Windmill Strategy

We are a global leader in measurement instrumentation, services and solutions for industrial process engineering. We provide process solutions for flow, level, pressure, analytics, temperature, recording and digital communications, optimizing processes in terms of economic efficiency, safety & environmental impact. Our customers come from various industries, including chemical, food & beverage, life sciences, power & energy, mining, minerals & metals, oil & gas and water & wastewater.

We hired Windmill Strategy to help us develop a blog site that our US team could utilize separately from our main company website. The way our main website is structured, we couldn’t easily create localized content in a blog format that would drive visibility of our subject matter experts as thought leaders.

I searched for web developers online who had some experience with more technical industrial manufacturing type companies. I set up interviews with a handful of companies, but Windmill Strategy stood out the most to us because they seemed most confident in delivering what we expected and said something along the lines of "a goal of ours is to become a thought partner who works with you". Those two factors helped us make the decision to work with them.

The steps were basically: kickoff and discovery (getting our goals and initial ideas down on paper), presentation of a strategy brief and outline of project direct, handover of visual design proofs (wireframes), web development and content migrations, testing and QA, and then launch. We have a couple rounds of revisions between the wireframes and the web development as well as a good back-and-forth with the developer to get everything squared away before QA.

We worked with 4 primary team members. We kicked off with the Senior Account Manager to get the project going. Then it transitioned to our Project Manager, a Graphic Designer, and a Web Developer.

It is too early for us to give feedback on specific metrics, but our marketing team was very happy with the project.

The project management was a bit loose at first, but got more detailed as we went on - something that matches our work styles more. We were updated on project timeline with a static PDF calendar every so often, but no digital tools were used with us for status tracking or communicating. We did use feedback tools like Moqups and Bugherd.

The web developer didn't have experience working with Eloqua prior to this project, but he was very willing to jump in and help us get what we needed.

For a more simple project like ours, a quicker timeline in the beginning of the project kickoff would be better. It took a seemingly long time to get the project actually going, spending a lot of time talking about strategy and goals in a couple meetings - which is good for full website projects but not as necessary for what we needed in this blog site. A project management tool would also be helpful.

Holland Supply Company is a B2B value-added reseller of natural gas products such as meters and regulators to gas utilities. As the President, my focus is primarily on the Sales and Marketing departments in the organization.

Our website was created over 25 years ago, and visitors had very little insight into the products we offered. Understanding the complexity of industrial distribution and that the industry has been slow to migrate to e-commerce, we wanted to partner with a leading website designer focused on industrial distribution clients who could help us build an intuitive and simple online shopping experience for our customers. Our products tend to have a moderate to high degree of complexity, so our primary goal was to be the first business in our niche to offer online purchasing and tso do it in a way that made purchasing our complex products very simple.

We searched online to create a list of several vendors. We short-listed three vendors who all had a focus on industrial distribution, but we ultimately selected Windmill because of their strong customer portfolio, their attention to detail on our requests, and their thorough follow-up and responsiveness. Based on many interviews and calls with Windmill, they became the clear winner primarily because of their strong focus in our niche and the overall quality of their process. It was clear they had a defined process for success, and that put us at ease, especially after having dealt with a separate ERP implementation with a different company just months prior that went horribly.

After selecting Windmill for the project, we had a kickoff meeting to align our team and theirs on the goals, objectives, and scope of the website. They then provided wireframes which were ultimately approved prior to beginning the development work. Because we wanted the e-commerce pages tied directly into our ERP to provide the most accurate pricing and products, we knew this would take a long time to develop. We also knew it would involve other software companies that Windmill would need to tie together into a useable solution. The e-commerce website would tie directly into our ERP, which is linked through an integration company who works exclusively with our ERP. Windmill also had to bring in a payment processor, a tax management software, email management software, as well as the setup and refinement of Google Ads.

A senior account manager initiated the kickoff meeting and handed the project to a project manager. The project manager brought together the development team of four software developers as well as two Senior Digital Marketing Strategists to build out our SEO keywords and Google Ad Campaigns.

We are only one month into the launch, but anecdotally we have experienced a noticeable uptick in phone calls as well as visitors to our site. We are also averaging about two online orders per week and have earned business with three new customers in the first month after our launch.

We initially started with bi-weekly meetings, but moved towards weekly meetings as we inched closer to the launch. There were occasionally delays, some of which were brought on by us, some of which were the result of unforeseeable events. Windmill communicated regularly and very professionally, and we felt like they were good stewards of our time and money. Most meetings were accomplished through virtual meeting software such as Google or Microsoft Teams, but we also used Trello towards the end of the project to identify development or design changes we wanted to make.

I found two things to be very unique about Windmill. They have such a level of expertise and understanding within the industrial distribution industry that is unmatched. The other really impressive quality of Windmill was their communication. It's clear they have a successful template for gathering information to define the scope of work, they ask clarifying questions, they follow-up, and they really try to understand the "why" behind what you're doing so that they can provide the most useful feedback. In my time owning and operating this business, they are the most professional vendor I've worked with on any single project.

