Winston Digital Marketing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Website Manager of Symphony

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Messaging, voice, directory and analytics software for the financial services industry

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Winston Digital Marketing to accomplish?

• SEO Setup
• Reporting and Tracking Setup
• Increase SEO Ranking

SOLUTION

How did you find Winston Digital Marketing?

Online Search

Why did you select Winston Digital Marketing over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Winston Digital Marketing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Winston Digital was brought in to help us track our website visits. At the time Google Analytics version 3 was scheduled to be decommissioned. We attempted to set this up independently but faced many challenges. Winston Digital was able to set up tracking for multiple website properties
The progression of the interaction lead to review and optimizaiton of our websites. This included, but not limited to:

• Reviewing our content and setup
• Meta research and suggestions

While under contract, Winston Digital assisted with reviewing and reporting the websites of companies that Symphony acquired. Through reports and comparative analysis, Winston Digital helped us develop a game plan for content, redirection, and strategy.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

With Winston Digital's help and services, we were able to:

• Set up Google Analytics 4 tracking
• Set up custom dynamic reports using LookerStudio
• Optimize key pages for SEO
• Expand our list of competitors
• Identify gaps in our search strategies
• Improve search overall

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Jeremy was a pleasure to work with.  He was our day-to-day contact, very responsive and understanding to our schedule.
Aaron's presentation skills resonated throughtout the Marketing team and was very relatable
Michael was very helpful and patient when understanding our business model. He understood the reason for our tracking needs and successfully set them up.

John was very knowledgeable and professional and provided access to key individuals (above) who aided in the success of this project.

What was your primary form of communication with Winston Digital Marketing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Winston Digital always adjusted to our needs and to our timeline. As expected, priorities changed throughout the project, and they were able to not only adjust but also contribute more valuable contributions to the new direction.  

Are there any areas for improvement or something Winston Digital Marketing could have done differently?

I would recommend Winston Digital continue to work in this model, as it made the process and interactions a pleasure. One critique would be to be more assertive in the subject matter and provide more proactive suggestions.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Designer of Let's Design Your Site

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are we website design company in the Boston area. We design 100-200 websites a year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Winston Digital Marketing to accomplish?

• Keeping SEO Strength while Migrating to a New Platform & Redesigning Website

SOLUTION

How did you find Winston Digital Marketing?

Referral

Why did you select Winston Digital Marketing over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Winston Digital Marketing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Help with all SEO tasks when migrating and redesigning and end client's website. The client has been a business for over 20 years and has great traction with Google. Our website design company was tasked to migrate and redesign their website on the Wix platform, as well as change their URL and have all past URLs forward to the new website. 
We hired Winston Digital Marketing to help guarantee that all SEO strength stays with the URLs of  the client.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The client was very pleased with the migration & redesign, including conserving their SEO strength with their new domain. All pages were transferred without loss to their rankings on Google. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

John and his team delivered their SEO consulting, spreadsheet work, and other tasks on-time and on-budget. They were very responsive, highly competent, and easy to work with.

What was your primary form of communication with Winston Digital Marketing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The company's value-first culture showed through very well. They were willing to take their time with me whenever we spoke so that I felt confident and comfortable with what their team was doing. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Winston Digital Marketing could have done differently?

I cannot think of any improvements. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office administrator for a law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Winston Digital Marketing?

We needed assistance with our SEO strategies and updating our website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Winston Digital Marketing provides us with SEO services. We project a series of tasks related to keyword research and blog content creation each month. Winston Digital Marketing creates two monthly blog posts based on their keyword research. 

Moreover, Winston Digital Marketing has updated our WordPress website. Our site’s objective is for people in our area to find us for legal representation. We focus on personal and criminal injury law, and our blog’s content aims to attract clients too. Winston Digital Marketing also offers us web hosting and maintenance services. 

What is the team composition?

We work with John (CEO & Owner) and Jeremy (Sr. SEO Strategist).

How did you come to work with Winston Digital Marketing?

