Fractl

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior global SEO manager for McAfee. I’ve been doing SEO for 20 years and was formerly an SEO manager at Walmart. Also, I’ve done SEO at Apple and many other Silicon Valley tech startup companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We had gaps with our competitors — they ranked with content we didn’t have. We needed help with content expansion, particularly SEO-optimized content that will rank well and get good quality backlink opportunities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our partnership with Fractl was focused on content creation. Our main relationship was on an identity theft article as a link-building exercise. Fractl developed over 40 articles around identity protection. They were fully optimized and had excellent quality content, research, and background to look for keyword opportunities with high search volume and content caps on our website.

What is the team composition?

We had 3–4 people working with us, including an account manager, a creative person, a content manager, and copywriters. Sometimes they had several people involved in the meetings, depending on which part of the relationship we were at, whether it was an ideation session, delivering articles, or reviewing the following content. Nick (President) joined the calls often, but they were mainly run by Meg (Director of Client Services), Andrea (Director of Content), and Nick.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

Someone in my previous company referred them to me. I tried them out and had a wonderful experience. When I joined McAfee and was tasked with finding a good SEO content organization to grow our backlink profile and increase our global content footprint to generate the most traffic we could, Fractl was my first choice. I like to choose vendors that have proven to work well with my team and deliver results.

How much have you invested in them?

The total cost for the agreement was $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2021. We signed a six-month contract, and the project was just completed in July 2022. At McAfee, we have to create an ROI statement to renew vendors, and we’re trying to negotiate another deal. I’ll go back to upper management to continue content generation with them. We look forward to continuing our relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Despite the short period of six months working together, we’re already seeing an increase in organic traffic. Some articles have gone viral and gotten hundreds of backlinks from major publications. It’s working out perfectly and is exactly what we expected — we knew they had the best quality content and link acquisition in the business.

McAfee reviews all the content, and we’ve seen over a 15,000 click improvement in traffic over a month from the content we’ve generated. In general, we have excellent feedback about them — hundreds of backlinks are already generated from published articles. 

Moreover, they developed an identity theft strategy of a network of content. McAfee is known as an antivirus company, and now we’re just breaking into the identity theft protection space. The identity theft protection that they generated has proven to raise our product page for identity theft protection with many pages of ranking improvement. It fluctuates, but they did an exceptional job on the SEO research of each article. It was so well thought out that I rarely had to give any recommendations other than choosing the topics they’d work on. I was super impressed; they produced stellar work.

Overall, the partnership was very successful, and everyone on our team agreed. Anyone at McAfee would say that our relationship with Fractl was one of the best we’ve had. Everything is showing proof of increased traffic. We see the backlinks and publications popping up with links to our site, as well as the traffic coming in. We highly recommend them; we only have great things to say about them.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was always flawless. We had weekly meetings to go over the status and updates on what articles were in production and what was coming up. They always attended the meetings on time and had great ideation sessions. Also, they were diligent and prepared. Fractl had an incredible organization and excellent reporting.

They were a well-oiled machine; Fractl knew how to do it right the first time.

We had a Slack channel and used email and Google Docs. We had many shared documents on all the different content organized by status and links, which were well put together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a wonderful team to work with. Fractl was one of those vendors we didn’t have to worry about. We’ve had several problems with other vendors, but Fractl was our favorite one by far. We had zero issues with them, and they always exceeded expectations. We have the best things to say about them because their work was of the highest quality. Whenever we used other resources to do copywriting, even some of our internal consultants, it just wasn’t the same.

One of their key strengths was that they were always ahead of us with the production, emails, updates, and reviews. We were impressed with their delivery speed and quality. We didn’t go back and forth with many edits, problems, or mistakes. They put a lot of effort into it, which showed in our smooth relationship. With other vendors, we have to go back and forth 50 times to fix everything, but that wasn’t the case here. Working with Fractl was a pleasure.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I honestly can’t think of anything that would’ve improved the relationship. We were impressed that they delivered 40 articles in six months. Every single one was high quality; we were pleased with our relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can implement the content yourself if you have a WordPress blog or a specific type of platform. I wish my company would’ve let them do their own implementation because publishing it ourselves slowed us down. They offered to do it for us, but McAfee didn’t feel comfortable giving that access. In my previous company, they allowed it, and Fractl did a fantastic job. It made things go even faster.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and director of a digital marketing company. We have a featured product that functions as an online job resource for candidates with job interviews coming up. It helps users prepare for questions and provides strategies for interviews. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We wanted to do some outreach and have our materials viewed by heavy-hitters in the industry. Their team was responsible for providing a full-service outreach plan.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us create content that would interest other large websites, creating web campaigns in the form of surveys. Using the data from the surveys, they created thorough data-driven blog posts to engage larger publications with our company. 

