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Thinking about launching a new corporate Web site? Check out these award-winning sites from the 2012 Marketing Communications

Awards and learn how the marketers behind these Web sites approached the redesign process in their A/E/C firms.

www.tylin.com T.Y. Lin International, San Francisco, CA 1st Place, Web Site Category

Goals. A full-service infrastructure consulting firm based in San Francisco, T.Y. Lin International (TYLI) Group undertook a comprehensive redesign of its corporate Web site, including implementation of a content management system (CMS) that allows the firm to manage content in both English and Chinese. The primary goal of the redesign was to align TYLI Group’s online presence with its current market and brand position, facilitating communication internally and externally with audiences around the world. Additional goals included the following.

A “One Global Vision” presence: Combine the TYLI Group companies in the Americas and Asia Pacific and reflect TYLI Group’s multidisciplinary focus on diverse projects. Introduce this unified vision to audiences in the United States, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore markets. Emphasize the firm’s distinguished history of technical excellence and innovation.

Distinct visual design: Create a comprehensive, well-rounded site that showcases the firm’s history, services, projects, and people, employing an innovative, clean, and dynamic design. Use professional photography as a vehicle to differentiate TYLI Group from competing firms.

Increase communication channels and Web site traffic: Direct traffic to and from social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Encourage the use of social media tools to spur ongoing discussions in the firm’s areas of expertise.

“Personal tours”: Market diverse services by allowing the staff to create custom “tours” or portfolios of projects that address prospective clients’ needs.

Support for regional domains and localization: Deliver the site in multiple languages (English and Chinese).

Audience. The audiences identified for the new site encompass:

TYLI Group staff in the Americas and Asia Pacific

potential and existing clients: Ministries of Transportation, federal agencies, state agencies, city and county agencies, local municipalities, private developers, airport authorities, port authorities, transportation officials, consultants, and contractors who influence and make decisions regarding infrastructure projects

media outlets: Mainstream and business media as well as wire news services, trade publications, technical journals, television/radio, metro beat reporters, blogs, and online publications

prospective employees

Research, Planning, and Implementation. TYLI’s Corporate Communications Department worked closely with FINE Design Group to develop a modern look and feel for the Web site, with the aim of conveying the firm’s “One Global Vision” promise. This objective was achieved by conducting surveys and interviews with executives and key staff to identify the central message, brand traits, and goals of the site. A creative brief/brand study was created to reiterate those goals and to summarize the key differentiators, messages, brand attributes, tone, and voice.

Content strategy: Content encompassing the company’s vision, global footprint, history, and archive of project information and imagery was assembled, audited, and organized as part of a foundational content strategy phase. This exercise served to refine the navigation and hierarchy of the site, filter project studies, and structure the company’s services, sectors, and projects.

Site development: The site was developed using the latest Web standards and best practices. The front end was hand coded using HTML/CSS with Javascript and tested extensively for cross-browser compatibility. The data foundation is open source and uses a Ruby on Rails framework and implementation.

Web Sites

marketing communications awards

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Content management system: The back-end CMS enables most site content to reside in the database for easy updates, translation, and relational linking among content areas. In particular, project-specific content from the company’s worldwide offices can be managed, classified, and modified readily through the platform, which is built on easily maintained open-source technology.

Message. The Web site is designed to communicate the message that TYLI Group is more than a boutique bridge firm: It is a large, diversified, global, and multidisciplinary infrastructure consulting firm.

Distinction. The Web site design highlights hundreds of projects, spanning 7 market sectors and 53 offices, in a filterable portfolio. The site’s exterior is supported by a solid foundation in a CMS robust enough to keep the entire site fresh in multiple languages. The launch of the Web site was the first time the “One Global Vision” message was captured in one place for all to see and experience.

Results. In the four months following the September 2011 launch, site traffic increased substantially compared to the four months prior to launch: Web site visits increased 43% and unique visits increased 46%. Compared to the same period in the previous year, Web site visits increased 56% Year-Over-Year (YOY) and unique visits increased 57% YOY.

Post-launch, visitor engagement with the site spiked compared to pre-launch: Total page views increased 111%, time spent on the site increased 63%, and the number of pages viewed per visit increased 47%.

YOY engagement increased even more dramatically: Total page views increased 365%, the increase in time spent on the site was 161%, and the increase in number of pages viewed per visit was 196%.

TYLI Group also saw an increase in requests from potential clients asking the firm to present qualifications for new projects, a substantial jump in global inquiries regarding employment opportunities, and an increase in worldwide media inquiries and placements including a feature article in The New York Times’ Science section (2/7/12). The Web site is a key marketing tool used to highlight the firm’s innovative people, work, and accomplishments.

T.Y. Lin International earned first place in the Web Site Category of the 2012 Marketing Communications Awards with www.tylin.com.

The MCA jurors identified these trends in the 2012 Web site entries: intuitive navigation functions, increased use of social media, and the emergence of smartphone technologies.

