Create & Associates helps a prominent New York congregation extend its reach into the community.

Challenge

In communities large and small, a temple is a place of gathering. For Temple Shaaray Tefila, located in the thriving township of Bedford, New York, the focus has always been on providing people with a place to join together and find unity in spirit and service.

That message has never changed. However, the means of communicating it to the growing population around the area have changed dramatically in recent years. And to help it stay up-to-date with these advances in online and interactive technology, the Temple turned to Create & Associates.

Tasked with helping to attract new members, assisting in a rabbinical search, and enhancing communications with the more than 600 existing member families, Create & Associates took on the challenge on a Pro Bono basis.

The first step was to design a new look and feel for the Temple’s digital and print materials, so that they would engagingly reflect the energy, sense of community, and wide range of religious, educational, and socially-oriented activities that Shaaray Tefila offers.

The second step, undertaken this past summer, was to redesign and program a brand new website that would provide multiple ways for current and prospective members to learn about, and become involved with, the congregation.

Solution

In keeping with its dedication to personal and responsive service, the staff of Create & Associates worked closely with the synagogue’s Executive Director to create a site that reflected Shaaray Tefila’s rich spirituality, traditional ethos, vibrant personal warmth, and community service leadership – while offering the latest in interactive technology, a live calendar of all events linked to in-house registration and compatibility with the latest web standards. Create also trained the in-house staff prior to the launch of the site on how to post fresh content to ensure that the website is always up to date and keeping members and visitors informed with the latest news.

Key capabilities:

Branding
Digital Marketing
Marketing Materials
Print Marketing
Website Design, programming and Implementation with full E-Commerce functionality
Social Media

Results

The completed website, launched in time for 2019’s High Holiday season, tells the story of an inclusive congregation that embraces insightful rabbinical leadership, spiritual experiences, engaging music, inspirational speakers, and community prayer.

Its main pages are organized around the four main pillars of the Temple’s messaging: Pray, Learn, Connect, Celebrate. In addition to the staff-managed and easy-to-change content, the site features stunning photography generously donated by congregant Stuart Zaro, which beautifully highlights the artifacts, architecture, and people of Shaaray Tefila.

Through Create’s unique combination of responsive web design, e-commerce functionality, and traffic-generating technology, Temple Shaaray Tefila achieved a contemporary, fresh design that will help support its rabbinical search while improving communications, enhancing membership engagement and driving higher enrollment.