Challenge

As a small business in a niche industry, United Pump still gets the bulk of its new customers through good old-fashioned word of mouth. According to Travis, the company’s website was built in the late 2000s by his father, Bruce Benton, Jr., more due to a growing pressure for every business to have a web presence than anything else.

“Probably for a long time, we had our heads in the sand to think that we didn’t need marketing,” Travis says. “Then, a few years ago, we attended a C12 Business Forums session on marketing that really opened our eyes to how important marketing is.”

“We knew that we didn’t have the talent on the team to do it in-house, and we were too small to hire a full-time person to do marketing. We honestly just didn’t know what we didn’t know or where we should even start!”

That awakening coincided with the approach of the company’s 50th anniversary in 2023, so it felt like the perfect time to celebrate and promote their ongoing success with a brand refresh and new website. They partnered with a fractional marketing agency to help design a new website and logo and rebrand from United Pump and Controls, Inc., to simply United Pump.

The agency provided the requested services and deliverables, but the process and results were underwhelming. Looking back, Travis describes it as a difficult experience that left them dissatisfied.

“They would tell you they could do X, Y, and Z, but really, all they were doing was acting as a middleman to find third-party companies to do those things for you. That was a big frustration! For what we were paying, we thought they would do a lot more for us. It was really frustrating to pay what we were paying, and then, on top of that, have to pay a lot more for what actually got done.”

After a year and a half of working with the agency, United Pump decided to pause its digital marketing efforts.

Solution

Sometimes, we find the answers we need in the least expected places.

In 2024, Travis was browsing the website of a flight school he was attending. Impressed with the clean, intuitive site, he asked a staff member who created it. They told him about Tess Helmandollar and her agency, The Cognitive Creative. Travis didn’t waste any time in reaching out to her.

“Initially, we spent a good bit of time just talking about who we are and what we do. Tess wanted to get to know us and made a good impression. We never felt any pressure. We talked about our previous experience with marketing and our concerns, and, together with Tess, we decided that our first and highest need now was to get our website back under control. It was 40+ pages and was just way too much content.”

“The previous agency had designed all of the page titles to be keywords and it was all about search engine optimization and it made the website look really cluttered. I know SEO is important. But it is more important to me to have a clean, easy-to-navigate, simple website, and that’s what The Cognitive Creative has given me.”

“The Cognitive Creative offered so much customization and could tailor their product and services to exactly what we needed. What they proposed was just right, and it wasn’t too much or too expensive.”

Beyond the visual appeal and ease-of-use of the website, Travis also wanted a partner that United Pump could trust to get the work done quickly and in-house.

“Everything that Tess and The Cognitive Creative does for us is exactly what we need and didn’t even know we needed it. It’s nice to be able to just hand that off to somebody who really knows what they’re doing. Tess has the resources on staff to do the majority of the things that the other company was outsourcing.”

Results

Today, United Pump has an updated logo and a clean, modern-looking website that Travis says is far and away better than anything they could have done on their own. “The Cognitive Creative offers that creativity that doesn’t come naturally to me or anyone on our team.”

As a small business owner, Travis appreciates all of the ways in which TCC delivers for his company. He cites reasonable pricing and transparent communication as key factors in building a trusting relationship:

“Pricing has been very transparent and within our budget. The few additional costs we’ve had have been very understandable—Tess explained them well, and I didn’t feel like she was upselling me. We’ve kept the budget pretty modest, but The Cognitive Creative is delivering a lot of value for what we’re paying.”

Future Outlook

For decades, United Pump has succeeded based on its reputation for reliable service and work done right. But Travis knows relying solely on word-of-mouth for referrals and local advertising may not be enough to sustain the company indefinitely.

“We are fortunate that we haven’t had to rely on our website to drive business. However, since we’re in 2025 and want to keep growing, we know we need a robust website that can help us do that! For now, we mainly use it to highlight our services and share our company values, but I know we all have a shared vision of it eventually helping United Pump to scale.”

To that end, United Pump and the team at The Cognitive Creative are already hard at work crafting email campaigns designed to keep current customers in the loop and entice potential customers to give United Pump a try. And, behind the scenes, there’s plenty of activity around building a CRM system that’s going to create efficiencies in managing and converting new leads.

“I think it’s going to help us better qualify customers and eliminate a lot of wasted energy on quotes that will never go anywhere.”

“We’re building all the infrastructure and tools to have a much larger impact. I know once we get to that point where we really start ramping up the growth and we scale it, we’re going to have all the capacity we need from a marketing and website standpoint. I can see that future opportunity coming.”

Underpinning this vision is something Travis never imagined when he first contacted The Cognitive Creative about website help.

“Another thing that Tess has delivered that I don’t think is even part of The Cognitive Creative’s packaging or services: In a lot of ways, Tess has actually become a business mentor to me. We’ve had a lot of business conversations, and I really appreciate that.”

If Travis and United Pump’s story resonates with you, contact us to see how The Cognitive Creative can bring your brand to life. We work hand-in-hand with service-based businesses across the country to create intuitive, user-friendly brand experiences that bring new customers through the door and give existing customers great reasons to stick around.

Our mission is simple: to equip businesses with the tools, strategies, and creative flair needed to thrive in the digital age. Whether we’re building a website that’s as functional as it is beautiful or crafting a marketing strategy that will level up your leads, we’re here to help you achieve your goals. Contact us today for more information.