Straight North

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of managed care, PHO, and wellness for UnityPoint Health and Optimum Health Solutions in Peoria, Illinois. Optimum Health Solutions is a particular business unit we own. It’s a corporate worksite wellness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We’d never compiled a website for marketing purposes for the Optimum Health Solutions unit.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We solicited help from Straight North to put together a website. After filling out our statement of work, we agreed on the services we’d purchase and had a kick-off meeting with them. We described our company and went into great detail about what we do and the services we provide. Then, they started drafting the content for our website.

They built the website from scratch, doing design and development work. We developed the website to drive business when people search for our various service lines. We worked closely with Straight North to describe those service lines and what they do, and they wrote the content for us. We spent some time reviewing the content and ensuring it fulfilled our message and what we were trying to get across to potential customers.

Also, we later decided we wanted to have them develop a new logo, which wasn’t in the original scope. We had a logo when they showed us the website’s first draft; we thought the site looked great, but the logo looked awful. We went back to the team and asked them if their graphic designers could give us some options. We had the colors we’d use, but we gave them free rein to come up with alternatives. They developed four logos; we picked one and moved forward from there.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Natalie (Project Manager) and Matthew (Vice President, Sales), who were our main contacts. They worked with people internally on their team.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I knew Matthew. We started discussing their services and if they could assist us with website design. Then, they put together a package of material related to their services, including a financial proposal. We went through the process locally with our CFO and gained approval for the project.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $22,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2019 and launched in July 2022. Currently, they’re doing maintenance and training on adjustments. Additionally, we hope to engage them for business development services in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were pleased with everything they did for us. The quality of their work was exceptional, and the team was highly professional and timely in their communication. Since we have complicated processes, we’d had trouble before developing content that wasn’t too complicated for the end user. However, their writers did an excellent job. We sent them a ton of information, and they turned it into nice, concise summaries — the team did a fantastic job minimizing what we do into bullet points to get the point about our service delivery across

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

We stayed entirely on budget; we only gave additional expenses when we changed or added something. For example, there was an additional cost when we asked them to do our logo and change some things after they completed the project scope. However, we talked about it ahead of time and agreed on a fee structure to move forward. From that standpoint, there weren’t any surprises. Also, they always met expectations and the deadlines we laid out.

We used Google Meet, phone, and email to document the changes we wanted. The situation dictated how we communicated, whether we had a meeting, a phone call, or sent emails back and forth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicated exceptionally well. They brought new ideas and were very thought-provoking. Straight North challenged us to think about our business and how we wanted to promote ourselves. We also changed our minds a few times regarding what we wanted on the website and what we wanted to add, and they were flexible with us.

In addition, they were reasonably priced for all the work they did and were extremely patient. We kicked off our engagement, and since a hospital system owns us, we had to pause the project for over a year and a half because we were all working in the hospital’s clinical settings to help with the pandemic. Nonetheless, they continued to follow up, and when the pandemic hit the second time, we returned to the hospital again. We finally reached the point where we could engage again on the project, and they were very patient with our team to complete this.

Overall, Straight North treated us with the same importance and respect as a large client, although we were a small service line. Sometimes it’s hard to get organizations to help us with certain services because we’re not as important in the grand scheme of things. However, they treated us as their only customer, which we greatly appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On the contrary, we really appreciated their patience. They didn’t give up on us despite the long delays we had. They followed up and made sure we could launch when we were ready to go.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing manager at Current Midwest. We are based in Michigan City, IN, and supply industrial electrical products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We are in a niche market and offer unique products to a specific client base. We’ve been driving inbound sales efforts recently because our outbound sales strategies were ineffective. We wanted to increase our website traffic through marketing to drive inbound leads. Our goal was to optimize the search and make it easier for potential customers to find our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the proposal stage, Straight North helped us with keyword research and came to us with 135 keywords. They also conducted a competitor analysis of the top ten results for nine of our relevant keywords.

Once we moved forward with the partnership, they performed a content gap analysis. We presented our website and shared information regarding our target clientele. We also went over our most important product lines. They analyzed three of our landing pages, shared feedback, and updated them. They worked with us to build organic SEO campaigns. They added and revised our website content and added backlinks. We plan to extend our engagement for another six months and they will continue to help us with SEO. 

What is the team composition?

I have worked with two people; Michelle is our account manager and the main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I had worked with Straight North on PPC at my former company, and when we were researching partners for this SEO project, they kept showing up at the top of the search results. 

