Client Background
WhereTraveler is a travel media brand providing travel lovers with highly curated content. They’ve been in the market since 1936, leveraging 82 years of experience and 122 printed editions worldwide to give visitors everything they need to experience the best of their chosen destination.
Challenges
WhereTraveler had experienced success in its craft but had not developed a digital arm that was modern, technologically enhanced, and professionally organized. WhereTraveler sought and hired LockData to lead its digital transformation because of our expertise and 30-plus years of experience supporting travel and tourism technology.
The core challenge of this project was to improve WhereTraveler’s operations and complete a full digital transformation of their reader-facing site while ensuring their business remained functional and operational throughout the process.
WhereTraveler was running on an old CMS version and their front-end site did not provide an optimized mobile user experience. Sales processes were performed manually and editorial operations did not use CMS-connected technologies, resulting in a strategy that did not align with their commercial goals and brand.
Approach
A Digital Transformation process was designed for WhereTraveler. It was carefully planned for execution and deployment in several phases and focused on the following macro-areas:
- Migration from older technologies.
- SEO auditing and enhancement as well as improved user experience.
- Configuration and maintenance of Drupal CMS.
- Creation and execution of modern native advertisements through the implementation of a CDP.
On a closer scale, we provided services within deeper areas of business operations to support the transformation. Some of the most impactful services provided included:
- Develop a content strategy and manage content types. Work with the editorial team on converting existing content pieces to SEO-friendly formats.
- Manage all traditional programmatic advertising while configuring new behaviourally targeted native programs with BlueConic.
- Update and create sales operations materials, including email templates, contracts, product libraries, and quotes, as well as presentations, one-sheets, and digital media kits.
- Redefine the funnel via sales process automation and train their sales team on Hubspot CRM.
The core technologies managed and implemented in this transformation were:
- Google Ad Manager
- Google Analytics
- Hubspot CRM
- Drupal CMS
- Blue Conic
Services Included
- Drupal Development + Data Migration + Web Design + SEO + Content Management
Results
WhereTraveler now has total control over its sales funnel and is managing a higher workload as a result of the digital transformation. A reframed site and newly aligned media kits streamline brand messaging and provide a consistent, best-in-class user experience across all channels.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with the guided content plan and optimizations provided, WhereTraveler increased their average session duration and began to regain readership while other travel media outlets continued to see drops in these KPIs. In 2021, with the new site fully launched, WhereTraveler is on track to increase its active users and pageviews by 1.3 million-plus.
