The Scout Guide’s digital transformation involved consolidating 86 Squarespace sites into a cohesive WordPress platform, streamlining operations and enhancing brand consistency across their nationwide franchise network.
In the competitive world of advertising, The Scout Guide stands out as a beacon of local influence and aesthetic finesse. With 86 franchises (and counting!) amplifying local businesses through beautifully crafted print guides, The Scout Guide is a testament to the power of community. Yet, beneath this veneer of perfection, lay a digital presence that was disjointed and processes that were inefficient, hindering the true potential of this rapidly growing, women-led enterprise.
The client at The Scout Guide who we worked with daily throughout this project was website strategist and SEO manager Holly Negley.
Like so many of these projects do, this all started with a “we need a new website” email. Our team quickly discovered that long before a new website would be possible, there were operations and processes in place that would break any new website, just as the existing one was broken.
So we put on our digital ops hat and went to work cleaning up some of the most vital operations that would affect the success of their new website.
The journey commenced with a critical assessment of The Scout Guide’s existing digital infrastructure. We identified some core issues causing a lot of friction in the business: a fragmented online presence and convoluted processes for employees, franchisees, and advertisers. These revelations were the catalysts for an ambitious overhaul.
The transformation strategy was twofold: consolidate the disparate digital entities into a cohesive unit and streamline operational processes to mirror the brand’s elegance.
The need became clear – a unified WordPress platform replacing the 86 Squarespace sites, ensuring brand consistency and operational efficiency.
The path to digital unification was fraught with challenges. The diversity of the existing websites meant collating vast amounts of data – 6,000 blog posts and 60,000 image assets – and weaving them into a singular, seamless web experience. This required not just technical prowess but also a deep understanding of The Scout Guide’s unique requirements.
To handle this data migration, we wrote a custom importer to fetch the images, bring the images in, strip out the HTML, and wrap them in the proper blocks.
Through continuous dialogue with our client Holly, The Scout Guide’s Website Strategist and SEO Manager, we crafted a solution that was not just about technical integration but also about empowering The Scout Guide’s team. The transformation needed to extend beyond the creation of a new website. As Holly puts it, “This was truly a reconfiguration of how we do business. Everyone in the business has come to fully understand the power of digital being an enormous compliment to the product we offer. This website touches every single department in the business. Everything is run through the website. And so to have the ability to shape the processes of the business was a huge undertaking for me, for Kevin, and his team and it ended up being impactful in every part of the business.”
The result was a whole-business revolution. What once took Holly’s team a week, now took merely one hour. The Scout Guide’s digital experience now mirrors the elegance and prestige of the product.
What’s more, the experience of those on the inside—employees, franchisees, and advertisers—also get an upgraded experience that aligns with the brand. This was not just the building of a website; it is a digital platform that operates as an extension of The Scout Guide’s brand – elevated, efficient, and evocative.
The transformation also brought a newfound empowerment to The Scout Guide’s franchisees and publishers. With the new system, they received comprehensive training, ensuring that every market owner was adept at leveraging the new platform.
This empowerment was a significant stride towards maintaining brand consistency and quality across all markets.
The collaboration between Digital Renegades and The Scout Guide was vital to the success of this project. Digital Renegades’ owner, Kevin Abrams, drew on his experience working at Apple and brought more than technical solutions; he brought a mindset change. He coached The Scout Guide’s team, not just in technology but in managing expectations, strategic communication, and envisioning the future.
Today, The Scout Guide is a testimony to what can be achieved when vision meets expertise. The Scout Guide’s journey is not just their story; it’s a roadmap for others and a testament to the transformative power of digital excellence.
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