Content Callout

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was CMO for Halo Health, which was recently acquired by Symplr. Now, I’m VP of growth marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Content Callout?

We were seeking to expand our social media presence and increase traffic to channels. We needed help to write and execute.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Content Callout provides social media marketing services. To jumpstart the project, we first met to discuss what we needed to increase our followers and brand recognition. We defined our brand identity and narrative, our opportunities as a startup, and the types of content we wanted to distribute through our social media channels.

Then, they took our existing white papers, e-books, videos, and snippets to encourage people to return to our website, download the assets, and learn more about our clinical experts.

What is the team composition?

We work with their principal and a project manager. They also have a designer and a writer.

How did you come to work with Content Callout?

We had a gap between our awareness and our capabilities. We were a well-kept secret, so a trusted partner from a private equity firm referred to Content Callout. After interviewing them and learning about their process, it was clear that they could do what we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We look at traffic to LinkedIn and Twitter, followers, and traffic to our website. We’ve increased our number of followers by about 40%, and a significant increase in leads is attributed to our social media channels.

How did Content Callout perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent at project management. Content Callout is easy to work with and very receptive to feedback. We use phone calls and emails; they’re willing to do any type of communication channel we request. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can come up to speed very quickly. Also, they’ve been able to develop a tone and voice for our content. Over time, it requires less editing, so they’ve become smarter about our business as time goes on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been very pleased with them. We’ll hire them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s helpful to have a single point of contact and understand the benefits of social marketing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior marketing manager at a supply chain sustainability SaaS platform. We mainly work with enterprise-level companies to figure out how sustainable their supplier relationships are. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Content Callout? 

We have a consultative sales and marketing process, and we lean heavily on Content Callout for thought leadership. Specifically, they help us educate our target audience on why they should care about the problem that we address and how they can address it through us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Content Callout delivers four blogs per month and a long-form lead magnet content per quarter. During our weekly sync-up calls, I walk their project manager through the key points and topics that they have to write for the coming week. Then, they send me an outline of the content, and I give feedback on that. After that, the team sends me the full written piece against the outline; I also give my feedback on that. 

Once we’re done with the revision process, I post the content and promote it through our channels, such as our social media accounts and emails. We also give it to our sales team to serve as an outreach tool. 

In terms of specific projects, we’ve had a white paper campaign around our so-called sustainable supply chain journey. This white paper helps companies figure out their baselines in measuring their supply chain’s sustainability. It also helps them understand what they can do about it. Content Callout has worked on the white paper itself by taking our vision and translating it into clear and understandable content that we can share with our prospects.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with their project manager. 

How did you come to work with Content Callout? 

Content Callout reached out to me, and I found that they’re working in a similar space to ours. I decided to check them out because of that, and that was where our engagement started. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested above $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in March 2021, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since Content Callout’s work is focused on the content development side, we don’t have specific metrics tied to it. However, it’s been great working with the team. They take ownership of our content and give us a professional voice.

On top of that, they’re truly dedicated to making sure that we’re happy with the way our assets are done. Overall, they’ve been instrumental in scaling up our content marketing efforts. 

How did Content Callout perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are great. The problems that have occurred so far have been my fault, but the team keeps me on track. Moreover, they’re well-adjusted to our voice and the space in which we operate, so the engagement has been smooth-sailing. To communicate, we mainly use emails. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

As an organization, Content Callout is great at letting me know where things stand and helping me understand their development process. They also hold me accountable for the things that they need from me. That way, items don’t fall behind. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear and upfront about what your strategy is, and have a well-documented brand voice that you can pass to the Content Callout team. Apart from that, be patient with the time that it takes for any new writer to produce content that fits your brand — there’s always a ramp-up period. If it takes a couple of content pieces before they truly nail it, just be patient with the process. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a consulting company specializing in legacy migrations to SaaS, staffing solutions, and strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our online presence was scattered. We were creating content sporadically, with different parameters, and posting here and there. We needed to consolidate our brand look and feel, create consistent content, and post more regularly to build authority.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for someone that would spend the time to understand us and what we do, and that would also be available when we needed them. Creating a partnership was important to us, not just hiring another vendor. As consultants, we actually really care about the businesses we work to transform, and we wanted our marketing agency to treat us the same way.

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

We started off with a bang. Mark took our core team through LinkedIn strategy and a course on the importance of content creation and team buy-in. It set us up to work cohesively as a team. We created content for different departments and stakeholders, and the team at Content Callout was always flexible to change directions, and add and remove stakeholders and projects based on the needs of our team. We have seen a steady growth of our audience over the last two years and always have marketing materials to support new endeavors.

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

We worked with Mark Raffan, the President, and work with Mark's key operations and account manager on a regular basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have steadily grown our audience since our relationship started.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great. Our account and project manager are always in contact with what we need to do before we need to do it. We can rely on the team at Content Callout to be communicative and on top of things.

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

They are available to us when we need them, and we don't have to wait. We know the team at Content Callout is looking out for us.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Operations at Refinery Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital firm in Cincinnati, OH.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Content Callout?

We wanted to create authentic content, and were considering a podcast. Mark helped push us over the hump and explained that by recording a podcast episode, you could splice that into text, video, audio, articles, blog posts, social posts, etc. So do something once, and they help multiply.

