Brafton

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO. I am responsible for the organization and performance of the entire company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brafton, and what were your goals?

To build the foundation (and more) for our digital marketing footprint. We specifically hire them to help with Website, SEO, Content Development and hope to expand their participation in our marketing solution.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Both from a valued recommendation and from the sales process to select them as a vendor.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Technical Website Audit - they ran a gold audit on my website and provided feedback to improve it. They delivered a complete audit report at the end. Content development - they research SEO words that will benefit us, they write up research briefs for review, then they provide copy, finally they deploy it to my blog section of my website.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I have a project manager, an account director, one to two writers and an editor behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have been able to improve our website. We jumped to the first page in searches organically.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet weekly to review progress and next steps.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I feel like they are part of the team rather than a vendor we use. Their content development is excellent.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I prefer a more streamline, get to the point, project management style and I think they could cut out some of the PM overhead.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the digital marketing manager at Dynaway, a software company providing enterprise asset management solutions for a niche market using Microsoft Dynamics. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

We knew the potential of organic searches to convert leads, but we lost our writer and realized our site traffic was dropping significantly. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Brafton was hired to help us with blogs and SEO strategies. They did all the research and guided us through which keywords were the best to target. Then, we expanded the scope of work because the engagement was going smoothly and was not time-consuming.

We now engage with them on other deliverables like e-books and video production. All the videos are animated, and Brafton has provided everything from the scripts to the storyboards. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with about four teammates. 

How did you find & come to work with this vendor?

I found Brafton through a Google search and trusted them — I knew if they could get themselves ranked high on Google, they could do the same for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested just over $30,000 with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in December 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've continued to see increased site traffic, which is our most important metric. We've also seen an increase in ranking for our targeted keywords — we went from the thirtieth place to the fifteenth. The goal with the e-book was to have visitors spend more time on our page and provide them with information via the videos. We ended up increasing the page view time from 30 seconds to four minutes. 

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Usually, we communicate via email. We also have biweekly meetings through Zoom with teammates involved in keyword research and content development. During those meetings, we also plan the content calendar and catch up on ongoing progress. Their team delivers quickly, and we rarely have to make changes. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Even though Brafton has never worked with asset management companies, they've been able to create professional content that utilizes our keywords. They're incredibly easy to work with. We have a small in-house team, and working with Brafton has really expanded our marketing abilities.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for Brafton to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd advise customers to hire Brafton because they'll quickly see results from the partnership. There is also no risk in engaging with them because the campaigns are cancellable if they aren't beneficial. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

We wanted to produce quality content and leadership pieces. Still, we didn’t have professional writers or copy editors in-house, so we needed a partner to help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brafton publishes content for us utilizing the knowledge of our SME team.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with a writer, a copy editor, a project manager, and their editorial team.

How did you come to work with Brafton?

I found them through Clutch and Google search.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve increased our engagement rate from our content on social media, and we’ve also had a high engagement in our newsletter. Also, the content pieces they helped us produce are the ones with the most attention in the last 12 months.

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They plan the content collaboratively with our internal marketing team. Overall, they’re organized, clean, and have good project managers. Regarding communication, we use email, Zoom, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been great at understanding our project and its technical pieces of work, enabling them to write meaningful questions to our SMEs. We’re impressed with their writers' ability to go deep and broad into high technical specs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’re great, and I highly recommend people working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Senior Manager Marketing for Asia Pacific

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brafton, and what were your goals?

We were a bit behind others in regards to digital marekting. SEO ranking website, in particular, was my goal 2019 when I engaged Brafton.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Brafton (then Castleford) was recommended by a team member who worked with them prior to joining Newell.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

The discovery phase was the first thing we did, followed by recommended strategic initiatives based on capability and capacity. We implemented a curated blog strategy, social platform strategy, PPC and automation.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Kayleigh-

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

in 2021, our site enjoyed 37% more users, 45% more site sessions and 42% more page views versus 2020. Blog acquisition increased by 222% YoY. 86% of Blog sessions in 2021 were driven from organic search. Compared to July 2021, we have seen a 22% increase in page 1 keyword rankings (as of Jan 2022). There were 1,113 form submissions in 2021. This is ~92 form submissions on average per month.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. The team at Brafton are highly knowlegeable and are very responsible and reliable. They feel like an extension of our marketing team. We had a project board where everyone knew what they need to do to keep tasks and projects moving.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I am very happy with the management and support provided across multiple projects, and the transparent pricing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Automation expertise

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing director at an online IT services company that serves the United States. Our company is built around the agent’s workflows, not the other way around. We come to work to help agents do quality work more efficiently – not by forcing them to adapt to software, but by ensuring our software automates the actions that agents already know to work best.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brafton, and what were your goals?

