97th Floor

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior branding manager at FUEL CYCLE, a market research software company. I work in the marketing department and manage visual content, advertising, and branding.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

We wanted to become a thought leader in our industry, but we weren’t ranking highly on search results. Thus, people weren’t able to find our content for the terms and topics we needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are our SEO consultants, providing different SEO audits on a monthly basis. Their team produces content outlines and helps optimize the website. They work with keywords and SEO strategy, all in the hope of generating more leads.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Brandon (Account Director, 97th Floor). We had a different account manager before we switched to Brandon, but he’s made it very seamless. There are four other members of the team: an SEO analyst, content specialist, and two others.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

We researched many different SEO agencies and brought five in to make proposals. 97th Floor was very nice, really smart, and came at the right price point for a small but growing company. They just ended up being perfect. We decided based on the people and their skills because we’re working with them a lot.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project has been going on for two years, starting in October 2017. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

SEO is a long process, but the quality of work been really great. It takes a good amount of testing and time to get articles ranked, but slowly we’ve seen our articles come up on the first and second pages of Google. In the past two months, we really saw SEO take off in combination with our PPC efforts and had the most successful month in the history of our company. We’ve started to expand to different demographics and get more conversions on the website.

How did 97th Floor perform from a project management standpoint?

They are really good. We have biweekly meetings to run through our content outlines. They send us a call agenda and we review everything we did in our client index. Their team keeps tabs on us to make sure we’re getting articles done. Any time they find errors on the website, they send them over immediately so we can get them fixed. It’s a very streamlined and professional process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The people and the quality of the work are great. They’re always happy to hop on a phone call. They take the time to teach us and make us better marketers, which you don’t get at many agencies. It’s a really cool growing experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask to work with Brandon and his team. You should also learn as much as you can from them, and they will definitely help you out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I operate the consumer-facing end of a lead generation company that helps users find the best insurance rates of optimal prices. As part of my role, I run articles, health surveys, and data entry, so customers can decide for themselves which insurance option suits them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

We hired 97th Floor to keep our organic keyword rankings as high as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company exclusively uses organic search to generate leads and traffic, so it was important for us to keep our website as healthy as possible on Google. Their team handled our SEO, optimizing keywords for our site. They examine the success and performance of our keywords to inform how we can adjust to better keep our site competitive.

The team also helps with website design and development aspect of our site as needed. They act almost as a consultant to our company. All the work they do aims to get our site ranking higher on search engines. When Google shifts its algorithm, they adjust our strategy to keep our rankings strong.

What is the team composition?

We work with one account manager, who I deal with on a daily basis. There are also two additional professionals assigned to our account.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

They were already a partner with my company when I joined the team, so I inherited the relationship. In my position, I’ve had opportunities to replace partners, but never wanted to lose them because of the great work they do.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2015 and are still partners today. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m very pleased with the deliverables and can’t speak highly enough about their abilities. They’re responsive, straightforward, and able to produce something according to our requirements. If something we ask for is not possible for them, they always communicate that, which I greatly appreciate. 

How did 97th Floor perform from a project management standpoint?

I couldn’t be happier. They’ve worked through struggles and challenges to get us where we need to be. Like I said before, I speak with my account manager almost every day to ensure things are moving smoothly. I’m pleased with what they’ve done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They feel personally invested in us and our products because of the work they put into our relationship. Our partnership has always been a collaborative, team effort. They’ve developed and nurtured our continued growth. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s hard to predict a perfect fit for other companies, but it’s definitely worth it to investigate a partnership with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of coaching and programs for LadyBoss. We’re a women’s weight loss company that also has a global community to provide external weight loss support. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

We hired 97th Floor to help us create a blog from scratch. In the past, we actually managed our own blog but shut it down because weren’t happy with our content and writers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

The project was really about creating a systematic approach to blog writing. Our goal was to get ranked on search engines through our blog, so we had to figure out the best way to incorporate SEO terms into our articles. We also needed to identify the kind of content that our readers would go for in the first place.

97th Floor created an outline for us that listed relevant topics, targeted keywords, and resources that a writer could reference. Next, they helped us understand the editing process and showed us how to upload articles into our blog.