We sent out an RFP and narrowed it down to three partners during the proposal stage, and Straight North stood out. Their proposal was very robust, and they made it feel as though we were already working with them. We thought they would be the best partner for optimizing organic searches and moved forward. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly $25,000 in the partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Straight North in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since working with Straight North, we’ve seen a 70% increase in website traffic. Even better, we’ve seen a 233% increase in conversions. We define conversions by the number of users who come to our website and click the call button or send in an interest form. We’re having one of our best years so far, so we see the impact in dollars, not just traffic.

The landing pages that we provided Straight North with at the beginning of the project have also seen significant traffic increases. These pages were basically untouched before we started working with Straight North, and they’ve seen increases by 187%, 150%, and 433%, respectively. We’re just seeing so much more overall traffic, and I know our brand recognition is stronger because more people seem to know our name. 

The most exciting thing about our partnership has been the quality of the leads coming in. I believe the quality of leads has improved due to the content that Straight North added. Not only do we see more traffic to our website, but the people reaching out are more qualified, farther along in the sales cycle, and ready to buy. 

We were initially focused on increasing our number of prospects, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that the average spend from our current clients has increased. The increased spending is due to them finding our other product lines more easily. Customers who have been with us for decades are coming back and purchasing different types of products that they didn’t know we offered.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Michelle is an exceptional project manager, and I have enjoyed working with her. She keeps the project on track, works with her team behind the scenes, and then communicates progress with me directly. It’s been a great relationship, and I look forward to continuing to work with Straight North. 

During the proposal stage, they gave us a six-month scope of work, and then we extended it for another six months. I went back through the original scope, and they exceeded expectations for what they promised. They did an excellent job providing me with updates. We used a portal to manage the project, which granted us visibility into task progress and status to completion. 

The whole process has been straightforward. They have made it easy for us to see progress and find areas for improvement. They are very motivated to deliver what they promise. 

I was very diligent about going through the project plan and ensuring we got everything we paid for, and we did. We have monthly Zoom calls and use email to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been in the business for a long time, and I can’t say enough good things about Straight North; they are the best. The team is wonderful, and I’m impressed with how invested they’ve been from the beginning. They always ensure we are satisfied with their results and are getting our money’s worth.

They are highly respected in their industry and even by their competitors. When we decided to move forward with Straight North, the other vendors who submitted proposals acknowledged their aptitude with SEO and told us we would be very happy with our decision. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Straight North could improve on. I’ve been delighted with the partnership; I wouldn’t change anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise ensuring your content is ready because Straight North is a fast-moving team. They always stick to the timeline, and the scope of work they outline is the work they’re going to do, so try to be organized.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Marketing for America's largest independent industrial equipment and service provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North, and what were your goals?

We needed an updated corporate website that better told our story, while also incorporating services and capabilities from our 24 operating units, each with their own website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was not a part of this decision, I hadn't joined the company when this decision was made.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The site was built in Wordpress, so the majority of our requirement was to help us decide how best to share large volumes of information in a digestible format.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had one project manager who solely handled all interactions between ISS and the vendor.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The site was launched a week ago, and so far, the performance of the website is much improved. The site runs quickly and smoothly, and is more intuitive to navigate.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They were very responsive, and they did a great job of keeping me abreast of the project's development and providing realistic time and cost estimates.

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

We had to go through a broad set of revisions late in the process, resulting in some significant changes to the site structure. Resources were readily made available to ensure that these changes were executed swiftly and accurately.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not really, this was what I'd hoped for from a project of this scale.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the regional sales and marketing manager for DuroVac, an industrial vacuum manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We were trying to optimize the resources we were spending on SEO and PPC. We were using a third-party marketing firm before, but our ROI was minimal, so we needed someone who specialized in that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North dived into our business and asked many leading questions to understand our challenges and core markets — specifically what we wanted to see as our top five keyword searches. From there, they gave us strategies to go back to our web development team to wave the keywords into the language, messaging, and branding we use.

