Big D Roofing - PHOS Creative

The Challenge

Big D Roofing is a family-owned roofing company that opened its doors in Ocala, FL in 1981 by Don “Big D” Stauss. Over the last 30 years, they have grown to over 80 employees and have earned the reputation as one of the premier roofing companies in the area.

Although their word-of-mouth reputation was impeccable, Don’s son and his wife, Caleb and Paula Stauss, came to PHOS expressing their need for a more robust and engaging online presence. Their current website was in dire straits and they knew that their competition was outdoing them digitally.

Additionally, they wanted help clarifying and recording their mission and vision as a company. They wanted to establish themselves as both a residential and commercial roofing company. Historically, their commercial services had been the bread-and-butter of their work. Lastly, similar to PHOS, they wanted to present Big D Roofing as a “light” in an industry that is tainted by unscrupulous contractors.

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Our Vision

In partnership with Big D, our vision was to break through the status quo for roofing contractors by showcasing Big D’s expertise and leading with empathy.

Reputation

We brought their word-of-mouth reputation as an outstanding roofing company among the community into the digital space through a beautifully designed and informative website, an active social presence, and a focus on client testimonials. Doing so, was a massive force multiplier.

Relationships

There was one value that was abundantly clear from day 1: Relationships mean everything to them. Their relationships with their team members, clients, and vendors are what make them unique and loved by their community. They have customers that are on their second and third roofs with them. It was important for us to display this unique value in their overall messaging.

Best-In-Class

We had multiple meetings and conversations with Caleb and Paula where we listened to what was important. Their roofs are referred to as “Big D Roofs” for a reason. They are passionate, hardworking, meticulous about the details, and determined to be the best in their industry. We wanted to bring their passion, determination, and capability to light.

The Solution

During our initial engagement with Big D, we leveraged strategic consulting, branding, web design and development, content, photography/videography, and marketing. This process involved multiple meetings with the Big D team, internal brainstorming sessions, competitor analysis, graphic design, the creation of a brand plan, and more.

Strategic Consulting

During the initial phases, we realized that they indeed had a mission, vision, and core values. However, they had never verbalized or formalized them. We were able to help Big D uncover what they value and then empower them to inject their values into their culture and leverage them to move the company forward. An organization that can’t fully articulate its purpose cannot fully live into it.

Branding

At the start of our engagement, we realized that their previous brand identity was lacking and that it didn’t effectively communicate who they are as a company.

In our meetings with Big D, we observed a few key characteristics about them that we wanted to represent in their new branding.

Bold and highly relational
Gritty and warm
Professional and bold

The challenge was to represent these seemingly contradictory characteristics in their logo and brand identity without sacrificing one quality for the other. Additionally, they expressed wanting to have red as the dominant color in the logo so we had to create it in such a way that it juxtaposed both professionalism and boldness.

The final challenge with the branding was to avoid pigeonholing them into being either primarily a residential or commercial contractor. We wanted to ensure we were encompassing both characteristics. Therefore, in the logo, you see the angles on the D representing both a residential and commercial metal roof.

The final logo appeals to all of these characteristics. Namely, professional, relational, bold, residential, and commercial.

Web Design and Development

Big D’s legacy website lacked many elements including “human-ness.” Important functionality, UX, and information were also missing. It failed to tell their story or showcase their work.

The refreshed brand was communicated in their new website through the liberal usage of the color red, iconography, overall layout, UX, and simplicity. The website appeals to both residential and commercial audiences and makes finding services information easy. The new site needed to communicate that they’re experts in their industry and can serve customers ranging from single-story homes to multi-story buildings.

Big D Roofing’s website stands out amongst its competitors and sets a new standard. At the 2023 AAF-NCFL American Advertising Awards, Big D Roofing’s website was awarded Local Silver Award for Consumer Website!

Content

We wanted to make their website content easy to digest and organize it across the site based on funnel strategies and Big D’s buyer personas. This simplicity is reflected in their main navigation menu. We first wanted to establish credibility, then move to the services they offer, followed by helpful tips and FAQs. You see this reflected in the order of the drop-downs in the main menu.

Additionally, we wanted to make doing business with them as simple as possible. To accomplish this, we have multiple buttons linking to their contact form throughout the site and have their phone number displayed in the header and footer of every page so that mobile users can contact them with ease. On the home page, we also present a 4-step process of how to get started with them.

Photography & Videography

Leveraging photography and videography was crucial to telling the Big D story and accurately representing their brand identity. Being a family-owned business, we wanted to show how Big D “Don Stauss” was passing the torch on to his son, Caleb. These elements are reflected in their brand anchor video. The biggest challenge with the brand anchor video was to appeal to the warm, sentimental interactions between Don and Caleb while simultaneously presenting them as first-class professionals capable of serving major commercial clients.

Fresh photography was also used throughout the site displaying their team members on both residential and commercial projects.

Marketing

We empowered Big D to go to market by identifying their target audiences and establishing how to reach them via strategic marketing channels and the new website. Before working with PHOS, it felt like Big D lacked a “home” online. Their new website made it easy for people to learn more about them and the services they offer. It also served as a place to reference back to when talking about them on other marketing channels.

The main marketing strategy orbited around these 3 goals.

Establishing a digital presence
Presenting Big D as a best-in-class roofing company
Providing an exceptional customer experience

These goals were accomplished through the implementation of the new website, social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram), paid advertising, and content marketing.

The Impact

As Big D continues to grow, our efforts have set them up for success via lead generation and revenue growth. Additionally, they now have an enhanced reputation, and an established mission, vision, and core values that will propel the company moving forward. In the first 2 months after their site was launched, they had more than 2,000 visitors and received over 45 new leads from their website.

Prior to working with PHOS, Big D didn’t believe there was much value in digital marketing. Historically, most of their work came from word-of-mouth and grassroots marketing efforts. After working with us, they see the supreme value of digital marketing. On a large scale, Big D is now empowered to become a light in their industry. They’re able to tell their story and demonstrate that not all roofers are “bad players” or offer poor customer service. Their new brand identity and social voice tell the story of what an ideal roofer looks like.