PAID RANKING
doesn’t Equal
Growth
CLIENT: ILM
Strategy, Branding, Campaigns
“So you want to be first in Google.
Then what?”
Industry
Environmental
Services
Brand strategy, Identity, Web, Email, Print Design, Tradeshow Design
Industry
Environmental
Services
Brand strategy, Identity, Web, Email, Print Design, Tradeshow Design
“So you want to be first in Google.
Then what?”
FOUNDER & COMPANY
The founder built ILM into a lake and land management company serving HOAs, park districts, and corporate campuses across Chicagoland, always in the field and behind the desk at once, scrappy and opportunistic. By 2021 it wasn’t struggling. It just wasn’t moving, and it had never had anyone dedicated to marketing.
THE CHALLENGE
“He just wants to be first in Google,” Lisa told us. There was no sales conversion plan. The founder had spent years paying SEO vendors for reports nobody used. There was no way to actually contact someone at the company once a visitor found it.
THE STRATEGY
Credibility and trust are feelings a buyer has about you. Identity is what shows up in front of them, equipment on a trailer, a uniform, presentation materials, a trade show banner, every truck in the fleet, all telling the same story. That’s what changed at ILM.
THE WORK
It wasn’t a rename specifically. We dropped “Integrated Lakes Management” and let them own the nickname everyone already used: ILM. The same logic FedEx used keeping a name nobody spells out anymore. ILM sold healthy environments. Cutting buckthorn and clearing ponds was just how they got there. We launched campaigns with technical information told in everyday language, and rebuilt the trade show materials around a smiling frog instead of a typical equipment collage. Every couple of months we created a new project case study, with real numbers instead of adjectives, proof to build trust with existing and future customers. Most importantly we built a system that integrated marketing campaigns with sales goals and specific seasonal services.
THE OUTCOME
In 5 years, ILM revenue increased 131%, from $4.5M to $10.4M. The website generates 50–60% of all leads.
In early 2026, the founder sold ILM to a private equity firm, after turning down earlier offers on his own terms. Around that same time, when a prospect asked Claude for “lake management recommendations in Illinois,” it named ILM first, citing their specific coverage and the exact wetland projects Faucethead had spent five years documenting.
“Faucethead acts like a true partner with a vested interest in our success, not just a vendor taking orders. Their collaborative approach has challenged us to think differently about how we connect with our audience and position our business, all while respecting our budget and time constraints.”
— Lisa Woolford,
Director of Strategic Partnerships, ILM
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