Initially, they did a free audit and told us some of the things they found. Straight North helped us prioritize tasks and came back with a budget. They gave us different options to build our pricing modules and were clear about the results we’d receive in exchange for those fixed fees.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been in contact with three core people.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

We initially found them through Google. They came up at the top, so our logic was that they obviously knew what they were doing from a marketing standpoint if they appeared at the top of the list. Additionally, the team was responsive from the beginning, and they were always on time and committed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $16,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021 and have a 12-month contract with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our click-through rate has risen significantly, so now we’re actually above industry standards, which is huge. Also, the number of leads has increased about 10% per month just in the two months we’ve had the campaign live and running.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve given us a customized dashboard, and we can access it 24/7. It has live built-in reporting, so we can always go into the system and take a look for ourselves. Also, we have routinely scheduled calls once a month to go over the data.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very responsive and detailed. The team gets back to us quickly and stays on top of things. Also, they structure everything to respect the challenges that we have. Straight North provides us with a checklist of what they need from us and the dates, which is incredibly helpful because everything is summarized and laid out, making it more manageable from a time perspective.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, their service has been delightful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The free consultation is worth doing. Their team provided us with real-time information about things that we hadn’t even noticed, and the things they brought to our attention were amazing. It was immediately evident that we had to make a change.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the growth marketing manager for Airtame, and we basically create hardware and software that allows people to share their screens on different screens, both digital signage, conferencing, and screen mirroring.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We hired them to manage all of our paid media strategies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Straight North team began by creating Facebook ads and a little bit of Google Ads. Due to OUR previous experience and several pieces of research that we had done, we determined that we needed to do more Google Ads, which included Google Search and Google Display ads. We did have some older campaigns, but we didn’t have a lot of data related to Google Ads. They continue to focus on driving our PPC advertising strategies by creating our ads and optimizing them.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with Katie (Account Manager) and 2–3 other people from their team.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

We left our old agency because they weren’t up to par with what we needed them to be. We then reached out to 12–15 agencies asking them about their services, costs, and structure. In the end, we felt that Straight North was the best fit for what we were looking for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2021, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been able to quickly get us off the ground, and we’ve been seeing great results from their work. Since they’ve managed our paid media strategies, we’ve had no downtime in our ads, and they’ve allowed us to efficiently switch to various platforms.

On metrics, our overall site traffic has increased, and we’re getting better conversions and sales. In addition, the work that they’re doing exceeds the industry benchmarks. Overall, they feel like an extension of our team. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a top-notch project management process. If they don’t know the answer to our questions, they quickly get back to us as soon as they have a solid answer.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re confident that they’re going to get things done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything critical to share at the moment since it’s still quite early in our engagement to see any areas for improvement. In fact, we’ve been able to get everything that we need from them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand what your product is and the target market for those products. When you have that, Straight North will be able to produce a lot of things and optimize from there. If you have existing market research and keyword research, that will certainly speed things up.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of marketing at a software medical device manufacturer that develops pre-operative planning solutions for orthopedic surgeons.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

One of our in-house engineers had developed a website a few years prior, but we weren't getting any traction or new leads with the site. We wanted to use the website to showcase our products in a professional way to improve our lead generation. Coincidently, around the time we wanted to update our site, we launched a new product and thought it was the perfect time to try a new online marketing strategy with it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North designed and developed a new website for us from scratch. We requested that the design be more user-focused to help users identify the products they could use and guide them down a path towards a demo request. We provided use cases and user stories to appeal to our core audience: surgeons, surgical staff, and implementing facilities. 

They also helped us create site content to improve our SEO using keywords we provided that focused on orthopedic surgeons. I also sent them our competitors' sites to see where they were positioned. In the end, about 80% of the content on the new website was new, with a few holdovers from the previous site. 

Once the design and content were finalized, Straight North began development work in WordPress. They added a targeted request form for users to fill out connected to our sales pipeline and Slack to ensure we're not losing potential leads. They also improved our website speed and connected us to a hosting platform. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager, Matthew (VP Sales), and a larger backend team of 5–6. 

How did you come to work with Straight North?

One of our market researchers looked locally for a firm and did more general Google searching to find several firms. Once we added Straight North to our shortlist, one of our employees realized they'd worked with them and gave them an internal referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $15,000 with Straight North. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Straight North from May–December 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're currently reorganizing internally, so I haven't looked at our Google Analytics metrics yet. Anecdotally, however, we're getting more site traffic and more demo requests than before — we get an average of two demo requests a day. That means that users are coming to the new website, sticking around, and asking for more information. A few customers who have seen the new site have given positive feedback. Internally, we've gotten good feedback from our employees because the company's story is clearer and looks more professional. 

