Client Stories

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  • Strategic Positioning
  • User Research
  • User Testing
  • Content Audit and Strategy
  • Information Architecture
  • UX Wireframing
  • Strategic Management

UMCDiscipleship.org was one of the larger projects I’ve had the pleasure of working on. Even slightly larger than the first time I worked on the redesign of this same website.

My work with the United Methodist Church denomination began more than a decade ago when I led the strategy and architecture changes for eight websites managed by the UMC’s Upper Room brand when I was with Cabedge.com. And again years later I did the same work for UMC.org when I was with Paramoredigital.com. Eventually, that led to the first redesign and redevelopment of the Discipleship Ministries website with that same agency.

Since even the largest websites have a lifespan about the same as a guinea pig, the Discipleship Ministries website needed another overhaul about five years later. By this time I was working independently and the UMC team reached out to me to take them through the process again.

The website serves tens of thousands of church leaders who prepare worship services and educational materials for around 12 million Methodist members around the world. So, extensive user research was a must have in order to align our instincts for an innovative approach to meet the needs and expectations of these dedicated users. This decision to reposition the website strategy coincided with a shift in strategic focus for the Discipleship Ministries agency as whole, so this was a perfect time for a change.

There are no shortcuts when auditing 17,000+ live entries and 750+ content categories. And, there’s plenty of spreadsheets. In the end, we archived around 10,000 entries and completely restructured the site navigation and tagging taxonomy. And this new content and IA work was brilliantly supported by the design research and production provided by Eric Miller.

Such drastic changes are always a risk when sites have a dedicated user base. Fortunately, their constituency was fully supportive and found the new website to be a much needed upgrade and relief. The director of Web Development & Customer Relationship Management, Matt Carlisle told me, “ this is the most successful website redesign I’ve even been a part of for the UMC.” That’s great news for me, for his team, and for everyone who gets to use the new website.


  • Strategic Positioning
  • Content Strategy
  • Information Architecture
  • Content Development
  • Analytics and Data Insight

I began working with Solspace and its founder Mitchell Kimbrough several years ago with a mutual client, and then another one after that. Finally, Mitchell decided to become the client himself.

Solspace was already in a solid position after 20 years in business. I’m not sure if Mitchell wanted to update his website or his positioning first, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re so closely tied together they became two sides of the same coin. Over the course of a year we had plenty of discussions about what the next decade of Solspace should look like. We dug into who Solspace really wanted to work with and how to develop a content strategy and website that reflected that. I even wrote much of the content, which is something I don’t do as much anymore. But, positioning an agency is a special challenge that I was eager to dig into.

I also got to work with Eric Miller again who provided the UI design as well as Andrey Bzhitskikh who created the whimsical illustrations. The result is a new website for Solspace.com that looks and reads quite differently than most creative production and development agencies. And, that was just fine with Mitchell. About six months after the launch I checked back in with Mitchell to see how prospects were responding to it. He explained that the queue was full and the team busy. But even better, he told me they were working with the best positioned clients in the history of the agency. “They’re exactly the kind of folks we want to work with,” said Mitchell. It doesn’t get better than that.


  • Strategic Positioning
  • Brand Strategy
  • Content Strategy
  • Information Architecture
  • Content Marketing

VHT is one of those brands who’s technology you’ve likely used but never realized. If you’ve ever called customer service and been offered to be automatically called back rather than waiting on hold, you’ve probably used VHT’s services. They invented Callback technology more than 25 years ago and launched their new SaaS platform Mindful last year.

VHT was starting over with a wholly new product innovation and marketing department. I joined early on with this new team to reimagine VHT’s brand to be led by the newly developed (and named) Mindful platform. For the branding transformation I partnered with my colleague Lindsay Jamieson, who led us through brand identity workshops and exercises in the way only he can. Armed with a newly realized brand identity, we fully updated the website and content marketing to center on the new SaaS offering and a market position that focused on Customer Experience rather than just technology development.

Even though the new website for vhtcx.com launched just weeks before the world went into quarantine for COVID-19, VHT has realized one of its best years for attracting new clients in a long time.


  • Strategic Positioning
  • Innovation Consulting
  • Brand Positioning

I connected with Here Comes The Guide (HCTG) through their development agency, and my client and collaborator, Solspace. HCTG provides engaged couples with wedding venues and other vendor listings as well as much needed wedding planning guidance. As you might have guessed, 2020 proved to be a challenging year for them as the wedding industry was suffering from the quarantine lockdowns.

The HCTG team already had talented marketers and content producers. What they really needed was perspective. Solspace brought me on to take the HCTG team through exercises and conversations focused on Innovation Strategy. They needed to discover a new approach to weather the struggling wedding market and help their revenue-producing clients (wedding venue operators).

Our discussions helped the HCTG team uncover some new approaches to how they offered their listing products so they could both help their venue clients and keep revenue flowing during a tough period. Their new product ideas proved to be just the success they needed, even in the midst of such interesting times.


  • Market/Brand Positioning (healthcare)
  • Content Strategy
  • Persona Development
  • Information Architecture

I’ve worked with plenty of startups over the years, but Wellth proved to be one of the most innovative. Using some key concepts of Behavioral Economics, Wellth is leading patient care plan compliance management in a way I’ve never seen before in the healthcare industry (or anywhere else, for that matter). In addition to some pretty sophisticated habit formation techniques they also pay clients to adhere to their medication regimens and care plans to capitalize on the Loss Aversion behavior that motivates all of us.

I worked with them through their agency-of-record, 5by5, to provide special insight into market positioning approaches in the healthcare technology market. Plus, I have a special interest in the Behavioral Economics principles they use, which made the work particularly engaging. The messaging approach needed to consider their challenging position as a B2B2C brand that directly serves an end-user but is purchased by a healthcare entity.

Working with both the Wellth and 5by5 teams, we ended up with a new approach to content on their website and for their internal teams that revealed the unique experience for the end-user patients and the benefits provided to their healthcare clients. And their latest round of investment funding shows they’re only just getting started.


  • Content Strategy
  • UX consulting
  • Information Architecture
  • Social Media Strategy

Nashville full-service agency GS&F approached me to provide some special counsel on combining content updates and UX redesigns for their client LP Building Solutions. The brand itself was moving toward a stronger position of their residential building materials products and needed the website to reflect that. That shift included an approach that was as compelling to the homeowner customers as it had become to professional contractors.

I worked with their Public Relations, UX/UI design, and Content teams to reimagine how the content could be experienced by their diverse users. This also included guidance on their social media marketing, primarily on Pinterest and YouTube.

Plenty of work goes into a project like this for such an established brand, but judging from the increases in user engagement, it was well worth it.


This is just a sampling of the more than 200 clients I worked with over the years. For a bit more insight into the breadth and depth of my work check out my Web Strategy Consulting page.

Overview

The Strategic Web is an independent consultancy focused on innovation strategy. I help businesses and organizations develop strategies to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and progress out of static practices.

Let’s Talk
Scott Hutcheson
615-275-9998

scott@thestrategicweb.com