As a local business, NQ Plaques & Trophies has been a key supplier of awards, plaques, and custom trophies across North Queensland. With owner Toni Barton at the helm, one from strength to strength. To stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market, Toni turned to Localsearch to help boost her online presence and enhance her business’s growth through a powerful e-commerce website.
Background: Who are NQ Plaques & Trophies:
Located in Townsville, NQ Plaques & Trophies provides custom awards, plaques, and trophies for a wide range of clients, from schools and sports clubs to military personnel and corporate businesses. Toni’s commitment to high-quality workmanship and exceptional customer service has helped the business thrive not only locally but across Australia.
“I knew how good the business was when I decided to buy it, and I wanted to make a real go of it,” says Toni. “We pride ourselves on helping customers, whether they’re in town or remote, through our custom services and our e-commerce platform.”
The Challenge: Evolving to Meet Online Demand
Like many traditional businesses, NQ Plaques & Trophies faced the challenge of staying relevant in an increasingly digital world. As Toni notes, “Things were changing. People weren’t just looking us up in the phone book anymore—they were going online.” Toni realised the importance of transitioning to a robust online presence to ensure her business could meet the growing demand from clients all over Australia.
Although the business had an older e-commerce website, it wasn’t equipped to handle the influx of online customers. Toni needed an upgrade, but she was understandably apprehensive about moving the business to a new platform.
Strategy: Seamlessly Upgrading to a Stronger E-commerce Platform
Partnering with Localsearch, Toni worked closely with Local Marketing Specialist Nikki Strano to transform her website into a fully functioning e-commerce platform. Localsearch provided NQ Plaques & Trophies with an updated and easy-to-use website that allowed customers to seamlessly place orders from anywhere in Australia. This crucial upgrade enabled Toni’s business to expand its reach far beyond Townsville.
“Localsearch made it so easy for us,” says Toni. “The website is very user-friendly, and now we’ve got so many clients from out of town using the e-commerce site. They just order online, pay online, and we ship it out once it’s ready. It’s easy.”
The Results:
The decision to upgrade NQ Plaques & Trophies’ online presence has yielded incredible results. With a fully functioning e-commerce platform and the support of Localsearch, Toni’s business has seen significant growth in both traffic and sales.
In the last 30 days alone, the website experienced an impressive 66% increase in page views, while Performance Boost enabled her ads to reach over 6,300 people across 10 platforms. SEO efforts have also seen strong results, with more than 50,000 impressions in just one month. These statistics demonstrate the power of a well-executed digital strategy.
Beyond the numbers, Toni values the personalised support she receives from Nikki and the Localsearch team. “Having my own Account Executive here in Townsville makes life easy for me,” says Toni. “I can just call on Nikki anytime I need. She’s there to help me with anything, and we just move forward together in a big way.”