Siege Media

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing coordinator for RentSpree. I handle all aspects of our digital marketing. RentSpree is an online rental application and tenant screening service that markets to real estate agents but can be used by anyone looking to screen a prospective tenant.

At present, over 400,000 landlords, agents, renters, and property managers rely on RentSpree’s rental software – across all 50 states. Together we are building connections and creating a standard rental process, one transaction at a time.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

As the number of our users began to grow exponentially, we were looking to sustain that momentum by turning our attention to both SEO and SEM. Being that I was the only in house digital marketing SME, it was apparent that we needed to outsource certain tasks to quickly ramp up our marketing efforts.

Fortunately, I was able to identify Siege media as a partner that could provide that type of high quality and high performing content that is vital to any backlink generating and increase in organic search traffic strategy.

Additionally, they were able to take a look at the foundation of our on site SEO strategy and provide key consultation that also aided in our efforts.

What were your goals for this project?

1. Boost the number of high domain authority backlinks
2. Increase organic search traffic to our blog
3. Introduce useful and engaging content to our site
4. Enhance our technical SEO efforts so that the overall DA and keyword positioning of our site could continue to rise.

Accomplishing all of these goals would ensure that our company would become a force to be reckoned with in our very competitive space.

How did you select Siege Media?

I searched online and found 3 agencies who I liked based on case studies and previous client recommendations. I then presented and consulted with RentSpree executive staff to finalize the decision which was Siege Media.

Quite simply, they offered the total package and in their final pitch meeting- CEO Ross Hudgens - demonstrated that he understood exactly what we were looking to achieve and how Siege could get us there on a timeline that unbeknownst to him was exactly what we were looking for.

That is to say, that we wouldn't have to wait very long to start to see the benefits of a partnership with Siege.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Prior to deciding to go with Siege, they conducted a site inventory and was able to alert us to areas of opportunity for improvement but then once we finalized our decision to move forward with them, they were able to hit the ground running on addressing those opportunities even before we had our first brand discovery conversation.

So their first and second impressions were phenomenal. Once we began having brand discovery conversations and getting into the weeds with what our needs and expectations were from a content creation perspective the creative team over at Siege was thorough, super communicative about what their process was and very concrete in terms of the timing/delivery of all projects.

They would send over a selection of content ideas based on the keyword choices - we would make our selection and then they would send over an outline/draft/final edition before posting to our site.

There was monthly reports and check-ins (if needed) and an easily trackable methodology to see the progress of the outreach efforts and overall work.

What was the team composition?

Account manager - 2 content creators (researcher & blogger) - an entire team of designers (unsure of the number).

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

Since the beginning of their work here are the 2 biggest points of success as a result of the work that Siege has done... 12,000/mo or 78% increase in traffic according to Ahrefs since 4/15/20 $67,000/mo or 320% increase in traffic value according to Ahrefs since 4/15/20

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective mainly because the team over at Siege led by Tess Halpern was very consistent in their communication. They also did a phenomenal job of setting expectation in terms of content performance.

They were always receptive to and soliciting feedback. As I stated earlier, they were consistent in terms of identifying projects for the quarter and then hitting the timing benchmarks in terms of when I would receive an outline/first draft/final draft before post.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

1. Consistent performance in all aspects
2. Communication
3. Quality of content (you get what you pay for)
4. Every person that I interacted with was pleasant in nature.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, the team here at RentSpree was pleased with our experience with Siege Media.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a marketing manager within a large fintech company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Siege Media?

Our goal is to broaden our digital presence within search results. We were looking to scale our collection of content to help position us as an authority within the personal finance industry.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I onboarded Siege Media for content marketing. At the beginning of our engagement, they took the time to understand the financial landscape. They conducted a thorough analysis of the industry by conducting keyword research and identifying gaps within our content strategy. 

They've built a wide array of content, including articles, infographics, surveys, calculators, and more. Building content is just one part of their job, they also promote content to bring awareness and visibility to our brand.

What is the team composition?

I typically work with a team of 4–5 people, including an account lead and an outreach specialist.

How did you come to work with Siege Media?

I’ve been working with Siege Media for five or more years now including time with a previous employer. I was referred to them by a colleague of mine. I decided to test Siege as a content creation partner.

They proved that they were successful at creating high-quality content that ranked in search results which in turn drove valuable top of funnel traffic. Based on that test and the great results, I decided to work with them long-term.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of five or more years, I've invested approximately $2.5 million across multiple projects and brands.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working in 2015, in the middle of the year. I am currently working with Siege Media. The scope fluctuates depending on business needs.