SOLUTION

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

Content Callout was already being used by one of our portfolio companies, and we really liked what they were putting out. While Mark and his team were new to venture, they were able to show us how their expertise could translate.

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

This is an ongoing "project" where Content Callout takes our transcripts from podcast episodes and summarizes the in articles and social posts. They also manage the posting and responses to all that content on our social (LinkedIn and Twitter).

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

Mark Raffan, President Amanda Au, Project Manager Kayla Graham, Operations Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We receive many comments, emails, and notes that our presence is well known on social and that our content is interesting and engaging.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is smooth. The direct line of contact is between myself and the manager. Larger discussions include my managing partner and Mark.

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

Passion. We feel like the entire team is all in our brand and project. We always feel like they are top of it, keep me motivated, and are available for questions/conversation.

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

I don't believe so - they are very agreeable to making adjustments, have check-in meetings, and offer advice when warranted.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Marketing of a B2B audio and video content marketing platform. We work with mid-market to enterprise B2B companies to help them get more value out of their audio and video content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Content Callout?

As a young start-up, we needed a lot of content to start educating the market on what our company is, what we do, what problems we're solving, and more. As a single-person team, I couldn't keep up with the growing list of content that needed to be created. We brought this agency on to help guide our content strategy and help us ramp up content production.

SOLUTION

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

This agency actually came in through our sales team. They loved what they were doing from a content standpoint and so they introduced me to them. After chatting with them, I knew they understood what we were trying to do as a company (with our platform and methodology) and I knew they would be the right partner to help us grow our efforts and results.

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

After a kick-off call, we worked with the team to identify our ICP, pain points, and potential content topics. From there, the team helps us optimize our existing content and then we work with them on a monthly basis to create ongoing content in line with our content plan. Each month, we give them several writing prompts to create content based on our content plan and upcoming needs. They write the content, revise, schedule it into our CMS and create and schedule social posts for each post. They also help us manage an executive's social feed on a weekly basis. We've also had them revise and write e-book copy for us on a one-off project for us.

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

We've had strategy and check-in sessions with the President and worked with account executive, social media specialist, and writer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The consistency of this content strategy has helped us create content that is engaging to our target audience, including our prosects and customers, and also helping us to ramp up organic traffic month-over-month.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet monthly to discuss upcoming content and from there we hve a Slack channel between our team and theirs. We also work out of a shared google doc which has proven easy and seamless as our team has grown and new team members have stepped in to work with them.

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

We have a podcast at the center of our content strategy, so a lot of content is spun out from the conversations we're having on said podcast. Our team at this agency knows our episodes and shows as well as we do. When we chat about content that we need to make based on a need, they are quick to suggest podcast content that would be a great resource or general source for that piece. They also deploy a lot of the same marketing tactics that we are talking about and edcuating our audience about, which makes it a seamless relationship.

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

We had trouble with our writer grasping our voice and brand personality early on, but the team worked with them to improve quickly and now we are very happy with the results we get each week. We also have worked with them to iron out the weekly process for communicating, reviewing, and publishing and it's become easier and more streamlined over time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing for a SaaS company. My role supports the growth and development of marketing content, design, and events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Content Callout?

Our goal was to increase our brand awareness with very high lead-gen goals after closing a seed round of funding. Content Callout was hired as our agency of record to increase our visibility with a very niche market space and increase our content library for all platforms in an omnichannel approach.

SOLUTION

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

Content Callout built a solid reputation within the space and was highly recommended by our CEO. After several meetings and identifying our needs, they were able to jump in immediately and show how they could achieve real-time results. Speed and expertise were the two determining factors in our decision to work with Content Callout.

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

After several initial meetings, Content Callout was able to identify several content gaps and build a strategy to achieve short-term and long-term goals. The initial stage included building awareness through pillar content. The second stage was generating consideration and lead-gen through drip campaigns across multiple touchpoints.

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

I worked with a lead account manager and partnered with their team of creatives to solve our marketing needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to acheive 180-degree results! Our social media metrics went up by as much as 300% and our results made it to our Board of Directors with honorable mentions. We also were able to achieve many of these results during COVID.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We met weekly for an hour to go through the week's activities and campaign projects. The communication was seamless and their team never dropped the ball. In fact, they were put in many "last-minute" situations and delivered each time.

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

Their unique approach to solving everyday marketing problems was a huge win for our team and made it so easy to work with them. They cared about the relationship and our company's growth. They took pride and extra care in their approach to every project.

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

Content Callout did a great job with the amount of work we gave them and it has been a great relationship. Ideally, as they take on more clients their team will grow and add more expertise to their wheelhouse.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Head of Growth at Bid ops

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Content Callout?

Content Callout provides content for our blog, social, as well as ad-hoc.

SOLUTION

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

They were selected before I joined the company

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

It's exactly as it sounds though the customer service and quality are exceptional. The staff produce very high quality work and offer to fill in gaps beyond writing as needed (ie a quick graphic to fit the work isn't asking too much.)

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

one PM and two contributors

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A blog post per week Frequent social Ad-hoc article content (magazine, contributed media)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Highly effective workflow. Excellent group of people at Content Callout who care and produce high quality work with good turnaround time.

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

They simply produce great work and I don't have to chase them down for it

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

I wouldn't ask for anything different