 60 percent complete only a few months ago. We've had many great comments on the branding, which we adopted earlier in the year. The revised website traffic took a little dip when it first went on. But, that happens, and it's recovering. The website, although it looks different, functions very much like the way the old one did. The various search engine optimization features are not substantially different from in the past. Since that was originally a Durkan website, I didn't expect to see a major uptick. I think the best answer is that everything has been going as expected.

How did the Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The Durkan Group was well organized, and they did a good job of coordinating the work of many subspecialists. My only complaint is that the process has been slow.

What distinguishes the Durkan Group from other providers?

They have a real expertise in handling Lotus, and their SEO person is very good. On the graphics side, I've been very pleased with the branding look and feel. When I first started, the Durkan Group was only one or two people, but the owner has grown his organization through the years to have several full-time resources, and I can really tell the difference in the quality and range of their work.

Is there anything the Durkan Group could have improved or done differently?

No. As I said, my only complaint is about speed. I know these things always take too long, but this one took several months longer than I thought it should have. Nevertheless, the end product is good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a full-service construction company. 

What is your position?

I am the president and Chief Executive Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Durkan Group?

We were looking to increase brand awareness for two of our businesses, a construction company and a real estate company. That's why we partnered with Durkan Group.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

First, Durkan Group built websites for both companies from start to finish. They were involved with the design, development, launch, and maintenance of those sites. They also carried out SEO [Search Engine Optimization] campaigns for both companies and helped us with the purchase of digital media.

How did you come to work with Durkan Group?

They made it to the table for an interview because I saw their work through the Chester County Chamber of Commerce, and was impressed by their product. Their creativity and their competitive pricing is what helped get them the job.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

For one assignment in which we used Durkan Group, we have steadily increased sales through the Internet. In another, we've seen a steady rise of activity with the site and we have been able to heavily record demographic and affinity information.

How did Durkan Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Durkan Group performed very well. We are very happy with their work.

What distinguishes Durkan Group from other providers?

They're small enough that we get very personalized service.

Is there anything Durkan Group could have improved or done differently?

No. We haven't hit any bumps.