Case Study Overview
A private lending firm contacted LAIRE to increase website traffic and ROI through a website redesign, content marketing, and lead generation.
- 261% Increase in Website Sessions
- 253% Increase in Website Users
- 77% Decrease in Bounce Rate
Background
Financial Services Firm Specializing in Construction Loans
In 2016, a private lending firm in North Carolina found itself between a rock and a hard place. The company wanted to expand its number of funded loans for projects in the renovation and construction industry but were experiencing low website traffic and lead generation opportunities.
The Problem
Difficulty Benchmarking Leads and Tracking Conversions
The lending firm, focused on loan origination for residential construction projects, was having a difficult time benchmarking their leads, improving website conversion rates and tracking their marketing ROI. Their focus had also shifted to concentrating more on marketing to borrowers and less on recruiting investors for their programs.
Our Strategy
Detailed Marketing Plan Aimed at Increasing Website Sessions
During our MAP (Marketing Action Plan by LAIRE®) process we conducted an in-depth analysis of the various facets of their business, including competitor research, identifying their ideal buyer personas, prescribing website optimizations, strategic content planning, and more. The MAP process took place over the course of 4 weeks and gave the finance company the structure, data and systems they needed to achieve their immediate goals. It was considered a job well done for both parties, and we parted ways. But, not for good.
After two years had passed, the firm came back to us looking for additional marketing support. Shortly after, we established an inbound marketing strategy that resulted in some amazing numbers for our client, including a 261% increase in website sessions.
Our marketing plan consisted of:
- A fresh website redesign
- Content marketing
- SEO optimization
- HubSpot CRM integration
- Lead generation
- In-depth reporting
Website redesign focused on increasing lead generation efforts
Achieving a lead generating website that captures more leads from site traffic was a top priority for our renovation lender client. By building a strategy and implementing organic content, as well as optimizing best practices for their website, we helped them funnel and track the right audience. The new website design focused on helping and educating their ideal clients through content (i.e. blog articles, eBooks, white papers, checklists) and marketing automation to nurture leads.
To execute the website redesign, our initiatives included:
- Buyer persona research
- Keyword research
- SEO optimization
- Content strategy
- Targeted website language
- Contemporary, user-friendly website design
HubSpot Integration
As a HubSpot Platinum Partner, we are experts in the tools and features hosted on HubSpot's inbound marketing and sales software. By integrating the client into HubSpot they would be able to utilize key reporting tools to track visitor traffic to their website, convert leads faster, and most importantly, benchmark qualified leads (or in their case, qualified borrowers). The enhanced reporting capabilities that HubSpot offered was another element that allowed the financial firm to react to trends, and improve their business with actionable insights. Those insights were pieces of data gold they were able to utilize to solve the challenges they had been faced with.
We improved reporting capabilities and incorporated marketing automation best practices.
Our client recognized that having accurate visibility into the leads funneling into their website was important, but something they were having difficulty with. They also needed a way to better engage with new leads in a strategic way to improve conversions. That's when we established in-depth reporting and implemented marketing automation best practices to help the home construction finance company accomplish the following:
- Enhance insights into the lead activity on their website
- Improve lead nurturing initiatives
- Create effective email marketing and lead nurturing campaigns
- Gauge their qualified leads' level of engagement
- Automate content offers
Content marketing became a part of their monthly strategy.
As content marketing experts, we knew we needed to set a goal to offer the right content for our client's niche market, catering to "fix and flip" contractors. Content marketing allowed our client to be found in search, and achieve higher conversion rates in a short amount of time as well as reducing or refining their paid search spend and being less reliant on Google AdWords.
By improving their weekly blogging cadence, our finance client successfully engaged with their audience, delivering industry trends and other relevant content from their subject matter experts. This also helped to increase rankings in organic search as they targeted specific keywords to create a knowledge center of related content.
YOY Financial Marketing Plan Results
2018 Results
- Total sessions = 34,000 (up 118% over 2017)
- Users = 23,000 (up 198.7% over 2017)
- Bounce rate = 12.3% (down 78.7% over 2017)
- Total sessions = 11,000 (up 17.5% over 2016)
- Users = 7,200 (up 10.1% over 2016)
- Bounce rate = 56.88% (up 7.1% from 2016)
- Total sessions = 9,400
- Users = 6,500
- Bounce rate = 53.1%
Our resources and structured plan gave them the ability to surpass their website traffic goals and bring marketing in-house.
Download a list of the essential website elements that will help you consistently convert your website traffic into qualified leads.
