Effective branding, essential for small business.
Background
After purchasing and renovating the National Trust building 'Arcoona Manor,' located just outside Deloraine (Tasmania), Maria Tessone wished to relaunch the B&B with a new look that elevated the Arcoona Manor brand and differentiated it from when previous owners had managed it.
Maria came to us wanting a brand and a website. She wanted to craft an image and reputation of understated luxury and elegance, not unlike some of her favourite brands such as Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel. We started with the brand first, developing a beautiful monogram logo.
The value of the monogram, and Maria’s investment in the brand, has been the ability to use the design across multiple projects; it has been engraved on key rings, featured on door numbers throughout the B&B, embroidered on linen and towels, and used on stationary, business cards and email signatures.
The development of Arcoona Manor’s logo as a first step made the web development process that followed flow seamlessly. Due to the brand development phase, we had an excellent understanding of how Arcoona Manor should be positioned in the market. We provided guidance and advice on how to best manage online bookings and promotion of the B&B via the use of a blog, social media, accommodation aggregation sites (Wotif, booking.com, etc.), and press advertising.
Staying alert for opportunities pays off.
Working with industry-related folks and services allows us to stay abreast of opportunities for publicity that might suit our clients, so when we saw a 'Historic Homes' lift-out coming up in The Examiner Newspaper, we contacted Maria straight away.
What followed was an acceptance by the Examiner of Arcoona Manor as their feature and front page historic home. True to the brand we’d developed with Maria, we designed two accompanying display advertisements and timed the launch of her website to coincide with the publication of the newspaper lift-out. The press ads generated excellent brand awareness, as evidenced by the website traffic following their publication.
From start-up to fully booked.
The site was launched in early December and attracted 754 visitors in its first 2 weeks. The B&B has enjoyed excellent booking rates since its opening and now also benefits from a 4.5-star rating on booking.com. Walker Designs continues to keep in touch with Maria and keep an ear to the ground for new opportunities for Arcoona Manor.