Montridge Advisory Group
Challenge
When founders Judith Mewhort and Kandy Cantwell, started Montridge Financial Group in 1997, they had a vision for their business. They wanted to provide a person-centered, holistic approach to employee benefit programs, personal and corporate insurance, investment management, and financial planning—while also going the extra mile by providing business owners and HR specialists with down-to-earth, insider advice. After 20 successful years, Montridge decided it was time to refresh their brand so it could better reflect how the company had evolved. They also realized they needed to improve their online presence in order to keep current clients engaged, and continue to attract new ones. Ultimately, Montridge wanted to expand their reach to attract more mid-sized businesses in North America that shared their values and vision. As a repeat client of Red Rocket’s since 2011, Montridge again returned to us in 2017 to engage our team of brand strategists and digital marketing experts in accomplishing these goals.
Solution
The Red Rocket team got to work by focusing on strategies that would best help Montridge communicate their value, both to existing clients and new prospects. The company’s original name—Montridge Financial Group—was no longer relevant, as the financial side of their business offering had changed over the years. And their online presence did not reflect the expertise and value that Montridge brought to the industry. So our team took a holistic approach. We took Montridge through collaborative branding exercises that clarified the company’s mission and vision. As a result, we decided on a new name for the company: Montridge Advisory Group. The visual identity was updated for a more modern look, and the tagline “Strengthen Your Team” was chosen to demonstrate Montridge’s people-oriented approach. Once that foundation was in place, we designed and built a website that would set the company up for growth in an increasingly digitized world. The website clearly communicated Montridge’s brand messaging and identity, and it was set up to facilitate online lead generation. Our next step was building a digital marketing strategy that would: • serve to boost awareness of Montridge as one of Canada’s premier employee benefits advisors • generate targeted online leads that would be passed to their advisors for further qualification and follow up We chose the HubSpot automated marketing platform to help us accomplish this, which allowed us to publish content, capture and nurture leads, and report on successes all in one place. By taking an integrated approach with Montridge’s brand, website, online marketing, and lead generation strategies, we ensured the foundation was strong for the business to continue to succeed for decades to come. We were building assets in the digital domain that will serve Montridge’s interest for years to come. Establishing Montridge as a Thought Leader The advisors at Montridge possess a library’s worth of knowledge about employee wellness, financial wellness, and how these connect to employee benefits. Our goal was to better share this knowledge with their current clients and potential prospects. Any good content strategy invests time upfront in defining the target audience and what they are looking for. So creating detailed customer personas helped guide our strategy. Once the personas were developed, we created an editorial calendar to map the style and cadence of the content we’d be publishing. Blogs and premium content offers would answer key questions that HR personnel and business owners have about employee benefits. Driving Traffic to the Montridge Website Well-crafted content attracts the right audience. By creating high-quality, search engine-optimized blogs, webinars, and downloadable premium content, we were confident curious readers would become Montridge brand advocates. That’s exactly what happened. As their audience grew, brand advocates began sharing Montridge’s content with their own community, resulting in waves of new readers. Montridge also began leveraging their partner relationships by regularly arranging guest blogs, interviews, and webinars with industry experts, which both help educate their own readers, and expand their reach to new audiences. Our goal was to grow Montridge’s overall website traffic via their blog, which would result in increased traffic to service pages and other areas of the website. And we succeeded. Boosting qualified lead generation We focused on making Montridge’s prospecting process more efficient by providing a steady stream of qualified leads via the website. We captured those leads using high-value downloadable pieces of content locked behind a form. The subject matter of the content was highly targeted towards the buyers that Montridge wanted to reach, which attracted the right type of leads. The subject matter of the content was highly targeted towards the buyers that Montridge wanted to reach, which attracted the right type of leads.
Results
Meanwhile, a steady stream of social media posts would highlight their staff, show helpful tips regarding benefits administration, and have Montridge participate in the many social conversations that happen around employee benefits. Montridge has now become a go-to destination for all things related to employee benefits in Canada. Through creating thoughtful content, they have earned the trust of their community and frequently host educational events such as webinars and experts’ panels for a broad audience. Over a three-year period, traffic to Montridge’s website increased by 1284%. Our efforts have resulted in a significant increase in new contacts coming in through the website—a number which continues to grow every year. The amount of website-generated leads has increased by: • 160% from 2017-2018 • An additional 323% from 2018-2019 • Another 454% from 2019-2020 • Montridge has also reported that in Q3 2020 alone, they’ve converted 7 of those leads into long-term clients for the business.
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