Meet Our Client
Steve McDaniel has been teaching gun safety courses and advanced tactical training since the late ‘70s. He’s a passionate educator and he went out on his own, with the vision of creating Alaska’s premier firearms academy and pro shop in 2000. He’s never looked back. His goal is to give Alaskans the skills they need to handle guns safely and effectively to guarantee peace of mind.
The Marketing Challenge
Alaska’s Tactical brand was getting tired. It used strong reds and blacks, creating a masculine look and feel that was designed to attract experienced firearms users. Steve wanted to pivot his brand to make it more accessible to beginner firearms users, including women, to diversify his client base and provide valuable training to a whole new faction of the community who could benefit from his knowledge. This meant the brand, website, and social media platforms needed a total refresh.
How We Got Results
The first thing to change was the logo. The original featured a target and came across as being very masculine, quite intimidating, and a little aggressive. We came up with a red and gray design that features an interlocking A and T, for Alaska Tactical, in a square. It’s a very strong symbol, capturing the power and confidence that comes with firearms training, but it’s much more accessible than the original. This set the tone for all the changes to follow from a web design perspective.
We also rewrote the website copy, which included developing new key messaging and creating content with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO). We wanted to make it clear that Alaska Tactical is the leading gun safety course provider in Anchorage, that it was a family-run business, that it catered for students of all levels of ability, and that the skills learned could one day save a life.
The new web design leans heavily on images to soften the Alaska Tactical image slightly and make it welcoming for a broader range of students. We used red subheadings, to make them pop so people can quickly find the information they need, and presented information in bite-sized chunks.
From a web development perspective, our main focus was transforming the Courses part of the website. We presented them in an interactive list, with icons that increase in size when you hover over them, to boost engagement. Each class has its own page with a concise summary of what students can expect, what they need to bring with them, and how they can sign up.
“Steve McDaniel has a passion for helping people. He’s an expert in his field and he considers it an honor to help people learn to protect themselves. We’re so proud of the result — it’s a very strong brand, which means it will appeal to the existing Alaska Tactical audience, while opening many new doors to attract new clients. We wanted to remove fear from the conversation and shift our focus to empowerment, making it inviting and easy for people to sign up for one of Steve’s classes.”
Jennifer Christensen, CMOBeacon Media + Marketing
Let’s Connect + Chat
Face to face. Zoom. Phone. Email. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
Give us a call at (907) 563-6008 or fill out the form below for a free consultation.
"*" indicates required fields
