Aman Datta, vice president at Roundarch, explains how our partnership with Brightcove allows us to create scalable, flexible and customizable solutions for our clients such as Cinemax and HBO.

Roundarch has partnered with ClubCorp, the world leader in private clubs with 150 across the country, to create an entirely new digital experience for the family of property web sites including Braemar Country Club.

The effort included upgrading the quality of all Web sites in the company’s portfolio, making them easier to view, navigate and, most importantly, control content. This power has helped membership director Debbie Faulkner immensely in her task at Braemoor, and it provides a blueprint for any operator whose online presence isn’t yet seen as a major asset in acquiring and retaining members.

ClubCorp’s strategy is to bring the best in marketing and service to the industry—largely by making technology investments.  Their ambitious plan is to digitally enable the entire club experience, everything from becoming a member to monitoring course progress from your smartphone.

By partnering with Roundarch, a leader in digital design and implementation, ClubCorp has redesigned the online offering at ClubCorp.com and at its individual affiliate club sites to meet the demand of potential members, existing members and event planners.

Read the full article here.

For the past few years Roundarch has been partnering with Avis Budget Group to develop a consolidated digital strategy.   In June, Aman Datta, vice president of Roundarch, and Kathryn Kiritsis, director of online marketing at Avis Budget Group presented at the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) Travel Marketing Conference in Boston, MA.  AMTE, chaired by Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research, is a non-profit, professional association made up of experienced and innovative travel industry marketers.  We were very excited to share our strategy and the success of our partnership with Avis Budget Group at the conference.  Roundarch and Avis Budget Group have partnered to focus on a “go to where the customer is” strategy for digital marketing/commerce including a redesigned Web site, mobile apps, fully-functional booking widgets and a comprehensive optimization strategy.

The first step in this strategy was to develop personas to serve as the foundation.

After developing the personas we worked with Avis to completely redesign the car rental experience on Avis.com.  The rental process was reduced from 5 clicks on different pages to 3 clicks all on one page while displaying choices and prices dynamically to improve conversion.  Then we expanded to the mobile space with the first-to-market iPhone app for Avis.  We continue to work with Avis Budget Group to grow in the mobile space with apps on other platforms as well as site extensions that allow Avis to take their experience to affiliate sites.  This mobile strategy has resulted in a 300% increase in mobile revenues.  We have also partnered with Avis Budget Group to focus on optimization including multivariate testing and improved organic search.  The case for optimization is compelling:

• Revenue from SEO has doubled each of the 4 years since Avis upgrades its SEO efforts with a 40% decrease in SEM costs.
• Together search makes up over 25% of online revenue for both the Avis and Budget Brands.
• Budget conversion rate more than doubles for incremental SEO traffic.
• Landing page conversion from search traffic increased by 30%.

Recently, Shar VanBoskirk of Forrester Research published a case study outlining how successfully Avis has used personas to drive SEO, specifically organic search, in the past few years.

“Over the last few years, we’ve invested a considerable amount of money on this SEO project, but it’s still less than 10% of what we spend on paid search.  SEO is more cost-effective than paid search, so we need to strike the best balance.”

John Peebles, vice president of Avis Budget Group

Our partnership with Avis Budget Group has shown that a comprehensive digital strategy is essential in the market today.  We are continuing to not just plan for the future of digital marketing, but evolve with new technologies and design the future of digital marketing to best align with the customer.

This morning I had the opportunity to attend the Crain’s Fast Fifty Breakfast which honored a very impressive group of companies that appeared on the 2011 list.  Roundarch has appeared on the list for two consecutive years and this year we were represented at #18.  Our five year growth rate of 448% is a direct result of our clients’ satisfaction with the cutting edge solutions that we have delivered for them.   Roundarch has been a part of the Chicago community since we started in 2000 and it is an honor to have our solid sustained growth recognized by Chicago Crain’s.  We are proud to be included in the prestigious company of these organizations that have managed to thrive in the difficult economic conditions of the past five years.

Roundarch is #39 on the Advertising Age Top Digital Agencies list.

The list is ranked by 2010 U.S. digital revenue.

