The Howard Group
A leading developer in emerging retail trends, neighborhood redevelopment, visionary spaces and places, hospitality, and more, Howard Group recognized the need to rebrand their website so that it aligned with the branding and ethos of their company. The Idea Boutique was awarded the coveted business in October 2019 that over ten companies were vying to obtain. “We consider this a great honor to have been chosen from a strong field of competitors to bring Howard Group’s vision to life,” says The Idea Boutique founder/president Lisa Burwell. One of the stipulations, when we were awarded the business, was a completion date to launch before Christmas. We are always up for a challenge, so we said, “Yes.” (The website launched on January 10, 2020, so we were very close!)
After discussing the scope of work with Howard Group’s leadership, our team took on the project and began creating the architecture and design of the site, recommending the best platform for hosting it, and spearheading content creation, photography selection, maps, countless partner logos with nationally recognized retailers and hoteliers, and more. Our team and Howard Group collaborated to build a beautiful new branded platform from the ground up. The partnership between our companies was solid, and we worked very well together to bring their vision to fruition. Myra Williams and Lynn Wesson at Howard Group were instrumental in delivering assets and direction promptly, and founder/president Keith Howard shared his insight upon our initial review of the website. “Teamwork is what our work is always about, and we had a great synergy with them,” Burwell says.
With a variety of large hero images used has a prominent storytelling feature, along with concise copy and user-friendly navigation, The Idea Boutique curated the look of the new website. It shows the diverse work Howard Group does and its state-of-the-art craftsmanship on every project the company develops. By incorporating logos of the national brands and businesses they have worked with over the years, it creates interest and a “wow” factor that gives Howard Group immediate credibility among new viewers and potential clients.
Standard SEO practices and ADA compliances were included in the architecture of the website, and HowardGrp.com is fully mobile responsive according to best practices. Our expertise in coding was implemented to sync with search engines, be accessible to internet users with disabilities, and load quickly and beautifully on any computer or mobile device. This last item is crucial today when almost 53 percent of website traffic comes from mobile devices.*
The highest achievement we were able to reach with this project was that Howard Group’s digital brand presence now accurately reflects the company’s brand of excellence, quality craftsmanship, and deliverability. The result is a stunning new marketing tool that showcases Howard Group’s innovative and dynamic real estate developments, retail destinations, residential communities, and much more. It will be the perfect place for potential customers to learn about Howard Group, meet its corporate team through their bio pages, and contact them about new business ventures. The Idea Boutique was honored to create this website for a wonderful client!
As branding experts, it is our job to understand the existing brand of a company to ensure that we deliver an end product matching that brand. We are brand ambassadors for our clients, so this is always first and foremost in our approach to a project. It is the foundation of the building blocks that achieve success.
*Statista.com: “Percentage of mobile device website traffic worldwide from 1st quarter 2015 to 4th quarter 2019” Published January 29, 2020
Click here to view the live site.