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

We look at the top of funnel traffic to the site that derives from content that Siege Media has created and promoted. We look at search rankings as well as the quality of leads earned.

How did Siege Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Siege Media has been an awesome partner. They’re great communicators, highly collaborative, and flexible, and they don't need a lot of hand-holding. They do an amazing job of keeping internal stakeholders in the loop in regards to what work is pending and what work is in the pipeline.

They are well organized and ensure that my content calendar is up to date. Siege Media provides me with a monthly report to recap on the performance, and it has always been timely.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Siege Media's ability to create quality content that ranks well within search is impressive. They are experts in content marketing and have always been great at providing guidance and recommendations on strategy to yield stronger results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I had to be nit-picky, I would wish that they had a financial writer on staff to help shape the content. Siege Media does their due diligence in terms of research prior to writing any article.

I can only imagine that having a finance expert would make this process more efficient for them as well as for internal stakeholders when we review and provide feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Test Siege Media out! I've been a long-term client of theirs due to their work ethic, customer service, and the results that they deliver. Be very clear with your goals and outline them upfront.

Level-set brand expectations and educate them on your brand guidelines. Most importantly be open to their recommendations. They are experts in the field and know what works and what doesn't.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder and COO of Blue Tree, a digital PR agency focused on SaaS and software startups, both B2C and B2B.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

Our company prides itself on delivering a product and service that no other digital PR agencies are able to provide, namely: ultra high touch, custom outreach for the purpose of earned media mentions.

We hired Siege to help offload some of this work such that we could continue bringing on clients and delivering high quality work. Specifically, we leaned on Siege to deliver ongoing content marketing services and outreach to promote that content.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to work with Siege long enough that we could scale up our own processes and fulfill the work ourselves. Ultimately, we found an equilibrium - Siege continues to deliver high quality content marketing for a handful of our clients, and we continue to do what we do best.

How did you select Siege Media?

Given that many of our clients are big brands in the B2B space with specific content requirements, we knew we needed a partner who was able to deliver high quality B2B/technical content at a reasonable price.

There are only a few agencies in the US/globally which seemed to be able to execute on this requirement. Given Siege's deep experience with content UX in both the B2B/prosumer and B2C spaces, we felt confident that Ross and team could deliver.

Further, several of our clients have offices on both the east and west coasts, so Siege's presence there made it easier to do business.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Siege performed content marketing and promotion (custom outreach / PR) for three of our B2B clients:

1. FinTech payments rails software,
2. DevSecOps platform, and
3. IT data warehousing provider.

The contracts for each were performed over an 18 month period which was roughly overlapping for all clients.

What was the team composition?

Our monthly spend for each client was roughly $15,000-$17,5000.

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

In the past, we had struggled to show measurable results for these particular B2B clients. There are not as many types of immediately obvious and relevant content/keywords to go after as a PR agency, so we felt that our hands were somewhat tied.

However, after the campaigns with Siege, each client saw a significant increase in the number of sales qualified leads (SQLs). In terms of raw numbers, clients reached 2x and 3x SQLs at the following months:

1. FinTech payments rails software: 5 months and 13 months
2. DevSecOps platform: 3 months and 7 months
3. IT data warehousing provider: 7 months and 10 months

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

No issues whatsoever. Siege's team is extremely professional and easy to work with. We learned a lot form them, not just operationally but also how to have fun while working hard.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Quality of the work/content. That's what we hired Siege for and that's what they delivered, and despite our high standards they exceeded our expectations month after month.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing particular comes to mind. As an agency owner with overlapping services to Siege's, I found some of their processes so detailed that they were difficult to follow along. I wouldn't improve those, however, as they seem quite effective.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a performance content marketing manager for a global eccomerce company selling print on demand consumer products. I am involved in developing content strategies and managing a team to deliver content that aligns with our SEO strategy.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

We were looking to improve our upper funnel customer acquisition by broadening our reach for longtail queries. We partnered with Seige Media to get expert advice on SEO best practices and ideal content topics to focus on.

What were your goals for this project?

Increase in search traffic visits per month.

How did you select Siege Media?

My team searched for content marketing agencies specialising in SEO for blogs and websites. Siege media seemed to do all the things we needed from research, content creation, design, link building and analysis of our on-site experience.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Siege Media sought to understand our company focus and created a content marketing strategy based around our key themes along with other opportunities they felt we could be competitive on.

