Comrade Digital Marketing Agency

About This Project

Blackhawk supply company expertise ranges across plumbing, electrical and HVAC and a variety of controls (actuators, sensors, and displays), and is a licensed dealer for 15 major players, including Johnson Controls and Siemens. Chicago-based, the company’s founders have grown a loyal clientele over 3 decades, and has rapidly expanded nationwide.

Challenges

Started in 2015, Blackhawk has to overcome its newcomer status. Though the company was started only 3 years ago, Blackhawk’s team has been solidly building a reputation in the manufacture of HVAC Controls for 30+ years. Blackhawk Supply needed online branding to demonstrate their markedly superior customer service.

Solutions

CWA devised a new presentation for the company’s customer-first logic; and created page-flows and content that nurtures clients through product research & comparison, smart-search with visual filters and online purchasing. We used clean, organized design and leveraged technology tools that maximize customers’ positive experiences and interactions with the company.

To achieve higher conversion we also installed user manuals and how-to videos that truly help users, as well as easy-to-use communication tools: forms, emails, live chat, FAQs, line cards, catalogs return tool and phone support.

About This Project

Vesta Preferred is a Chicago-based real estate company specializing in luxury properties in some of Chicago’s most sought-after and vibrant neighborhoods. After consulting with Comrade, a strategy was set in motion to help expand Vesta’s digital footprint through a revamped web presence and lead generating campaigns.

Challenges

Vesta required a website that would serve as a platform for visitors and potential customers to rent apartments, buy homes, or sell properties, all through an easy-to-navigate process with efficient filter functions for an optimal experience.Vesta desired to become a thought-leader within their industry, looking to help anyone seeking a new home. Their new website and branding needed to accomplish this.

Solutions

CWA rebranded Vesta Preferred, developing a modernized website with a reliable search feature. The easy-to-use website allows users to browse through properties in real-time, including viewing inventory, property details, draw comparisons, and schedule an appointment if need be. Additionally, CWA placed various lead magnets to increase user interaction. A very robust admin portal was custom developed for Vesta’s team to help manage and control all aspects of their site and it’s listings. A special attention was given to a mobile experience recognizing that 70%+ of Vesta visitors are viewing the website from their mobile devices.

About This Project

Florida-based company Boat.me offers a unique platform where boat owners can sign up to offer their boats (with or without captain) on an hourly or daily basis for leisurely use. Owners may host or simply rent out their boats for trips. Alternatively, if a renter is interested in borrowing a boat, they can enter their preferences and location and be matched with boats in their area.

Challenges

Boat.Me required a website that would allow them easy access to their boating “inventory” in real time. Owners had a need for an area on the website where they could make updates on their boats such as availability. This was asked to be housed in an attractive, fun looking website that was easy-to-use.

Solutions

CWA created a sleek, interactive website that help Boat.me run their business efficiently. A website included an easy-to-use interface for members, one-time renters, and boat owners. The company’s platform offers an easy, streamlined experience for all users.

About This Project

PneuTech is an offshoot of Illinois-based compressed air products distributor FluidAire Dynamics. PneuTech is a global brand for compressed air products and solutions. The project objective was to create a website displaying products across their 4 global regions.

Challenges

PneuTech products vary from region to region, meaning we needed to create a dynamic database that would change depending on the region selected. This included photos, descriptions, spec sheets, and applicable forms. Another challenge was creating a site that was modern and visually clean, something the vast majority of industrial sites severely lack.

Solutions

The website showcases a “region selector” feature, allowing users (in this case, distributors) to choose their appropriate region. By doing this, they are able to see products available in their chosen region as well as item specs.

The site itself was designed with the intended user in mind—distributors for air compressor products, parts, and related items. The design and layout are clean and straightforward, allowing ease of use and navigation.

About This Project

Azimuth is a Chicago-based human resource consulting company specializing in matching local industrial and manufacturing companies with talent. The company is a subsidiary of a larger parent company with a 40-year history.

45% TRAFFIC INCREASE

52% FORM SUBMISSIONS INCREASE

Challenges

As a growing company, Azimuth needed a website that would compliment their dynamic business model and properly position them among both potential candidates and clients.

