Moonstone Interactive

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My name is Bart Tillmans. I'm the head of marketing, operations, and systems at 10Fold Communications. It's a threefold kind of a job that deals with the backend processes in our company. 10Fold is a 25-year-old high-tech B2B PR company. This focuses on high-technology companies and startup companies mostly in their A or B rounds in the Bay Area that are going off to a new innovation market. They are in a number of categories: security, storage, enterprise, mobile applications, and big data, which falls out on IoT [Internet of Things] and from digital confirmation products that we have. We're an agency that focuses on that specific high-tech segment of the market.

Our business is highly dominated by networking. With networking, I mean the network of people in that industry that work together. These are high-tech B2B startups that are our clients. In all cases, they use venture capitalists, which is a very tight network of people. These people know each other and, very often, they go through multiple life cycles with companies, and they use a VC, and then they go to the next VC if they have been successful. Then, it starts to lead very often to either go to an IPO [initial public offering], which happens less these days, but more through an acquisition.

What challenge were you trying to address with Moonstone Interactive?

For us, it was very important to build a website. That's where we found ourselves 3 years ago where we, first of all, were changing our name – so we were rebranding our company from Trainer Communications to 10Fold Communications. We wanted to come up with a more dynamic look and feel. I use the word dynamic, meaning we needed a website that could represent the dynamics that are actually happening in our market. We work with very dynamic clients. These are challenges in the market and entrepreneurs. They are very dynamic. They change a lot throughout their lifecycle of their 1 or 2 or 3 years that they are going. We also needed a web platform that could allow us to do that. Our existing platform didn't do that, and that's actually where I went into my search and found Moonstone Interactive.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I've always simplified that how you want to do the marketing – and this is only an oversimplification – is just to keep it simple. It's like hunting for that specific client type. In our segment of the market, it is sharpshooting. First of all, we're B2B, which is very different from B2C. Much of the methodology is the same but, for us, it's very important to find that specific target and then focus on that. One of the means to get to those clients is to make sure that the content on your website is very representative to that.

Pay-per-click is for us not necessarily a means to market. For us, it's very important to be able to have content and worthy news in that specific segment of the market where these people work for prospects that are looking like "I'm a security company. I'm going into this next layer of security products. I'm looking for PR support. I want to get visibility. I have a product, but I don't have the visibility in the market. How do I do that?" That's how they work through search or SEO. SEO is important for us because it's having the right words out of that specific segment in the market where people use that terminology. Get that on your website and get it on the appropriate pages.

That's clearly what Moonstone Interactive helps us with. That, and coming up with a website architecture that is representative of the audiences that we're trying to sell to. That means 95% of these people work on mobile devices. That has led to the point that we needed to have a responsive design, meaning it works very seamlessly whether you're on your laptop, tablet, or mobile phone browsing the site. Response is very important because 95% of the audience will do much of their initial search through the cellphone, and that means that the website on the cellphone needs to be as intuitive and as informative as it is on your desktop. It sounds easy, but it's not that easy.

There are specific products and web platforms in the market that help you with that. In our case – in this whole transition cycle and where we strategized with Moonstone – the question is what is the best platform for us in the market to start building on this. You can go very specific. There are some specific managed platforms that are very structural, or you can go into a more open design like WordPress. WordPress comes into the market with many plug-ins, flexibility, and openness. It follows the trends, but it also comes with a component where, as a webmaster in the company, you need to have a certain baseline of knowledge. That turned out to be the best fit for us, and that was the choice of solution that we worked with on Moonstone Interactive. It's like "Give us a short list of the 3 platforms. Which are the ones you have worked with? Which ones do you have the best experiences with? What would you recommend for us?" This is how we started the project.

How did you come to work with Moonstone Interactive?

We went into an RFP. We did some searching in the market. Another component for us is that we wanted to work with a local company. Very often, you see that there are many companies in the world that offer web design services. Many of them are based in India, China, or other locations. That creates a certain layer of a cultural difference first and foremost, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. But, it creates a barrier. Also, it doesn't allow for face-to-face contact. Building a website and rebranding a website is a very personal and direct type of process. Having Moonstone Interactive in our area of California helps us with getting that personal touch and being able to convey, "This is what we are looking for, and this is what we're into." That helped us a lot with making the project happen very quickly. There were not numerous iterations back and forth because we knew exactly what we needed from each other and got that project complete in 3 or 4 months, which is relatively fast for a new website. That's what has helped us when working with them.