We then regrouped as a team and went through each opportunity to assess viability. Once we finalised our priorities, they put together detailed briefs that I was able to give to copywriters and designers.

In other areas, I have asked them to review landing pages and site structure to provide actionable feedback (copy, page structure, internal linking) to improve SEO to these pages.

What was the team composition?

I've worked closely with three members of the team, so we've built a strong relationship and they understand our needs well. They have different people managing content briefs and strategies for our blog vs the website.

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

We have achieved our targets for increased search traffic to the blog, received inbound links and started to rank #1 for multiple posts- sometimes in the space of weeks after they launched.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project managers assigned to us are very responsive and helpful. We have video catch up with the team multiple times in the quarter, and they are very quick to collaborate in Google docs. They have achieved all of the outlines on time as per our contract.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are very proactive and are always free to discuss opportunities in detail. They are very generous with their time and always willing to share their knowledge. It's a very easy partnership and one that has personally helped me to grow professionally in my role.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really... In the beginning, the topics suggested didn't always align with our (very specific) business model. However, they have taken on all of our feedback and have a much better understanding of which topics will align with our strategy.

It's a credit to them; they listened and learnt as the partnership developed.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of an InsurTech Startup. We are Series B funded a growing significantly. We are about 140 people with 20 on the team Siege works with.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

We were looking for help in building rich content from concept to implementation.

What were your goals for this project?

Although we had a small content team and expert in SEO, we needed articles that could generate a lot of interest, help build our site ranking with Google, and improve our SEO for specific keywords. We wanted to secure our position with those keywords to help create a barrier to entry for new competitors and create value long-term.

How did you select Siege Media?

Siege was referred by our SEO expert. I have worked with dozens of people who claim to be experts in SEO but few that are. Ours is one, and his opinion carried a lot of weight in my decision as I had also worked with several content agencies like Siege.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After selecting Siege I worked with them on a content strategy a quarter at a time. It was their recommendation to not plan beyond a quarter as we would have to adapt to how our content was trending. It was great advice. We came up with a project plan, they did research and came to me each month with a list of potential topics that they had already researched as viable areas to claim space. They produced the articles, worked with us on feedback and editing, and then implemented the technical side with our website team.

What was the team composition?

Me as CMO working with our SEO expert, two writers on our side, and a team of three at Siege whom we interfaced with.

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

Simple. Our Organic Search traffic from Google increased 2x in only two quarters.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. They are very efficient. They come to the meeting prepared and with ideas already flashed out They also give clear timelines on implementation.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They "get" it when it comes to Content Marketing. I have worked in tech marketing for 25 years, and most of these shops are just faking it. Siege is not. I can see through BS is this particular area and there is none on their side. Honestly, it is quite refreshing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Tech implementation occasionally has issues with detail work

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing partner for a SaaS venture company. We own and operate a handful of SaaS companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Seige Media?

Seige Media has done a number of consulting engagements for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

 We’ve been consulting with the CEO, and because we have many other properties, we’ve done lots of different things. Some of their work includes site audits and consultations. We hired them on an hourly rate to have them join our review and marketing meetings to get their feedback. They’re our strategic advisors.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with 4–5 people. I work with their CEO, SEO director, and content producer.

How did you come to work with Seige Media?

I’ve known their CEO for a number of years and was familiar with their work. I heard from other marketers that they’re one of the best content marketing companies in the industry. That’s what prompted us to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2016 and is ongoing.

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

Their results are great. That’s why we’ve kept them around for so long. They’re very good at generating content that can generate and earn links.  

I’ve been truly impressed by their team. My background is in marketing, so I know what I’m doing and are rarely impressed by other agencies. Seige Media stands out because they’re able to do things that I don’t know how to do myself. There are few agencies that can do a better job than my internal team.

How did Seige Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily communicate over email, but I can also contact them over Zoom. I haven’t had any issues with their deadlines, either.

They’re fairly good about setting expectations. One thing they do well is communicating how the project is progressing. They don’t wait to tell me that they missed a deadline after it passes, but instead, will make projections and communicate with me along the way. As a result, our expectations are met. Their proactivity has saved countless hours.   

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are two things: the bar they set is really high. Their content quality is at the next level and is more representative of the type of work I would expect from my internal team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

State your expectations and goals. Tell them what you want to achieve and what timeline you want. They are proactive and communicate well, so outlining how you plan to communicate can be very helpful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a mortgage lending company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Siege Media?

