Project overview
Alongside implementing Baker Tilly International's new brand language across its global online communications, we embarked on building the BTI Global website. With it completed, we moved on to developing a flexible, powerful platform for BTI member organisations’ websites.
The CMS (content management system) was designed to support small and large member organisations, offering them a modern, forward-looking website with a look and feel tightly aligned with Baker Tilly International's branding, as well as marketing automation and integration with third-party systems.
- Client
- Baker Tilly
- Result
- 60 websites launched so far
Project objectives
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BTI
- Position Baker Tilly International as a forward-looking alternative in the global accountancy and legal market through its own and its members’ new websites
- Align all websites with the Baker Tilly International global brand
- Build a powerful, flexible content management system for Baker Tilly International and its members
- Keep the platform easy to use for non-English speaking firms
- Provide extensive SEO capability.
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Members
- Offer local and cross-border solutions for small and large firms
- Enable each member firm to build their website site using their own in-house resources
- Support members with a comprehensive guide to the platform
- Provide help and consultancy if required
- Ensure member websites can be launched with no outside support.
Design and UX
The challenge/goal identification
Our design challenge was to provide a way to implement the new Baker Tilly International brand on its new Global website and cohesively throughout its network so that both Baker Tilly International and its members benefit from the new identity.
The solution should give Baker Tilly International ongoing global control of its new brand language after implementation. Large and small Baker Tilly International members should benefit from the flexible, robust platform. In addition to catering for localised languages (essential for members in countries such as China, Denmark, Spain and Italy), some of BTI’s members operate cross-border and require multi-language support.
Discovery and persona-building
It was essential to build personas representing Baker Tilly International's worldwide network. Therefore, we interviewed member firms from 18 countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The process gave us valuable insight into the challenges facing international accountancy firms, from local compliance requirements to multi-language content and cross-border operations.
We pinpointed their current and anticipated problems and investigated geographical requirements such as local rules for cookies, GDPR and specific tracking needs. These, in addition to collecting their unique logos with specific aspect ratios.
The findings were collated, and an in-depth report was presented to Baker Tilly International for approval before wireframes were developed.
Brand interpretation and design
LuckyTurn Media worked closely with Baker Tilly International's Brand Ownership team to develop designs that enable members to build their own site that appears unique and standalone, yet follows the Baker Tilly International look and feel.
The Baker Tilly International Website Global Working Group
Moving forward from developing the initial designs, we formed the Website Global Working Group. We showed group members an early preview of our work and encouraged them to feed back what worked and didn’t work for their proposed websites. Building on their input, we fleshed out their needs and further developed the designs.
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The global website, launched first.
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Spain, Canada and Mexico, with around 60 sites built so far.
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Smaller member sites completed in under two weeks.
Development phase
Challenges
We worked with several of Baker Tilly International's internal IT teams throughout the project. We needed to guarantee interoperability between the main Baker Tilly International Global site and the network sites. For example, content blocks, including group statistics and About Us facts, can be shared from the global site onto network sites. Similarly, we have enabled content sharing between network websites so that news and insight articles can be published without time-consuming and resource-consuming writing and re-writing.
Working with IT teams throughout the Baker Tilly International network, we developed an API to pull down websites from across the globe onto our new platform. Baker Tilly International offers Gold and Silver Membership Tiers, with more comprehensive website feature sets for those who require them.
Our chosen CMS enabled us to develop and implement a fully scalable platform that is as easy to use for those with more straightforward needs as it is capable and flexible for those with more complex needs. We have ensured that cookies can be managed and translations can be enabled on a per-site basis for those who need them.
SEO and Content Migration
Our journey began with a comprehensive analysis of Baker Tilly International and BTI-member websites. We delved deep into the existing SEO strategies and implementations, meticulously mapped the routes through the sites, and studied their architecture. This thorough analysis provided us with a solid foundation for our next steps.
With our research in hand, we were equipped to deliver SEO migration from the old Global website to the new one, and from member sites to the new Baker Tilly International platform. We migrated old URLs seamlessly to new ones, and the Insights blog section was imported for both the Global website and the member firms who use it.
Content migration so that SEO is fully supported can be a real challenge. For that reason, content guidance and consultation are available for members
Marketing Automation
Email marketing is integral to the new platform for Baker Tilly International and Gold Tier Firms. Without leaving their sites, Baker Tilly International and members can send campaigns with similar functionality to third-party services.
Email marketing functions:
- Easy campaign creation
- Firm-level branding
- Multi-lingual support
- Lead capture
- Standard and drip campaigns
- Scheduled emails
- Segmentation
Outcome
60
websites launched so far
At the time of writing, the Baker Tilly International Global website has been launched, and 60 member sites, including Spain, Latvia, and the Cayman Islands have already been completed, with an expected hundred more to follow.
The Spanish website was the first member site. The team in Spain built it in just six weeks after first touching the platform and including testing time. Moving forward, smaller sites have been completed in under two weeks.
What’s next?
LuckyTurn Media will continue to refine the platform to cater to members’ needs as more use it and edge cases are identified and solved. We are available to onboard more of the network onto the system, with flexible support and consultancy available.
Further, we are implementing integrations with members’ third-party systems, including CRM and HR. We expect to continue evolving the CMS's capabilities to ensure it always remains market-leading and future-ready.
The proof
John and the LuckyTurn team shared our vision, bringing genuine passion and a strong understanding of the complexities involved in creating a new global website solution for our network of independent accountancy and business advisory firms.