Azimuth partnered up with Comrade to design and develop a new website to help them better convey their message and allow them a means of operating more efficiently online.

Solutions

The end result was a very operational website that could be utilized to properly engage both employers and potential candidates with Azimuth’s services. The information architecture on the site helps distinguish the services provided for both audiences. As a part of our solution, CWA developed a custom portal for Azimuth and its clients, allowing to filter and match candidates with staffing opportunities.

About This Project

Located in Danville, California, Barr & Young is a legal firm specializing in trust litigation, securities litigation, elder abuse litigation, and trust and estate administration. As a client of CWA for over 4 years, we have not only helped them redesign their site and keep it up to date with best practices, but have gained impressive marketing results. 650%MONTHLY LEADS INCREASE and 350%CONVERSION RATE INCREASE

Challenges

Barr & Young Attorneys faced a sea of competition. Their website had neither a clear delineation of services, nor any strong messages that connected with prospective clients. The small amount of web traffic they had enjoyed was being quickly depleted due to lack of SEO strategy. On top of that, the firm faced a growing decrease in overall lead flow and needed to revamp their strategies immediately to reverse this.

Solutions

In order to bring Barr & Young up to date alongside their competition, CWA created a complete rebranding from the firm: a new logo, color palette, and WSJ-style illustrations for gravitas. Their website was completely redesigned and new content was added. CWA continuously applies best practices, making adjustments and changes to the site when necessary to help improve Barr & Young’s conversion rate and lead generation.

Long-term SEO practices were executed to help the firm begin ranking for the appropriate keywords and phrases, including the creation of new landing pages, blogs, and fresh onsite content. Additionally, CWA launched and actively manages various PPC campaigns to begin generating new leads.

About This Project

J‑Power USA is a subsidiary of international power company J‑POWER (EPDC), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For over 60 years, J‑Power has remained one of the leading international names in power generation and sustainability. In the USA alone, the company operates 11 facilities across the country. J‑Power USA is known for both their work in optimizing energy usage and efforts in minimizing environmental impact. J‑Power is also a publicly traded company.

Challenges

As a public company, J‑Power USA needed to have a new website designed and developed to serve multiple stakeholders, including potential clients, employees, investors, and the communities in which they operate out of. It was important to remain true to the J‑Power’s branding and culture in accordance with their Japanese parent company’s guidelines, all while providing a modernized look to the site and to their visual assets.

Solutions

Comrade developed a strategy to create a website that would serve multiple audiences. Firstly, CWA created a new logo for the company that was both sleek and modern while still staying true to the roots of the J‑Power brand. As a whole, the website was given a modern facelift, complete with powerful new visual and written content. The new site layout allows for optimal navigation as well as streamlined storytelling of J‑Power USA’s history. This rebranding was coupled with completely new brand assets, including posters, trade displays, presentations, stationery letterhead, business cards and more.

About This Project

Vantec Hitachi Transport System (USA), Inc. is a subsidiary company of multinational powerhouse Hitachi, located in Tokyo, Japan. This division of Hitachi focuses on and specializes in logistics and transportation. They approached us with a request to revamp their website, which needed a stand-alone presence amongst its fellow company sites. This meant rebranding their entire USA logistics division.

Challenges

As a company with a history spanning over 100 years, it was important for a company to have a unique representation that would both respect the longevity of the Hitachi brand while still applying modern practices and visuals.

Solutions

The site was built with adaptability in mind, allowing back-end users the ability to customize and edit the majority of the site as needed. We worked closely with their corporate offices in Japan and adhered to their brand guidelines, to ensure that even though this site was unique compared to other company sites, it would remain consistent with the cultural and visual values of Hitachi.

About This Project

National Lift Truck, Inc. is an Illinois-based company that is both family-owned and operated. For over 60 years, NLT has provided new and used lift equipment, both for sale and rent, and has become well known within their industry for their superior sense of customer service and quality goods.

Challenges

NLT required a robust website capable of pulling and housing hundreds of products across multiple sources and platforms. The site needed to provide a quick and easy way to access various products and categories as well as request a quote for an individual item.

Solutions

CWA developed a web portal that allows users and potential customers to browse and filter their searches based on category, application, and other criteria from the company. The site’s design also reinforces NLT’s brand: 60 plus years of honest reputation and superior customer service. Of the different functionalities implemented, the most dynamic was creating an inventory tool that would sync with third party databases in real time to help keep the company’s inventory and flow of product unified.

