Blue Fountain Media

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Transformation Officer for PacteraEDGE. My responsibilities include the constant evolution of our company's service offering and ways of working so that we can best meet the ever-changing data, intelligence and experience demands of the modern enterprise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blue Fountain Media?

PacteraEDGE has recently repositioned its go-to-market strategy around data, intelligence and experience solutions for the modern enterprise. We hired BFM to design and develop our new website to reflect the company's renewed energy and specialized service offerings.

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary goal was for our website to communicate our new positioning strategy, better describe our service offering, and serve as a business development tool for clients and our other audiences (such as the press and potential employees) to learn about our culture, and the depth and strength of our thinking and service offering.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected this vendor because of their strong track record of actually getting website projects completed - from strategy to design to development. They are strong in all areas.

Describe the project in detail.

BFM has a strong methodology to ensure the website strategy is sound and competitive. Their UX and Design capabilities are tight and very well aligned with what was agreed upon in strategy. Development on Acquia is also a strength of BFM. They are also flexible and accommodating to changes as the project moved along.

What was the team composition?

The skillsets at BFM are very complete - from account management, to strategy, copy, information architecture, design, technology architecture, development, and QA. Great to have all resources in one place.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Reaction to our new website was very positive with both internal and external audiences. Our brand is now positioned to compete with the strongest players in the industry.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Client attention and client management is a strong discipline for BFM. It is easy to reach them and they established a very professional communications protocol.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed with the ability to deliver very professional quality work with such speed. The content team is better than I've ever seen - and the ability to combine the various skillsets and mindsets to create a great outcome is fantastic. They are also very nice people. :)

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our company is 100% satisfied with the end product. Maybe we could've had a little bit more visibility into the development process and decisions made during the technology architecture phase. But either way, what came out on the other side more than exceeded expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO and IT director of an organization that provides consulting services in the compliance, investigations, and security design technology fields.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

Our website and logo were of poor quality. We wanted our site to explain our services and to function as an effective marketing tool.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Blue Fountain Media built a WordPress website with a modern feel. As an organization, our message is hard to display to average users. We contacted our executives and consultants to provide content. Their team implemented the provided content and designed it to highlight those team members because that’s what we sell. They presented them to make it easy for users to find a particular expert. Their team maintains and makes changes to the platform when needed.

They also rebranded our logo. Their team came up with 10 different designs to create a fresh image for us. From those 10, we chose one that we still use.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people to create the website.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

I knew one of their team members. We interviewed a couple of firms but after interviewing Blue Fountain Media, we decided that their team was the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000­–$200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initially engaged Blue Fountain Media around October of 2016 and the engagement’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Blue Fountain Media draws users to our website successfully. We also track the number of leads from our website.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We met in person in the beginning. We also had a lot of phone calls. The website was up and running within a reasonable timeframe. Once it was completed, we communicated via email. Their team outlined the project and hit their milestones, so they performed well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team has an eye for what’s current and relevant. They understand how to draw people into a website with their designs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their advice and take their recommendations. Have your internal discussions about their recommendations and then come back to them with your thoughts. Their team works to have a successful project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company manufactures dental implants, artificial hold materials, and collagen membranes. We have a presence in multiple countries.

What is your position?

I am the Strategy and Business Development Manager for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

Even though we’re fairly well established within the market at both a local and global level, we wanted to strengthen our image.

Blue Fountain Media is the third company we’ve worked with. The first ones had to abandon the project because they were unable to provide the services and outcomes we were looking for. Blue Fountain Media was a very professional company from day one. They got their team together, and we’ve collaborated ever since.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Blue Fountain Media helped us from the beginning to the end of the project, providing solutions for designing and promoting our website in order to produce the best reflection of our company. We could tell that, given their team and experience, they could be fully trusted.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

I found them through an Internet search. Blue Fountain Media had some of the best reviews for web development, and we thought that they could give us the results we were looking for. From our first meeting, they proved to be very professional, polite, and skilled.

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

So far, we’ve spent almost $200,000 for Blue Fountain Media’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website is due to launch tomorrow. We’ve talked with Blue Mountain Media about ongoing SEO and marketing, but also about developing the site further in order to transform it into a reference through which customers can get information and communication. We look forward to working with them in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from your work with Blue Fountain Media?