We have a long-time relationship working with John, and when he started Winston Digital Marketing, we stayed with him. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invest $1,500 monthly with Winston Digital Marketing — around $16,000 for our entire partnership. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started Winston Digital Marketing in February 2014, and our engagement is ongoing. Our work relationship with John is longer than that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The content Winston Digital Marketing creates is amazing. Our site traffic has gained a lot of momentum, and we generally receive more phone calls coming from the site. We haven’t had any issues with our website, and Winston Digital Marketing has met our expectations. 

How did Winston Digital Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

We have monthly phone calls where Winston Digital Marketing provides results reports. We go over the previous month’s performance, including the number of click-throughs, phone calls, and overall web traffic. We also communicate through email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Winston Digital Marketing’s customer service it’s amazing. If we email them with thoughts and ideas, they immediately run with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for Winston Digital Marketing to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you stay in close contact with Winston Digital Marketing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of New York Harbor Tours, a boat tour company that offers boutique and private tours of New York Harbor and beyond. We also have a specialized marine consulting service for film and media productions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Winston Digital Marketing?

We were looking to expand our tours business, which was lagging far behind the marine services and consulting part of the business. We did a lot of traditional outreach with mixed success but were having trouble breaking through the very crowded field competing for clicks in the New York boat tour sector.

What were your goals for this project?

Simply to increase online visits and sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Referral from another non-competing business who recommended them unequivocally.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

SEO services; managing Google ad campaigns; managing website to increase visibility.

What was the team composition?

Worked largely with owner but also other members of his team for specific projects, i.e. Google Ad campaigns.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Web traffic for tours business is up more than 100 percent in the two years we began the project; online sales have doubled in that time and continue to grow.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Easy—John and his team are easy to get a hold of. We communicate mostly by email but it is easy to schedule a call as needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The proactive aspect of their approach. They are always reaching out with new ideas a ways of improving traffic and sales conversions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None, I cannot say enough good things about their approach and work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The name of my business is Inside Music Schools. We work with high school musicians and their families to help them identify colleges with music programs that are best suited for them. So if they’re trying to decide between Berklee School of Music, Juilliard, or any other music school, we help them determine the right fit and how to apply.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Winston Digital Marketing?

When I started my business, I created a website, but soon found out that it’s not easy to attract eyeballs to a website. I learned a little about SEO, blogging, and marketing, but still wasn’t able to attract visitors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily helped with SEO. They created a clear-cut, six-month plan to begin with so we knew what to expect each month. Month one would be keyword research, two would be technical audit, and so on and so forth. Then we reevaluated at the sixth month.

They created content and edited the website to optimize for SEO. They gave a weekly report on how many eyeballs have been on the site and would make recommendations periodically. The report would tell us how we’re doing month over month and year over year.

What is the team composition?

We began working with John (CEO), but then he brought on Kristen. She became the front line and really is the person we work with on a day-to-day basis, while John started looking at the business from a 40,000-foot level.

How did you come to work with Winston Digital Marketing?

My son and I started looking online, and the thoroughness of the outline they provided us really sold me. We just clicked and we went with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have two primary competitors, and for a while we were showing up just below one of them. After a year of working with Winston Digital Marketing, we leap-frogged past them and we come up as the number one search result for keywords like music admissions, music school counselors, and things like that.

As a result, I’ve had more people reach out to me this month than ever before. And I’ve been in business for nine years! On top of that, I made more money last year than in any previous year. It’s great to know that we’re attracting more eyeballs.

How did Winston Digital Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

John is always available and very responsive. I speak to Kristen multiple times a week. She always picks up the phone and gives me time to get my stuff one. There’s a lot of give and take between all of us, too. Kristen created a really useful Microsoft Spreadsheet that helps us track who is working on what. She also follows up with me when I need it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very astute to what I need and are very patient. I’m not very technologically adept, so I don’t always understand the terms they’re using, and I don’t understand why we need Google MyBusiness, or Facebooks Reviews, but they explain it thoroughly.

They also know that I’m a bit of a procrastinator, so they’ll send me gentle reminders before something is due.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Others may disagree, but for me personally, I sometimes become overwhelmed by the amount of feedback they provide. I suppose it’s useful, but I don’t know what it all means. I just want the key takeaways.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Saraval Industries. We buy and sell trading desks on Wall Street.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Winston Digital Marketing?