We send out an RFP to 3 or 4 agencies that would fit our criteria. We wanted to have somebody in the United States – preferably on the West Coast. We wanted to have somebody who has multiple platforms  – from very structural platforms into something more public domain and open like WordPress – and had experience with them. We also wanted them to be able to consult with us on the more advanced areas of SEO. I just didn't want to have a website built only. Doing SEO comes with a lot of knowledge and know-how but also what can you do and advise us about from a plug-in perspective. That way, I don't have to bring in an SEO expert every month to do it. I wanted them to be able to offer the tools out there that I can plug them into my website and do that for me.

Then, throughout this process, we did interviews. People came up with their proposals. Price was a consideration as part of the fit within that criteria. We found we had the best vibe with Moonstone.

How much have you invested with Moonstone Interactive?

The original set up of the project was roughly between $35,000 and $40,000. That sounds like a lot, particularly if you compare that to some cheaper offers that you can get from an Indian website development company, which can build a website for $9,000 or less. However, you likely do not get the functionality you need at that price. Rarely will it be as responsive, dynamic, or have the proper support capabilities. We are a 24x7x365-type of company. Uptime is important for us. If we do not have a website that is up and running, potential prospects and clients will look at us and say, "Are you a serious company? We require PR services from you that need to be available at all times." That also means that our website needs to be there, too. That's where you make a difference. We're sort in the mid-range. We're not a multinational company. Those have all sorts of different requirements. But, we do have this mid-range requirement, and that determines that you need to work with a solid platform, work with a set of plug-ins, and need to make sure that your maintenance is in order.

The ongoing monthly cost is roughly around $600 to $700, which is not much money. Imagine that an ongoing rate for any expert in any application is around $200 per hour. That gives me enough of a support level that I can have them available for 2 or 3 hours. It saves me a lot of time that way, and I don't have to hire anybody. This would almost be a full-time position, and I don't have to do that now. I can manage it with the help of Moonstone Interactive.

I think what you do is set up the site initially with it, and then there is an ongoing maintenance part. That depends whether you're going to host this through Moonstone Interactive or not. They have a certain set of packages that allow you a certain amount of support. I'm fairly technical. I have a technical background. I know what plug-ins do. My time is determined by other projects that occur within the company as head of marketing, operations, and systems. There's always something going on, or things need to be done, such as the website needs to be refreshed, the plug-in needs to be updated, or the new content page and landing page need to be there, and I just don't have the time to do it. But, there is this marketing requirement that makes sure that, next Monday, this thing needs to be up and running. Therefore, in this manner, what I can do is pick up the phone, talk to Moonstone, and say "Can you do this for me?"

With my agreement with them, I get a certain amount of hours of support per month, which is mostly for maintenance. They do the backups, schedule, antivirus, and make sure that the passwords are all set up. There's a lot of safety that is taken out of my hands. That helps me massively with my operational tasks.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's been an ongoing thing for the past two years. Besides the initial approach and setting up our website for us based on the criteria, we have a sister company that actually works on video production content called Promotion Studios. We also built their website through Moonstone with them. It was a follow-up project. We have an annual maintenance in agreement with them, too.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We found ourselves at this stage 2 1/2 years ago looking at our website, seeing who is visiting us organically and how successfully we were being able to pull companies into our specific realm of high-tech B2B PR in the Bay Area and getting them in. We probably got 1 or 2 leads a month from somebody going through Google trying to find a PR company, typing in the right keywords, and our firm coming up in the rankings. It was very hard because I inherited that old platform, and I wasn't able to get us in a better ranking position. We get to our clients in 2 ways – one is through our network of VPs and executives who have people they know in the market, and the second is by companies throughout the world that are looking for a company offering the high-tech PR services that we provide.

