Excellence in Technology
Expanding the Toolbox

Sea Coast Creates an Electronic Personality

Dennis Smith excels at selling high-end custom impact windows in the Southern Florida market. Chauncey Archer excels at creating high-impact custom Web sites. Together, they developed a comprehensive electronic presence for Sea Coast Window & Door, the Pompano Beach, Fla., specialty dealer recognized with this year’s focused excellence category in technology.

At the center of Sea Coast’s electronic presence is its Web site, www.seacoastwindow.com, but the company has also integrated branded e-elements into things like an electronic newsletter for its customers and e-signature cards on every employee’s outgoing email. The look and feel of the branding that originated with the Web site has since seeped into other, traditional places one would expect to see branding in a business—on business cards, in brochures and soon even the company trucks will be painted to match the Web site. Everything at the company is set to match the electronic elements—not the other way around.

“I’m a very progressive person,” explains Smith, Sea Coast’s president. “I’m a firm believer in technology. It was my opinion that the Internet was going to be the future of advertising and marketing. Right from the get-go, we started our Web site as soon as I started my business and we’ve been improving it ever since.”

Smith founded Sea Coast about 10 years ago, bringing with him more than three decades of experience in the window and door industry. This experienced dog wasn’t afraid to try new tricks, however, when it came to communicating his company’s mission to potential customers. Serving the rightfully high-maintenance customers of the upscale market, particularly in the high-maintenance hurricane zone of Southern Florida, Smith is dedicated to creating an impression with potential buyers, offering on his Web site a sophisticated look backed up with solid content.

“We have really great response from customers about the Web site, especially consumers who have done their homework,” he says. “Impact products are not driven by price. Consumers really know their stuff. Our Web site and newsletter lends a great deal of credibility to the company.”

Sea Coast’s suppliers agree that the dealer’s electronic presence goes a long way in gaining business. “An excellent Web site like Sea Coast’s shows the customer that the dealer has the expertise and knowledge about the products,” says Steve Dawson, CFO and executive vice president of sales for Miami-based CGI Windows & Doors Inc. “It also indicates a high level of professionalism. Impact-resistant products like CGI’s represent a significant investment for a homeowner.
Dealers that invest in a solid Web presence prove to the customer that the dealer is credible and committed.”

Smith dumps most of his marketing dollars into electronic upgrades and refinements. He has even shied away from heavy yellow page advertising, focusing instead on driving traffic to his Web site. “I would rather have a Web site address in my advertising than physical address,” he says.

A PARTNER AND A MAKE-OVER
While Sea Coast had a Web presence from day one, Smith decided a few years ago that it was time for a makeover and an electronic game plan. He sought out a partner that was Web-centric. Rather than turning to a marketing firm that would likely include his Web site upgrades as part of a larger marketing and branding plan, he wanted to hire a Web firm that would be interested in keeping electronic media at the epicenter of the project. Smith knew he had the right information; he just needed help presenting it.

That help came from Sticky IT, a Florida Web development firm, which—as the name implies—aims to make clients’ Web sites “sticky,” not only attracting traffic, but keeping it as well.

“When Dennis came to us, he really had a lot of great content but he had difficulty having a management solution for it,” says Archer, Sticky IT managing partner. “We specialize in a lot of simple site management tools that people who really don’t know a lot about the Web can really use.”

Together they worked to develop a site with an upscale Floridian feel—pulling in visual elements like stucco and palm trees—and enough information to woo discriminating buyers. “When you get to the home page, you see flash animation and hurricane scenes,” Smith explains. “It just grabs your attention, even if you’re not looking for our Web site, so you’re more likely to go through it and see what else is in there.”

A key element in the redesign for Smith was keeping viewers “stuck” to his Web site, even when they were looking for information like product specifications and options that traditionally live on manufacturers’ Web sites. “I see a lot of my competition plop up a Web site and it’s nothing but a few pictures from a catalog and links to its vendors. But once you allow someone to leave for another Web site, it’s hard to get them to come back to yours.”

So Archer developed a way to manage product information on Sea Coast’s site. “Even our product catalogs are downloadable PDF files,” Smith says. “Customers can get everything right from our Web site versus sending them to the manufacturer’s, where they won’t know what they’re looking for.”

Sea Coast’s site also includes information about complex building codes and hurricane requirements in Florida, establishing the dealer as the resource that it is for consumers concerned with getting the right products in their coastal homes.

“Nowadays you have to be an expert in your field—part code inspector, and part engineer,” Smith says.

WEAVING IT TOGETHER
Smith recognized that plenty of companies have Web sites that go a long way toward winning the favor of customers, but he wanted to see Sea Coast’s electronic presence expanded across different media as well. He and Archer developed an electronic signature card that attaches to all outgoing email. It matches the graphic elements of the Web site and contains embedded links to the company’s site and electronic newsletter. “The signature is additional play with homeowners or whoever we correspond with via email,” he says. “It keeps our name and logo constantly in front our potential customers.”

The company produces a regular e-newsletter, which not only gives it another point-of-contact with customers, but also provides fresh content for the Web site on a regular basis. Again, the e-mailing captures the look and approach of the Web site. “We’re not always sure that our newsletter is read, but it gives additional opportunity for someone to experience Sea Coast.”

Even though the company has some successful electronic elements in place, Smith plans to continue his creative and financial investment in refinements. Next on his agenda—coming up ranked higher in Web searches. “Even though the site is as nice as it is, we’re looking at optimizing it again,” he says. “Technology is constantly changing. Search engines are getting smarter so you have to keep up with technology.

“Search engines are driving away from meta tags [keywords embedded in a Web page’s code, once used to drive up search engine rank],” he continues. “Now they are looking at content. That’s what we’ll be changing up in our next go around. Having the flash animation is nice, but search engines don’t look at flash. You may have a fancy Web site but it might not even show up in a search.”

Archer and the Sticky IT folks are ready for the next Sea Coast challenge, and have already started developing a search optimization game plan for the dealer. “We’re able to keep growing on his initial project,” Archer says. “We like to see our sites as a campaign rather than just a static piece. You want to keep adding to it. Over time, your priorities change and you might need to add in a piece here and there to keep it functioning at its best.”

No matter what tweaks come to Sea Coast’s electronic personality, Smith can guarantee that the various technological and traditional graphic elements will mature together. The company will offer the same face, regardless of whether the customer is reading an email, exploring the Web site or driving behind a branded job-site truck. “I feel that consistency is going to be the key element,” he says. “That’s just smart, progressive marketing.”