About This Project

Comrade was brought in to develop an energetic and visually stunning website that stimulate business owners’ interest in renting available work spaces in an energizing atmosphere on Chicago’s southwest side, straddling the South Branch of the Chicago River on the border of the Bridgeport and McKinley Park neighborhoods.

Project Description

The newly-rebranded (and affectionately dubbed): “36Squared” classic structure has been beautifully maintained, with its doors freshly opened to the new generation of small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs.

Web page layouts by Comrade feature brick and timber lofts with high ceilings and large windows that provide lots of natural light. Comrade helped develop visual and textual content to attract, invite and inspire a mixture of business owners who will make 36Squared the place they call their “business home community”.

Project Challenges

Because a modern brand identity was missing, Comrade’s creative and technical teams had to devise ways to clearly represent 36Squared as a community within a neighborhood. Through dialogue with project stakeholders, Comrade helped create a strong positioning statement that answered the “Why rent at 36Squared?” question. Sorely lacking in the old website was vivid imagery (static and motion-oriented) that revealed the building’s charm and unique qualities. Comrade insisted on new photos and videos to show-and-tell the 36Squared story.

Project Solution

Comrade showcased the many reasons – in newly written text and custom visuals – that prospective tenants should invest their futures in our client’s building. Comrade art-directed photo and video shoots to ensure high-quality images and clips would be easily accessible throughout the website. We had our client engage their current tenants to contribute (written and video) testimonials and provide positive reviews of their experiences working in the building in an effort aimed at helping future tenants understand if they will “fit in” to the carefully curated building’s eco-system community.

Our client benefits from:

• Easily-replicable individual space listings with images, floorplans, descriptions and specs
• Listings that a property manager can create, modify or delete in minutes
• A simple-to-update Events section
• A CRM-integrated contact form that automatically forwards emailed inquiries

About This Project

This solo practitioner needed to increase online credibility to generate real leads. The old site lacked clear Calls-to-Action and did not convey Attorney Daniel D. Hinich’s 25+ years of skillful trial success on behalf of his clients. Missing was both a clear delineation of services and his value proposition as the “go-to” criminal defense attorney in & around Homewood, Markham, Bridgeview and Joliet, IL.

Project Challenges

Though the original site had been online for years, no SEO tagging or optimization had been built. Comrade wrote fresh text, placed high-fidelity photos, and included actual client reviews. We standardized the Case Victories page with attention-grabbing headlines, representative images and critical information about results achieved (Not Guilty, Probation, Dismissed, Reduced).

Project Solution

Comrade provided strategic onsite content adjustments based upon a deep SEO audit. We assigned a hierarchy to those services that produce the largest revenue. Next, we implemented foundational SEO and high-quality backlinks; then installed analytic tools to collect actual site visitors’ data. Over time, we refined content funnels resulting in a higher conversion rate: (ie; more calls and emails to Attorney Hinich).By introducing a mixture of paid ads and social media marketing, Comrade is seeing which channels produce the greatest results.

About This Project

As a strategic growth partner for Precision Stone Design (PSD), Comrade has helped uplift the brand image and increase demand for its products.

Challenges

The company needed a boost in sales. Before partnering with Comrade, Precision Stone Design had an outdated brand image and poor-performing web presence. Few consumers found the company’s website and, of those who found it, did not see PSD as the leader in countertop fabrication.

Solutions

New, modern branding, coupled with one of the best-in-class websites, matched with high-performance search engine optimization(SEO), content marketing, and PPC campaigns.

Marketing Results

Within six weeks of launching the new website, the following results were reported:

• 11.29% Organic traffic is up double digits across all channels
• 21.3% Sales calls and inquiries are up by a huge margin across all channels
• 13.43% Cost per lead is down
• Sales growth results are kept confidential

21.3% SALES CALLS AND INQUIRIES ARE UP BY A HUGE MARGIN ACROSS ALL CHANNELS

13.43% COST PER LEAD IS DOWN

11.29% ORGANIC TRAFFIC IS UP DOUBLE DIGITS ACROSS ALL CHANNELS

About This Project

Chicago Motor Coach provides charter bus services to groups throughout Chicagoland. With 32 years of combined experience, they are the Chicagoland area’s most referred transportation group.