One of the main achievements that Blue Fountain Media provided in making the website a successful project was that they knew how to design a layout that would help customers find information immediately and conveniently. Fine details about color tone and font were taken into consideration. The feedback we’ve received from customers on our preliminary launch was overwhelmingly positive. This helped us strengthen our company image.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They always got back to me quickly. Any time I wanted to change something, it was done without complaint.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

Their team was always optimistic and never said no to us. As a matter of fact, whenever we made a request, they would often suggest something even better. Blue Fountain Media always has a backup option, and we’ve almost always taken that route.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

Our original account representative left the company. During the transition period, there was some miscommunication. Blue Fountain Media corrected the problem quickly.

Our company sells between 1,500 and 2,000 components. When we hire a new person, they need a three-month orientation period, so this could explain some of the miscommunication we’ve had with Blue Fountain Media. We do not blame them for this however, and I cannot think of any improvements they could make.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a real estate company located in New York City. We own and manage a number of rental properties in the city and the surrounding area.

What is your position?

I am the operations manager. I also take on special projects as they come around.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

We had never had a web presence—no company logo, no color scheme, nothing of the sort. The owners finally decided that it would be a good idea to tackle that. Because we were starting from scratch, we wanted to work with a company that could not only deliver a solid website, but also one that could design some branding material.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Working on the logo proved tricky for Blue Fountain Media, in the sense that we’d never had one. They were trying to put forward something that could work for us as a privately owned company.

We needed to choose a color scheme, layout, and approve each page for the website, making sure that each would work for us, taking information flow into consideration.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

We looked at a few companies, focusing on ones in New York. Even though the work could have been done remotely, we wanted to work with someone local, in case we’d want to meet with them. Having a feel for what New York City is all about was also important. We narrowed the search down to four companies, had some phone interviews, received proposals, and Blue Fountain Media seemed to best meet our requirements of being both local and having a feel for the city.

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

The total cost of their services has been approximately $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on branding and logo design in December of 2015. The website work was started in early February of 2016. The review process within my company was slower than I’d have hoped, but we’re looking to launch within the next couple of months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

The process was a little shaky in the beginning, but within a couple of weeks, they were able to give us a few logo variations from which to choose. The logos were not only beautiful, but they had real meaning as well. For example, in the logo, the founder’s initials are laid into a three-dimensional building pattern. It was a very nice item, but it was hard to make, given how personalized it was to our company. That, along with the initial color scheme, played out into the rest of the website design nicely. We’re not a corporation, so our decision makers have a unique mindset, but Blue Fountain Media came through for us.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re currently on-board in terms of how the design will work and flow. They’ve been responsive to our change requests, so we’ve had no problems so far. We’re excited to have the site launched.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

The personal attention that we’ve gotten from their project manager has been appreciated. She wasn’t our project manager in the beginning, but came in a month after the work started. She provided us with information, listened to what we had to say, made changes happen, and worked with the design and development teams, who were also terrific. The designer in particular has been able to provide impressive logos that hit home for our company. We’ve had a nice experience. We didn’t have to deal with an anonymous company, but instead had a personalized experience.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

Every project will have issues, bumps, and items that will be out of scope. Everything that has occurred so far has been the best we could hope for in any project, especially when creating something as visible as a website. Many projects will not yield something as tangible as a website, which can generate many opinions. Trying to make many people happy about a result can be a difficult thing.

We’re excited about working with them on the next website phases. We will be rolling out more and more elements on the website.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an electronics company.

What is your position?

I work for the B2B [business-to-business] division.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

We wanted to work with an agency for online marketing, given that they would offer capabilities that we didn't have in-house.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Blue Fountain Media manages our advertising spend. We trust them to manage the majority of our efforts within paid search, display ads, and social media marketing.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

I can't speak on how we found them because they'd already been selected when I started working for the company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for two years. The relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Blue Fountain Media has helped us launch a successful and ongoing digital advertising strategy. We didn't have a consistent approach to our campaigns in the past. They used to be ad-hoc, based on fluctuations in our budget.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Blue Fountain Media manages our spend, and we look at reports on a monthly basis in order to assess progress. We rely on them for best practices in terms of what changes we should make.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

We've had the same team and points of contact throughout a two-year collaboration. There will always be some turnover, especially in a New York agency, but they've done an excellent job of maintaining a consistent relationship with us. Any changes have been handled smoothly. This was important, especially since we have a long-term relationship. It's possible that we will be working with their company five years from now, doing the same things.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

No. I have no criticisms for them. They know who they are and what they can do. There are thousands of marketing agencies in the New York area alone, but Blue Fountain Media knows their position. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our international hosting platform is located in New York City.