Since changing the site, name, and getting it all up and running, we now get an average of 1 or 2 requests a week, so roughly around 8 to 10 leads a month versus the 1 or 2 a month that we had. It's given us a tenfold increase in getting request where people fill out a form and say, "We are a company. We are looking for a PR firm." We can start a conversation with them related to "Are you the right fit? Do you have the right budget? Is there no competitive overlap?" This is almost a 1,000% increase in people and companies that can find us in a very simple way. It's massively important for us because we cannot dramatically expand the number of salespeople in our organization. We have a finite number of people who we work with. Of course, we're growing and expanding, but we're not adding salespeople every day. For us, getting this influx of new leads and people is a very effective way of increasing our business in the years ahead. It's been very important for us.

We are hosting our website on Moonstone because it takes away much of the trouble for me. I could host my website on Amazon, Rackspace, or GoDaddy, but we would be a very small number to them because we're a fairly small company. We're 50 people at a certain revenue range and, on those sites, we are just a number to them. For Moonstone Interactive, we are a good-sized client for them. I get all the attention that I need. When I call, the phone gets picked up. I work with the same people. I don't have to work with 16 different people every time to explain how I would like to get things done. It's a matching relationship. I always say that elephant-sized types of companies should work with elephant-sized types of companies. They're a small to medium-sized company like us. We have many similarities. They are a service business, too, so we can talk from a similar position about what we want to do. That's where it is.

How did Moonstone Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

This is the extra part that I like. There's always this sort of extra step of "I looked at your site, and I see this, this, and this." Based on some of the projects and experiences that they have ongoing, they come back to me with additional recommendations – things we can improve, changes, trends in the markets, and so on. As you can imagine with me wearing 3 hats, it's very hard to keep all the developments going at the same time, particularly in cases where you, very often, get pulled into one project that takes you 3 months and out of the broader scope of operation. With that in mind, I think it helps us that they also give me that "Look at this. This is a trend. There might be something in there. This is a better way of organizing your home page. This is a better way of working with certain plug-ins." I get these proactive recommendations, which I find very important. It's not only making and building the site, but it's also the afterthought. This is where it goes from buying a website into working with a partner. That's ultimately what companies like ours are looking for.

What did you most impressive about Moonstone Interactive?

What I would like to point out is their consistency. Once you go into this trajectory of building the site, working with people, and building that relationship, the relationship with vendors is very important to me. Nothing is more disruptive than if ongoing changes are occurring on your account. We are a service business ourselves. We hear this from our clients. We know how sensitive this part is, and I've been able to work with the same people on the same things for nearly 3 years now, which is fairly unheard of in our market. It helps incredibly in the efficiency of doing it because you've already been through this, they already know what I'm talking about, and they're already halfway fixing it without me already expressing what I'm looking for. That makes it very special. I haven't seen that with any of the other web development companies that I've ever worked with before, so this makes it very special for me.

Are there any areas Moonstone Interactive could improve?

I think for Moonstone Interactive, it's a challenge. It's as much as a challenge for companies in our size and their size in the area of marketing themselves out. This is probably a big part of the process that speaks to the heart in our conversations with them. They need to do a larger job and investment in promoting themselves to bigger companies and to other areas. Website designs are a huge investment. A cost of $30,000 to $40,000 is what a real website will cost you these days because of the hours and the things you want to put in there. I think what they need to work on is their visibility and their brand equity in the market as a good company that builds websites in the Bay Area.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Moonstone Interactive?

I would do very similar to what I did. Go through the entire selection process. Come up with 3 that come close to what you are looking for. Make sure that you prepare your briefing very thoroughly. I always believe that projects fail sometimes because the vendor or the person who needs to provide the service are not doing their job. It happens. But, it also goes wrong in the briefing, too. This means that, whatever the briefing was, it was not sufficient, or it did not touch on enough points during while it was ongoing. There is a proactive role that you have as a client to brief your potential supplier about what you need. It's not that different from buying a car. Be very clear to the salesperson there about what you're looking for. The salesperson knows his or her product better than you do.