All of our content is now done by subject matter experts (SMEs) who aren’t always necessarily the best writers—they rely on 97th Floor’s outline to understand how to approach a post. Then, 97th Floor’s team makes sure that the writing has been edited, is congruent with our messaging, and has the right number of SEO terms.

What is the team composition? 

There are five team members in total. Alex (Enterprise Account Director, 97th Flor) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

We found them through a mutual acquaintance or a business partnership.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work started in May 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re definitely happy with 97th Floor’s work. They’ve really helped us set up an effective content creation process, so, now, our blog looks exactly how we want it to. 

Currently, we’re at over 30 posts and have had over 5,000 sessions since July 2019. That’s a 211% month-over-month increase.

How did 97th Floor perform from a project management standpoint?

At LadyBoss, we’re known for our project management and ability to create clear processes. Alex has been able to tap into our content process, helped build it out, and then followed through with it. 

In terms of communication, we interface through email and have weekly Zoom conferences. Trello is our main project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Having worked with a lot of different vendors, I’d say that 97th Floor’s communication is excellent. They’re available to check in on a weekly or even hourly basis, which is fantastic. And, obviously, their technical knowledge is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been very pleased with their services. This is the first time I’ve ever done a blog, so I’m brand new and am still learning along the way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to change your business and are looking for a professional team, reach out to 97th Floor. They’ll definitely bring the right level of professionalism to your project and can teach you a lot along the way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for a large SaaS [software-as-a-service] and networking solutions company.

What is your position and responsibilities?

I am a senior search marketing manager within our customer acquisition department. The products that I particularly manage are within the communications cloud line of business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

We were looking for a partner to help us with SEO [search engine optimization] implementations and strategic recommendations around what needed to happen on the back-end in order for us to be completely crawlable, and recommendations on the content items that we needed to be creating.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

97th Floor worked on our SEO backend initiatives, as well as our SEO content strategy.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

The selection process predates me a bit; however, we initially invited a handful of agencies to help us with a comprehensive audit based on SEO opportunities. From there, we had those agencies submit their deliverables and present to us their recommendations. Toward the end, a handful of agencies stood out, and 97th Floor was one of them due to their customer service and their responsiveness piece. I believe those are the reasons why my previous manager essentially selected 97th Floor for a longer-term partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

This is an ongoing partnership which, for now, is valid until quarter 4 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've actually seen some consistent lift with our page visits, as well as our trials, and many of the other metrics that we look at for SEO. With 97th Floor, we were able to get an understanding of everything –the education piece behind the importance of SEO at an organizational level.

From there, we're able to build a culture that is even more focused on supporting the initiatives around boosting organic search because it has proven even more important for the business. Many SEO metrics have been progressing quite nicely through the last year.

What distinguishes 97th Floor from other providers?

It was proven very early on that the 97th Floor team is filled of experts in the industry, and they know their craft, both on the back-end SEO implementations, as well as the content side. I appreciate how they have a very good way of explaining things and breaking down details. They make it easier for me to understand, and, therefore, easier for me to relay it to other people internally.

Is there anything 97th Floor could have improved or done differently?

There's definitely adjustment periods here and there, with onboarding the accounts. However, whatever those areas for improvement are, I've been impressed with 97th Floor's quick response to feedback. Nothing noteworthy that I can call out as a dire opportunity that they need to improve upon.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is, Dell, an enterprise solution provider, along with more consumer products like laptops, desktops, PCs, and things like that.

What is your position and responsibilities?

I am a digital program manager for the enterprise side of the business, and a paid content syndication manager. I manage the organic search activities for our enterprise side of the business, like servers, cloud computing, and flash storage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

The biggest challenge for us was scale. We deal with quite a lot of solutions, and we needed an alternative to our search programs that could actually scale easily, and a company that could be working on the cutting edge of search while we're handling the internal processes and technology changes at the same time.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We do quite a bit of content creation and general strategy with 97th Floor. They create many different pieces of content for our company blog, and then external facing content, like on SlideShare and some industry-related blogs. Other than that, they're also creating interactive infographics and things of that nature for our site as well. We rely on them to make some recommendations on page optimization and keyword research, but a lot of that we do internally.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

I actually heard Chris Bennett [the CEO of 97th Floor] at an SEO [search engine optimization] conference that I attended, I liked what he had to say, so I reached out to him to see if they could provide more information, and what kind of strategies they would follow for the Dell enterprise side. I liked what they recommend, so we did a test pilot with them and have been using them ever since.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It fluctuates, but it's in the higher [$200,000-plus] region. It changes based on our budget for each quarter. Last year was greater than this year, but it's always a significant amount.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What distinguishes 97th Floor from other providers?