What is your position?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

We wanted to build an international platform on which host families and students could find each other within the United States.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Blue Fountain Media has been helpful in designing, wireframing, and developing our website using a custom platform.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

I found them online through a Google search. They were one of the highest-ranked companies within a study. We had an initial meeting with them and liked their team. We decided to work with them because of their response time and detail orientation.

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

Our initial budget was around $20,000. It steadily grew to more than $150,000. It was a huge jump and a surprise for us, but Blue Fountain Media has maintained our confidence.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together at the end of December 2015. The site is still under development, so we haven't marketed our product yet.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Their whole team is involved in the work, and they're very fast to reply to our suggestions. I have no negative comments about Blue Fountain Media.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They've constantly asked us what we did and didn't like, fixing whatever wasn't to our satisfaction.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

Their project managers are focused on finding what they could do in order for a site to be more accessible. They ask questions and find solutions.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a Telecom company and we are headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, with an operations center in Boca Raton, Florida.

What is your position?

I am the Vice President of Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

We wanted to develop a new website for the company and also needed support in an overall branding effort, including a new logo, collateral material, and so on.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I met with Blue Fountain Media on the second day of my employment here. I have been working with them on a daily basis ever since.

We're currently developing the website. With the support of Blue Fountain Media, we've also developed a new logo, which was launched earlier this week to rave reviews from our internal staff and partner channel. We're also in the process of reworking some key elements for the business, including elements like business cards, stationery, the corporate brochure, etc.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

I came to work for the company eight weeks ago. Their team had already been contracted by our vice president. From my conversations with our vice president, he chose them based on their past performance with other clients. Blue Fountain Media's show-and-tell book is very impressive, and we appreciated their working style.

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

The total cost of their services is expected to be within the $100,000-120,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the collaboration in February of 2016. It's an ongoing relationship. The website is scheduled to be launched in late June, 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The results have been very satisfactory. Blue Fountain Media has been terrific in terms of creativity, design, expertise, and timeliness of deliverables.

How did Blue Fountain Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I took over the relationship with their team when I joined the company. We've quickly developed a good working relationship, not only in professionalism but also in camaraderie and ongoing communication. We speak twice a day about our ongoing tasks. They're very organized, efficient, and timely. This is important to me because I am overseeing numerous projects for my company. I need the collaboration to be right on the money.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

Outside of their creative output, we've appreciated the account management provided by them. Their manager is incredibly organized and keeps in touch on a regular basis. We receive quick responses on issues and requests. They're reasonable and realistic in assessing what their team can do, compared to what I am asking for. If my requests are not in the best interest of balancing the efforts of their team, they nonetheless come up with a reasonable solution.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

One of the things I'd like is for their team to be a bit faster with turnaround for certain things. Our business is very fast-paced, and especially during our rebranding, there were a lot of things which we need done quickly. I will say that, in the end, their results have been excellent.

Their expertise is most certainly in the digital media realm. We use Blue Fountain Media for things outside of digital media, like print. They have strengths in this regard, but their focus is on the digital. This is how they think when creating logos and other material. When they're applied to other mediums, it can be a bit difficult. Designs are optimized for digital, not for print. I would not consider Blue Fountain Media to be a full-service agency. I've had to source my own printers for tasks of this nature. They specialize in the creative realm. With the website, Blue Fountain Media has delivered in full.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an online counseling service focusing on individual and family services. We provide our services to the whole nation.

What is your position?

I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

I hired them to build my website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Blue Fountain Media provided web design and development services to me. They developed my website using WordPress. I didn't use them for SEO [search engine optimization] services.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

Their name came as the first result when making a Google search, so I deduced that they would be good. During our first interview, they were very professional, so I decided to choose them.

