Brand Development & Website platform

John Fowlers

A brand identity and responsive website for a firm of solicitors that aligned seamlessly with its heritage and growth.

“We are delighted with the work that the Mackman Group have done on our new website and in updating our branding. The website is visually striking and streets ahead of our previous website (and that of other law firms) in terms of its look and functionality. We feel that it demonstrates the forward thinking attitude of our expanding firm, whilst reflecting the heritage and friendly values of John Fowlers LLP and our 90 years experience in the law.”

John Fowlers Solicitors LLP

The Client

John Fowlers LLP Solicitors is a growing firm of solicitors based in Colchester and Brightlingsea.

The company was established in 1924 and has since grown to include just over 50 employees and recently opened its fourth office in West Mersea. John Fowlers Solicitors has recognised that as the business has grown, the need for professional marketing support is required to drive the organisation's continued success.

The Challenge

John Fowlers Solicitors initially appointed Mackman to re-brand the company. Having completed and launched a successful branding project, the new look and feel needed to be applied to a new website.

The aim of the new site was to share John Fowlers new brand identity and better inform their customers about the breadth of their services. The new website needed to be written, designed and created with the user's needs in mind to reassure new and existing customers of the John Fowlers offering and the capabilities of its people.

What we did

In the process of building the new John Fowlers website, Mackman drew upon a number of disciplines:

• Developing web personas - Web personas help us determine and understand the audience groups for a website and how the website should be evolved to create the best user experience for target groups
• Performing a content audit - A content audit is an independent review of existing site content, as well as the content on competitor sites. This allows us to determine best practice and make recommendations on content considerations
• Performing an SEO review - A key word audit is performed to inform the planning of content for the site. We use the audit to understand the terms that visitors looking for a site use and then incorporate these terms into the site to maximise SEO value
• Writing content - Content is written based on the findings of the SEO review and in collaboration with the client to create content that demonstrates authority and value
• Application of the new brand - The site is build around the shapes, colours, style and fonts of the new brand to create a uniform appearance throughout

The design of the new site reflects the heritage and prestige of the firm and demonstrates John Fowlers' leading position within the region. The site has evolved from what was a rather typical website to a fully responsive design, creating a timeless and impressive online presence that will appeal to both existing and new customers. The site also includes new functionality for John Fowlers' customers, including an on-site search function that searches all the content on the website, a "call me back form" for users wishing to make an enquiry and the ability to download helpful resources, guides and forms in PDF format.

What we achieved

In the first week since launch, the John Fowlers website has seen results including:

• 618 overall sessions:
  • 62.94% Desktop sessions
  • 27.18% Mobile sessions
  • 9.87% Tablet sessions