insights_Whiterivernetworks

White River Networks

Client Summary

White River Networks (aka WRN) is an IT company located in Anderson, IN and was founded in 2019. They primarily serve their local Madison County community and desire to expand service in Central Indiana.

Their Challenge

As White River Networks looked towards expanding their business service area, they were seeking to understand better why their clients chose to work with them, how their clients felt they benefited from working with WRN, what differentiated them in their market/industry, and to uncover opportunities for their company to be better structured and prepared for growth. Before developing any go-to-market strategies, the owners of WRN wanted to be sure they fully understood how WRN is currently perceived and what they should be focused on to increase awareness of their brand, capture the attention of potential clients, and be prepared internally for sustainable growth.

Our Strategy

We conducted our Brand Insights™ research for White River Networks to provide them with a macro view of their brand. Our research aimed to gather qualitative and quantitative insights to uncover the information they needed to grow and market their brand confidently.

We started with internal qualitative research and conducted one-on-one interviews with all White River Networks team members. By talking with each team member, from the owner to the newest hire, we gained insights into the current brand positioning, employee satisfaction, employee alignment on the company mission, and opportunities to improve processes and communication.
We then conducted external qualitative interviews with 6 White River Networks clients. This research allowed us to dive deeper into client perceptions of the brand and uncover values, benefits, and differentiators that led customers to choose WRN as their preferred IT provider. We also identified opportunities to improve the client experience, ensuring interactions with the brand reflected the desired positioning.
We followed up our external interviews with a quantitative survey to the entire White River Networks client database. This survey allowed us to confirm the information we uncovered in our interviews while adding statistical significance to these findings. It also helped identify trends that we could use to inform business growth strategies.

The Element212 team analyzed the qualitative and quantitative data to create an online Brand Insights™ report for the White River Networks team that highlighted the following:

  • Current perceptions of brand strengths and weaknesses
  • Client insights including:
    • Client profile
    • Expectations of the brand
    • Pain points and motivators
    • Reason for conversion
    • Vetting process
  • Opportunities for improvement:
    • Streamlined processes and formal documentation
    • Employee accountability
    • Increased brand awareness
  • Gaps in positioning and expectations between clients and the WRN team
  • Marketing recommendations
    • Redesigned website
    • Brand awareness strategies
    • Video production

The Result

As a result of the Brand Insights™ research, the team at White River Networks took action on the opportunities and recommendations. They started by improving their internal processes and documentation. This pivotal step prepared the WRN team for internal and external growth, creating a seamless integration with the WRN brand for new employees and customers.

In the IT industry, building trust early in the client vetting process is extremely critical, and their current website needed a redesign to do this more effectively. Element212 utilized the research to develop their new company website to represent their brand better, showcase their expertise, differentiators, and capabilities, and provide meaningful content to attract new clients.

The internal culture of White River Networks also benefited from their organization going through this research process together. By allowing the founder and employees to speak into the research, they feel heard and see that their perspectives are valued. This also helped to create a blueprint for the organization to work from so there is a clear direction and a unified goal.