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

The total development cost of the website was $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2015. The site was launched in May [2015].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I enjoyed working with them. Blue Fountain Media was very professional, and they cared about my needs. I didn't have the necessary knowledge for developing a website, but they educated me through the process and kept me involved. I learned a lot about website building and how I could input content and information in the back-end. They still call me and inquire about the site.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

They're very professional and caring. They work together with the client step-by-step in order to make the process understood.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

For the price, they could have included mobile optimization services in the package. I had to go elsewhere for this because I was not aware of it from the start.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a small private equity firm located in Cleveland, Ohio. We focus on providing growth capital and business best practices to our clients.

What is your position?

I am in charge of marketing and business development for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Fountain Media?

We had a non-dynamic website, acting more as a brochure for our company. It also had a very financial-services look to it. We serve a unique niche, in which we partner with small companies with typically between 4-10 million dollars in revenue. We usually start out with clients who have $500,000 to 2 million dollars in free cash flow. We were looking to have a website that would reflect that. Our goal, when looking for a marketing firm to work with, was to start from scratch. We wanted to rebrand ourselves in order to reflect our true mission of inspiring entrepreneurs to create evolutionary businesses.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Blue Fountain Media helped us design our site from a visual perspective as well as from an SEO one. We aimed for our site to be a resource hub, not just a host for stagnant information. We could thus support business owners, providing them with good resources for growing their companies. Blue Fountain Media did a lot of research on keywords, making sure that the site was SEO-friendly. They also redesigned our logo in order for it to portray the right image.

How did you come to work with Blue Fountain Media?

Being based in Cleveland, we initially looked at local firms. We didn't want to limit ourselves to this geographic area, but rather wanted to find the right partner. We had met Blue Fountain Media at a conference in the past. Their company was a small business as well when we started working together, so they could relate to what we were trying to accomplish. I liked the fact that they had internal design and development resources, instead of contracting them out.

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

The initial website build had a cost of $50,000-65,000. Our monthly retainer is around $2,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Blue Fountain Media at the end of 2011. The initial project consisted of redesigning our website and creating a new logo for the company, as well as keyword research. We've kept a continuing marketing retainer with them. Blue Fountain Media continues to help with the backend, making sure that our site is properly optimized. They also provide content creation and social media services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We were very pleased with the design of the website that Blue Fountain Media created. We conveyed what our goals were and were able to put a plan together in order to accomplish that. On an ongoing basis, Blue Fountain Media helps us tweak the site for inbound marketing purposes. The quality of our leads has continued to improve.

What distinguishes Blue Fountain Media from other providers?

Initially, we chose to work with them because of their capabilities, and the fact that they were a small, growing firm. Blue Fountain Media had all the necessary in-house services for supporting our needs. We have no backend support for a website, being a small group. They've been very open to feedback, and communication was always easy to achieve.

Is there anything Blue Fountain Media could have improved or done differently?

There's been an amount of turnover on our dedicated team. I've communicated to Blue Fountain Media that staff retention could be better.

BACKGROUND

We are a property development company centralized in the NY, Long Island City area, working for over a decade to find and build out interesting projects that can benefit local neighborhoods. Our projects on average are 300 units or more. Our industry is a constantly changing one, especially in Long Island City. The development our competitors and us are doing are changing this city into something else entirely. More people are choosing to leave NYC and come here to build out their lives. Our development projects meet them there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

As our projects were growing in size, we were finding ourselves communicating more in-depth with government agencies and political decision makers, people that can make or break our development plans. We needed practical ways to convey our development visions to them in a way they can digest. Providing technical specifications and descriptions of our building projects did not paint a clear picture of our intentions to liven the neighborhood of where our development sites were.

SOLUTION

As our meeting with city planning came near, we wanted to have a visual booklet to show them. This is where Blue Fountain Media came in. We reached out to them because of their clean design examples seen on their website creations and print design examples. Blue Fountain Media took up the project and did an excellent job of putting together resources to create a booklet that really cut to the essence of our vision for said project. The exact services provided by Blue Fountain Media were InDesign work, along with general design work needed to organize technical data into a digestible way to readers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The overall project duration was about one week, which for our size book is quite impressive. Blue Fountain Media took it upon themselves to take our job even though the time constraints we gave them were extremely limited. They even worked weekends for us, since the time constraints were so close. Their team went far beyond what we would have thought a design company would have. They not only completed our project, but made sure to support us after the project ended for various things such as exporting and modifying things last minute. I greatly appreciate everything they did for us.