Case Study
Re-engineering a Financial Services Brand to Strengthen Awareness, Deepen Engagement, and Drive Conversions
How Sapling Financial Planning Updated Its Brand, Website, and Digital Ecosystem to Build Trust Across Channels, Increase Visibility,
& Attract Qualified Leads Online
Sapling Financial Planning, a young independent Canadian financial wellness and planning provider, needed to grow its client base online. They came to us convinced that their social media wasn’t working — but the real challenges went much deeper.
Their brand positioning, messaging, website experience, and SEO foundations weren’t aligned. Without a clear story or structure guiding audiences from discovery to conversion, every touchpoint operated in isolation.
We helped Sapling clarify their brand identity, define a messaging strategy, rebuild their website experience and activate this strategy across the digital touchpoints that shape their customer journey, including social, email, and content.
As a result, Sapling gained a cohesive brand identity, a high-performing, search-optimized website, and scalable off-site marketing systems that continue to support growth. Search visibility rose 13%, site engagement increased by 40%, and traffic more than tripled, with leads better aligned to their advice-only model.
At a Glance
When Sapling Financial Planning came to us, they were investing time and energy into social media and video content, but nothing was translating into recognition or results.
But the real issue wasn’t their effort; it was the lack of a brand and messaging foundation to support it. Sapling didn’t have a defined voice, audience, or message architecture. They couldn’t clearly articulate what made them different, and their content wasn’t reaching the right people in the right way.
The website exposed this most clearly. In addition to gaps in UX and SEO, the interface felt disorganized, inconsistent, and disconnected. Visitors struggled to understand Sapling’s offerings, navigate the site, or build confidence in the brand. Combined with a fragmented digital ecosystem where social, email, the website, and the blog functioned independently, there was no structured path guiding prospects from awareness to conversion.
What Sapling needed wasn’t more content. They needed an integrated brand system that connected strategy to story, story to structure, and interest to desired outcome.
The Challenge
Our team began by identifying Sapling’s ideal audiences and strengthening the way their advice-only model was positioned within the financial planning landscape. This became the foundation for a cohesive message architecture and value-driven brand narrative built to resonate with their ideal client personas (ICP).
From there, we developed a unified brand strategy designed to create a consistent experience across every channel and digital touchpoint.
The Strategy
Key Focus Areas:
Brand & Messaging Framework: Defining the core story, tone, and proof points that differentiate Sapling’s model and speak directly to audience needs.
Website, UX & Content Strategy: Redesigning their digital presence with cleaner navigation, improved content flow, a more intuitive UX architecture, and the SEO groundwork needed for long-term visibility.
Marketing System Alignment: Integrating social, email, and on-site content into a cohesive funnel that re-engages lapsed audiences, reinforces credibility, and supports movement from awareness to inquiry.
Together, these components form an aligned digital system that attracts the right audiences and directs them toward meaningful engagement.
The Results
Sapling’s new brand and digital system produced measurable gains in visibility and engagement, while establishing a long-term foundation for growth.
Our work with Sapling went well beyond a social media strategy or a website refresh. At its core, this project’s success is due to the creation of a unified, scalable, multi-channel brand strategy — one that continues to evolve, connect with the right audiences, and stand out in market.
The Takeaway
Sapling’s challenge wasn’t visibility; it was alignment. Once their brand, messaging, and digital systems worked together, every channel began doing what it was meant to do.
Because when strategy leads, marketing follows.
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