Bates Security Connects with Customers to Snag SAMMY Award for Best Website Design
Bates Security mastered the art of putting each of the companies’ digital properties under one roof to win a 2023 SAMMY Award.
Since it was founded in 1969 in Lexington, Ky., Bates Security has consistently stood among the leading dealers in the nation with a vast subscriber base and multiple industry awards to its name.
Now, the company can add a SAMMY Award to that list. Here’s the story behind the story:
An exciting part of Bates’ history, notes Communications Manager Jessica Ping, has been acquisitions of security and technology companies across various states. The challenge the team saw as 2022 company growth continued, she adds, was how to consolidate all locations’ digital properties into one easy-to-navigate website.
“While we typically rebrand any acquisition in an established market, if we acquire a company that adds a new branch, we have continued to DBA as that local brand. That’s how we ended up with our DBAs: ABCO Security, Absolute Protection Team, and Central Security,” she says. “Our mindset was by keeping the local branding, we would maintain their brand equity in their market.
“We would also invest in building up their own local website, but as we have grown, this has become quite cumbersome and expensive,” she explains. “Maintaining all the separate websites was not manageable and not scalable. So, we decided we had to go about this a different way.”
Clearly, Bates did something right when it comes to handling its digital presence, as it was chosen the winner of the 2023 SSI Sales & Marketing (SAMMY for short) Award winner for Best Website Design.
The SAMMY Awards, which are presented annually at the ISC West trade show and now in their 28th year, recognize installing security integrators, dealers and monitoring providers for their marketing, installation and overall business excellence.
Redesign Reaps SAMMY Award Benefits of Consolidation
The firm outlined a strategy to bring five websites together into one main, centralized Bates Security website that had user experience top of mind, Ping says. The arduous process included rewriting content from all the websites, redirecting hundreds of URLs and improving site structure and navigation.
“The goal was to streamline ongoing site maintenance, marketing efforts, and easily allow for future brand expansions — all while keeping SEO best practices including locally optimized content as a priority,” she says. “Some new design elements included a ‘Choose your location’ component in the header and seamless integration of HubSpot forms throughout.”
The new site launched in November 2022. Page load speed was significantly improved, and the website has experienced immense organic growth, tracked via Google Analytics.
UP NEXT IN THE SERIES: SCHMIDT SECURITY PRO GIVEAWAY WINS ATTENTION–AND A SAMMY AWARD.
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About the Author
Arlen Schweiger
Arlen Schweiger is editor-in-chief of SSI's sister publication, CE Pro. He was SSI's managing editor from August 2018 to June 2023.
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