NACAC

Challenge:

NACAC represents a broad collection of enrollment management, admission, and counseling professionals who together support students seeking higher education. As the association grew, it faced challenges in maintaining its web presence. Users found the websites difficult to navigate and constituents had trouble understanding who NACAC was. Plus, a dated content management system (CMS) limited the staff’s ability to keep web content fresh and relevant.

NACAC was (rightfully) frustrated that the cumbersome websites were overshadowing its award-winning publications, programs, and research. NACAC also had a brand challenge, in that different divisions were creating different logos and designs for different online initiatives, further diluting its brand.

NACAC engaged Brightfind to redesign and develop its main website, college fairs website, and annual meeting website with an engaging, yet consistent, look and feel. NACAC also asked Brightfind to help implement a new content management system (CMS) to streamline management efforts for staff.

Highlighted Services

Digital Strategy
Design and User Experience
CMS Development

Featured Platforms

Episerver

Concentrating on the purpose and goals of the website.

NACAC’s redesign project began with Brightfind conducting a thorough internal discovery process with business units across the organization to focus on business goals, objectives, and strategy. Brightfind then engaged with end-users at NACAC’s annual conference to understand their desires for the websites, and gather input on how they expect content to be grouped and labeled online.

Reaching different audiences.

Armed with a valuable amount of data, Brightfind worked with NACAC to create clean and modern designs for all three websites, enabling NACAC to engage with each of its diverse audience groups appropriately. Using NACAC’s existing brand palette, Brightfind re-energized NACAC’s brand, breathing new life into its designs, and crafting experiences that are fun and compelling for visitors.

Before and after images of NACAC's website. Before image is cluttered with no style. After has a vivid image of student's walking to school.

No more busywork: Episerver CMS streamlines processes.

NACAC chose the enterprise-class content management system Episerver for its different websites. Episerver’s functionality makes it easier for NACAC to provide web visitors with intuitive, mobile-friendly, and interactive online experiences. Staff now use simple, streamlined workflows that allow them to easily and frequently update content while keeping a consistent look and message throughout. Team members especially love the auto-archiving tool, which prevents content from getting stale.

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Empowering staff to keep the website relevant to constituents.

NACAC understood it could not just update its technology, the association also had to empower staff. Brightfind led the team through a Web Governance session to ensure that internal content publishing workflows were optimized to meet NACAC’s needs. Brightfind also conducted Web Writing workshops to teach content contributors on how to write uniquely for the web.

NACAC staff now takes ownership of a website they are proud to share with constituents.

Numbers worth celebrating:

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