Case Study · WEBSITE · STATIC · MARKETING · BRANDING · DESIGN
Beyond The Bookkeeping
A static free-hosted website, made from the ground up with a custom design and brand
Cherry Blossom Tech built the Beyond The Bookkeping brand, an accounting firm focused on automation as a solution to high costs and quality issues within the accounting industry.
- Client
- Beyond The Bookkeeping
- Industry
- Finance/Accounting
- What we built
- Custom website and branding
- Core stack
- Zola/Vector design
- Timeline
- 3 months
- Engagement type
- Project-based
- Crew size
- Senior crew (1-3 devs + marketing and design personnel)
- Result
- Brand Makeover, high quality custom site, new business opportunities
The Situation
Beyond the Bookkeeping’s founder had experience in automation, corporate finance, and bookkeeping and wanted to synergize those skills into an affordable automation service that filled the role of a classic in-house bookkeeper.
While he had the skills to build the automation stack and sales pitch, he brought in Cherry Blossom to make a solid brand identity, website, and marketing material to get his idea out to clients and partners.
The Challenge
Bookkeeping is a dying profession and the responsibilities contained in it fall more on CPAs and LPAs every year. This complicated the expression of market fit and required education of customers
Define the Brand
Even the name Beyond the Bookkeeping was concocted to express to customers what the brand does immediately and beyond question. Logos and website design were created to walk potential customers through exactly what the company could do for them, highlighting how the insight advantages of automating basic bookkeeping allowed the company to find ways to save clients money.
Create a cohesive pitch
Wordmarks and trademarks were workshopped extensively internally and with the client until we’d created an identity that felt expert and approachable. We drafted and deployed articles and social posts as outbound marketing and provided Beyond the Bookkeeping with onboard analytics and extensive keyword and cohort research.
Launch Strong
All aspects of the project were launched together with Beyond the Bookkeeping’s website. This required coordination between marketing, analytics, design, and engineering. Brand launch was executed without a hitch and we delivered a long-term roadmap to Beyond the Bookkeeping to maintain their momentum.
The Build
Branding and Identity
Sketches and concept art began to feel out the nuance of the brand, which narrowed in conversation with the client. After settling on the name and general idea of the logo and wordmarks, vector mockups were created to test in space and focus group. Once dialed in, we passed off the brand identity for immediate use by Beyond the Bookkeeping
Website design and creation
Beyond the Bookkeeping wanted an online space that was unique and original, so we created a self-hosted static webpage from scratch with Zola. The site was easy to view and access, and didn’t feel like a drag and drop site made from a website creator. It didn’t burden Beyond the Bookkeeping with any ongoing subscription costs or membership fees, and it looked and functioned amazingly.
Marketing and rollout
Since Beyond the Bookkeeping was a brand new business with no existing infrastructure, we created content and a release schedule for their first months with the site. Using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, we created analytics dashboards and contact hooks so that they could properly engage website visitors and connect with outreach.
The Outcome
Beyond the Bookkeeping saw immediate interest in their new venture and fielded many leads from the site, one of which eventually led to a buyout that resulted in new opportunities for the founder.
The brand and site were key to the momentum and success of Beyond the Bookkeeping, which initially came to us with no name and no identity.
What the Founder Said
“I wanted to share my unique experience with Cherry Blossom Tech because I had no idea what I wanted to do for my website, I only knew what I didn't want. Most of the time in that scenario, there are lots of back and forth communications, revisions, etc. Instead Eli and his team immediately started on the project, sending me various ideas. By the time we finished the website it wasn't at all what I had imagined, instead it was 10x better. No matter what I needed it seemed like there was always someone on the team who could either help, or handle it entirely for me. If you or someone you know is in need of the services that he describes below, I'd be happy to talk through my experience working with Cherry Blossom Tech. It was nothing less than a pleasure, and frankly I'm pretty sure they didn't charge me enough.”
Not a sales pitch.
Best fit for established companies with a build that cannot wait. Project engagements typically range from $20k–$200k, depending on scope, complexity, and team size. Speak with Elijah, founder of Cherry Blossom Tech.
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Book a call to walk through your situation and scope your need.
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Receive a proposal for who's coming, what we're building, what it costs.
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We get to work. Day one, no ramp-up, just momentum.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to build a Marketing Website
Most standard marketing websites can be completed within a month. Some clients may want more complex build outs involving a storefront and ecommerce integrations. In these cases the timelines can vary some, but generally these are some of the smaller projects we work on and can be completed quickly.
Is a custom website worth the cost?
While there are website builders out there that anyone can use, they tend to produce generic looking websites, often have hidden subscription costs, and are difficult to customize. When doing a custom design and controlling the image of your brand you often want devs to work on the site anyway, even when using site builders. However these services are restrictive, awkward and do not offer good developer experience. At Cherry Blossom we believe that the best tools should be used to get the job done: which in this case is coding directly. While the initial cost may be higher we believe the quality and consistency of custom static sites speak for themselves. You can read more about the shortcomings of site builders [here]
What makes a marketing website hard to get right?
There are a lot of footguns when it comes to building a website to represent your brand. While there are website builders out there that anyone can use, they tend to look generic, often have hidden subscription costs