They offer a variety of group transportation services including airport bus shuttles, special events charters, and long distance trips.

Project Challenges

Chicago Motor Coach approached us in looking for a holistic marketing strategy that would get their phone ringing with customer calls. They wanted to stand out from the crowded group transportation market by leveraging their vast experience in the charter bus industry.

Project Results

• Redesign website, develop a buyer’s journey and create necessary Calls-to-Action to convert website traffic into leads
• Grow organic traffic 21% through local search optimization. 47% of leads now come from organic search traffic
• Increase prospect calls by 98% and website leads by 125%
• Set up pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. As a result, their leads grew by 110% since the campaign launch
• Add 600% more content to website to augment search and conversion efforts
• Use call tracking and web analytics to measure conversions

About This Project

The majority of countertop companies, in an attempt to attract more customers, resort to the tactic of advertising themselves as the cheapest company in the area. When we partnered with Granite Selection, formerly known as paylessforgranite.com, we wanted to shed that identity and become known as the company with the largest selection of stones, highest quality of customer service, most advanced technologies, fast and professional installations AND competitive pricing. Located in Elk Grove Village, IL, Granite Selection specializes in the distribution, design, fabrication and installation of custom natural stone countertops, vanities, shower walls and more. By partnering with us, they were able to change their corporate image from lowest price to affordable luxury.

Project Goals

• Establishing a new brand
• Making the site mobile responsive
• Creating interactive tools like a custom 30-second Quick Quote calculator, kitchen visualizer tool, and stone selector
• We also established a helpful blog with design ideas, care tips, and guidance for finding the right stone type for you
• Created “Recent Projects” section

Marketing Result

• For SEO, we established over 100 backlinks within industry-specific platforms, blogs, and directories.
• We created a sophisticated SEO architecture with cross-linking.
• Through our work with PPC we improved the conversion rate by 122% (while overall conversion rate was at 165%)
• We also reduced the adWords budget by 85%.

+ 165% INCREASED NUMBER OF ONLINE LEADS

+ 270% INCREASED LOCAL SEO TRAFFIC

About This Project

Comrade Web Agency was hired to disrupt the well-established HR space in which 83% of executives indicate an increasing use of contingent workers. No small task. We devised the innovative Lyghtning portal to function as a cornerstone in our new “Gig Economy”.

Our unique algorithm matches Independent Consultants with Client Organizations through efficient self-serve technology that delivers project-based work engagements. Accurate connections are driven by data, while accountability is assured via a dual rating system. Working collaboratively with our Client, we strategized multiple functionalities through a rigorous brainstorming process which produced a blueprint for multiple future staged releases.

The website features various user tiers: contractors, companies and our client as the administrator. Our designers added a pitch deck to the deliverables to help our Client raise money for “Series A Round“ investment from venture capitalists.

About This Project

This Magento hosting company works closely with companies’ development teams to ensure fast, secure eCommerce hosted websites.

Project Challenges

The previous website, while visually attractive, did not drive any conversions. Content focused on hosting features instead of Jetrails’ custom technologies and one-on-one consulting to assist companies in achieving their business objectives.

They also lacked social proof, such as case studies and testimonials to prove their position as the best choice for hosting Magento-programmed eCommerce websites.

Project Solutions

• Leverage knowledge of Buyer Personas to create content that moves prospects on the best paths to become new clients
• Craft prominent Calls-to-action geared at generating interactions with their target audience members
• Add testimonials, case studies, and statistics that demonstrate Jetrails’ commitment to excellence
• Design easy-to-use interface for developers and project managers

About This Project

The NYVapeShop.com team manufactures and sells a wide array of high-quality vape products, which are backed by amazing customer support and very competitive prices. With no marketing, the company was stalled. Before meeting Comrade Web Agency, their website suffered from a generic template appearance with limited WordPress eCommerce functionality. Though the company was generating some online sales, most trickled in through email and individual referrals. They were not growing their brand’s digital footprint, or distinguishing themselves from the competition. Comrade Web Agency was hired to dramatically improve performance, significantly increase targeted traffic to the site, and triple sales within one year – all while staying within a limited marketing budget.

