Robot Creative - Design and Marketing Weblog

Case Study: Discover UFC® Website Design

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is recognized as the fastest growing sport in the world, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is the world's leading MMA promoter. As much as MMA and the UFC® are growing in popularity, the sport was generally not well understood by fans and potential fans, and the industry lacked a reliable, central source of information.

As the leading promoters of MMA, UFC®’s goal is to become the authority on everything MMA. UFC commissioned ROBOT to develop a website, known as Discover UFC®, that would be an extension of the main UFC® website explaining the background of MMA, the UFC®, the fighters, the rules and more.

While there are a handful of smaller MMA promoters and a variety of websites and blogs discussing MMA news, Discover UFC® is the first attempt to broadly educate the masses on all aspects of MMA. It is the first centralized source of background information on the sport, complete with a searchable glossary, descriptions of skills and fighting styles and introductions to key individuals.

Project Description
Discover UFC® is a sub-section of www.ufc.com that is meant to be an educational resource for new UFC® fans or people that are new to the MMA sport. The site is divided into five main sections – the Fighter, the Sport, the UFC, the Fan and a glossary of terms. The content of these sections introduces the most fundamental information a person new to the sport needs to quickly become familiar with MMA and the UFC®.

• The Fighter section of the site uses videos, examples and history to explain the skills and techniques fighters must perfect and describes the multiple martial arts styles for which the fighters train. It also describes the discipline, endurance, intense training and nutrition required to be a UFC® fighter, with example biographies of real fighters.
• The Sport section covers the different ways a fighter can win, how the weight classes are divided, information about the fighting cage known as The Octagon™, rules and regulations of the sport and a collection of links to the UFC®’s favorite fights. The Weight Classes page contains a full history of title holders for each weight class, presented through an interactive, expandable table.
• The UFC® section provides a history of the organization and introduces key figures, including the executives, commentators and announcers.
• The Fan section encourages further fan engagement by providing links to resources such as pre-event shows, Fan Expos and video games.
• Finally, the glossary defines the moves, phrases and key events to help fans new to the sport get quickly versed in the terminology. In addition to the major sections of the site, a search feature allows visitors to quickly find content anywhere on Discover UFC®.

Visit the website at www.ufc.com/discover.

Results
Success of Discover UFC® as a resource for site visitors can be shown in the statistics since it went live. A total of 42,829 people have visited the Discover UFC® section of the UFC® website since the section went live in May of 2011. Compared to www.ufc.com visitors who did not visit Discover UFC, visitors who did visit Discover UFC stayed on www.ufc.com over 4-and-a-half minutes longer (7:57 compared to 3:17) and visited 3.48 more pages (6.42 pages compared to 2.94) on average. The bounce rate for visitors who viewed Discover UFC was also 59% lower than the bounce rate for visitors who did not (21.02% compared to 51.04%).

Case Study: A Pool of New Customers

Love to Swim and Tumble School provides swim lessons, tumble lessons and parties with one established location in San Antonio and a newer location in Schertz. The goal of this initiative was to drive new enrollment at their Schertz location.

Challenge: Develop a Selling Idea
For this deal to be the most effective, buyers needed to get hooked with the deal and then be converted into year-round enrolled students. One lesson might have done the trick, but Love to Swim and Tumble School felt confident that after a full month of lessons, buyers would love the program and remain enrolled. The offer was crafted for one month of swim lessons at half price, with a waived registration fee. To prevent a crash in revenue due to regular customers cashing in on the offer, the deal was limited to new customers and was only valid at the Schertz location. We didn't want the regulars to feel excluded, so the deal included an offer to benefit them as well. They were able to purchase the deal as a gift and receive referral bucks.

Keep The New Customers Coming Back
Once the Groupons were purchased, it was time for the real work to begin. These deal customers weren't just any customers - they were new prospective year-round customers that needed to be tracked as sales leads. With over 1,200 students in and out the door each week, tracking them would be no easy feat. The school set up their software to alert staff when a Groupon customer checked in for their last lesson and to prompt them to ask about the customer's experience and whether or not they wanted to remain enrolled in swim lessons. In less than 2 steps and 1 minute, the customer's enrollment was continued.

Results
Love to Swim and Tumble School sold a total of 295 Groupons, and has had approximately 141 redemptions so far. "Groupon was a great way to reach a large audience and to get new people through the door. Now it's our job to impress these people and get them to remain enrolled after the one-month deal is over", said Carra Millikien, General Manager of the Schertz Location. It looks like they're off to a great start! Of the new customers obtained through Groupon, 94 have already completed their free month and 60 of these have decided to remain enrolled.

