TL;DR
"Too long. Didn't read."
Aka, a summary.
Summary
Some client partnerships are measured in metrics. This one is measured in momentum.
Over the course of 18 months, what began as a quick website rescue became a wide-reaching, trust-based collaboration. Specialty Outdoor Solutions didn’t just get a rebuilt site, a functioning CRM, or a few strong newsletters—they gained a strategic partner who could see around corners, spot opportunities early, and move fluidly between advisory, co-creating, and stewardship.
This case study doesn’t end with a splashy ROI headline—but that’s not the story here. The story is consistency, evolution, and earned trust.
Highlights
Strategic Versatility: From UX/UI design to business development and CRM architecture, this partnership demonstrates the rare ability to meet a business exactly where it is—then help move it forward, sustainably and confidently.
Creative Stability: With Eric at the helm of all outward-facing marketing and internal systems improvement efforts, the brand gained consistency in tone, timing, and execution—a grounding force for a company in transition.
Trust as Currency: The client’s decision to reinvest month after month over eighteen months and counting—isn’t just a financial data point. It’s proof of the value they receive across visible and invisible layers of the business.
Soft Metrics, Hard Impact:
→ Dozens of original email campaigns and custom content assets
→ Three foundational system upgrades (site, CRM, collateral)
→ Fully repositioned brand identity
→ Clearer workflows and more confident communication across the team
Optionality & Ownership: This was never about dependency—it was about empowerment. And as of today, the systems built together can be scaled, handed off, or grown—depending on where the business goes next.
Where It All Began
What started as a simple maintenance request quickly turned into a foundational collaboration. Specialty Outdoor Solutions needed a quick fix to an outdated website—but what they gained was the beginning of a strategic relationship rooted in trust, agility, and forward momentum. The website redesign served as the entry point to deeper business and brand development.
The Situation:
In early 2024, Specialty Outdoor Solutions found themselves with a WordPress website that was visually dated, technically limited, and no longer supported by its theme developer. Their prior collaborator had gone dark, and basic updates had become nearly impossible to execute.
While the website itself wasn’t yet a critical sales tool, it remained an important element of credibility in conversations with prospective government and vendor partners.
Brent, the company's founder and CEO, was looking for someone who could “just jump in and fix it”—but the site’s backend conditions revealed a more urgent need: not a patch, but a rebuild.
The Process:
Rather than overhaul every asset or delay for perfection, I helped SOS take an agile, strategic approach:
Assessment & Recommendation: Identified theme limitations and proposed a fast-turnaround rebuild using modern, lightweight infrastructure.
Content Preservation: Maintained the integrity of the original content to expedite the build and preserve client voice.
Visual Repositioning: Redesigned the layout to better reflect the caliber of the business—cleaner UI, clearer calls-to-action, more structured navigation.
Platform Optimization: Migrated the site into a sustainable and scalable structure using a new, supported theme within their self-hosted WordPress environment.
Launch & Transition: Delivered the refreshed site with minimal disruption to existing workflows, and stayed on as the sole website manager.
The Results:
Functional Rebuild: The website was fully rebuilt within two months, resolving years of technical debt and backend instability. What was once a liability became a functional, credible touchpoint for the business.
Visual Upgrade: The modernized layout helped elevate brand perception—positioning SOS as a capable, detail-oriented partner within the competitive world of tactical and government procurement.
Increased Referrals: Where the website had once been neglected, it quickly became a destination the SOS team felt confident directing partners and prospects toward—shifting from passive asset to active proof point.
SEO Strengthening: While SEO content strategy was placed on hold, the site's rebuild quietly laid the groundwork for stronger organic discoverability through semantic structure, improved metadata, mobile responsiveness, and accessible on-page practices. These backend improvements mean the website is now positioned to grow in visibility if and when marketing efforts resume.
Sustained Collaboration: SOS retained me for all website-related needs post-launch—entrusting me with technical updates, layout refinements, and continued system management, reinforcing the trust and mutual respect that defined the beginning of our engagement.
And then...
The launch of the website opened the door to a deeper question: Now that we look better—how do we show up smarter? What began as a discussion about Mailchimp coaching evolved into a full audit of SOS’s contact database, a systemic cleanup of fragmented client data, and the creation of a new communications ecosystem.
This phase blended high-level consulting with hands-on execution and design, ultimately giving birth to The Drop and the Partners in Adventure series—two signature newsletters that would shape the company's voice and reengage its audience with intention.
The Situation:
Following the website rebuild, Brent expressed a clear desire to “market the business better.” He had two distinct but overlapping audiences: brand/vendor partners, and government/military buyers. The problem wasn’t lack of data—it was lack of structure.
The organization had a disorganized Mailchimp account, a half-migrated CRM, and no unified communications system. Client data was scattered across platforms, out of sync, and in some cases, outdated or duplicate-laden. The team wasn’t confident in who they were reaching, or how.
Meanwhile, prior newsletters had been largely transactional—focused on price lists, product drops, or announcements. There was no rhythm, no narrative arc, and no cohesive brand voice. We saw this as an opportunity to do much more than send emails—we could build trust, spark connection, and redefine what communication could feel like in a traditionally utilitarian industry.