Strategy  & Consulting

CWA’s marketing team began with strategic thinking and collaborative whiteboard sessions that materialized in an Action plan. We evaluated all existing marketing channels and shifted our client’s concentration to experienced buyers. To reduce expense for our Client, we recommended earning organic traffic instead of purchasing ads. We minimized email marketing and eliminated the use of coupon and referral sites which attract customers seeking cheap products – not necessarily the best (ex: Retail Me Not). Next, we design and built the most user-friendly website in the industry, and continue concentrating on SEO tactics and working directly with influencer bloggers.

Search Engine Optimization

CWA’s marketing team created and continue to execute a strategy that encompasses out-of-the-box onsite SEO, content marketing and linkbuilding. Our Client has already collected 100+ high-quality backlinks from industry-related websites and popular blogs.

Results After 12 Months

We transformed the site from its limited WordPress functionality to a more professional and feature-rich Magento platform. This change gave our Client access to all necessary business tools for eCommerce. We completely re-designed the website based upon a “sales funnel” approach that pulls visitors through the purchase process. We integrated an automated solution that collects real reviews from customers, which has netted nearly 400 positive (real) reviews in a short amount of time, with an average 4.5 star rating. We also created an email contest to generate buzz; and enable NY Vape Shop’s buyer community to win free products, which, in turn, spurs additional site activity and more purchases!

+ 64 % INCREASE IN WEBSITE CONVERSION RATE

+ 152 % INCREASE IN SALES FROM SEO

400 + REVIEWS COLLECTED AND LEVERAGED

About This Project

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is the leading research, development and training organization addressing energy and environmental challenges to enable a secure, abundant, and affordable energy future.

By developing technology-based solutions for industry, government, and consumers, GTI has delivered measurable economic value to the natural gas industry and energy markets for decades. To honor GTI’s contributions and celebrate 75 years of critical research initiatives, products, licenses, and patented technologies, CWA was hired to craft a one-of-a-kind, visually stunning, interactive timeline.

CWA worked closely with our client’s team to hand-select critical milestones for a highly-engaging, site visitor directed long-page, scroll approach which maximizes usability on smartphones and other mobile devices. We created GTI’s decade-by-decade Timeline in a tight timeframe to coincide with their annual organization-wide event.

About This Project

Velvetech is a custom software development shop that provides robust technology solutions for established enterprise companies as well as growing startups & SMBs (Small & Medium-sized Businesses). They provide technology solutions ranging across software development, mobile & web apps, and IT services that deliver proven results.

Project Challenges

Velvetech’s previous website focused on features versus results. Plus, it had too many elements which diverted visitors away from calls-to-action that led to conversions. Additionally, they needed more content to compete for search traffic in order to drive and close more leads through their website.

Project Solutions

• Clarify customer path to improve conversions from search and direct traffic
• Reinvigorate lead generation with targeted PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, and Facebook
• Expand the content by leaps and bound, which lead to a growth in search traffic by 122.75% over six months
• Quintuple ROI (Return On Investment) for organic search in only six months
• Optimize paid and organic lead generation process, which drove a 23.53% conversion rate on organic traffic and 10.91% on paid traffic

About This Project

Classic Landscapes, Ltd. is a family business founded in 1964. They grew the company from a single truck and crew to a full landscaping, operation with three plant nurseries to supply local, high-quality trees and shrubs for all their commercial projects.

Project Challenges

The challenge appeared when the owners recognized that word-of-mouth, while powerful, doesn’t reach enough young business owners. Many of them use the internet to find the best landscaping company.

While Classic Landscapes has an amazing portfolio of projects, they needed an effective approach for displaying each, online. Part of the challenge was their old website did not convey the level of professionalism and expertise they had.

Project Solutions

• Employed SEO/Digital Marketing to reach young business owners when they search online for Classic Landscape’s services
• Designed an easy-to-use color-coded portfolio with high-fidelity images of various projects, segmented by size and type: Hardscape, Construction Landscape & Commercial + Maintenance & Snow Removal
• Create modern mobile responsive website to showcase the company’s services and coverage area
• Showcase the Classic Landscape story

About This Project

Albion Residential acquires, develops, and operates luxury rental apartments throughout the Midwest. Their talented team cultivates an atmosphere in all its properties for people to live, to work, to play, to entertain, to relax, to be.

