Ciffone Digital

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of IntervalPay, a subscription billing and management platform. The product is geared toward automating tasks around subscriptions and subscription growth. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Ciffone Digital?

Ciffone helped us with website design, content creation, and SEO strategies. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed Ciffone to design our whole website using Wix. The tasks involved everything from copywriting to user design. They worked on our branding, including our color schemes, and handled the design of our UI. Ultimately, they also worked on our advertising strategy. 

For SEO, Ciffone handled keyword research, which involved adding negative keywords and posting copies on Google. Moreover, the team helped us know what to put on advertisements while incorporating keywords, which were also mapped out on our website.  

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Mike (Founder & President). 

How did you come to work with Ciffone Digital?

We were Googling for a few things, and we came across an article that Mike posted. Then, we found him and his business on LinkedIn. I reached out to him, and we had a few meetings. Everything was then set up, and we started working together. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May–June 2021.

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

Our company didn’t have a good strategy in the beginning, but Ciffone aligned with our efforts and organized our strategy, which was beneficial for us. We measured success based on timing, quality of work, and ability to reduce our costs.

Their SEO effort was great for us. We’ve seen plenty of favorable results in terms of SEO; our conversion rates went up significantly, and costs were reduced. Acquiring leads and emails through Google Ads was expensive, but Ciffone successfully brought that down to a reasonable level. In other words, our investment in their design services paid off. 

Moreover, when we first met for consultation, we proposed a three-month timeline. However, Ciffone gave everything to us in two months. Simply put, they exceeded our expectations in terms of timing. Their deliverables and quality of work were also excellent in terms of design; we were truly happy with them and with what they did for us.

How did Ciffone Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was perfect, especially in terms of managing time. We communicated with Mike on Slack, and he was always available whenever I needed him. Overall, he was always responsive even during after-hours. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ciffone had the ability to deliver in a timeframe that was faster than expected. On top of that, their design and work were of high quality, and they had expertise and knowledge around Google Ads and research. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. They came through, and we didn’t have any complaints. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO of Locke-Brothers Inc, a manufacturing representative firm for metal and plastic processing. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Ciffone Digital?

We had a poor online presence, and our principals — the businesses we were selling services for — were commenting about our content marketing efforts. As a result, I contacted Ciffone Digital to ask questions about SEO and PPC campaigns. In the process, we realized that our website was truly outdated. As such, the engagement then turned into a website revamp project. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ciffone Digital has helped us improve our website. Initially, their team interviewed us to get content for the site, starting from the basics. Meanwhile, our website was on Wix, so they built it on that instead of creating a whole new platform. We also changed all of our emails to Gmail. 

For the website, we focused on improving its ease of use. Our website initially only had two pages that showed what we did and how to contact us. To improve that, Ciffone Digital gathered information about our principals, how our company worked with them, and what benefits they received from us. 

We also realized that our principals had unique components, which we wanted to highlight. For that, Ciffone Digital created a dropdown menu for users to see our business processes and the principals’ unique components. When users clicked the menu, they’d see an overview of the principals’ capabilities, videos, and value ads. 

Their team also put a video on the background of our homepage. The video was a combination of 12 of our principals’ processes. Mike (Founder & President) designed its layout, and we went back and forth on where the video should show up. Finally, Ciffone Digital also put impressive stats about our business on the website. 

From that initial engagement, we’ve revised our scope of work. We’re in the second phase of the partnership now. Ciffone Digital currently provides us with SEO and content marketing services. They also create blog posts for us while monitoring our website on a daily basis. We’re now going in a different direction with our content marketing campaign because of Ciffone Digital.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people. One of them is the tech person who’s set up our emails and exported information from our previous email platform to Gmail. Another person, the founder, handles all of our SEO and PPC efforts, answering our questions about the website, and is more the vision of the project technically.

How did you come to work with Ciffone Digital?

Years ago, I talked to Mike at a party. At that time, I was working for a different company, and he was analyzing our website and mobile presence, telling us what we needed to do. When I switched to Locke-Brothers, I called him back to seek his guidance on how to answer our principals’ questions. For a couple of weekends, we’d get on the phone and he’d answer my questions. Then, their business development manager called me to help us fine-tune what we needed to do. From there, the ongoing engagement started.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested less than $20,000 in project fees. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in October 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

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

We’ve received plenty of good comments about the website. More importantly, our principals are happy because they know we’re working for them and we’ve put a lot of effort into this project. For them, this demonstrates that we’re progressive and making moves in the right direction. We’ve shown that we’re proactive in our approach to marketing and sales, thanks to Ciffone Digital’s help. 

On top of that, we’ve generated leads from the website. It’s only been up for around two months, so our SEO is still in the works. Despite that, we’ve increased sales and improved our online presence in such a short time. 

How did Ciffone Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Ciffone Digital’s business manager is truly strategic and keeps everything on track. He provides highly detailed notes before and after meetings, which we do via Google Meet. As a result, we all know the topics of our meetings, the takeaways for each team member, and the deadlines we must meet. We also use Google Documents to keep track of these details. If we veer off and start conversations where we shouldn’t, the project manager puts us back on track. In terms of tools, we use PowerPoint and screen-sharing features at every meeting. This makes our meetings extremely strategic and organized. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We don’t have to think too much to keep the project on track; Ciffone Digital’s organizational skills have been impressive. We receive emails telling us what to send to our principals, what links to click, and everything else. In the end, I don’t have to do anything except click the forward button and send the emails to each principal. Everything has been seamless. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Our initial project was supposed to take only six months, but it took nine months — that was our fault. We couldn’t give their team the information they needed fast enough. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep up with your meetings with Ciffone Digital. It’s ok if you fall behind but take to heart that they’re trying to organize everything for you. Let them do that since they’re great at keeping things organized. They’re updated when it comes to technology, too. For instance, I wouldn’t have used Google Documents if they didn’t work with me; I wouldn’t have been able to send our principals a link that redirects them to a live document if Ciffone Digital didn’t tell me. In other words, leave the technology to them, and let them organize you.