97th Floor is great to work with as a team. In the past, we had an account manager who was exceptional, who stood out, and who was very good at what she did and very attentive to our campaigns. They're still great, but we have lost that manager. She's moved on to a different position. They still do a great job of managing and keeping us in the loop of what they're planning on doing, and how they're executing the plan.

I like to be as hands off as possible, so 97th Floor allows me to do that. I completely trust that they're doing the job that they say they're doing, and doing it right, which is a great compliment to them. Because in the past, I've had to manually audit our SEO agencies quite frequently. We had managers doing our campaigns, and I had to regularly audit them, track what they were doing, and push them and drive them to accomplish what they were supposed to be doing, which was sad. With 97th Floor, I haven't had that issue at all.

Is there anything 97th Floor could have improved or done differently?

The thing that I'd like to see from any search agency is to continue to innovate and push the envelope. They're a bit restricted in what they're able to do, just because of the nature of Dell, and what we're allowed to do and not do. They operate within these fine restrictions, but I'd definitely like to see them continually try to push what we're doing, lead the industry, and put us ahead of everybody else.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is Blendtec. We make high-end, commercial-quality blenders for residential and commercial markets. 

What is your position?

I oversee all of our digital and consumer marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 97th Floor?

We are always trying to produce high quality content to engage and attract new customers. We approached 97th Floor with just that – to have them work with us on developing content that will be able to attract the right kind of customer, help them understand our brand, increase brand awareness, and move people through the sales funnel.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Content development and research on what type of content would have the most impact. Some SEO [search engine optimization] research, as well ensuring that we're hitting some topics that are a little more evergreen. 97th Floor gave creative support all around.

How did you come to work with 97th Floor?

We did look at a couple of other agencies. In the selection process, it helped that they're local to us. It is nice to be able to have face-to-face meetings. My team has also had some experience with 97th Floor in prior capacities. We knew the quality of work to expect because they had done some work for Blendtec several years ago. It's a little bit of personal as well as professional history with 97th Floor. In general, they have a high quality of work and they're well known in this space, so we felt it was a safe business decision.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's ongoing. We did a six-month retainer with them initially for $45,000, which was based not on the number of hours but really based on the amount of work – a certain amount of pieces of content and a certain amount of traffic generated through that content. That worked out well, so we've continued working with them on a monthly retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

One of the pieces of content they produced for us has consistently been the highest traffic-driving piece of content on our website for the past several years. They produced it in the last year [2014], but it continues to drive more traffic than anything in the last several years. Several hundred thousand visits to the website through a single piece of content. We rank organically for some very niche terms, but that's OK given what we do, we never would have hoped for that before. Based on this content we were able to get a lot of social sharing. That's just one piece. We've had several pieces that have been consistently growing organically during the past several months. We've seen consistent referral traffic through the content and through various social channels. We've also seen an increase in organic traffic based on keywords that the content enables us to rank for. It's all been very good.

What distinguishes 97th Floor from other providers?

97th Floor is a top-quality team. They know what they're doing. They're flexible. We've had to adjust strategies a couple of times and work with an ever-changing environment here in house. It's been nice to work with such a flexible team. They've been proactive. They're smart people doing good work.

Is there anything 97th Floor could have improved or done differently?

I'm not given a lot of high-level strategy – 97th Floor really provides more implementation strategy. Once we tell them what we're looking for, they tell us how to get there, which works. It would be interesting and nice to have a higher-level review of our overall strategies to provide more guidance. This observance may be based on the implementation we have with them. We didn't really approach 97th Floor for a high-level strategy, so they haven't really presented a high-level solution, but that would be nice.