The contact form Straight North developed evolved into a new channel for our current customers to use to communicate with us instead of calling. We're now considering expanding that online channel with Straight North's help. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

I was pleased with Straight North's project management; they stayed within budget. I worked with the project manager almost exclusively, and he was responsive and easy to work with. Since we're a federally regulated company, we have firm project deadlines since we have to pass everything through our compliance team. Straight North's project manager ensured we met those deadlines and was always clear about what we needed to provide to hit them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really like Straight North because their offerings are à la carte; if they don't have something, they'll connect us with a partner. We're a B2B company in a small market with a high-lifetime value proposition and don't need regular updates to our site. However, the fact that they offer those services outside of our contract is excellent. 

I also appreciated that, as a tech company, Straight North was open to us working with other firms. It was comforting to know that we could take full ownership of the deliverables and manage our own content after the project was finished. Their team was also very transparent about the work they were doing. Other companies gave us complicated proposals that made it hard to understand the costs, but Straight North was very open about what they were charging us, which aligned with how we run our business. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The content sign-off document that Straight North provided was confusing, which led to me putting content in the wrong spot. We then spent a lot of time going back and forth to iron out the issues, setting our timeline back. It would've been great if Straight North provided more clarity on those documents and their uses.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Straight North requires customers to sign multiple documents that their copy editors use to build site copy. I'd advise customers not to assume anything about how those documents are used; customers should set up a call with the Straight North team to explain them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company designs and manufactures custom-made packaging machinery for the food/beverage, pharmaceutical, and other industries. I am a sales support team member at the company and handle most of the company's marketing activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North?

Our website was created by a third-party marketer entirely in HTML. Not only did our site look outdated, we were also unable to edit the site and were entirely reliant on the third party to make all of our edits. We were looking for a solution which allowed us to edit the site on our own in a more expeditious and cost-effective manner.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

One of our sales manager's business contacts used Straight North's services to redesign their company site and recommended that we try using them too. We appreciated that they had experience with sites in our industry and their down-to-earth way of discussing the project details.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We began discussing the details of how we wanted the site to look at the end of April, and SN gave us several updates consisting of general skeletons of the site, the theme, and content. They allowed us to have a large hand in how the site looked and felt, and we were able to make changes to any of the copy provided.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

In total, we worked with a project manager, a web designer, and a copywriter

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of our colleagues and customers love the new design! We can already see the level of traffic on our website going up thanks to SN's interactive web design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was in steady communication throughout the process, and there was never a time where I felt concerned that we wouldn't meet our deadline. And we actually were able to launch close to two weeks earlier than planned!

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

I really appreciated Straight North for working so hard to give us what we wanted. I have experience in web design, but not enough to make a full-blown site. It made me very happy that SN was so receptive to my feedback.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Things can always be done faster or with more efficiency, and nothing is ever "perfect", but I would do everything the way it was done all over again. My company and I have no complaints, and plan to utilize any of SN's additional web-related resources that we can!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of an equipment rental company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We wanted to update our website in order to better communicate our value proposition to the market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North relandscaped our entire website to the point where it was much easier on the eye. We shared our ideas, and they worked on improving our platform’s UI by making it easier to navigate. On top of that, they assisted us in completing our website content. Overall, they helped us in quickly communicating facts about our business to potential visitors.

What is the team composition?

I only worked with one person. I came in halfway through the process since I was only hired to take over the project. As a result, I didn’t know if there were other people involved.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from March–July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I couldn’t tell you any quantitative data, but our stakeholders and shareholders were pleased with our website’s update. They said they liked our website’s organization and flow because they perfectly aligned with our company’s mission. The platform also highlighted what we were good at, specifically our core business.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

The team helped us with our strategic efforts. We communicated through phone calls and emails. Then, we used Microsoft Word to send documents. Even though I was busy at times and couldn’t answer their email for a few days, they cordially followed up. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They persevered and stuck with us to make sure that we stayed on track and accomplish the goal we set out to achieve. They didn’t let our project turn into a cold case file. In addition, even when our business was redirected many times, they stayed engaged and responsible. Overall, Straight North did a good job in our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they missed little things here and there. However, it didn’t really affect the overall project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Push them because they can do a lot of things that you won’t expect. More importantly, you have to tell them what you need so that they can get back to you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of marketing for an analytics company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?
Our team wanted to improve our organic search results. We brought them on for SEO services.
 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
We entered into a six-month contract of SEO support. Our account manager helped optimize our website with keywords, handled link building, and wrote some content for us. They also discussed and executed our project plan on a month-to-month basis. Their team provided recommendations on how to update our landing pages with those keywords as well as wrote keyword-rich blogs for us. In addition to the research, they monitored results and handled backend SEO work. We utilized their custom platform as a centralized place for our different results.

