Lowenstein and Associates PC is a small, family-run certified public accounting firm specializing in accounting software development.
Challenge
Develop a strong visual identity, marketing strategy and website that establish the firm’s presence in the industry and help create new sales opportunities.
Solution
Lion’s Share created a new logo and branding, including trade show materials, while overhauling Lowenstein and Associates’ existing website to add improved functionality.
Results
The new website and logo project the professional image the company was seeking while offering more efficient service to loyal customers. New brochures and other trade show materials have generated important sales leads, positioning the company for growth in the near future.
Customer Response
“Sharon and her team are terrific to work with. We needed a brand and an image and we needed to be educated about marketing—they have filled all of these needs. As we go forward we’re in a great position to build sales and grow the company.”
The Full Story
A licensed CPA firm Lowenstein and Associates, PC, develops regulatory-compliant loan accounting software for lenders. The company’s products help clients simplify the transfer of loan data, generate automated transaction uploads, manage construction loan servicing and other key functions. Founded almost 30 years ago by accountant Don Lowenstein, the company remains a small, family-run business.
Situation
While Lowenstein and Associates found its customer niche early on through word of mouth, acting as what Lowenstein refers to as a “pilot fish” to the larger companies that handled most of its sales, the firm was looking to expand its customer base. After two decades in business the still-relatively small company had limited resources but needed a marketing boost and a more comprehensive communications strategy that was integrated with its business goals. “We didn’t have the money to build an in-house marketing department but we needed someone with experience and insight to help us think bigger,” Lowenstein says.
Lowenstein and Associates also lacked an overarching visual identity across its marketing materials. The company’s logo—created shortly after its inception—was out of date, as was its website. With new products to offer, the firm started appearing at trade shows but needed help getting noticed and attracting customers among the sea of booths.
Solution
As a first step, Lion’s Share helped Lowenstein and Associates elevate its brand through a logo redesign. What had always differentiated the company from its competitors was its color palate of red and black, and Lion’s Share decided to keep these colors while adding oranges and gold to emphasize its energy and enthusiasm. The signature spiral with arrows emanating from the L was reimagined in a simpler, more concise design that captured the flexibility and dynamism of the software products while conveying confidence and reliability.
“Sharon’s team sent me dozens of logos to review and it really helped us to rethink what we were trying to communicate and what we wanted our image to be,” Lowenstein says. “She also helped us think through the process of transitioning from one logo to the other.” Logos were also developed for each of the company’s products, making them easily recognizable on the website and collateral material.
Instead of trying to mask the fact that Lowenstein and Associates was a small, family-owned business, Lion’s Share developed messaging that embraced the company’s story and emphasized its agility and personal approach to customer service.
Lion’s Share gave the company’s website an overhaul, adding functionality such as end user support via real-time help sessions with support logs on the company side. While the site had always offered software updates to customers, Lion’s Share added the ability to accept data files directly from a customer in need of more assistance.
Most recently, the company was preparing a booth for an annual trade show and, with the guidance of Lion’s Share, implemented a new marketing strategy to focus on its newest product, hoping to attract a single, large-scale customer. On a very limited timeline, Lion’s Share redesigned the trade show booth, giveaway swag and brochures with the specific pool of buyers in mind.
Results
Over the years, collaboration with Lion’s Share has helped Lowenstein think through his organization’s objectives and how to best achieve them. “Sharon really got to know and understand who we are and how we do things. Most importantly she knew intuitively the best ways we could differentiate ourselves. In the great big ocean of software companies, we are a minnow, but she helped us to see that being lean and mean could be an advantage.” At the same time, Lion’s Share helped Lowenstein and Associates begin to professionalize its visual identity and develop a sound marketing strategy that carried across its web presence, collateral materials and trade show appearances.
At the recent trade show, customers immediately took notice of the focused booth and stronger marketing materials. “One of the leaders of the organization was walking around the show floor and saw our booth and remarked that it really stood out.” That interaction helped Lowenstein get the business he was looking for, with an opportunity to tap into the larger company’s customers and sell automated accounting software on a larger scale.
“Sharon and her team are terrific to work with. We needed a brand and an image and we needed to be educated about marketing—she has filled all of these needs. As we go forward we’re in a great position to build sales and grow the company.”