I would recommend to any future buyers to make sure that you've got a very good briefing in place. You can call it an RFP, but I believe there's more value, particularly around websites and any conversational components to that. Make sure everything involved fits your budget.

Last but not least, be very aware of your timeline. Don't make this a 1-year kind of project. New developments in your own organization might come up, so make absolutely sure that you define this entire web project within a 3- to 6-month project with a beginning and an end, and stick to your project.

You will find that most of the challenges will be within your own company rather than with Moonstone Interactive. They will deliver. They have the trackers, but they are dependent on when you deliver the content. Having a clear, defined vision in mind – it doesn't have to be the individual technology – but having a vision in mind in what your website needs to be is very important. They can work with creative. They can recommend you to the right tools. They can give you the right SEO elements. They know all that. However, you need to have a vision and make sure that vision is representative in the briefing that you give them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our group provides marketing automation and consulting services. I am the owner of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Moonstone Interactive?

We needed to build a website for an art school client. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Moonstone Interactive’s team was brought in as website design experts for an ongoing project. They are building a robust website, integrating a booking platform into it, and handling its SEO work. We are in charge of marketing automation aspects. Moonstone Interactive is continuing to make changes to the site in order improve our overall marketing. We also discussed integrating and tracking analytics.

How did you come to work with Moonstone Interactive?

We looked at 10 different firms which were found online. Moonstone Interactive was the most flexible and knowledgeable out of all candidates. We didn't want an out of the box solution for the art school. Since it's a fairly large institution, that would mean a lot of integration and custom work. Moonstone Interactive had the best understanding of our business issues, making a better site experience for the client.

How much have you invested with Moonstone Interactive?

The cost of Moonstone Interactive's initial work was between $30,000 and $40,000. For occasional changes and upgrades to the site, the client pays $1,000-$2,000 several times a year based upon quoted projects. Moonstone Interactive hosts the site and provides one hour of maintenance for $400/month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Moonstone Interactive at the beginning of 2014. The project is ongoing.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Moonstone Interactive's developers are very smart, which made a huge difference when integrating automation and shopping cart elements. The data needed to go in 3 to 4 directions, including the analytics platform. It required custom integration, date and time stamps, cookies, and so on. We have generated a robust analytics platform through which we're able to constantly revise what is done with digital marketing. This is beyond what Moonstone Interactive was tasked with doing, but they made the website work. It has made a huge difference for me.

The client has shown a 5% to 20% growth for all studios, year-over-year. This is significant, given that they were declining at a certain point. The client has four main studio locations and 16 embedded locations at private schools, and Moonstone Interactive has been able to bring them to the first position for Google ranking in three of the four main locations. Moonstone Interactive made sure that the site was responsive, which proved to be a good decision after Google Analytics changed. Every choice they made has put the art school in the best position possible.

How did Moonstone Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Moonstone Interactive has been a real partner. I've worked directly with Moonstone Interactive since the client was not knowledgeable regarding websites. When we come up with a new idea, such as how we want to post artwork made by children and make it searchable, there was no set solution to point to. Moonstone Interactive was a great source of ideas, proposing different solutions and changes.

What did you find most impressive about Moonstone Interactive?

Moonstone Interactive's SEO process was quite interesting.

Moonstone Interactive delivered more than we expected at every turn from web design to project management and QA (testing for functionality) but how they approached the SEO process best sums up their ability to go above and beyond.

They didn't just ask what our keywords were and made recommendations. Rather, they went through a branding process of determining the keywords that would generate high traffic and which ones were truly a part of our unique branding. I found the SEO process to be thorough, more so than what other agencies offer. Plus, their team is easy to work with. This may sound like a throwaway line, but it's not. I've worked with many web developers who could be precious, unlike Moonstone Interactive's team who can dive in and help. If there's an emergency, they deal with it immediately. I was not expecting such a level of service.

Are there any areas Moonstone Interactive could improve?

Moonstone Interactive could offer more services, but this can prove problematic. Sometimes, offering too much will mean that the company is not the best at all of them. Moonstone Interactive could work with more partners for services related to web development, be it digital marketing or marketing automation. What Moonstone Interactive does specifically is done very well. 

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Moonstone Interactive?