After getting into Paid Search / PPC / Google AdWords we instantly realized that we needed a skilled agency to come in and audit our current PPC account, suggest fixes and optimizations. After the audit was finished we decided to hire Brafton for a 3 month project to implement the recommendations made in the audit.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We followed a referral and interviewed them along with 3 other PPC agencies, after hearing Brafton's proposal and pricing, we felt that their team was a perfect fit. They also allowed us to have a video call with the Brafton team member that would be heading up our project, which helped make the decision that much easier.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

Our marketing team provided Brafton with the necessary Google AdWords access and background details to begin work on the PPC Audit; once this was done there was some back and forth communication but for the most part Brafton made things so simple and "hands-off" that everything ran smoothly from start to finish.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

They assigned a project manager and a paid search specialist for this specific project (PPC Audit).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After Brafton provided the PPC Audit we had an internal discussion and decided that starting in January 2022 we would hire them to implement all changes/optimizations recommended in the PPC Audit, as well as manage our Google AdWords account for 6 months.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication was top notch with Brafton, e-mails were answered within 24 hours no matter how minor the ask was, they also have an internal system we were given access to for tracking the project's progress on a real-time basis.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed with their level of professionalism, industry knowledge, friendliness, and passion. The fact that they have some of the most talented people working for them in project management, sales, content creation, SEO, e-mail marketing, social media, PPC / paid search, etc. was what we were looking for - a "one stop" marketing agency.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing of note.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Campaigns Manager of an ed-tech company based in Barcelona. We create data driven content pieces for PR and SEO purposes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brafton?

Our design team were working hard with Product to get a rebrand over the line in a short timeframe. We desperately needed help with creating visual assets for our data led campaigns and we turned to Brafton for help with it.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Brafton were a natural choice. First thing that struck me was that they, like us, were data driven in their content style. Secondly, their visual assets were stunning. Alongside the content, their communication was spot on.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project involved: - In house research (completed on our end and converted into a table)] - Design of a map of the world with all the countries included - Manually inserting the results we collected to the correct country - Having the file prepared for translation into other languages

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with 4. - Stacey -Natalie -Josh -Tim

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The outcome of this project is huge. We can conservatively estimate we brought in around $60'000 of links including syndication and coverage from top British newspapers. After going viral in Spain, we also then secured 20 placements last month in France, a notoriously hard market. The campaign has been such a success I've seen randoms on my Twitter and Linkedin sharing the map. It's sparked up plenty of conversation.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Superb. Natalie and Josh are superstars, and while we have often given tight deadlines and last minute briefs, they have always delivered before or on time.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

With all big projects you encounter roadblocks and troubles, of course, we encountered a couple - but with the support from Natalie and Josh we (they) smashed right through the barricades. Brafton has been super helpful when we faced a couple of issues with content, and we sorted it out in no time. Also, the quality of the design is brilliant. Results speak for itself, and this is one of the most successful campaigns I've ever seen!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Spot on guys! Keep it up

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for Clemens Food Group. We’re a pork manufacturing company outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We’re a vertically coordinated business which means we provide everything such as farm-to-table pork products. 

Our brand Hatfield is a direct-to-consumer pork business, selling directly to retailers in grocery stores.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

We wanted to elevate our social media channels and achieve a more consistent and updated look and feel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We essentially had a presence on our social media channels, but we wanted to further elevate our digital presence with Brafton — so we can better speak to our target consumers.

We started with a four-week discovery process to get to know our business, and then they did a full audit and analysis of our social media, as well as our website traffic. Since then, they’ve been managing our social media calendars and we work with them on a weekly basis — we have an interactive approach and put together our weekly content calendars based on our corporate priories.

