Helping Bonfyre Spark New Business in a Crowded Category

Helping Bonfyre Spark New Business in a Crowded Category

When we first started working with Bonfyre, it was a mobile app for events. It works like a micro social network, giving event attendees one place they can go for things like hotel information, agendas and more. But more than that, it’s a place for people to connect, chat and share things like photos and videos.

As Bonfyre’s Fortune 500 clients used the app, they recognized it could be used to engage people in ways beyond just events.

And that’s why Bonfyre called us: they asked us to help reposition the app as an employee engagement tool for large companies.

And the first question we asked? What is employee engagement?

We know what the words mean, certainly. We know it’s a hot topic at Human Resources conferences and in large organizations around the world. But what does it mean? What did it mean to our client? And how are other companies addressing the trend?

For at least part of the answer, we turned to Google. Searching for “employee engagement app” reveals organic results that are all over the map, none doing exactly what Bonfyre does – connecting people to people.

Engaging with Employee Engagement

Go ahead, Google it for yourself. Other apps are focused on measuring employee sentiment. Still others are more designed to connect employees to system and work. And while some are starting to evolve, Bonfyre is still a standout in bringing people together.

So that’s where we started with our messaging. It became the central idea behind our tagline.

“Gather around” is both a call to action for potential clients and a rallying cry for users. Again, it’s built on the central idea of Bonfyre: people want to be connected to other people, not to systems or processes. And that’s what Bonfyre does best.

This initially struck us as a particularly tough sell in larger companies that are typically driven by hard facts and measurable results. How do you measure the impact of connecting people to people? It seems soft – but our client had the facts to back it up, and these stats became cornerstone “reasons to buy” on the website.

Our goal with the site was to make it fun but credible. We wanted to create a site that gave people a real sense of what it was like to use the Bonfyre app (an area where so many competitors fall short), while also focusing on the benefits the app delivers to companies.

To speak directly to their human resources targets, our client identified five key strategic areas Bonfyre can help them address, starting of course with meetings and events and extending to topics like building company culture, strengthening teams, employee recognition and more.

On the Benefits pages, we purposefully showcased relationships, rather than technology – further emphasizing how Bonfyre builds relationships at all levels of the company. The How it Works pages allow the technology to shine, with a full-screen demo of the technology. By scrolling through the page, users get a real-life idea of how the app operates.

Taking Clear Action

Of course, the goal of the site is to sell Bonfyre – so into every page we built easy, clear ways for people to get in touch with Bonfyre. The actions range everywhere from requesting a demo, to signing up for a newsletter, to the high-commitment step of talking to a Bonfyre “engagement advisor.”

It’s a strategy that supports the long sales cycle for products like these, and one that’s further supported by the company’s evolving content strategy. Since the site launched, they’ve been aggressively publishing new employee engagement-related content, alongside case studies and whitepapers.

Room For More

Of course, technology is moving forward. We built the site on WordPress, so it’s easy for anyone to keep it up to date as they add not only content, but features to the app. Text and pictures are all fully customizable. Even calls to action can be updated on the fly.

Since the site has launched, Bonfyre has already been making changes to the site, adapting to market challenges and using plugins to conduct A/B testing on page designs, copy and other elements on various pages. It’s a true testament to the fact that no site we create is ever “finished” – because the needs of our clients are always changing.