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marketing communications awards

www.mhtn.comMHTN Architects, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT2nd Place, Web Site Category

Goals. Salt Lake City-based MHTN Architects sought to create a Web site that highlights the firm’s people, provides genuine perspectives from high-profile clients, and features the firm’s work.

Audience. The firm’s target audiences are current and potential clients from local and national markets.

Planning and Implementation. MHTN’s in-house marketing team provided the site’s content. The site was designed by Web design firm JM Studios.

Message. MHTN’s site employs video testimonials from clients for impact. Videos of firm leaders and clients also communicate the synergy between MHTN’s designers and its clients.

Distinction. The Web site is a tool to help prospective clients and employees “catch a glimpse of what it would be like to work with” the MHTN staff.

Results. After launching the new site, the firm received dozens of comments through its associated Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. Phone calls of congratulations came from clients and peers. Three national public relations firms reached out to tell MHTN how they liked the site’s design, content, and overall makeup. New strategic alliances and three major project wins also have stemmed from information shared on this Web site.

www.bsalifestructures.comBSA LifeStructures and Miles Design, Indianapolis, IN3rd Place, Web Site Category

Goals. BSA LifeStructures and Miles Design collaborated on a new Web site for the Indianapolis-based architectural firm with four goals in mind.

1. Drive traffic to the Web site: Track metrics for key dashboard information on the number of people visiting the site, page views, bounce rate, and length of stay.

2. Establish the firm’s professionals as thought leaders in design: Use blog posts, white papers, case studies, and project experience to illustrate expertise in design.

Salt Lake City-based MHTN Architects took home second place in the Web Site Category of the 2012 MCA competition with www.mhtn.com.

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3. Generate leads: Responding to “Call-to-Action” downloads, visitors can download white papers after they enter an email address. The download is then validated and entered into the firm’s client acquisition process.

4. Recruit top talent.

Audience. The Web site’s audience is decision-makers seeking design services in the healthcare, higher education, and research industries.

Research, Planning, and Implementation. A Web site committee analyzed the existing BSA LifeStructures Web site, dissecting what made the site static and an ineffective tool for generating leads or recruiting talent. Examining the Web sites of 2009’s “Top 100 US Architecture Firms,” the committee identified common themes from competitors’ sites that would influence BSA LifeStructures’ new site.

The committee then asked random members of the firm to share their aesthetic and emotional reactions to the competition’s Web sites. Using color-coded stickers, participants expressed positive or negative reactions to the sites displayed, completing a conceptual design charrette. The scope of this session included site orientation, movement and animation, image versus text ratios, navigation, and links. As a result of this charrette, four conceptual designs were created and passed to Miles Design (www.milesdesign.com) for its expertise and implementation into an image-focused Web site.

Message. The Web site positions the architects and engineers of BSA LifeStructures as experts in design and thought leadership in healthcare, higher education, and research. The Web site showcases the firm’s culture, while providing key projects and Call-to-Action white papers that highlight outcomes and benefits derived from those facilities.

Update: 2013 Marketing Communications AwardsThank you to Turner Construction and committee co-chairs Bernice Bako Newton, FSMPS, CPSM, director of marketing for Turner, and Michael McCann, FSMPS, CPSM, director of business development for DF Gibson Architects, for hosting the 2013 MCA competition on April 6 in New York City.

Later this month, SMPS will notify entrants about the status of their entries, and the winning firms will be announced. On August 1, award placements will be revealed and the winners honored during the Awards Gala in Orlando, held in conjunction with Build Business: Dream Big!, the Society’s annual conference. Winning entries will be on display in the Networking Pavilion throughout the conference, July 31 – August 2 at the Walt Disney World® Swan and Dolphin. The winners also will be recognized in the August edition of Marketer. Photos of winning entries will be posted on Pinterest in August.

Visit www.smps.org/MCA for developing details.

Distinction. The new Web site uses a model that emphasizes search engine optimization and is content rich. The incorporation of a digital bookshelf section with case studies and integrated blog and social media channels help reinforce this strategy. This proactive model communicates solutions to visitors’ issues as they navigate the site. Using Call-to-Action downloads, visitors are put in contact with BSA LifeStructures early in the lead generation process, which ultimately allows the client acquisition team to cultivate relationships that can lead to future work.

Results. The new Web site has increased BSA LifeStructures’ brand awareness and given it the capability to identify and prequalify prospects. Among the results achieved:

a dramatic increase in Web traffic

the number of page views jumped from 6,755 (measured in the three months prior to the launch) to 27,088 (measured in the three months after the launch)

average time spent on the site increased from 1:06 to 2:56 minutes

more than 4% of visitors click on a Call to Action

5% of Web site views are of the firm’s Careers page

BSA LifeStructures and Miles Design, both in Indianapolis, IN, won third place in the Web Site Category for www.bsalifestructures.com.