Saddle Creek is a comprehensive third-party logistics (3PL) partner that offers warehousing, transportation, omnichannel fulfillment, & packaging services.
“We were looking for a partner that could deliver SEO growth and produce an attractive, strategic website. We found that partner in Profound Strategy.”
– Tom Collins, Director of Marketing, Saddle Creek Logistics
Saddle Creek Logistics knew that their digital presence had the potential to become a significant driver of growth in new and existing businesses. What they needed was the right partner to make it happen.
After meeting Nate Dame at TMSA’s 2015 annual conference, Saddle Creek began working with Profound Strategy to unpack their unique value propositions, identify the highest-value digital opportunities, and develop a multi-phased plan for improved digital marketing. Saddle Creek knew they could do a lot more with search engine optimization (SEO), since that channel typically boasts the lowest overall cost-per-lead. But everybody agreed the place to start was a new, simplified, responsive website.
Profound Strategy worked closely with Saddle Creek’s team to create and launch a completely new website, with exciting immediate results:
- 73% increase in total website traffic
- 74% increase in pages per session
- 58% increase in traffic from SEO (organic search)
With the first phase complete, Saddle Creek and Profound Strategy continue to work to deliver measurable impacts on bottom-line metrics. The second phase is already underway, which includes SEO, content marketing, marketing automation, and continued messaging refinement/expansion.
The Need: Updated Website, Modern SEO Strategy, Clarity
“I have received nothing but compliments on the new website! Profound Strategy understands our needs, and they deliver.”
– Tom Collins, Director of Marketing, Saddle Creek Logistics
Saddle Creek knew that an updated, modern, and mobile-friendly website was key to meeting their business growth goals as they moved into their 50th year in business. They were also uncertain whether or not they were seeing the most value possible from investments in marketing automation and paid, digital advertising. They turned to Profound Strategy for help.
“Nate’s presentation at TMSA was an eye-opener, and it was clear he knew what he was talking about. The more we looked into the company, the processes, and their people—it just seemed like a really good fit.”
– Mona Burtz, Marketing Specialist, Saddle Creek Logistics
As the Profound Strategy team dove into the website redesign, two other, greater, issues became clear as well.
First, the site’s structure and content had grown piecemeal over the years as Saddle Creek expanded, but that incremental development left the site difficult for a new user to navigate and take in.
“A lot of companies think they need more content, but what they really need is a clear strategy and a straightforward, poignant, and effective messaging platform. Multiple departments can quickly clutter a website with numerous messages and too many details. Time and again we have found that, with the right message, less is more.”
– Nate Dame, CEO, Profound Strategy
Second, Saddle Creek needed to decide how to define and present their unique and complex offerings within the industry. The company had grown by maintaining an intense focus on the needs of its customers, creating immense competitive value, but they hadn’t taken the time to really articulate what, specifically, set them apart from other logistics providers.
The Solution: Show Off Saddle Creek’s Unique Value & Offerings
The Profound Strategy team went deep into Saddle Creek’s website and business. We toured their facilities, evaluated past and current messaging platforms, and learned Saddle Creek’s unique offerings and philosophy in detail.
“Rebecca, Todd, Josh, and the entire team was always responsive, polite, and eager to please—but they weren’t ‘Yes-men.’ If we came up with an idea that wasn’t in our best interest, everyone politely told us that!”
– Mona Burtz, Marketing Specialist, Saddle Creek Logistics
In a fast-paced digital world, many service providers struggle to stand out because:
- Their services are commoditized, so they can only compete on price or softer areas such as customer support.
- They truly are unique in the services they provide and value they deliver, yet are unable to articulate that unique value in a manner that is clear, concrete, and compelling.
Profound Strategy uncovered a number of unique value propositions that Saddle Creek excels in, yet struggled to communicate effectively. There were many stories that had yet to be told!
As a result of a number of challenging strategy sessions, Profound Strategy helped Saddle Creek create a new framework that would not only allow them to communicate these unique value propositions, but to test these and other value propositions over time in order to refine and reinforce the most engaging messages.
The result was a completely new, reorganized website based on a simplified message and structure, with exciting plans for continued expansion.
The Result: Meaningful, Results-Oriented Communication Strategies
Through the redesign and reorganization process, Profound Strategy was able to help Saddle Creek strategically articulate their unique position and service offerings within the crowded logistics industry to define their brand voice and image. The process provided messaging clarity to marketing, sales, and the company as a whole.
“Working with Profound Strategy gave me a sense that we were always focused on our main objectives. Every interaction is always grounded in our basic most important needs.”
– Tom Collins, Director of Marketing, Saddle Creek Logistics
Saddle Creek’s new website is clear and meaningful, easier to navigate, visually engaging, modern, interactive, and mobile-responsive. The results of these changes were instantly clear, as traffic and engagement spiked immediately after launch.
Profound Strategy was also able to bring a lot of insight and wisdom to Saddle Creek’s internal conversations about SEO and content marketing. We continue working together to develop strategies that will continue to build marketing and sales opportunities in the future.
The Future: Improved Digital Marketing and SEO
Saddle Creek continues to partner with Profound Strategy to drive their content marketing and SEO efforts. Immediate plans include a holistic approach to SEO that will continue to maximize their reach via search engines, ongoing content marketing efforts, AdWords, marketing automation optimization, and website monitoring. All efforts are aimed toward a specific goal: to increase lead quality and lead volume.
“When you bring your objectives and business needs to a company like Profound Strategy, success is bound to happen. Profound Strategy is certainly the right partner for us.”
– Tom Collins, Director of Marketing, Saddle Creek Logistics