From there, they would use their contacts at various online publications to promote their pieces. They pitched the concepts within the blog posts to writers in hopes they would find the data interesting and decide to use the data as a basis for their own articles. When they were successful in doing this, we’d receive links back to our own material. That would better our SEO performance and help us gain exposure to new markets.

What is the team composition?

We had touchpoints with several people on the creative end, but our main point of contact was our account manager. I engaged with 3–4 people in total.  

How did you come to work with Fractl?

We did online research and discovered their services. After reaching out and liking their services, we decided to onboard them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $80,000 on their work.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May 2019–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re quite happy with the results. In this industry, it can take a while to see the positive results of work. Even early into the project, we experienced increases in traffic. Now, our expertise is better regarded in our industry than it was before we ran campaigns with them. We feel that’s a result of the work they’ve done for us.  

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of their biggest strengths. Everything was mapped out, clear, and delivered on time. We always knew what they needed from us in terms of materials, and they were always available to us when we had questions.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their organization of the project was strong and made our engagement very transparent. They were extremely professional and communicated well. While they were the experts, they weren’t rigid in their ideas. Instead, they allowed us to get involved with the ideation process, taking time to listen to our opinions and ideas on our industry.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been great to see some more success from some of the campaigns. However, they met our expectations with the success we had. They’re a great company, and we’re looking into doing some more work with them in the future.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open-minded and willing to place some trust in their team. They’re well-prepared and qualified to execute these campaigns well. We were willing to try their ideas and were successful with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a financial education company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We hired Fractl to help us produce high-quality content with an eye towards building a good reputation with search engines — basically Google.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fractl came up with a framework for the types of content that we should develop. They ideated on topics and then hired writers and editors to produce the content. And then also, they published that content to our website.

In addition to those responsibilities, they produce surveys on topics that are relevant to our company and audience. Once their team finalizes the surveys, they analyze the data and reach out to editors. The goal is to get them to use our and link back to our site. Their efforts focus on SEO initiatives.

Their team also advised us on how to structure our website. They provided guidance on how to structure and organize our content to provide a good UX.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with probably 6–7 people but mostly communicate with our account lead and a PR specialist.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

We found them through word of mouth. A friend of mine has a company that engaged Fractl and recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $275,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around August 2019, and their work’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the site in January, so our traffic is still low. But we receive hundreds of visitors a day, which is attributable to Fractl’s indexed content. All of our traffic’s organic. Our month over month growth is around 40%, so we're growing nicely. We’ve also had our survey data mentioned in 25–30 articles published by reputable news outlets.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

We set up Slack channels to communicate with Fractl. We meet with them once a week. We use Google Sheets to keep track of the project. Those tools work well for us. 

They’re responsive to questions and follow-ups. Their team keeps our status report up to date. At any time, I can go to that report and see the status of various parts of the project. I have visibility into their work as well as confidence that they’ll respond to my questions and concerns.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed by how quickly their team built domain expertise. Our business is related to education finances, which is a technically nuanced industry. It’s difficult to fake your way through content on that topic and it’s important to us that our content’s solid, accurate, and up to date. Other writers and editors didn’t come up to speed as fast as the Fractl team. When they submit content, I’m confident that it will be of a high caliber and demonstrate a deep understanding of our industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their services are expensive but worth it. They’re fairly fast, but as a client, I wish we could go faster.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise potential clients to review a sample of their work. They could also agree to a short initial engagement to evaluate their outputs. Based on that experience, both parties will have a better understanding of how to structure a longer-term engagement. We didn’t do that, and it worked out well. But it would’ve been great to know from the get-go that their team had the ability to write authoritatively about our industry.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a senior marketing manager for a B2B service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We were looking to gain more visibility online for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fractl helped us conduct surveys and research as well as create and promote content. First, they strategized the type of content that would be successful and aligned with our strategies. Their team then strategized around how they would research, build, and promote that content. The Fractl team created infographics, visuals, and copy. Then, they published that content to our blog and promoted it.

What is the team composition?

I specifically worked with one point of contact. During the kickoff phase, more individuals joined our calls. After that, it turned into biweekly calls between the account lead and me.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

A colleague had experience with them and heard good things about their work. We then set up the exploration phase.

What is the status of this engagement?