Comrade Web Agency was brought on board to translate their brand into an aesthetically stunning website that would accurately depict the company’s culture while providing an adequate platform for users to browse properties.

The end result was a clean, mobile-responsive, and highly-efficient website that focused prospective renters’ attention on each project’s highlights—from architectural design through unit amenities and proximity to important lifestyle conveniences such as grocery stores, theaters, retail shopping, etc.

About This Project

Comrade was given the opportunity to work with RNF, a company specializing in customized and elegant stairs and rails.

With this site, we opted for a simple, straightforward design. Fully customizable, the site features various blocks which can be edited by the client. Ease of navigation and an improved functionality allows the site to serve as both an informational hub for the company as well as full product catalog. This hybrid makes for a unique selling tool the company can now utilize when interacting with customers.

About This Project

Peter Symovonyk founded Signature Metal Works (SMW) in 2008 to combine his love of metal fabrication with art photography. Customers use his custom metal work designs for stairway rails, window guards, balconies, and commercial projects.

Peter is a third-generation welder, and now the fourth generation joined him in this family business.

Project Challenges

While SMW does beautiful work, the previous website did not convey the beauty and brilliance that Peter and his children devoted to each project. Additionally, their site did not generate enough search traffic to drive new business.

Project Solutions

• Redesigned the website to give it a modern look that reflected SMW’s beautiful metalwork projects
• Built a better content site architecture to help convert more website visitors to clients
• Optimized the website for search traffic

About Project

Senior Living Experts is a Chicago-based agency that helps connect senior citizens and their families with senior living solutions that best suit them. They provide these service for free and have gained city-wide recognition for their work. Under new ownership, SLE had a desire to grow their organization’s efforts beyond Chicago and thus partnered up with Comrade Web Agency in building a website that would allow them to do so.

Challenges

Their old site did not convey the agency’s full scope of work nor the impact their services have on senior citizens and their respective families. It limited SLE to a Chicago audience, despite their work stretching far beyond that. Potential customers had difficulty in finding crucial information on the agency, leading to poor conversion rates and engagement.

Solutions

CWA designed and developed a new site to help accurately present SLE’s services that have earned them their place as one of the top senior referral agencies nationally. Through digital marketing campaigns, paid ads, and SEO activities, CWA was able to generate a new influx of traffic and leads for SLE.

About This Project

AMP, an Illinois-based digital and traditional marketing & advertising company, contacted us here at Comrade to help design and developing a new, modernized website as well as rebrand and update the company’s imagery.

Challenges

AMP is unique in that their customer base consists of small and local businesses who use print and online mediums for advertising and marketing. It was important for the new website to be structured in a way that both AMP team members and their customers could navigate and easily identify the best solution for their business.

As a secondary but equally important feature, the site needed to help facilitate understanding for new employee prospects on the culture and and purpose of AMP.

Solutions

The new look produced for this brand new website was coupled by a very user-intuitive design, while keeping accessibility in mind. The information architecture of the site allows users to move into a carefully laid out sales funnel for maximized conversions.

The site serves as both the face of the company and as a marketing tool for their salespeople.

Zen Supplies is an industry-disrupting software provider. Their technicians develop solutions for inventory management, budget and cost analysis, as well as distributor price comparison. Comrade Web Agency was brought in to create a new, branded, professional website to provide ease and accessibility of actionable information for dental staff and distributors.

CWA designed a pristine visual appearance with bright green accents, serving as calls-to-actions and to highlight important information. This is complemented by the grey and black text, creating a clean and efficient design. While the look of the website is certainly important, it was a priority for CWA to bring detail to the effectiveness of Zen Supplies’ business methodology.

We helped create content on their website to address common issues faced by their buyer personas. Next, the website presents typical solutions based on the capability of the Zen Supplies software. Aside from developing the website, Comrade also integrated various marketing tools, both physical and digital. This included flyers, brochures, and other tangible materials containing information and advertisement. We then helped the client improve and maintain their overall online presence, from social media platforms to blogging and general online interaction.