We were looking to advertise our business more effectively. Most of our clients came through word-of-mouth referrals, and we had no digital presence, as our website was very low end.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we began our engagement with Winston Digital, they came prepared, having already conducted research on our website. They immediately offered us a plan to improve our search rankings.

The team also completely revamped our website. We collaborated to create relevant content, and they consulted us on best practices for creating content that would rank highly on Google. They also manage our PPC ads. 

Now, our engagement is on a continuous ongoing basis, and the team sends monthly analytic reports.

What is the team composition?

I have two main points of contact with Winston Digital. 

How did you come to work with Winston Digital Marketing?

We interviewed with at least 10 different companies, but Winston Digital was the only one that could effectively in communicating how they would go about generating more business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000 – $50,000 with Winston Digital.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with the team in January 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t understand the concepts behind SEO until we began working with Winston Digital. Before the engagement, our website didn’t house any information, and we never had customers or potential customers reach out to us through the site. Now, there are times where we see between 3-10 requests through the platform, with a closing rate of at least 50%. Winston Digital has secured us really good, quality leads.

Their work with PPC has been extremely effective and allows us to get more for our money. 

We’re at the point with Winston Digital that I often don’t read their reports in-depth, because I can see the results of their work for myself.

How did Winston Digital Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Winston Digital is very flexible. We mainly keep in contact over email, as we’re often too busy to have regular phone calls. 

If something ever comes through that needs to be explained, the team will always take the time to speak with me until we’re aligned. They’re readily available whenever we need them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Winston Digital has earned our trust in a way no other provider has. They’ve done everything they’ve said they would, and they do it well. We have almost more business than we can handle because of the leads they acquire.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient in the beginning, because it can take some time to see results. Follow their advice, and you’ll achieve your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and CEO of Sea The City, which provides jet ski and hot tub boat tours.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Winston Digital Marketing?

There was a double challenge of ranking first in searches for certain keywords and increasing awareness about our services. Our business needed to be more visible in a wider range of keywords because people weren’t aware of our services. We wanted our services to be known.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been with them for a few years now, but our engagement started with keyword research. Their team looked into the searches of people who visit our city. They then beefed up our keyword strategy in those categories. With our assistance, their team wrote blog posts that are likely to catch peoples’ eyes and increase our domain authority to become a more trusted source. Their team handles our Google Ads campaigns too.

What is the team composition?

I initially worked with the head of Winston Digital Marketing almost exclusively. Over time, we started to work with other members of their team too.

How did you come to work with Winston Digital Marketing?

The agency that helped us with our public relations referred us to Winston Digital Marketing.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend at least $2,000 a month with Winston Digital Marketing but the cost fluctuates because of how some of their services are structured.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2016 and our engagement’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They refined our Google Ads campaigns such that we’re getting excellent returns on investments. Our ROAS (return on ad spend) is around 4.5%–6%, which is a lot. Our business has grown substantially throughout our engagement, which is partially attributed to Winston Digital Marketing. They’re certainly getting eyes on us to increase the number of calls that we receive. The number of customers that report having found us through general search terms skyrocketed over the past couple of years. Their team gets to people who wouldn’t have known about us any other way besides search.

How did Winston Digital Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Mostly, we communicate via email. Anytime I want to have a phone conversation, I get one right away. I get a series of weekly and monthly reports too. They’re always making adjustments to add technology and features. Their team’s proactive, so I rarely have to come to them to address a problem. Unlike many companies that provide technology-based services, their team doesn’t treat their strategies as a black box. They make time to explain their efforts and take deep dives into any topic. Ultimately, that works better for them because they get a better knowledge of what we need.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team always uses ‘we,’ so it’s completely a partnership. That’s a big difference from other providers. We had to pivot our marketing substantially given a disruption to tourism. Right away, they stepped up to help and manage the heavy lifting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I do not. They’re always moving the ball forward on their own and solving problems before I know that they exist.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Nothing is set it and forget it. If you put effort into the relationship, you’ll get a ton in return. That’s my general advice for working with any vendor.