The Process:
Our collaboration unfolded in two key layers: systemic cleanup and strategic expression.
Systems & Data Hygiene
→ Conducted a deep audit of the Specialty Outdoor Solutions CRM, identifying gaps in tagging, segmentation, and completeness.
→ Exported, scrubbed, and reorganized the data—merging duplicate entries, correcting inconsistencies, and standardizing contact formats.
→ Re-imported the clean database into Mailchimp with a segmentation strategy tied to buyer type, interest, and prior engagement.
Strategy & Communication Design
→ Reframed the company’s approach to email: from transactional to thoughtful, brand-building communication.
→ Coached Brent and the team through the Mailchimp platform—ensuring comfort with the system, transparency in the process, and collaborative ideation for each campaign.
→ Designed The Drop, a branded monthly newsletter for the broader contact network. The Drop wasn’t just a digest—it became a recognizable and reliable voice for SOS.
→ Built a spinoff campaign—Partners in Adventure—to spotlight vendor relationships and deepen both B2B credibility and internal community alignment.
Continually refined list segmentation and delivery strategies based on ongoing engagement and anecdotal feedback from the field.
The Results:
Organized Communications Infrastructure: By cleansing and re-segmenting the CRM-to-Mailchimp ecosystem, SOS gained control over their outreach—a foundational shift that increased confidence, clarity, and capability.
Newsletter as Brand Touchpoint: What began as an email became a monthly moment. The Drop helped anchor SOS’s voice, increase perceived professionalism, and remind contacts they were still active, growing, and credible.
Vendor Amplification with Purpose: Partners in Adventure gave vendors visibility, while also reinforcing the value SOS offers beyond transactions—relationship-building, storytelling, and advocacy.
Coaching + Creative in Harmony: This container was equal parts skill-share and creative development. The SOS team didn’t just get new tools—they got a clearer understanding of how to think about communication in the long-term.
Increased Internal Confidence: With structured tools, a functioning system, and fresh creative, the team was able to show up more consistently and professionally—without outsourcing every send.
And Now...
With a revitalized website and a functioning communications ecosystem in place, a deeper challenge emerged: the external story still didn’t fully match the internal ambition. Through our marketing efforts, it became clear that while SOS had strong products and powerful partnerships, their positioning lacked emotional clarity and brand alignment.
What followed was a collaborative deep dive—one that redefined how the company presents itself, speaks to its audience, and supports its internal operations. This phase not only delivered tangible rebranding outcomes, but also laid the foundation for long-term sales strategy, CRM alignment, and thought leadership—all of which continue to evolve today.
The Recent Situation:
As marketing touchpoints increased in frequency and quality, so did our awareness of misalignment. Existing collateral—capabilities decks, pitch materials, sales language—felt disconnected from the tone we had established in The Drop and Partners in Adventure. Visual identity had inconsistencies. Vendor partners weren’t always sure where they fit in the narrative. And while SOS had a clear mission, the brand story lacked precision.
Simultaneously, operational gaps began to surface—particularly in CRM usage, sales workflow, and internal accountability. The business was maturing, but the systems and assets weren’t keeping up.
The Roadmap (Process):
Brand Repositioning
Narrative Refinement: We rearticulated the SOS brand voice to better reflect its dual identity as both a procurement partner and an outdoor gear advocate—balancing credibility with personality.
Messaging Cleanup: Aligned tone across website, newsletters, and decks to create a consistent experience for buyers, vendors, and partners.
New Capabilities Decks: Developed and designed modular sales collateral to better serve multiple audiences—tailoring messaging for vendor relations and government procurement respectively.
Visual Alignment: Refined brand colors, typography, and layout choices across digital and printed assets to create visual cohesion.
Business Enablement / Ongoing
CRM Integration & Support: Continued rollout of the Pipedrive CRM system, including list segmentation, pipeline stage mapping, and workflow alignment.
Sales Ops Support: Acting as a fractional collaborator for ongoing system tweaks, field testing, and cross-functional project management.
Internal Coaching: Offering on-the-fly guidance, systems documentation, and priority clarification in real time—ensuring that tech adoption translates to actual operational efficiency.
Leadership Advisory: Providing strategic insight on what’s next—whether that’s new partnerships, positioning shifts, or growth models.
The Results (So Far):
Repositioned Identity: SOS now shows up with a unified voice, a sharper brand personality, and a stronger story—anchored in clarity and credibility.
Tailored Sales Materials: New capabilities decks have enabled more intentional vendor and customer conversations, reinforcing the company’s professionalism and value.
Modernized Infrastructure: The CRM implementation continues to evolve with real-world use, creating a centralized hub for tracking opportunities, relationships, and outcomes.
Trusted Strategic Partnership: This phase confirmed what earlier stages hinted at—that this is more than a contractor-client relationship. It’s an integrated, flexible, and values-aligned collaboration that bridges creative, operational, and leadership support.