Chumash Casino Transforms Complex Content Management into Seamless Experience for Marketers with Progress® Sitefinity®
Challenge
With multiple properties including a casino, restaurants, business centers and a museum, Chumash Casino required a user-friendly CMS to manage multiple sites, reduce external dependencies and simplify updates - something not possible with their WordPress-based website solution.
Solution
With its instant deployment capabilities allowing for quick updates and new campaigns as well as intuitive interface requiring no technical skills or external support, Chumash Casino chose Sitefinity as the centralized platform for managing their multiple websites.
Result
The switch resulted in increased efficiency, quicker updates and consistent branding and messaging across all digital properties. Content management times were slashed by 50% and technical hiring needs were eliminated. Visitor rates to online properties increased, as did engagement metrics and interactions with content.
Full Story
Challenge
Chumash Casino, a Santa Ynez, CA-based resort, entertainment and gaming enterprise, faced a complex digital landscape. With multiple properties including a casino, restaurants, business centers and a museum, the entertainment company needed a robust online presence to match its expansive physical offerings and meet the demand for immersive experiences. However, their previous solution—a WordPress-based website solution—was falling short. The marketing team found the CMS cumbersome, with frequent updates requiring HTML and coding skills. Routine tasks like publishing updates and managing content were slowed down and the dependency on third-party agencies for website management added another layer of inefficiency and mounting costs.
The central challenge for Chumash Casino was empowering its in-house marketing team to take control of the company’s digital presence. They needed a content management system (CMS) that was intuitive, easy to use and didn’t require technical or programming expertise. WordPress did not meet those needs. Security was also of great importance to the IT team at Chumash Casino who wanted a solution that enhances security and gives them peace of mind.
A main reason to switch to Sitefinity was the ease of use and that we could manage it in-house.
Michael Armenta
Executive Director of Marketing at Chumash Casino Resort
Solution
Chumash Casino found the answer to its challenges in the Sitefinity CMS with the introduction to the product made by Sitefinity Premier Partner, Visus. Designed with user-friendliness, agility and scalability in mind, Sitefinity offered an intuitive interface that allowed the marketing team to handle updates without coding or technical skills. The Sitefinity platform’s compelling multisite management support was particularly valuable. It enabled the team to oversee multiple properties—including the casino, restaurants and corporate site, plus the career platform and the capital investments wing—from one centralized platform. This streamlined approach significantly improved efficiency, minimizing the time and effort needed to manage, publish and maintain digital content.
What’s more, the in-house marketing team could easily learn and navigate the system, eliminating the need to rely on external agencies for website management. The simplicity of Sitefinity also meant that updates could be performed quickly, whether it was launching a new landing page for an upcoming event or tweaking the content on the career site. Instant deployment capabilities allowed the team to roll out new websites or promotional campaigns in a fraction of the time it used to take with WordPress.
“We are honored by the opportunity to support the Chumash Casino in their digital presence and developing a website in Sitefinity that is easy to update by the marketing team, scalable in the cloud and providing efficiencies for marketing operations by automating updates across the site,” adds Michael Daoud, Founder and CEO of Visus LLC.
Result
The transition to Sitefinity in 2017 yielded immense results for Chumash Casino. The marketing team quickly became more nimble and responsive since they could manage web content without relying on outside help. Tasks that previously required several steps and technical skills were now easily completed with just a few clicks. This change empowered the team to stay on top of content updates, so information was always current and aligned with the company’s evolving brand.
The centralized platform also improved consistency across Chumash Casino’s multiple digital properties. By managing all sites from a single CMS, the team could bring branding, messaging and user experience under the same umbrella. Operational efficiency got an uplift too—content management times were slashed by half and technical hiring needs were eliminated.
The casino’s commitment to a more agile digital strategy paid off in terms of customer engagement and business growth. Visitor rates to online properties increased, as did engagement metrics like time spent on site and interactions with content. Insights gathered from the CMS’s built-in analytics tools allowed the marketing team to tailor digital experiences based on customer preferences and behavior, further enhancing the user experience.
We are honored by the opportunity to support the Chumash Casino in their digital presence and developing a website in Sitefinity that is easy to update by the marketing team, scalable in the cloud and providing efficiencies for marketing operations by automating updates across the site.
Michael Daoud
Founder and CEO at Visus LLC