Marketing Case Studies

An Event to Remember

San Antonio caterer, An Event to Remember, previously operated under the name the Wedding Connection. Their success in the wedding industry was superior, but weekday events were limited due to the weekend nature of weddings.

In an effort to expand into corporate and social events, the Wedding Connection began the transition to their parent name, An Event to Remember. Once the internal branding was complete, they hired AFD to begin developing their online visibility campaign.

This endeavor involved the following components:

• Optimization of the website, including best practices for search engine ranking
• Development of a blog, CatererSanAntonio.com
• Social media campaign, including a Facebook page
• Directory listing and maintenance for local visibility
• Industry research, including top catering-specific directories

Prior to hiring AFD, visitors from referring sites (predominantly wedding directories) and direct traffic were their main source of visitors. Their ranking was nowhere within the first 150+ websites returned for any search queries containing a combination of their targeted keywords “San Antonio” and “catering.”

Within a few months, AFD had dramatically improved AETR’s online visibility. AETR is now within the Google 10-Box for numerous keyword combinations and consistently ranks on Page One of Google’s search returns.

This visibility has translated into organic traffic more than three times that of direct traffic. Among the top 10 keywords driving traffic to the AETR website, 5 contain a combination of “San Antonio” and “caterer/catering”; the other top 5 are name-driven, indicating a successful rebranding of the AETR name. Additionally, the bounce rate is between 25 to 30 percent, a very low rate indicating the quality and direct relativity of the website with regard to traffic-driving keywords.

Maihar Design

Award Recipient of La Plata Award of Excellence (2010) – Marketing Consumer Product Campaign
Public Relations Society of America, San Antonio Chapter

Less than a year old, Maihar Design has taken the high-end, luxury wedding industry by storm. The young company has already been included in prestigious national print publications such as Elegant Bride Magazine and has been featured on many of the top wedding blogs like Style Me Pretty, Wedding Chicks and Southern Weddings.

Social media marketing has been the central component to raising brand awareness. Through the use of platforms such as Twitter, Maihar Design has connected with top wedding professionals – including a modern wedding boutique in Toronto who was quick to begin carrying Maihar Design products.

AFD has been involved in the entire process of the brand’s development – logo development, website design and programming, coordination of photo shoots, blog design and branding and social media activities are all coordinated and implemented by AFD. Most recently, Maihar Design was invited to join the elite group of wedding vendors on Style Me Pretty’s ‘Little Black Book’ – a Martha Stewart favorite.

Expect much more to come from this young, energetic company.

Baxter Design Group

A San Antonio-based interior design firm, Baxter Design Group, was seeking ways to rebrand the company’s image as a hip interior design firm, rather than “your mother’s designer.” With a team of more than a dozen young, energetic designers, Debbie Baxter wanted to highlight and showcase this talent to potential clients and industry personnel.

AFD was hired to develop an online concept. Since Baxter Design emphasized the redesign and décor of high-end, multi-million dollar facilities, search engine optimization would not be at the core of the project. Instead, AFD would develop a social media strategy to increase awareness among specific audiences and spheres of influence.

The plan, focused around the development of a BDG blog with multiple designer voices, would give each designer an opportunity to showcase her talents and ideas. Each unique personality would have the chance to “shine.” The blog would be coupled with Facebook and Twitter accounts, increasing recognition across the general public and design industry alike.

Only a few months into the campaign, traffic has increased significantly to both the blog and general Baxter Design website.