"Alignkraft's branding expertise enabled us to win big clients that historically slipped away." 

- JOHN FINN, CEO, INDIEPAY

THE CHALLENGE

We were challenged to build a strategy to move their brand away from being seen as a small mom and pop shop and to realign Indiepay as the leading production accounting software for all productions. 

Indiepay started to see their accounting software sales stagnate. By focusing on independent production clients, Indiepay was able to build strong, face-to-face relationships with its clients and offer technological solutions that larger players in the market, who preferred to continue filing reports with paper and pencil, just didn’t seem interested in making available. However, as the company known for catering to “indie” productions, the executive team felt large production house clients were out of their reach. The Indiepay brand suffered from the perception of being too small whenever they attempted to land larger clients.

THE RESEARCH 

INTERVIEW & SURVEY ANALYSIS

To begin the AKDx™ process we conducted an online survey of the Indiepay's clients, employees, and executive team to form a clear picture of both internal and external perceptions of the brand. 

The surveys were supplemented with hour-long in-person interviews of executive team members. Combining the quantitative data of the survey results with the qualitative insight gleaned from the interviews, we performed a gap analysis to analyze where the executive team, clients and employees diverged on perceptions about the Indiepay brand.    

It turned out that client satisfaction across all areas was higher than the Indiepay team had predicted. 

Clients also revealed that the sales process was the most important criterion of choosing a payroll vendor, while the employees and executive team of Indiepay all assumed that price was the deciding factor.

MARKET RESEARCH ANALYSIS

We next analyzed Indiepay's competitors across several different criteria, including communication strategies, service offerings, corporate structure, financial service offerings, technology solutions, and website user experience.

We compared each company’s competitive advantages/disadvantages and ranked them in relation to Indiepay's performance in these same areas. Using this data, we established the value propositions and unique selling points that distinguished each brand vis-a-vis their competitors.

Analysis showed Indiepay software was at the top of the industry, but their website was lagging behind their competitors across the board.

With these points as a baseline, it became clear how to leverage Indiepay's competitive advantages moving forward in developing a branding strategy to ultimately improve ROI.

THE SOLUTIONS

Indiepay partnered with Alignkraft for a full discovery, messaging and identity creation. We revitalized all aspects of their brand with ultimate goal of helping Indiepay reach new customers that were normally out of reach. The goal was to build substantial awareness so that they were no longer perceive as solution for small independent film and television producers, but rather the leading production accounting software for all productions. With design and production spearheaded by Alignkraft's sister company, SCG Creative, we developed a logo, corporate identity system, website, stationary, videos, print advertisements, social media, email marketing campaigns, trade show collateral and localized industry events which helped Indiepay solidify new sales with bigger clients.  

THE RESULTS

By making intelligent decisions informed by data driven analytics, we transformed Indiepay into an industry leader. Through elevated strategy, messaging and design, Alignkraft helped Indiepay accelerate their growth.

In particular, we transformed the Indiepay website from being outdated and ineffective into an elegant, sophisticated and useful tool for both new and returning clients.

In 9 months, the amount of website page views and users went up by 2,701 and 1,555 respectively.

Leveraging the increase in brand awareness of Indiepay after working with Alignkraft, the Indiepay executive team launched a new national industry association (NAPA: National Association of Production Accountants). After a successful campaign with Indiepay, John Finn engaged Alignkraft  with brand research, consulting and design services for NAPA as well. 

Do you feel it is impossible for your business to land large clients? Like our work with Indiepay, Alignkraft can align your brand for accelerated growth. Contact us to learn more >

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