Our biggest challenge is content strategy and on-page SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our project with Siege Media is two-phase. The first phase was a five-month prep period, and the second phase will begin in the coming weeks. 

The team provides social content, but we think more in terms of research and outreach elements to attract an audience and keep them. As a team, we’re able to create some content, so we use Siege Media as a way to augment that. They’re able to produce graphical and interactive components that we couldn’t build for ourselves.

We’re competing against very large companies in terms of lead generation, so our goal is to use our content to establish trust and authority in the market. 

What is the team composition?

There’s a lot of people from Siege Media deployed for the project as needed, but we don’t interact with them all. On any given day, we’ll have two or three touch points, including an account manager.

How did you come to work with Siege Media?

The company founder and I have a longstanding professional relationship through different companies. When our mortgage lending business needed to think big about our content plan, Siege Media was the only company I trusted to take on work like this.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2019.

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

We don’t really have metrics, because content strategy is a long project. It’s difficult to assign a specific value, but in terms of anecdotal feedback, our customers tell us that the content we’re making available to them is well-structured, easy to read, and shows a bias toward action. Those qualities lead to more sales. Having Siege Media alongside us is just like having a powerhouse marketing team. They’re helping us to attract and retain customers and earn successful engagement.

The strength of Siege Media is the people, process, and experience. For Siege Media, content services is a multi-year plan, so they think long-term, which is one of the primary reasons why we continue to engage with them. 

How did Siege Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a wonderful job with communication. Before we start any new phase of the project, we start kick-off and ramp up 30 days prior, so by the time we get started, there’s no wasted time. The process is really dialed in — it’s extremely efficient. That’s terrific from a business planning standpoint. 

We use different platforms depending on the project, but we’ve used Trello in the past. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Siege Media makes us feel like we’re the only client. If I ever need them, I can call, Slack, or email them, and there will always be someone there. The team even proactively calls me when they’re thinking about the work we’re doing.

As a business owner, I have an aversion to working with consultants, because you only have their mindshare working on your specific project. With Siege Media, I’ve always felt that their team is thinking about the problems we’re trying to solve at all times. It makes them a true extension of what we’re building.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing jumps out at me.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can bring your best ideas to Siege Media and they’ll help you make the most of them. Have your ideas loosely held and be open-minded and understanding of the experience their team has. Be open to trying new techniques.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of NV Group

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

We hired Siege for ongoing content marketing and strategy for several of our portfolio companies. They executed on a well thought out and well-researched plan that saved our team a good deal of time on money.

Having dealt with multiple content agencies over the years, SM stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of quality. One of the most notable parts about their content strategy is high level aesthetic design as part of the package which increased our content performance dramatically.

What were your goals for this project?

Increase organic traffic in a competitive niche and generate more leads.

How did you select Siege Media?

Based on performance quality and trusted reputable in the online community.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope of work included ongoing monthly content, branding and strategy. This was an end-to-end service that required little input and coordination from our team.

What was the team composition?

1. Content manager
2. Strategy lead
3. Content experts
4. Designers

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

The project generate a net 3X in organic keywords and over a 12 month period was responsible for a 165% in organic traffic. I'm fairly confident that these results are primarily due to their work as we weren't running any additional organic campaigns at that time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless. Effective communication and workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Mentioned earlier, the use of high quality design aesthetics to increase user retention and overall quality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an online marketplace helping business owners shop, compare, and apply to the best financial products available to them. As the director of content marketing, I oversee Fundera's content and SEO strategy.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

We hired Siege Media for a full site redesign and for web design work required for launching a new website.

What were your goals for this project?

Improve the user experience of our website and give the website an updated look and feel that would better reflect our brand. For the new website launch, our goals were to create page layouts that would work well for a publishing site and speak to the early stage of the website's brand.

How did you select Siege Media?

We've worked with Siege Media in the past, employing them for other content marketing efforts that required web design. We saw first hand how thoughtful and talented their content marketers and designers were. Based on that experience, we were very comfortable and excited to move this larger redesign and new site build project forward with them.

Describe the project in detail.

We set out to redesign each existing template on our website, while also envisioning and developing new templates that weren't available to our content team. We worked with Siege Media's team to get aligned on not only the current state of our website, but where we'd hope it would be after the redesign, along with the purpose, goals, and intended use of each template we were going to design.

