SPROUT Content

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a small management consulting firm focused on marketing. We help large companies build out their marketing capabilities. We do marketing excellence programs, training programs, and a lot of value proposition work.

What is your position?

I have been the content marketing manager for the last year and a half [since 2015].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SPROUT Content?

We had just undergone a refreshing of our brand with a new logo and website design. We needed to establish our identity online, build its presence, develop a presence on social media and generate content regularly. We tried it on our own a little bit, and we were not meeting our goals, so we decided we needed to find an agency.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They optimized our website, generated weekly blogs, wrote e-books, and created content for our Twitter and LinkedIn. They did buyer personas to help us identify our target audience. They also did buyer personas for us, which they had never done before. We provided subject matter experts, and they did the writing.

How did you come to work with SPROUT Content?

I heard about them through my husband's company. I decided to reach out to them and five other firms. We got to the proposal phase with three firms. My VP of sales and marketing and I sat in on those proposals, and Sprout was head and shoulders above the other two. They made a very convincing case of why they could take us to the next level. My VP of sales and marketing was impressed instantly with how much research they had done in evaluating our website, performance, and competitors and the case they made of how they could help us.

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

We spend $3,200 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for one and a half years – since January 2015. We are currently working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our conversions have gone from five a year to where we get 30 to 40 a month now. Sprout Content did a great job at setting up calls to action and optimizing the pages. We now have a very popular blog that is always ranking highly.

How did SPROUT Content perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very good and always deliver on time. They plan ahead, which is very helpful so we don't get behind on our publishing schedule.

What distinguishes SPROUT Content from other providers?

They have provided personable service and are very accessible. They truly care about our business succeeding. They have a curiosity to learn about what their client's business and understand our niche in our marketplace.

Is there anything SPROUT Content could have improved or done differently?

I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We’re a 35-year-old family owned lawn care business called Lawn Master. We do residential and commercial lawn care work, primarily consisting of fertilization and weed and insect control. We also do maintenance and outdoor Christmas lighting for residential, commercial, and municipalities.

What is your position?

I am the Vice President of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Sprout Content?

We were looking to improve our reach to customers via social media and our website. We needed an agency’s help with social media marketing and some other general content marketing.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They help us with social media marketing but they started out by revamping our website. Sprout Content spent a lot of time learning about our business and industry before they developed any plan for how they were going to approach things. Since we’ve been using them for the last three years, they’re handling everything from email blasts, content, posting three blogs a month, and testimonials to the website.

How did you come to work with Sprout Content?

I know Debbie personally. We had been struggling for a few years and she approached us with her company’s services. I decided it would be a good idea to try something different and go with Sprout Content.

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

We’re running about $1,200 a month, not counting the website hosting from HubSpot which is about $300 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been with them for three years and are still currently with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We’re getting good positive feedback from our website and content. We continue to see a monthly increase in all of our metrics. Facebook and our website’s content were the biggest focus areas for Sprout Content. They focused on strengthening our keywords. The winter months are typically slower, but even so, November of 2014 compared to 2015 saw an increase.

How did Sprout Content perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a phone conversation once a month to go over the last month’s numbers and our yearly goals. This includes visitors to the site, Facebook likes, and keyword phrases. In those meetings, we also look into what’s coming up in the next 30 days. We pick our blog posts, come up with an idea for what we want and look to gather more testimonials each month. By the end of the month, I’ve got the blogs for the upcoming month ready for me to review and make changes to. Additionally, we have emails during the month on the progress we’ve made that month. We have leads and a revenue number that we want to try to hit based on the money we’re spending and what we’re doing with it.

Throughout the whole process, Sprout Content has been very timely in getting me information. They are thorough and responsive, so I’d say their project management is great.

What distinguishes Sprout Content from other providers?

They’re very receptive and flexible to make changes when necessary. Along with that flexibility, they have been very creative.

Is there anything Sprout Content could have improved or done differently?

Everything to date has gone well. Their content is spot on as it relates to the timing of issues within our industry and our market.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is a national mechanical services provider. We provide maintenance services, repair, and retrofit project services on HVAC systems in commercial and industrial buildings across the United States.

What is your position?

I’m the Director of Corporate Development. We’re constantly acquiring new companies and subsidiaries. I work with our M&A [mergers and acquisitions] team to evaluate those companies, bring them into the company, close the transactions, and do post-acquisition integration management. Beyond that, I work on some strategic projects such as the websites for our companies, marketing materials, sales training, and strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Sprout Content?

The business challenge that we had was that all of our subsidiary companies’ websites were old and stale. The sites were not built very well for SEO purposes. Beyond that, they weren’t mobile-optimized. We went through a project with Sprout to work on SEO and to rewrite the content so that it was appropriate for search engines.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They put together some case studies and some separate marketing pieces. Those are featured on the website, but most of what they’ve done for us is to rewrite our website content. They’ve added in SEO features and started utilizing HubSpot. They’re doing regular blog posts and e-books for us that will help drive lead nurturing and lead generation campaigns.

How did you come to work with Sprout Content?

Our web design company had a preexisting relationship with Sprout, so when we were looking for content writers and providers, they recommended that we reach out to Sprout. We had a couple of interviews and some meetings just to discuss the project, and decided that they would be a good fit.

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

For each of our subsidiaries, it’s somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 for the ongoing SEO and blogging project. Our total spend with Sprout on an annual basis this year will probably be closer to about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Since Sprout Content did the initial SEO rewrite of the websites a couple of years ago, our organic lead generation from the websites is somewhere around three times as many as we were getting prior to that. Across our whole company, we probably bring in three leads a day on average. Before that, we were getting maybe a few a week.

How did Sprout Content perform from a project management standpoint?

They have done a very good job. They’re staying on schedule and continue to work towards the goals that we have. 

What distinguishes Sprout Content from other providers?

Nothing really comes to mind.

Is there anything Sprout Content could have improved or done differently?

It would be nice to have a regular every other week call just to summarize everything that’s happened and what needs to come up in the future. We’ve got a couple of project managers that are working with our subsidiaries, but it’d be nice to have some more recap of how things are going at the executive and corporate level.