Additionally, we work with a dashboard with them to review, approve, decline, and discuss our social media postings on a regular basis. We’ve also decided to hire Brafton to support our website consolidation process, so they’ll be handling our SEO for seven of our corporate websites, as we come up with the strategy to consolidate them.

What is the team composition?

We basically work with everyone from Brafton, including the CEO, sales team, copy editors, and proofreaders. We’ve also worked with the social media team, website team, and their technology and integrations team.

How did you come to work with Brafton?

We actually brought in Brafton from my previous organization, and they supported my franchise network executive recruiting for about 10 years.

How much have you invested with them?

Thus far, we have a $120,000 contract with them for the year, and we’ll be spending an incremental $100,000 dollars on our website project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the partnership is still new, we haven’t set a definitive KPI right now. However, we’re seeing a drastic improvement in the overall aesthetics of our brand, and consistency in our communication across our digital platforms. They’re doing excellent in the short term that we’ve worked with them.

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

They are far and beyond any of the agencies that we’ve worked with in the past. They’re extremely organized and they’ve actually created a lot of efficiencies for us internally — the way they streamline communications between our channels has been really wonderful.

They have a web-based internal platform that they use, and we typically communicate through email and weekly phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I will say that the amount of data and analytics they bring to the table has been extremely refreshing. We’re really utilizing our expertise, content management, and trending topics — they’re really bringing ideas based on data, and not just what’s hot on social media.

They’ve truly opened our eyes to the way that we accomplish our process, which is why we’ve decided to work with them on our new project. They really understand our brand and messaging, and they can quickly and decisively put out content that says a lot by saying very little.

Apart from that, they take criticism extremely, they’re very agile, and they’re quick to respond to anything that’s needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One piece of constructive criticism that I have is the shift in personnel resources on our account could’ve gone more efficiently. The transition from the previous representative to who we’re working with now could’ve taken longer, but it wasn’t communicated as directly as it could’ve been.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner and VP at Phone Ninjas. We help improve the phone processes of various customers and companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

We needed to achieve more reach and site traffic, so we turned to Brafton. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Brafton audited our website and our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google My Business accounts. They then took over the creation of creative assets for our PPC ad campaigns. The team is currently driving content that we actively help improve.

What is the team composition?

There’s a team of six that consists of the account manager, a coordinator, and different specialists for Google, social media, content, PPC, and web design. The account manager and coordinator are my go-to people and they tap the necessary resource based on what we’re working on. 

How did you come to work with Brafton?

I found and interviewed five agencies over the course of a month. We saw that Brafton was working with one of the largest automotive vendors on the planet and considered it a big plus in their favor since they would already be familiar with our industry. We also liked their logical approach and how they had different specialists, as opposed to having only a few people juggling everything, so we brought them in.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2021 and the project is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google allow us to see how many people have looked at and clicked through our posts. Based on the data we’ve received, we’ve gotten a 50%–200% increase in the number of people who’ve filled out a form from the content. We’ve received more impressions and requests for information. It’s also evident that our audiences have stayed on our articles for a longer period of time. 

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Brafton is very methodical; their processes and timelines for the project are really easy to understand. Everything is done logically and efficiently. We communicate via phone, email, and webinars. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stands out about Brafton is the efficiency with which they communicate. They never miss deadlines and always keep us in the loop when it comes to updates. I love that we’re able to know where we’re at with the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide your input but follow Brafton’s process. You might think that you know better, but their specialists are still more technically capable. Have faith in their skills and policies because you can definitely trust their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a community bank that services in three states and 11 locations. In addition to our commercial and retail banking services, we offer financial planning services, including insurance and healthcare equipment financing.

I’m a digital marketing manager with responsibility for communications, content, and user experience related to our website and other digital platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

We wanted to provide educational content for our customers and prospects, hoping to attract more engagement in our digital channels. We initially hired Brafton to provide blogs and other related assets which we could use for content marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with Brafton for content marketing for around seven years. They worked solely on our content for the first two years. Then, we had a situation where we needed to change our website management agency. Brafton was able to take over and manage our website, using the existing WordPress content management solution.

Their technical team makes sure it remains up-to-date, and they're able to address any technical enhancements that we want to make to optimize our site.

