A long-term partnership with Crawford Hoying

When Crawford Hoying reached out to Foster Commerce, they were a thriving development company looking for a partner to update their website.

Five years prior, Crawford Hoying had expanded into development from its beginnings in residential property management. The company needed to update its digital presence to reflect its growing position as an industry leader.

Foster Commerce was able to step in and develop a multi-site website that matched Crawford Hoying’s vision and integrated well with their already successful marketing.

Today, Crawford Hoying has a corporate website that displays its diverse portfolio, including mixed-use developments, for-rent and for-sale products, commercial space, hotels, industrial buildings, and warehouses.

Their crown jewel development is the mixed-use neighborhood, Bridge Park, located in downtown Dublin, Ohio.

Bridge Park has become a destination spot for residents and visitors alike who enjoy the many restaurants, events, and great nightlife throughout the year.

Crawford Hoying believes in creating a sense of home for residents and community members.

However, at the time of their brand transition, it was clear that the company website had become an obstacle to the company’s growth.

Despite the fact that Crawford Hoying had spent a significant amount of money developing its first website, doing any content marketing required hard coding.

The result was that the marketing team, now led by the Executive VP of Marketing and Communications, Jessica Rexer, couldn’t easily change the website, hobbling marketing efforts.

Following their brand’s growth, Jessica and the team needed a website that was easier to use. She wanted the website to project Crawford Hoying as an industry leader by showcasing its big ideas online in a polished, professional product.

Having used a Craft CMS website at her previous employment, Jessica advocated strongly that Crawford Hoying use Craft CMS for the company’s corporate website and any additional development sites.

Jessica had experienced Craft’s ease of use for marketers. She knew that with Craft CMS, content authors have the ability to make changes to the website without the need for coding.

She also knew that with many different user types, she would need a CMS that could seamlessly handle multiple websites and workflows.

And she wanted a CMS that could grow along with Crawford Hoying.

Jessica and other team members interviewed a variety of website developers through the company lens of putting people first.

When they met the CEO of Foster Commerce, Stephen Callender, they immediately recognized a fit.

It wasn’t just Stephen’s team's expertise and dedication to using Craft CMS that they found impressive. It was Stephen’s personality and the fact that he connected well with the Crawford Hoying marketing, design and operations teams.

They knew he understood their vision and was just as dedicated to seeing it come to life as Crawford Hoying was.

Jessica had this to say about how Stephen and Foster Commerce were able to help:

Jessica had a list of items that were of key importance for the new website.

For example, she wanted to display new imagery that her company had invested in but that wasn’t in use yet.

Jessica also wanted the team to be able to easily toggle back and forth between their various property and development websites, and efficiently share data and assets between them.

She also needed key integrations implemented for the website. For example, RealPage, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics were important third-party services.

She wanted some key automation developed, so it could save team members from manually saving and entering data.

Finally, Jessica needed a web development team that could build the site to support Crawford Hoying’s SEO goals.

Foster Commerce was able to deliver on each item and more. Throughout the development process, Stephen and the Foster Commerce team stayed focused on where Crawford Hoying saw itself as a brand five and ten years out.

Jessica is thrilled that the website is built on a framework that is flexible, and that can grow with the company, saying:

Crawford Hoying employees, clients, stakeholders, and residents were thrilled with the new website, too. To this day, Jessica reports that she constantly receives compliments on it.

When the build was finished, Jessica felt like she had a development partner who understood where the company was headed and who could implement the next steps.

Updates after the initial corporate website launch included more integrations to pull real-time data from other systems, fresh ideas for content blocks, and new microsites.

One of the most significant updates has been the launch of a new portfolio portion of the website for Crawford Hoying’s extensive listing of development projects and acquisitions.

Jessica and her team have also found time and cost savings due to an automation the Foster Commerce team built for their residential sales websites.

The automation pulls housing real estate listing information in real time from a common platform, the MLS.

The automation not only shows if a property is live, pending, or under contract, but it also tags the associated real estate agent so their individual web page is also updated.

Jessica and her team are delighted about the ongoing value that Foster Commerce delivers.

Foster Commerce’s dedication to making things easier for marketers to do their jobs means that Jessica and her team have more time for essential tasks.

Most significantly, Crawford Hoying has a professional, multi-site website that reflects their brand, and that they are proud of.

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