We had some delays toward the end of the project, but not all of it was their fault. Some of it was foreseeable in our eyes, but in spite of these delays, they still communicated in advance and suggested alternative actions and timelines based on those delays.

I’m the senior marketing manager of TPGi, (previously known as The Paciello Group). It is an accessibility solutions provider that supports all phases of accessibility through best-in-class management software and professional services.

We underwent an entire rebrand and refresh. Additionally, we acquired two organizations in the past couple of years. As a way to combine all three of these different organizations, cultures, and services, we wanted to create an entirely new brand and break away from our old brand name.

First, we started by getting a basic idea of the wireframes for what we needed to do with the site, content, and architecture. Windmill Strategy was helpful in creating some of these wireframes as well as giving us the opportunity to create wireframes for all these pages.

We worked with a developer, project manager, and account manager.

My boss found them perhaps through a WordPress vendor site or directory. We ultimately selected them because they offered exactly what we needed. Windmill Strategy blew us away because they seemed very competent. They fully understood exactly what we needed to get done. Additionally, they were 100% committed to take on all of the accessibility challenges.

We invested around $60,000.

The project was from November 2020–February 2021.

The site just launched. Everyone who has seen the site has been very impressed with its functionality and the way that it looks. This is very difficult in our industry because people in accessibility are very nitpicky.

We had weekly calls through Google Hangouts as well as communicated through Skype and email.

Windmill Strategy really blew us away with their commitment, skill, and competency. The speed at which they worked and their dedication were exceptional. Everything we could want in a vendor, they did it. Their team was incredibly communicative and every time we had a question they replied quickly. They kept things moving at a great pace and met our tight turnaround time.

Nothing stands out.

Be upfront about everything you need. Windmill Strategy is very accommodating and they’ll work to get it done. Whatever we requested of them, they were all too happy to oblige — even if it was something that ultimately ended up not being possible for technological reasons. There was never any hesitation on their part. My advice is to be very open and communicative with them.

I’m the associate director of corporate communications at a medium sized pharmaceutical company. We manufacture a broad array of generic and branded medications.

We had an outdated website and we wanted it to be more interactive. We wanted a brand-new look and feel. We recently got acquired by a company in Japan and we wanted to make sure our site had a flavor of their site as well.

Windmill was responsible for helping us achieve our new look for our viewers. We started out with a discovery meeting where we hashed out what our objectives were. They helped put together a calendar of different achievable goals and a timeline for each of them, which really helped us stay on track.

We worked with Jackson (Senior Account Manager) and Jen (Lead Developer & Designer).

Someone that I worked with closely worked with Windmill in the past for their own website. I was floored by how lovely their site was and included Windmill in our list of vendors we were vetting. We landed on Windmill because they were a good deal, financially. We also just liked their aesthetic. To top it all off, they were local.

We spent less than $100,000.

We started working together in May 2019, and we launched in March 2020. We still do updates with their team on an ongoing basis.

We didn’t really have a “measuring stick” for this project aside from general reception. The feedback from our employees and viewers has been overwhelmingly positive.

They were great. Jackson is responsive and personable. He’s easy to understand and he doesn’t speak with a lot of jargon. They did a good job of being flexible with us, especially since our company tends to get slowed down with internal processes.

The ultimate design that they came up with was impressive. It was definitely a process. There was at least one initial design we weren’t happy with but they listened to us and were very open to our feedback. By the second time, we were happy with their design. It was a very collaborative process and they were very open throughout it all.

Now that they have a better idea of our brand, they can express our creative concepts in a way that meets our expectations much faster. Before, there was a bit more trial and error. Now, they’re much better at nailing our brand right out the gate.

No, they’re one of the easier vendors I’ve worked with. They can accommodate the design needs of any company.

I am the president of 30+ year old distributor of industrial tube and pipe.

We hired Windmill with the intent of re-organizing our website to optimize it for aesthetics, usability, SEO, and future ecommerce. We wanted to streamline both the flow and content available to our customers while maximizing SEO value.

We selected Windmill based on the value we perceived with their bid. We compared them to other leading industrial web designers and ultimately concluded that Windmill's offering provided the most value for our company. They delivered a high-quality product at a price point that was advantageous for us.

1) Client Review / Needs Review / Scope Development - Reviewed wants / needs of the new website and established deliverables throughout each stage of development. Compared site to other industry leaders and competitors to hone in on wants / needs for our company.

Our team consisted of the 5 following visible roles: Account Manager Account Project Manager Marketing Coordinator Digital Marketing Manager Developer / Designer

Since launch we've seen an uptick in visitor traffic and we've also acquired several new customers. We credit this to the SEO work of the Windmill. We've also received several calls from customers congratulating us on the look and feel of the new website.

Strong communication on a daily basis. Tools utilized included Google Docs, Gather Content, Word Press, etc.

I've managed 3 web designs in the last 3 years. Windmill felt more organized and on top of things than any of the previous firms we utilized. They also did an excellent job controlling both cost and quality throughout the project. They delivered on what they promised.

No actionable feedbac,