Picture yourself planning a wedding, graduation party, corporate event/retreat, or any other large-scale event. What are the questions you have when you look at a potential venue? How do you decide the look, location, and services provided will meet your needs?
Country Strong Events and co-owner Daina Heflin were asking these questions when they came to Force 5 for web design. Their goal was to make a site where brides and other event planners could easily picture themselves using the venue. The website they had at the time was functional for helping people find them and book an appointment, but they wanted to pre-emptively answer the most pressing questions and showcase the beautiful property and architecture that make Country Strong unique.
The New Site
The new Country Strong website uses a unique content management system design just for photographers and venues that offered a few key benefits for Country Strong:
- It is an easy-to-use platform that allows them to change content as needed when, for instance, pricing is changed or a fresh photograph is available from a recent event.
- It is built to showcase photography and be visually appealing. It allows a level of pixel-perfect design that many platforms do not. These features are ideal for a venue that wants visitors to picture themselves taking their own professional photos on its property.
- The platform focuses on mobile design and making this version of the site just as beautiful as desktop.
Enhanced Galleries to “See Yourself” at Country Strong
To help each guest at the website understand exactly what they would be getting by booking with Country Strong, Force 5 designed several themed galleries highlighting the beautiful, unique accommodations, such as:
- The grounds, complete with a collection of unique photo props and angles
- The bridal suites and grooms’ den
- The decor options Country Strong has available and examples of them in use by real clients
- Collections from real events that have recently been held at Country Strong
Everything You Need to Know About Planning Your Event at Country Strong
Another key objective of the website re-design was to equip clients to plan their events. Country Strong uses a unique planning software package that all clients have access to called Aisle Planner. We wanted to showcase the many reasons why this option helped make every aspect of event planning easier, from creating a guest list to choosing and paying vendors. Force 5 designed a feature highlight reel to share these incredible benefits of working with Country Strong.
Easy-to-Read and Upfront Pricing
The Country Strong team worked with Force 5 to design an easy-to-browse pricing page that lays out all the packages offered by the venue, including some of the less well-known options like Christmas Party Packages and Photo Shoots.
The pricing works on both desktop and mobile and outlines all the features you get with each package.
This page then leads visitors to request their visit, where they meet with Country Strong staff to begin planning their event.
Analytics
To understand a site’s audience and the impact of ad dollars, social posts, new content pieces, and more, strong analytics are essential. Force 5 implemented Google Analytics for Country Strong with its new site launch. Opting for the new and improved Google Analytics 4 platform (which, by the way, will be required next year), Force 5 set up a strong set of analytic metrics that show how users are engaging with the site, including when they click, play videos, and even when they call the venue by clicking a click-to-call link.
Best of all, Force 5 implemented tracking on Country Strong’s third-party booking software to ensure they knew how often this form was being filled out to include it in conversion rates for the site. Over time, this data will help Country Strong and Force 5 optimize the site’s content, design, and more to better meet clients’ needs.
Continued Growth Through Partnership
After an extraordinarily full summer of client bookings and work on the website launch together, Country Strong and Force 5 are ready to continue working together to refine the ways they communicate and reach clients. Daina said, regarding the partnership built between the two companies:
“We are pleased to have created a relationship with Force 5 that feels like family. We have spent many hours hashing out designs, digital marketing, and branding, and through it all they have
Daina Heflin, Owner at Country Strong Events
extended the knowledge necessary to make the best decisions for our business. They have brought a level of esthetics that we could only dream of. We are continually working with Force 5 to make it a more user-friendly experience for our clients and to reach out to all of our new clients on social media platforms.”
This respect is mutual, as Keith Sayer, the Account Strategist for Country Strong at Force 5 adds, “It’s easy to be creative when you have a client that so readily gives you incredible photos and isn’t afraid to try something new that just might work for them. I very much enjoy the chance to bounce ideas off the Country Strong team and see them come to fruition.”
What’s next? Country Strong and Force 5 will continue working together on digital campaigns and further enhancements to the website over the coming months.
Want to make your venue shine with a new website–FAST?
At Force 5, we believe in the power of brand. For you, that’s your property and all the services you offer your clients. To help them book you over a competitor, you need a frictionless online experience from start to finish. We would love to help you build that experience.
Looking for more than just web design? Great! We’ve got a deep bench of services, too, including digital ads, marketing strategy, media planning and placement, content creation/strategy, graphic design, brand development, and video production.