This was a six-month engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We noticed a notable volume of mentions to our business that was attributed to their content. The volume was slightly lower than what we hoped to capture. However, when they picked up a promotion, it was often sizable. These mentions came from reputable publishers.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

Once Fractl understood our services, their project management was great. Their team created weekly reports that we received on Monday mornings. I enjoyed speaking and strategizing with their project lead. They often delivered on deadline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fractl’s able to get high-quality mentions of our business and content on reputable sites. It was almost a guarantee that they would be able to get those mentions, which was nice.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any ways they should improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ensure that their Fractl’s services align with what you want to accomplish for your business.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a startup that focuses on rapidly scaling businesses from concept to international consumption. My role is head of organic growth, which is focused on direct traffic visitors and their site experience across the business portfolio. My role is head of organic growth, which is focused on direct traffic visitors and their site experience across the business portfolio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

They support content marketing. Fractl is at the juncture between data analytics and resources with strong writing and design that can be customized to fit into any of our portfolio companies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use them across two of our companies right now and are able to see the consistency with the same strengths. It’s really inspiring. They provide a full stable of writing, design, and editing talent as well as economic research.

What is the team composition?

I have two points of contact, and they bring in a few other individuals on the team if needed.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

I was researching content marketing companies and examined what people assessed them on and what they offered. We were aligned on their core competencies and what my focus has been. We want to support the main funnel. The way they set up their firm was aligned with how I view website growth.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000 over the course of the project.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019 and it’s ongoing. We just renewed our contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It has been fantastic. We’ve earned external placements and have been featured on news sites. Their long-form articles have been referenced as expert reports by FOX, MSNBC, The Atlantic, and POLITICO. With that, there has been steady uphill growth for organic content marketing channels.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

I would give them a 10 out of 10. I see them as a true partner. I work with many different vendors, and they’re the only team I consider partners. From their communication, availability, and willingness to see the business do better, they’re deeply entrenched with the performance of our business. They don’t just complete the deliverables; they see our success as their success and want us to do well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They click with communication. They understand that I might not be able to respond to them that day, but I will get there when I can. Whenever we need to have a conversation, they’re readily available. They keep working towards the direction they want to go in. Their energy level has been outstanding and I look forward to the conversations we have every week.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re fantastic.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their decision making and be open to various discussions. They’re open to change, so if they come to ideation sessions and pitch three new ideas, you should consider their ideas. Their ideation sessions are more of a back and forth brainstorm.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief growth officer at BuzzStream. We’re a product for link-building and PR professionals who want to target contacts for the purpose of getting coverage or links for their clients or their websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

Although we have an internal content team, we don't really have a PR engine that can earn bigger placements and links from publications that are highly influential in our industry. So we specifically wanted to build out our content program

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to target significant publications online, which is their area of specialty. They repurposed content to expand coverage to other blogs and publications. The content they produced was primarily for reaching out to online publication hubs.

What is the team composition?

I’m working directly with two team members, and three that I work with indirectly.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

We’ve had a relationship with them for quite some time. They’re a customer of ours. They produce quality work as well. They’re on a number of authoritative publications because they do data analysis in our space as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $7,500 per month since January (approximately$37,500 total).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2020 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve earned coverage from about 12 major publications. We’ve seen a boost in traffic, in the range of about an additional 3,000 visitors. Their work is very in-depth. The amount of data they pull together is amazing. All of the data they produce is original, and that’s very valuable. That gives us an edge when we reach out to publications.  

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. It’s very clear throughout the process. We’re able to be involved as little or as much as we’d like. There are some projects that directly overlaps with what we’re trying to do, and others are more tangential, and that oversight is an impedance.

In terms of communication, always know what’s going on, which makes it easy to manage. They never miss deadlines and logistics are good. Overall, it’s very solid.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their data is so in-depth and original. It’s impressive. It really makes us stand out in the market. It’s a lot of work to come up with these surveys and reports, but it’s very valuable. There’s a lot of noise, and so we always need that advantage.

The other thing that is really impressive is their network and outreach. They do an exceptional job of, not only targeting publications, but building relationships with them in order to increase the likelihood of getting a placement on that publication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for improvement, but overall, I don’t think they could have done a better job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very focused on achieving the goals that you set for them. They can and will perform along a wide spectrum of KPIs. The clearer you can be on what you actually want, the better the outcome will be. They’ll be able to align everything to your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We operate an affiliate business for streaming services. We have a website with a lot of content on streaming. When users come to our site and purchase a streaming service, we receive commission. Essentially, we’re a lead generation business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We had to generate more backlinks to our website for SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They specialize in what they call digital PR. So, they’re creating really interesting content asset, pitching that to the media, and getting links from that. They would come up with ideas, run it by us, collected data, visualized it, and then would write and pitch it. They do it from beginning to end.

What is the team composition?