I advise clients to walk into the collaboration able to clearly describe their own business strengths and issues. They need to explain what the website needs to accomplish. Very few clients walk in with a clear understanding of what their own goals are. Moonstone Interactive is very good at figuring out how to do web development on their own if the client understands their own business and can explain it well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a 501(c)(3) private nonprofit that supports educational endeavors for a college. We handle all the scholarships and charitable giving for the foundation which is disseminated to the various departments of the junior college. And my role was development officer, and I was in charge of increasing major donor gifts as well as securing foundation grants.

What challenge were you trying to address with Moonstone Interactive?

The foundation did not have a website that was going to fit with what we were trying to do with the foundation, which was to expand our visibility within our county as well as the college community. Our board approved to have a new website created that would allow people to get to know the function of the foundation, the different programs that we support, what type of donations had already been given, what type of grants had been given in terms of total dollars, and featured success stories.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed our website and did SEO [search engine optimization] for the website. I gave them a basic outline for content, and they took it, created, and streamlined it. Because web technical writing is much different than when you are writing grants, they were able to maximize that effectiveness. I don’t know what technologies they worked with. You might be able to look at our website. But whatever they used, we loved it. I know that it was a huge improvement from our previous website.

How did you come to work with Moonstone Interactive?

Steve, who is the owner of the company, was on our board and had made some recommendations that he was going to help improve the website. I approached him to talk with me about what he would do if we were clients of his. I took his recommendations. I brought it before the board. And without him voting, they approved to have a new website created. And once he made those recommendations, when we compared it with other quotes from other people and what they could do, Moonstone seemed to make the most sense, so we went with them. Steve said he was going to be able to do all of that and put up a first-rate website, which they did.

How much have you invested with Moonstone Interactive?

Because we wanted to do our other 2 sister colleges also, I think everything came out to be about $90,000-95,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2016, and we were up and running by October 1st, 2016. Everything is completed. However, as we continue to expand our information, I’m able to work with them on a continuous basis. And they offer consulting. If there is an event that I want to add, I’m able to send them the verbiage, and they get it right back to me and upload it. They are managing the website at this point as well.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Like I said, it’s too early. The nice thing is that I am able to refer people to the website. They can make donations online immediately, give to the programs they want to give to or join the President’s Roundtable. I guess the one good metric is the fact that I no longer have to take the time to explain things to folks. I can direct them to the website, and they can learn pretty much everything they need just from the website. And it’s just saved me a few hours every day of having to explain to folks what does the foundation do, what do you guys support, how much money have you given.

And the other feedback is that everybody who has seen it has been very impressed with it because they have got back to me and said, “Nice website.” Because I do tell them that it’s new and if they see something that doesn’t look right, I have them get back to me. But everybody’s liked it so far. I know that’s probably not what you’re looking for, but that’s a big impact on our business. You can just refer people to the site, and it helps people get the information. And if the users say they like the website, that’s also huge because it’s good feedback.

How did Moonstone Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of working with Mary Orrett, who was our Project Manager that they assigned to us from Moonstone, we would talk minimum once, sometimes 2 or 3, times a week. Just everything that she did or wanted to do, she ran it by me. She would work on it. And when it was completed, she would email it to me and let me know if I liked the way it looked. And there were a lot of opportunities for me to provide input if I wanted to. However, as it turned out, almost everything they showed me, I really liked. The things that I didn’t like, they were able to fix them fairly quickly and, of course, at no real additional cost.

Are there any areas Moonstone Interactive could improve?

Not at this time. I thought that they were pretty darn good.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Moonstone Interactive?

Because I knew Steve and he understood what the needs of the foundation were, we were able to establish fairly quickly what would be best for the foundation. So, somebody who obviously doesn’t know Steve, I think that they should just spend time with him developing the idea and the concept. Follow all their advice in terms of what they ask – one of the things that they did was they sent me a questionnaire as to what exactly I wanted out of the website. And he said a lot of people just glance over this, but really that’s the most important part. You have to tell them what you are looking for in order for them to create it, and that’s going to be the most effective and get you the most results for what you want to do with your website.