Overview
Client
BC Crane Safety
Industry
Crane Operator Certification & Licensing
Relationship
2022–Present
Services
Strategy
Website Design
BC Crane Safety is the industry association responsible for crane operator certification and safety programs across British Columbia.
They are a resource hub for operators, employers, and regulators including WorkSafeBC.
Challenge
BC Crane Safety’s website looked and behaved like a typical government site: information-heavy, but hard to navigate and not built around the people actually using it.
As Executive Director Clinton Connell put it, “It just wasn’t very user friendly, and probably most importantly, it wasn’t stakeholder focused.” Operators, employers, and safety officers were coming to the site looking for answers to real on-the-job problems, and the interface was getting in their way instead of helping them.
Approach
BC Crane Safety enlisted the help of Pohl Strategic Marketing after seeing the quality of past website work firsthand.
Rather than starting from a template, the team ran stakeholder interviews across BC Crane Safety’s full user base to map out who actually used the site and why—operators, employers, and regulatory partners each needed something different from it. That research shaped a rebuild focused on the Association’s real complexity rather than a generic association-website layout. “The team at Pohl did a great job identifying the different stakeholder groups and determining their specific needs and priorities,” said Executive Director Connell.
Strategy
Market Research
The strategic process began with a comprehensive plan to interview a cross-section of stakeholders.
As data was gathered, the complicated nature of the Association became simplified.
“The team at Pohl did a great job of identifying the different stakeholder groups,” said Connell, “and determining their specific needs and priorities.”
Website Design
Full Website Build
Landing Pages
Website Hosting & Maintenance
After the website was fully revamped, the team at Pohl Strategic hosted show-and-tell events to walk through the new website, first with senior management at BC Crane Safety and WorkSafeBC, and then with a cross-section of the primary user groups.
According to Connell, stakeholders found site navigation greatly improved and commented readily on the functionality of the resource library, in addition to being captivated by the new graphics, color-coding and iconography.
Impact
The new site cleared its highest bar before it even launched publicly: the beta-to-live transition needed only minimal changes, which was something Connell noted was unusual in his experience, and a sign the stakeholder research had gotten the structure right the first time.
Post-launch, Pohl Strategic Marketing ran show-and-tell sessions with BC Crane Safety management, WorkSafeBC representatives, and primary user groups, who called out the improved navigation, resource library, and overall design. “The new website was well received almost instantly,” Connell said. One WorkSafeBC representative put it more simply: “Our new website raised the bar.”
