Northern Group : The Story So Far
Summary
Time with HiFi - 5 years
By renovating legacy buildings in Manchester, Northern Group have built a high quality property portfolio valued at £150 million, becoming a major force in Manchester property development.
Seeking to bolster their 30-strong Ancoats team, they engaged HiFi to improve their digital presence.
A hidden Mancunian gem
With people predominantly researching companies online it’s never been so important to clearly convey your message.
Northern Group is a great company with an incredible story but is relatively unknown, they have struggled communicate their core message, to effectively talk with their audience and the wider community.
Without the necessary skills in-house they needed a reset. Get the basics right first before reaching for a digital presence that would match the ambitions of their company.
In truth, when we started working together Northern Group needed to start again - having neglected the online aspect of their business for so long it had become ineffective.
With a dated design, poor SEO performance and substandard information architecture, a complete overhaul was required.
Both a rebrand and redesign were required to properly establish their online presence, as well as to showcase their properties and developments.
Spending time with our client partners,
understanding them and their businesses
Strategy & Definition : Getting into the head of the audience
Northern Group is a complex organisation with multiple business units and different audiences. Zero-day workshops helped us to understand the company better, allowing us to define personas and decide which should be a priority. This allowed us to create information structures, set content goals and work out a plan.
Solution : Making sense of it all
What was needed was a website that could support each persona in order of importance. We distilled hours of listening into efficient writing that helped their audience to quickly understand who Northern Group are, what are their values and purpose.
Their content is supported by a high-fidelity and original online brand and design system that is flexible enough for them to add new pages when required.
Understand. Conside. Decide.
Create. Monitor. Improve.
Design & Build : Adding the ‘wow’ factor
By working closely with their own designers, we established and extended their new brand, adapting it online, adding animations and digital brand assets.
The intent of the designs gives prominence to the striking photography which conveys Northern Group’s work and sets the tone for the site.
To give the website a consistent feel, we set up a design system to aid consistency. By making the web pages responsive, we ensured a premium browsing experience on any device.
Results : A company better understood
The results of our close collaboration are evident: Northern Group enjoys greater visibility and recognition for their work, the website gives anyone an immediate understanding of their goals and operations.
Content is easier to navigate and locate with improved structuring, a better layout and better writing that is more web freindly.
This is a site that works harder for Northern to become a real standout in their sector.
- 83% Increased Sessions
- 1% Bounce rate
- 1st Google results page
- +70% Increased Leads
Do you need help
showing off?
When you are in the middle of everything it's hard to communicate what you do and what your value is. Working with someone external can help. Spending time to understand your company, distil your message into writing that is easy to understand, that will resonate with your audience.
Let us help you tell your story.
Other work
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A New Shop Window
Northern Group : A New Shop Window
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Property Experience
Northern Group : Property Experience
