A real estate asset management company sought a web experience that left an indelible mark and no doubt on visitors that the company truly lived and breathed a culture of “People first, community always”. Without losing sight of its role as a serious player in the serious world of real estate asset management, the site’s overarching goal was to serve as a magnet for top talent by conveying that a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion was real, and that the company’s talented team was a powerful force for accomplishing great things while having fun.
Asset Management Power Player, Leading with Culture
A premier multi-family asset management company, LivCor focuses on the ownership and asset management of high-quality residential communities. With a portfolio across the country, LivCor cultivates thoughtful leadership through a commitment to best-in-class services, sustainable solutions, and a corporate culture that values teamwork, integrity, and innovation. The result is a track record for consistently exceeding expectations within every aspect of its operations.
A Magnet for Top Talent and More
LivCor conveyed to Solid Digital that its top goals were:
- A redesigned website that attracts top talent and the right fit for the company’s distinct culture and growth trajectory
- A CMS that’s easy to use and update
- An elevated and memorable brand image
- Connection among current and prospective partners to LivCor’s business mission and core values
- Greater awareness of the CoreGiving initiative
Working in close collaboration with the LivCor marketing team and a wide range of stakeholders, Solid Digital got to work on bringing these goals to life.
The new site needed to express that within the company, powerful differentiators went far beyond words, posters, or carefully crafted statements tucked away in an employee manual.
Top Tabs Tell a Story
The top navigation on the site, in and of itself, conveys a lot about LivCor. Three tabs: “Company,” “Humans,” and “Careers,” — versus the typical four or more — sets the company apart from the moment a visitor lands on the home page, with a clear message of, “here’s what matters most.”
At the same time, devoting the entire center tab to “Humans,” provides a striking departure from the more standard terminology of “Team” or “About Us.” The emphasis was on presenting employees as much more than occupiers of a particular position who had the requisite education and experience. One of the ways that this is achieved is an alternate photo from a non-work activity that appears on the hover state of every bio, along with a brief phrase such as “Challenge the Status Quo.”
Another significant departure from the standard company website and positioning of teams: the leadership team was labeled as “Supporting Cast,” and the navigation to the leadership team’s photo and bios appeared at the end of a list of 13 other teams.
Human Matters
After many discussions concerning what to include and what not to include under the “Humans” tab, a decision was made to limit the section to three subtabs. The focus is solely on:
- The talented and diverse individuals within each team, “Our Humans;”
- How they are contributing locally and globally to a mission to end food insecurity, “Core Giving;” and
- A closer look at LivCor’s approach and philosophy to hiring and nurturing talent, “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
Other content that was determined to be more along the lines of official business was relegated to the “Company” or “Careers” tabs.
Even though attracting the right fit among top talent was viewed as an overarching objective of the site, there was a general consensus that a visit to “Humans” would be an inevitable step within the job search journey that led to the Careers tab. To provide an additional pathway to drive visitors to “Careers,” a separate “We’re Hiring” popup link appears at the top right of every page.
Design and Brand Alignment
Along with multiple stakeholders who were heavily invested in the success of the site, LivCor sought a web design and development agency partner that would proactively present innovative ideas for propelling the brand forward.
Solid Digital – rooted in values such as thoughtful collaboration and creative craftsmanship – stepped in as a perfectly aligned partner for the LivCor team.
The web experience that resulted was a multi-layered aesthetic that displayed positive company engagement on blue/grey backgrounds with powerful content and prominent photos interspersed. The messaging conveyed a cutting-edge corporate culture that celebrates opportunities to tap into the best that is within the individuals who all play a part in building a positive dynamic while breaking the mold of how work gets done.
Additional navigational strategies that served to drive engagement included three compelling content blocks at the end of every page, functioning as a sort of “choose your adventure”/keep reading.
Prominent coverage of CoreGiving, on the home page, as well as within a “Core Responsibility” sub tab, plus special coverage under “Humans,” served to drive home the point that contribution and “doing good” was not a sideline for LivCor. It’s very much interwoven into who the company is and the people it hopes to continue to attract.
Celebratory Big Reveal for the New Site
When it came time to launch the site, the LivCor team was all in and stepped up in its signature “take-it-to-the-next-level” style — viewing the launch as an opportunity to celebrate the team that the site so proudly features. The whole team – including Solid Digital and partners – was involved in the launch day call as a curtain was pulled from a screen to reveal the new website.
Success Factors
The WordPress Elementor Page Builder ensured the achievement of a key goal. Upon the launch of the site, Solid Digital was able to turn the keys for managing it over to LivCor. The new CMS allows for streamlined updates, enabling content editors to easily make changes on their own.
LivCor’s infectious authenticity and enthusiasm for getting it right proved a powerful match for the Solid Digital team. Solid Digital described the LivCor team as “organized, thoughtful, down to earth, and focused on high collaboration.” It was through this collaboration that the UX design, site architecture and overall look and feel was informed and reiterated into what it is today.
The following excerpt of an email from the LivCor leadership team revealed that the site was achieving exactly what the company had hoped it would.
“… a candidate I spoke with yesterday said what drew her to LivCor was that the website conveyed we actually care about relationships and it doesn’t come across as canned “corporate speak.” The team profiles gave the company a sense of relatability that she found enticing. I thought you’d like to know it’s paying dividends in one of our main ambitions as a firm: attracting top talent! Nice work!”