I have a single point of contact.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

We were in an SEO Slack group, and I asked a question. One of their co-founders answered, and they really stood out. So, I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought them onboard in October 2019 and we continue to work together today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve definitely seen an increase in backlinks. The impact that has had on our website is a little difficult to measure because SEO is a long-term investment. We’re happy with the number of links they’ve generated.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

They check in once a week. We usually receive an email, but we can hop on a call at any time. They’re usually very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to do every part of the process. From ideation, data collection, and outreach, they’ve been able to handle it all.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be diligent in keeping up to date on what they’re doing. Because they can do everything, it’s easy not to interact with them and let them do their own things. The project can benefit from your industry insights. That can really help them to a great job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SEO manager for an online media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

We needed a partner to help us with market research. In my role as SEO manager, we often look to make improvements to our sites, but we also need to promote the sites externally, whether it’s through publications or link building, etc.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fractl performs market research and helps us come up with original content ideas. They write content for articles on certain topics and distribute them to publications and lists that we have connections with for coverage.

Our main engagement has been around marketing campaigns for some other brands and websites that we promote. We have ideation sessions on business- and home-related topics, working with Fractl to come up with newsworthy ideas. Then, they produce the content. We run 1,000 people per campaign. They use data to come up with our primary market and create surveys based on the discussions that we have with them. Then, we publish our findings and get new coverage easily from high-authority news sources for publications, blogs, etc. They’re delivering stuff all the time. It’s very much an ongoing relationship.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Ryan (VP of Services, Fractl). I’m also in contact with a project manager who receives tasks.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

They were a referral. Our company actually acquired some other properties we worked on, and the working relationship with Fractl came from the previous owner of one of those businesses.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spends $300,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in late 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have spoken for themselves. Fractl’s work has been really key to our coverage strategy. They provide high-authority, respectable publications. Teaming up with Fractl and creating these original pieces has been really effective in earning us coverage and performance in search. Things are usually delivered in a very convenient format for us to work with, and we go from there.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

Fractl is really responsive. There’s clear communication. They’re good at delivering on time and managing expectations when things don’t go as planned. Everything is delivered as described the majority of the time. When things haven’t been delivered exactly on time, there have always been explanations. I don’t hold that against them. We have weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have been really effective at delivering, communicating, and managing expectations. They have good relationships established. They have a good network, whether it be with reporters or press or however they work their magic to really get our story in front of people’s eyes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I have no trouble recommending their services to somebody looking for quality research and distribution to publications.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ADT has been the leading provider of security and automation services for more than 140 years. As the senior SEO manager, I oversee the company’s digital search marketing efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fractl?

While the ADT brand is a household name, our Protection 1 service isn't as well known. We wanted to build awareness around the lesser-known service and establish the brand as a leading expert in home security.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fractl is helping us amplify our voice within the local markets. Their team develops a unique mix of marketing initiatives using data science projects and customer surveys. A great bulk of their work involves content marketing for SEO. In addition to advertising our services, they promote our company’s culture and core values through strategic content. We work together to research our target consumers, compile web experiences, and drive traffic. When reaching out to media outlets, they provide publications with creative assets. They were also commissioned to work on a few projects for our ADT account. Recently, they developed a UX-optimized crime heatmapping web tool.

What is the team composition?

Fractl’s account strategist serves as our main point of contact, but we also interacted with their co-founder and senior vice president of creative. Their development, outreach, and SEO teams fluctuate depending on the size of the task.

How did you come to work with Fractl?

One of their co-founders reached out to me via LinkedIn, and I agreed to meet up with them. During the meeting, they explained how their company works and what sets their services apart from their competitors. Their pitch resonated with me, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

Our annual spend is a little more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fractl in December 2015, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Protection 1 was originally one of the largest unknown security companies in the market, but Fractl has positioned our brand as a prominent thought leader in the security industry. Several reputable websites are mentioning our name and embedding our links in their content, as a result of Fractl’s link building strategies; their SEO tactics have generated similar success. We have also received a generous amount of media coverage for our brand and innovative products. Since we began working with Fractl, we've achieved record highs in key areas of our SEO program. Whether developing content or web tools, their deliverables are always high-quality. Fractl’s scope has evolved, but their success is consistent.

How did Fractl perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with them is similar to working with an internal stakeholder because they are genuinely invested in our business goals. Although nothing is guaranteed in the marketing world, Fractl has the perfect level of commitment to ensure that the outcome is as successful as possible. Their team is highly responsive to our needs and always available to speak with us in-person or via phone, email, and text. We also appreciate their flexibility with scheduling.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team came to us with exceptional ideas and a vast network of media contacts, which we were able to leverage and achieve outstanding results for our brand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have not disappointed us yet.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of their services, we recommend giving Fractl as much creative freedom as possible. Restrictions will only yield limited results.