The Siege team started with our visual identity, working through some design fundamentals for the work upcoming. After that, the team started chipping away at iterations of each template, breaking each template down into components that we ultimately gave feedback on. Siege was responsible for not only incorporating what we wanted in the design, but developing new concepts for us as we wanted to experiment with new components/layouts, etc.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one lead designer (Aren) and our project manager (Emily) for the majority of the project. Towards the end, Aren brought in another designer to help out. They collaborated with me, other members of our marketing team, our design team, and our engineering team.

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

We are still launching the work Siege delivered for us, but so far some of the templates have had outsized effects on the templates' bounce rates. We've seen 20 to 25 percentage point decreases in bounce rate on templates, with 1 to 1:30 minute increases in time on site!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between us was quite effective -- the Siege team was incredibly organized and did a great job keeping us informed on the project's process with weekly updates and calls. We worked out a few kinks for delivering and implementing feedback as we got farther along in the project and had more templates under our belt.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

One of their strengths is the team's ability to not only meet your own expectations and goals, but find ways to push the work a bit further. They were great at coming to the table with new designs and concepts for us to consider. They'd frequently take rather nebulous and unformed ideas and deliver concrete work that exceeded our expectations. They have such a great attitude, and no task is too big or too small for them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There really weren't any huge areas of improvement for the team. As mentioned above, there were moments when the best ways to deliver feedback and have it be implement was unclear, but that was mostly due to this being a relatively unique and new project for us.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I consult with an automotive transport trucking company, directing their development of a new B2C retail division to complement their existing B2B business. I directed the building of the website and marketing of this new division. I advised hiring, training, and selection of vendors, as well as assumed operational duties during owner's absences.

For what projects/services did your company hire Siege Media?

Siege brought an understanding of SEO and link building to the website marketing project. We hired Siege Media to create new content and promote it to other websites, journalists for the sake of getting links back to our website and increasing its domain authority.

What were your goals for this project?

We aimed to break into top 10 ranking for competitive keywords in the auto transport industry. To do this, we wanted to improve the link profile and domain authority of the website. We needed links from credible 3rd party sites. We also needed content that was worthy of promotion to these sites.

How did you select this vendor?

We sought out Siege Media as a result of their published expertise in writings and videos, and in writing on trusted 3rd party websites. This demonstrated expertise and gave us confidence they understood the problem. We checked with references they provided as double assurance.

Describe the project in detail.

The project began after founder Ross Hudgeons met me in Los Angeles with my colleague. He confirmed the auto transport niche was competitive but delivered a site analysis that explained the opportunities to improve our existing site, and build new content. Then we undertook the content selection process, seeking topics that would be popular and worth linking to from 3rd party websites that were not directly related to the auto transport industry.

Ross and his team suggested several ideas and we narrowed them down to 3 topics. After the second topic seemed to be a dud, Ross suggested we double down on the third topic and give that an extra effort at no additional cost. We eventually got to two good content pieces we were proud to promote. The development of two solid pieces unfolded.

What was the team composition?

The team included Ross, the founder, plus his team of content linkers and promoters, and designer / coder, and content project manager Caroline Gilbert. My client, the auto transporter, also contributed people to review and publish content.

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

Among the three content pieces produced, one stood out as an exceptional result beyond our expectations. The stand-out piece was about the weirdest driving laws in the USA. Our take on that topic garnered dozens of links and even made the TV evening news of a CBS affiliate. Lots of TV station affiliates picked up this story and generated a surge of traffic and link authority.

Our content rankings on Google for other pages not created by Siege but keyword-optimized on the site then increased as the domain authority increased. This achieved the goal we had intended.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our teams worked efficiently. There were no problems that were noticeable as the client. There was a slight delay in getting a programmer access to our website to complete a special coding task, but this was solved eventually.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciated the creativity in conceiving of topics that were of interest to a general audience when our industry could be considered boring. What's sexy or exciting about auto transport? Siege helped us find a story that spread by word of mouth, one we were proud to promote.

I also appreciated technical SEO consultations that helped us make the website better -- beyond the scope of new content promotion for which we'd paid. I most appreciated the decision to double down on the effort to design and promote this third winning piece of content after the second piece seemed a dud.

Rather than explain away the poor results from the second effort, Ross suggested his team make up for the disappointment by going above and beyond on the third piece. It showed a commitment to the result we sought, more than the process originally outlined. Ross and his team felt like partners working towards the same goal. This was appreciated by me and the owner of the company who was new to SEO and didn't understand the details of how rankings work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We'd like to engage Siege on shorter contractual time frames, more individual project basis. But I understand why they've gone to an engagement model that requires a longer term commitment.