Winbox

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for Solverboard, which is an innovation management platform. We’re a tech startup and we’ve been around for about five years. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Content?

We wanted to make the brand known to a completely new market segment in lieu of our product’s launch, which would be after 6–12 months of development. At the time, our marketing only involved a landing page and a site that was empty save for an outdated blog.

I knew from previous experience that content would be really important not just for SEO purposes, but also for reinforcing our brand and reputation as a leader in the innovation management space, so I didn’t want to just hire any generic marketing agency. I wanted a strategic, SEO savvy partner who could advise us on what blog posts and marketing content to create. 

It was also important that the agency could support us through the process of rebuilding our website and its pages from scratch, since we needed to be in a position to engage with new leads. For these purposes, we brought in Future Content.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Future Content was keen to challenge us at the outset about what our outcomes, success criteria, goals, targets, and metrics were. The first part involved a familiarization with our marketing approach and the team delivering a clear roadmap. In this case, they suggested we go with an account-based marketing approach (ABM) and guided us on how to carry that out.

We have rebuilt and redesigned our website internally, with Future Content advising us on what pages we might need to create. Their team produced the wireframes and raw copies.

In terms of the deliverables, Future Content has strategized and created content for us. They’ve designed, written, and built a social media campaign around white paper reports, but they’ve mostly done content marketing, SEO, and web copywriting. The team usually produces one piece of hero content around an Innovation Blockers Report along with subsequent blog posts that promote and reinforce its message.

Future Content has also written copy for the sign-up journey or onboarding and for our social outreach, which we do via email and LinkedIn to generate leads and nurture prospects. They’ve also contributed to other content that was outside of the initial remit.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we were directly speaking with Tom (Founder) and Marc (Managing Director). We’ve worked with more and more members of the team since then. At any one point, we probably have 3–4 points of contact.

Marc has been involved throughout the project from day one, with three other people assisting him with account management. They have a support team, with 5–6 people involved in the copywriting depending on the amount of work required.

How did you come to work with Future Content?

I met Tom at a local, face-to-face marketing event for a HubSpot user group. He came with some recommendations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking and had a kickoff meeting in June 2019, and the project officially started the following month. I’m still working with Future Content on a retainer basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Future content has produced well-written and carefully considered content, taking the time to write them to the best possible quality. There is a case study on their website, where we revealed their work had generated a 100% increase in traffic to our site and a 109% increase in leads per month, over a 6-month period.

How did Future Content perform from a project management standpoint?

Future Content’s project management is really good. Tom and Marc have certainly been very hands-on in terms of account management, and we never felt like we were being passed onto another team that we’ve never met. 

We have momentum and check-in calls with them every week. Every quarter, we deep-dive into what has or hasn’t been working, and what we’re going to do for the following quarter.

We have a Slack channel through which we communicate on a regular basis. Their team uses a Trello board to show us how they manage their work, processes, tasks, and timetables and we can give feedback and send messages within that software. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been really impressed by their strategic approach, delivery, and execution over the last two years. Other content marketing agencies could churn out content to a high standard, but Future Content looks at the bigger picture and creates strategically-driven content that continues to impress me. They have a senior management approach to the project and think about our company as though they were the CMO and not just the content manager.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything to criticize them on. We haven’t launched yet, so we haven’t really pushed Future Content to the limits.