Stephanie, the owner of Blackwood Events Inc. – a leading event and trade show planning company in St. John’s, NL, decided to seek professional help to renew her DIY business website and was referred to us. After a thorough discovery session, we noticed that her business processes were relying too much on manual work and dispersed in too many platforms making them hard to manage. So, we proposed a complete digital transformation for her business to minimize their manual processes and the number of platforms they use for easier process management.

After multiple meetings and calls to ensure we are on the same page, we rolled up our sleeves to relieve Stephanie and her team from the burden of the manual processes.

Project Scope

Digital Transformation of Event Ticketing & Booth Sales

The company had been selling event tickets in two ways: at the door on event day and online through one of the major event ticketing platforms. The attendees needed to register either in advance by filling out an online form on company website, or at the door by filling out paper forms manually. This was causing long registration lines for the event guests and too much manual labour for Stephanie and her team.

For the vendor & exhibitor registration, the interested vendors were requested to fill out an application form on the company website and the rest of the process were manual including confirmation and the payment (bank transfer or keyed-in credit card transactions).

A digital transformation was needed to streamline these processes. First, we conducted a thorough research to identify the most suitable event ticketing platform to meet the needs of the company. We assessed multiple solutions, compared them based on cost & value, and discussed the available options with our client. Finally, they ended up choosing TicketTailor as their provider.

After their decision, we started the implementation of the digital transformation. We established the system to accommodate both vendor booth sales and guest ticketing and set up custom registration forms for both vendors and guests based on ticket types. We also integrated their main payment gateway with the ticketing system so that they wouldn’t have to deal with different credit card processors for different processors.

The company is now able to sell vendor booths as well as online and door tickets for guests through their ticketing system. They can also manage the check-in process online through a real-time check-in app by scanning the tickets and keep track of the event analytics through a dashboard.

Completing the Digital Transformation with an SEO-Friendly Website on Squarespace

There were two websites that belong to the company. A business website that lists most of the events, and a separate website for their flagship event “The Ultimate Bridal Show”. The existing company websites were designed on Squarespace. Since the client was familiar with the administration of Squarespace, we built the new website on the same platform to ensure their convenience.

Before starting the website redesign, we needed to define the brand colours. We created brand colour palette options in line with our client’s preferences and determined the brand palette for the company. While we were at it, we redesigned their logo for this complete online makeover and digital transformation.

In the new website that we designed, we merged those two websites under a new structure, updated the information, optimized the content for search engines, embedded the ticketing platform on the website, implemented SEO practices for better online visibility, and optimized for responsiveness on mobile devices.

Since there was very little time until the upcoming “The Ultimate Bridal Show” event when we started working together, we put our full capacity to this project so that we could open the guest tickets for sale with the new system, and we did it just on time! This year’s last Ultimate Bridal Show event has just been held on October 15th, and it was a success as always. However, there was a difference this time: the Blackwood Team was much more productive with the reduced manual processes while planning and hosting the show.

Testimonial

“I had an outstanding experience with Acumen Business Consulting when they created my new website! They demonstrated exceptional professionalism, creativity, and technical expertise throughout the project. From the initial consultation to the final product launch, they exceeded my expectations in every way. Acumen’s dedication to meeting deadlines also reflects their reliability and commitment to customer satisfaction.

The website they designed for me is not only visually stunning but also highly functional and user-friendly. Their attention to detail and commitment to delivering a top-notch product is truly commendable. They were responsive to my feedback, making revisions promptly and ensuring that the website perfectly aligned with my vision. They also provided suggestions and insights that were extremely beneficial and demonstrated their genuine interest in seeing my business grow!

I wholeheartedly recommend Acumen Business Consulting to anyone in need of web development services, site integrations, and much more. I’ve already received such great feedback from my clients.

Thank you, Acumen, for bringing my vision to life and creating a website that stands out and delivers exceptional user experiences!”

– Stephanie Blackwood (Owner, Blackwood Events)

Before Acumen

After Acumen