Howard Bailey
- UX Design
- Content Strategy
- Web Development
Set yourself apart with customer-tailored design, branding, and UX.
Howard Bailey, a Fort Wayne-based financial services firm specializing in retirement, faced a common problem. Their website featured cookie-cutter design like all other financial services firms. This made them blend in with the rest of the industry. A secondary site only compounded the issue. The obstacles they faced also extended the backends of both sites, which were limiting and difficult to use. Howard Bailey approached Reusser about redesigns that would be as unique as the firm itself.
OUR APPROACH
First, we established a baseline. Howard Bailey was the firm’s client-facing site that outlined services, promoted the brand, and generated leads. Retire With Purpose, was founder Casey Weade’s personal site, offering educational resources.
They were distinct, yet connected. Visitors often moved back and forth between the two. To create a seamless experience, we had to design them to be unique, yet clearly related.
"Working with Howard Bailey was a professional highlight for me. The Howard Bailey team was great to work with. As we worked on the Howard Bailey and Retire With Purpose websites, the Howard Bailey internal team were implementing brand definition. In the end, both of our teams came together and delivered an excellent product we can all be proud of."
THE SOLUTION
We completely redesigned both sites. The paint by numbers approach was trashed in favor of something original. The clean, modern look mirrored the company’s brand new building. Although we made each site visually distinct, the same shade of green was used on both sites, creating a throughline visitors could follow.
For content strategy and user experience (UX), we wanted to make sure Casey’s personal brand did not overshadow the firm itself. To do this, we emphasized Howard Bailey’s:
- Company culture
- Unique process
- Team members
These elements helped distinguish them from competitors.
Finally, we built both sites within a single content management system (CMS). This saved the Howard Bailey team time by allowing them to make all future changes in one place with one login.
THE RESULTS
Specific numbers were not the primary goal. The Howard Bailey site is not the main source of leads, but it still plays a crucial role. We built excellent sites and equipped the Howard Bailey team to continually optimize them.
This batton-passing approach is important because the best sites are never finished. They’re in a constant state of evolution. That’s why we provided Howard Bailey with:
The best tools are easy to use. As an extension of Howard Bailey’s brand and sales funnel, the backends of both sites had to be simple. Any updates could not be put on hold simply because the CMS was difficult or time-consuming.
In an industry overflowing with clones, we created designs that set Howard Bailey apart. This was especially important because the sites often created first impressions in the minds of potential clients. We also infused the firm’s brand into the UX.
CMS training is a default service we give all website clients. But with this project in particular, drilling down the minutiae was especially important. Howard Bailey has a talented internal team that could really utilize the powerful features within the CMS and run with it.
"Nate and his team did an outstanding job in guiding us through the redesign of two sister sites that run independently, yet together add tremendous value for our brand. Unbeknownst to our actual website visitors, one of the biggest improvements is the ease of content management through the CMS. We are now able to manage events, landing pages, video and podcasts, through one interface. Even team members who have little to no web experience are able to manage content through easy-to-use form fields and drag-and-drop interfaces. I’ve been a fan of Reusser’s work ever since they launched Fort Wayne’s first responsive website more than a decade ago. During the course of my career, I have worked with various members of the Reusser team in different capacities, but this was the first time I’ve worked with them under the Reusser umbrella. It was good to collaborate with them again, and deliver something we were all proud of."