After the website move, we expanded our relationship with Brafton to include HubSpot email marketing and consulting, as well as SEO development, while they continued with the site maintenance.

In 2019, they helped us redesign our website, and we launched it in 2020. Our relationship has grown over the years from a single service to a more overall digital engagement.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact from Brafton is Christina (Director of Customer Experience). We’ve also worked with Hannah (Director of Sales and Account Management), a project manager, a web person, and a content production manager.

How did you come to work with Brafton?

I don't actually remember how I learned about Brafton. I had been going to conferences and other events like that, so I assume I got on somebody's mailing list and, maybe, that's where I heard about them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $375,000 since we started working together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company doesn’t currently have the technical expertise in-house for website development or SEO, and we don't have the time to do a lot of content creation ourselves. For us, being able to rely on the expertise of a partner like Brafton is invaluable — they’ve become an extension of our team.

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet with Brafton weekly and talk through all of the projects that we have on the table. I can ask them any questions and request them to make any changes to our website. If I have an SEO-related question, they do the research and get back to me with a recommendation — we really value that part.

Recently, Brafton launched their own private portal. Customers like myself can log in and look at the different projects that are in progress. I can download any previous work content items, whether it is a blog, an illustration, or an analytics report.

When they have something for me to approve, I get an alert by email saying that I need to log in and approve the requested change. It has been a very nice tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like having Brafton's perspective outside of the financial industry. We work with a lot of financial-related vendors, so it’s nice when Brafton comes to the table with fresh ideas from their experience with clients in a variety of industries.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Early on in our engagement, there was a handful of account relationship turnovers, so it was hard to establish the solid relationship that we have now. After moving the website, to them and broadening our base of services, the team ended up being pretty solid, and I feel like they better understand our needs.

One area that I'm a bit concerned about is that the technical support for our website is limited to standard business hours. I know our IT team would sleep better if Brafton could provide 24/7 support in the event of an outage or issue that could develop overnight or during a weekend. However, they have been prompt and very helpful when we have brought issues to their attention. The limited support has not been a strong enough reason to leave their service since they are doing a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Develop a close relationship with your primary account representative, and make sure they really understand what your business is and what your goals are — that’s the biggest key to being successful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing leader of the life sciences segment for a biotechnology company. We focus on multiple areas, including life sciences, fuel, applied genomics, and diagnosis. We also have services and informatics groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brafton?

A couple of years ago, we did a perpetual demand generation program where we needed to develop content for strategic engagement. We needed key opinion leadership, expert points of view, and topics at the level of solutions. We also wanted to take a lot of our instrumentation as solutions to our customers and develop content that addressed their pain points to help them navigate through a virtual funnel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, another company helped us do some insight work collecting a lot of internal and external opinions from subject matter experts. We were able to coordinate the topics for discussion and content development.

Brafton helped us identify writers in their network, and they’ve been helping us develop that content. We’ve published the content on our site, as well as in third-party publications.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Tricia (Director of Customer Experience) and Chris (Project Manager), as well as with Shannon (Former Senior Project Manager). Chris and Shannon have moved to different projects, so we started working with other quite good people. Megan (Former Social Media Strategist) and Chris (Creative Director) have helped us manage all of our programmings, and they’ve done a really good job.

How did you come to work with Brafton?

We heard about Brafton through another company, and this company helped us get organized with them. However, I wasn’t part of the selection process, so I’m not sure how we decided that they were the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in early 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve used the content that Brafton creates for third-party promotions, and we’ve generated many marketing-qualified leads from there. Around 20% of our leads are generated from all the work that they’ve done. They’ve met our goals and done a great job.

How did Brafton perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is Brafton’s strength — they’re really good at that. We’re very clear about what our internal and external deadlines are, and they do their due diligence to make sure that those deadlines are met.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brafton’s professionalism and flexibility are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know anything they can improve on. We’re constantly upping the ante for them, and they’ve done great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your expectations and provide them with examples of writing styles that you want to see. Don’t make the assumption that they’re going to provide you with content specifically made for you from the start. They’re not mind-readers, so you have to walk them through the process. It takes them a bit to find writers that fit your style, but once they do, the project runs pretty seamlessly.