About Portico Benefit Services
A benefits ministry of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Portico Benefit Services provides retirement, health, other related benefits and consultative services to members of faith-based organizations such as congregations, colleges and universities, and social ministry organizations, including nursing homes, care facilities and social service groups.
Situation: An Organizational Shift Required a More Intentional B2B Website Strategy
As Portico sought to move into new markets, the organization needed a website that would support brand awareness and business development, with look, feel and content that would be more appealing and better represent the brand. This expansion required a marketing shift toward a B2B model in which the website would play a stronger role in the sales process by being findable, by generating leads and by helping buyers gain more information to make the next decision in their buying process.
For Portico’s traditional audience of churches and congregations, benefit services decisions are often made and administered by a volunteer board, while the social ministry organizations they are actively prospecting are more likely to have a human resources manager or other professional as the gatekeeper. The website needed to appeal to prospects without diminishing Portico’s connection with the traditional audience, while also maintaining a portal for individual end users.
Portico also needed to be able to manage content in-house. The process of using their previous agency partner to edit content and publish new content was costly and slow. The existing ‘About’ and ‘Resources’ website sections used jargony page names and the website as a whole did not target specific audiences with relevant, useful content that would encourage them to become qualified leads.
Solution: A Strategy for Easier Navigation, Impactful Content and Strong Brand Appeal
Through a combination of UX strategy and focused content messaging development, the new website was designed to increase leads and allow the Portico team members to easily update it and use it for ongoing marketing. The new website clearly delineates the services Portico provides and to whom, as well the stages of the buying process and how users can learn more.
From the homepage, users can immediately find the audience pathway that allows them to continue on their customer journey. They can also jump virtually everywhere on the website using easy-to-navigate mega menus with anchor links for appropriate sections.
Windmill helped Portico define a tone of voice for the new website and helped to craft a number of key content pages using succinct and impactful language.
Windmill built the new website using web development best practices, placing emphasis on overall site performance (including search engine optimization and site speed). A framework within the new WordPress CMS allows for easily updating and manipulating content and provides stable, yet flexible, patterns to use for adding content and building out more robust pages.
Design and development elements that contributed to creating a website that meets the client’s needs include:
- Core block editor
- Custom post types for careers and for landing pages
- Search WP plugin for advanced search functionality
- Custom Gravity Forms Webhooks add-on, which allows sharing form submission to Portico’s CRM via an Azure endpoint
- Assistance with stock imagery sourcing
- Setting up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and implementing base tracking (via Google Tag Manager) within the scope of the project
The Portico brand lends itself to unique, more intricate design elements not typically found in B2B marketing, such as illustrated headers incorporating imagery that reflects the organization’s faith-based identity. This differentiates Portico Benefit Services from many of the companies with which it competes.
Finally, by planning ahead to allow ample time for the client’s extensive legal review process for content and third-party tooling and hosting solutions, we helped to ensure that the project timeline unfolded as expected.
Results: Positioned for Future Growth and Service
Portico’s brand guidelines state that they aspire to make every interaction one of integrity, resiliency, purpose, and stewardship. In this spirit, the new website clearly demonstrates that they understand their target markets and the problems their audiences are trying to solve, and that Portico has the expertise to help solve them.
The design is clean, modern and aligned with brand standards and usability best practices. The website meets accessibility standards, and it is optimized to maintain and improve findability and maintain and increase qualified traffic to the website.
Through key messaging and copywriting exercises and UX planning, we created an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-navigate new website for Portico Benefit Services that is easy to update and to use as the basis for new marketing initiatives. The day the website launched, the client expressed their appreciation: “Thank you for the partnership in getting us to launch today. We are so excited about the new site and how it positions us for the future.”
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Windmill Strategy is a web design company & digital marketing agency helping B2B companies achieve increased visibility, higher quality leads, and greater marketing ROI through smarter web design. Our website design and B2B digital marketing approach goes beyond “more traffic,” seeking out better traffic, by gaining the attention of the specific niche groups of buyers and influencers that represent your best customers. We help our clients communicate and sell their complex products and services to multiple audiences – be it through web design or digital marketing and SEO. Working collaboratively with your in-house marketing and sales team, we design websites that drive leads and sales that result in overall business growth. Schedule a call to learn more.