Case Study: Winter Swimmer Retention Campaign

Love to Swim and Tumble School offers year-round indoor swimming lessons, but during winter months, enrollment is typically lower than during summer months. Students weren't sticking to their lessons throughout the year. Continuity of lessons is critical for the child's progress, so to keep children and parents excited about swimming year-round, we helped the school develop initiatives to promote swimming during the winter months and reward students who "stay in school".

Identifying the Problem
We started this effort with a customer lifecycle map, which helped us determine that fewer new customers enroll and many existing customers start to cancel lessons in August when the school-year begins. By examining reasons for cancellation, we found that parents don't want to worry about getting their children to swim lessons on top of all the other activities that begin with the school-year. This meant our task was to remind parents of the importance of staying in swim lessons continuously in order to improve their children's safety in the water and help them become masterful swimmers.

To begin spreading the message that students should stay in swim school year-round, we identified key touchpoints where the school should communicate with existing customers and prospects.

Prospect Campaign
First, we developed a lead strategy to get new customers in the door. In the Fall newsletter, which is mailed to prospects in the geographic area, the main article was titled "Swim School and Grade School Go Hand in Hand" and it highlighted the various ways students benefit from swim lessons and how this can positively affect their schoolwork. We continued the theme throughout all sections of the 4-page newsletter and added a special offer for a free first lesson upon registration.

Customer Retention Strategy
As a customer retention strategy, we created the "Undawata Club" for students to join free of charge, with a goal to promote year-round swimming in a way that excites the students and makes them want to remain enrolled in lessons. Students just have to opt in to the club to become a member. Upon joining the Undawata Club, students sign a membership card with a "credo" that speaks to the determination and tenacity required of a year-round swimmer. Members enjoy monthly giveaways, an Undawata Club t-shirt and a fun and family-friendly party in February. The Members' names and pictures are also posted prominently to help create buzz. The giveaways are branded school supplies, so Love to Swim and Tumble School even benefits from the visibility when students use the items at school.

Results
In the 2010-2011 winter months, overall swim enrollment increased by 64% over the previous year, and 18% of those swimmers participated in the Undawata Club. Love to Swim and Tumble School is happy with results and plans to continue the program next year. Buzz and excitement around the program should ensure higher participation going forward, as the club becomes a well known winter activity for the school's students.

Laying the Path for More Web Traffic

Background
Terramano is a family owned business that manufactures and sells authentic handmade terracotta and saltillo tile. To increase sales through the internet, Terramano wanted to focus on improving organic search results and Google AdWords campaigns.

Key Challenges

• Content - Terramano's site was built with a template site editor and looked nice, but it only contained basic information on the company and was not written to what the customer wants or needs. There were no clear product descriptions, few keywords, and the navigation did not clearly indicate the information to be found on each page.
• Tracking - The site editor allowed for only minimal tracking that showed the number of visits per day. We were unable to see statistics regarding entrance and exit pages, geographic location, sources of traffic, and the time visitors spent on site. If we were going to evaluate the quality of traffic, we would need to put detailed tracking in place to measure the performance of the site.
• Keyword Differentiation - Terramano was unsure which keywords people used most when searching for their products out of the many variations, i.e. mexican tile, terracotta, saltillo, clay tile, etc.

Strategy

• Keyword Development - Extensive keyword research determined which search terms Terramano should focus on. For example, "terracotta tile" and "mexican tile" are searched far more often than "saltillo tile".
• Content Development and Website Restructure - We restructured the site and navigation to be more user-friendly and intuitive, developing content for the Home and Products pages that better explains the different types of tile and available colors, sizes and finishes. Also included in site changes were new photographs with descriptive file names and image tags containing keywords and information about geographic areas served, since Terramano's products are sold throughout the US and Mexico. 
• Tracking Installation - Moving the site out of the content management system allowed for more sophisticated tracking. We took this opportunity to clean up the code and install Google Analytics, which provides detailed information on site visits, including traffic from Google AdWords.
• Link Strategy - We developed a link strategy for Terramano that included recommendations for industry trade groups and organizations they may want to join.
• AdWords Campaign Restructure - Keyword lists in Terramano's account were expanded based on research and the campaigns were reorganized. One set of ads now targets users looking for tile floors in general, and another set targets users searching specifically for terracotta or clay tile. Conversion tracking also measures which keywords and ads result in contact form submissions.