Jeff Maling, president and chief experience officer
Hendrik Kleinsmiede, senior vice president, user experience

B2B has long been an afterthought when it comes to digital marketing. Yet while consumer digital marketing still gains the lion’s share of attention, a quiet revolution is occurring in the business-to-business space. B2B marketers, who historically have relied on offline processes and large sales forces, are increasingly fueling growth while reducing the cost of sales with digital.

Until recently, the typical B2B company viewed a Web site as a necessary evil, believing that the real action happened when the customer (or sales person) picked up the phone and initiated contact. Although facilitating contact remains central to digital marketing, B2B companies are recognizing the Web channel as a strategic asset that can support the process from awareness through post-sales servicing. To achieve this goal, B2B organizations must undertake the mammoth task of translating the entire traditional sales process for the digital realm, both from the organization’s and customer’s perspective.

Chief Business Marketer recently featured a case study about our work with Crowley to boost sales, create a stronger family of Web sites and improve search optimization.

A revamped website better highlighting maritime transport firm Crowley Corp.’s range of services has boosted SEO and conversions.

The new site, redesigned by digital agency Roundarch Inc, led to total organic search referralsincreasing 244% per month, and total non-branded keywords leading to the site rising 68% per month, says Mark Miller, director of corporate communications for Crowley.

A Smarter Family of Websites
With the website, there was a great opportunity to identify cross-sell prospects, and thus better leverage the overall online presence. Building in mechanisms so visitors could easily see related services was crucial, says Frank Baldassare, project manager for Roundarch.

Crowley’s existing site prior to the redesign was nine years old and very outdated. For the most part, any change to content was a complicated exercise and couldn’t be done with any frequency. The main Crowley site is for the parent company, with links to subsidiaries such as Titan Salvage, Jensen Maritime Consultants and Customized Brokers. Each of these has its own unique brand and a specific position in the market. “These sites weren’t supporting the overall brand, and they needed to be tackled from the get-go,” says Baldassare.

Read the full article here.

Geoff Cubitt, president and chief technology officer at Roundarch, explains how Roundarch helped ClubCorp transform the country club experience.

Country clubs used to be all about “who you know.”  But as memberships and time spent at private clubs decline across the country many of these businesses are struggling to both attract and retain members.

ClubCorp, the world leader in private clubs with 150 across the country, has recognized this alarming trend and decided to revolutionize the way this traditionally conservative and exclusive country club and resort industry attracts members and event business.

ClubCorp’s strategy is to bring the best in marketing and service to the industry—largely by making technology investments.  Their ambitious plan is to digitally enable the entire club experience, everything from becoming a member to monitoring course progress from your smartphone.

By partnering with Roundarch, a leader in digital design and implementation, ClubCorp has begun this process by redesigning the online offering at ClubCorp.com and at its individual affiliate club sites to meet the demand of potential members, existing members and event planners.

This year Roundarch was a proud supporter of the Chartis Ski Challenge which took place last week, Tuesday, March 15 to Friday, March 18, at Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont.  The event raised a total of $496,832 for the Wounded Warriors Disabled Sports Project.

On Tuesday the racers were given the opportunity to participate in practice runs on the course with the celebrity host, two-time gold medal Olympian Phil Mahre.

The ski races were held on Wednesday and Thursday with a reception on Wednesday night that included a torchlight parade down the mountain and fireworks.  Several of the wounded warriors that participated in the event spoke at this reception.

Thursday evening the Chartis Ski Challenge race awards were presented to the winners at a dinner reception.

More information on the event can be found here.

More information on the Wounded Warriors Project can be found here.

It’s not TV. It’s HBO…on Android. The official HBO Android app is the Market, and with it comes plenty of ways to follow your favorite programs. No, you won’t be watching full episodes of True Blood or Big Love, but you will have options for learning more about the original programming and special broadcasts on HBO.”

…Users can see the full broadcast schedule, see what movies or sporting events are on the agenda, and mark certain shows or events as favorites. This makes it incredibly easy to keep tabs on the programs that you watch. For any hardcore HBO fan with an Android phone, this an app worth having.

Read the full review here.