What is the team composition?
I worked with an account manager who was replaced in the middle of the engagement with another account manager because it wasn’t working well. We also worked with the director of client success at times.

How did you come to work with Straight North?
I found them on Clutch. We went with them because the salesperson was very convincing in relaying that Straight North would be guiding us and doing a lot of the work. The fact that they had content writers was very appealing. We have a small marketing department and not a lot of bandwidth.

How much have you invested with them?
We invested $2,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement was from September 2020–April 2021.
 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 
There was a moderate increase in organic search volume over time. We had just launched a site and started at ground zero. There was some improvement, but I’m not sure if it can be differentiated from the site or in response to Straight North’s work.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?
In terms of an account management perspective, it was pretty unorganized and difficult to follow. Our first account manager wasn’t very proactive. I had to be the one to initiate a project plan and ask for a weekly meeting; it wasn’t a turnkey that was set in place from the start. I was under the expectation that the partnership would be more educational and Straight North would guide our company more through the process.

We had never done SEO for our company before. I had to deliberately ask them to be clearer and provide more context around what they were doing. Once I asked that they were really receptive and put me in the right direction; there was more of that educational tone. It took some time to make sure our relationship was fine-tuned and running in an efficient way. I met with our account manager every other week. We used email and Zoom to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?
Their sales team was great at the beginning. Also, their reporting tool is interesting. It was nice to have a centralized place to keep track of all the project work and results.

Are there any areas they could improve?
I was a little underwhelmed and not impressed with their ability to write content. They’d incorporate keywords into our site and blogs. However, they didn’t do so in a way that was aligned with our branding. I had to rework almost every piece of content that they sent to us. That made it more difficult.

I thought the content writing piece would streamline my work quite a bit but, in the end, it didn’t. I had to go back and do a lot of it myself.  A few pieces of content they put together weren’t totally focused on the topic at hand so they had to redo it. The timing of the content came as their writers wrote it which was often a few weeks after the deadline or project calendar. 

My recommendation to them is to better align with the client's content updates so the content can better align with the brand in addition to just adding keywords to the site. It’d also be beneficial if they were more transparent and upfront about how their process and different deadlines work.

Additionally, when we changed account managers, they didn’t inform us that it would be happening. I asked why it was happening and they expressed that we’d be better suited for the new account manager. That whole transition was done in a politically correct way versus a transparent way. It was a bit odd. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
We didn’t have the best experience working with them. Perhaps, it can be based on the project manager that you’re with. Make sure you’re straightforward about what your SEO learning curve is upfront to ensure you’re placed with the right account manager. Also, be prepared to make edits and work iteratively if you’re looking for them to recreate all the content on your website. The perfect product won’t be delivered on the first try.
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at a manufacturing company that makes manufacturing solutions for the factory automation industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We saw a need to revamp our website because it had been a few years since it had been redone. We operate a separate website from our Japan corporation. Our US website was a landing page that would only link back to our Japan website.

It was challenging to track the SEO and what our visitors were searching for. We wanted to make an independent US website so that we could more effectively support our US customers. We also wanted to come up higher on the Google search rankings.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North upgraded our WordPress website and made it look a lot cleaner and easily navigable. They did both the front- and backend and we can build on the platform. They’re now helping us with an SEO campaign.

What is the team composition?

We initially worked with Brian (Senior Account Executive). Once we decided to sign on, I worked primarily with Natalie (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Straight North?

When we were doing research for a website designer, it was important for us to have someone who had experience supporting clients in the manufacturing industry because the content is very niche. We found out that Straight North had that experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $40,000 in total. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from early summer 2019. The SEO campaign is still ongoing, but the website was launched in September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are certain features on the website that weren’t present before, such as testimonials and YouTube videos. We have a lot more content. I think we’re improving our presence online.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. Sometimes my internal team and I had some back and forth that made it difficult for Straight North to move along. They were very patient with us.

Natalie coordinated the meetings with her content writers, website designers, and engineers. We mostly communicate via email, and I visited their office where they presented designs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is always really present, and they follow up often. They didn’t pressure us even though we were formulating our needs as we went. Additionally, the website looks great, and their design expertise and customer support are excellent. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. They give good support. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear vision of what you need. If you have that, Straight North will make sure that it comes to fruition.