Results
Since February, Terramano has climbed in organic rankings for all of their keywords, and is on the first page for many. They are now getting visits from serious prospective clients and receive several form submissions every week. Organic search traffic for August compared to March increased by 70.1%, and has been steadily climbing month by month.

For pay per click search engine traffic, the number of site visits has increased by 150% due to more effective ad wording, which improved the average click through rate from 0.55% to 10%. The quality of these leads has improved as well, demonstrated by a 12% decrease in the average bounce rate. Terramano continues to climb in rankings and looks forward to selling their unique products to a more targeted audience.    

Search Engine Rankings*

* Search engine rankings change often. These results are from August 25, 2010 and show rankings for searches within the San Antonio area.

 

Securing a Web Presence

Background
ThreadStrong is a self-paced, e-Learning solution, designed by Denim Group experts, to help developers understand and apply the principles of secure application development. ROBOT built the ThreadStrong website as a multi-purpose site: 1) as a sales tool/online brochure to which Denim Group could direct leads to more information about the product, and 2) as a front-door for prospects looking for application security training. ROBOT built the site to be search engine-friendly from the start, so we employed much of the SEO strategy during the site development.

Challenges

• Search Terms - Both "e-Learning" and "application security" go by many different names (i.e. virtual training, computer-based training, software security, etc).
• Competition - ThreadStrong has several direct and indirect competitors on a national and international level.

Strategy

• Keyword Development - Keyword research determined which phrases and keyword variations were used most often in searches. Because broader terms, such as "application security training", were the most popular, and very few people actually search for "e-Learning", we decided to focus our efforts on addressing the broader need of application security training. 
• Content Development - Keyword research also helped shape the site structure during development. Messaging focuses on why e-Learning was an important component of an overall training program. Goal keywords were also incorporated into the site content, including page headers and image tags. 
• Link Strategy - ROBOT developed and implemented a link strategy, which included an industry-targeted social media approach specific to ThreadStrong. Denim Group principals are heavily involved in the application security industry and are active social media participants. Denim Group experts reached out to other industry experts through blogs and other social media to get links back to the ThreadStrong website.
• Google AdWords Setup - ROBOT set up a campaign within Denim Group's AdWords account to drive immediate traffic while waiting for search engines to organically index the site (which can usually take up to 90 days).

Results
Threadstrong is being found for over 200 search phrases including "application security training", "secure coding in .net" and "secure software training courses". Search engine traffic in the past 3 months increased by 55% from the same 3 months last year, with visitors from 22 countries around the world.

Revved-Up Identity: Sierra Motors Identity

Sierra Motors sells and finances vehicles for customers with challenged or no credit. What makes Sierra Motors stand apart is their ability to provide the necessary financing quickly. They wanted to appear less like your local corner financing car lot and more like a polished, professional financing company to compete with larger national chains.

Visual Speed
Sierra Motors was already using red and black with black and white checkers. We wanted to create a more unique corporate logo and a more cohesive brand. Since Sierra Motors provides such speedy transactions and financing, 
a speedway theme was the logical choice. The iconic black and white checkered flag was incorporated into the new logo, as well as bold red and warm yellow italicized type reminiscent of the numbers you see on the side of race cars.

Swift Messaging
To have genuinely cohesive branding, identity must also carry into writing. Since the name Sierra Motors doesn't directly communicate the product to customers, a new tagline, "Financing You to the Finish Line", was developed to tie the core service offering in with the speedway theme. This tagline also speaks to the credit challenged, portraying the need for financing in a positive manner. 

The Race Goes On
We didn't stop there - ROBOT continues to work on revving up the Sierra Motors brand. We are developing a number of visual products to be used in their locations, such as finish lines and speedway graphics. We also remain focused on their written identity, (think winner's circle and pit crew passes). Keep an eye out for a new and improved Sierra Motors location near you!

Love to Swim and Tumble School Rebranded

Love to Swim and Tumble School already had a ton of professional materials, as well as a mix of items created in-house, in circulation but their brand was inconsistent. Although the materials were professional and functional, something was missing. Their brand was not carried throughout all collateral. Some materials still had an older version of their logo and the color schemes varied widely. 

We immediately decided that playing up the "love" from their name was the direction to take. (Once we learned that owner and founder Mary Reilly-Magee's birthday is on Valentine's Day, there was no turning back.) The possibilities for incorporating "love" and the heart from their logo in other ways were endless:

• We transformed their monthly newsletter into the "Heartbeat"  
• Notes of appreciation for the coaches became "Love Notes"
• The referral program is now "Share the Love" 
• Loyalty money became "Love Bucks"

To ensure their new branding is used consistently, style guidelines were created for color schemes, backgrounds, photos, fonts and illustrations, and we created templates for in-house documenting printing and emails.    

The branding process for this client is now lovingly referred to as "Loving it Up", and we're only getting started. Look for a new brochure and other materials in the near future! 

Arrowall Website Redesign - A ROBOT Original Gets A Makeover

We recently updated a site that we originally developed in 2003 for Arrowall Co., a provider of quality glass wall system design, manufacturing and installation for large buildings and sky scrapers. For the last 6 years, Arrowall's online portfolio has served them well, but it was time for a more comprehensive sales tool that would address their differentiators and a gallery that would easily expand to include recent projects.

Updated Look and Functionality
By featuring architectural renderings of a new project on the homepage and in the background, ROBOT refreshed the overall look and feel of the site. A new project portfolio with subtle movement and image transitions highlights the projects more effectively than the original website and allows for expansion as new projects are completed. The content also includes more detailed information about Arrowall's services, approach and company history. The sales staff says the new site has made their jobs much easier.

Initial Feedback
Arrowall has received numerous compliments on their new site from both employees and clients. "I think our new website really speaks to what we're doing now. It's far more modern looking and shows how much we've progressed", said Jeff Holcombe of Arrowall.

Check out the new Arrowall site and compare it to the original.

"Robot's process made this very easy for me. I am not well-versed in website development, and they made it a point to spell everything out for me and walk me through each step. They made sure that, as a novice, I understood where the project was at all times. With Robot, I never felt like I was waiting on them - they were always waiting on me! It was a nice change to be prompted instead of doing the prompting." - Jeff Holcombe of Arrowall

Logo Development - Wild Shadow Studios

by Andrew Watson

The ROBOT team recently took a trip on the wild side and completed a logo design for Wild Shadow Studios - an indie online gaming development company. We've worked with many technology companies through the years, but this was a bit different of an angle for us. These guys make video games! 

Rob and Alex of Wild Shadow Studios already had a very descriptive name and really wanted to capture that spirit in their logo. After numerous brainstorms of imagery you normally would avoid for other industries - weaponry, undead creatures, flames, fangs, etc. We arrived at what we feel was a perfect embodiment and balance in mark and type.

This certainly was a memorable logo to work on and we absolutely love being able to add this new one to our portfolio. Some people think our jobs are all fun and games...this time it was!

Audio Visual Aids - A New Website for New Audiences

When Audio Visual Aids decided to use the internet to approach two new audiences, ROBOT designed a marketing site that would address the new groups without alienating the original audience and would also integrate with an existing product catalog.

New Audiences Require New Messaging
Throughout most of the company's history, Audio Visual Aids has focused on marketing to the Education industry as an authorized government vendor. The website use was limited to customers shopping through an online catalog. Orders are typically for individual pieces of equipment and replacement items.  Audio Visual Aids is now targeting commercial and government customers who need consulting on full A/V solutions, so it was crucial that the website communicate to the needs of to a broader audience.

ROBOT began by researching Audio Visual Aids' different target audiences and profiling their needs. We found that business customers are looking to connect with vendors and clients, so they need specific applications such as video conferencing systems, presentation systems and network integration. Government clients are concerned about cost and security of their vendors. ROBOT designed the homepage to clearly address these audiences, as well as the original education audience, allowing visitors to quickly navigate through information pertinent to them.

Catalog Integration with the New Site
Because Audio Visual Aids still serves education clients, this group's need to easily access the online catalog could not be overlooked. Working closely with the existing catalog provider to integrate the catalog with the rest of the new marketing site, ROBOT applied new graphic styling to the header and background of the catalog and updated the navigation. This cost-effective solution allowed Audio Visual Aids to continue their working relationship with an established and dependable vendor.

Initial Results
In the first month after the site went live, average pageviews per visit increased by 23.9% and the bounce rate decreased by 28.0%. The improved navigation and usability of the site also helped increase the site's ranking with Google, and traffic from Google's search engine increased by 57.2% in the first month.

"We've had nothing but positive comments about the new site since it went live," said Chris Thompson of Audio Visual Aids. "It looks a lot more professional and really communicates our consulting services to our customers more clearly."

Visit AudioVisualAids.com Now >>