Whittington Consulting

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Communications of Virginia Association of Counties

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We advocate and educate on behalf of Virginia's counties.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Whittington Consulting to accomplish?

Build a new website

SOLUTION

How did you find Whittington Consulting?

Previous Business Together

Why did you select Whittington Consulting over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• They are the best at what they do

How many teammates from Whittington Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Whittington Consulting has built two new websites for the Virginia Association of Counties. Each time they delivered exactly what we and our county members wanted. Now county leaders, staff, and residents can find pertinent information quicker and easier - thanks to Whittington Consulting. 

Each step of both projects were done with supreme professionalism and skill. They are really good at what they do and have cracked the code on customer service. Whittington Consulting is simply the best.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We've seen an increase in traffic and activity. But what we've heard from county leaders and members is the website is beautiful and extremely functional. They love it.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very agreeable. Very professional. On time. Kept me on schedule. Life is hard. Why make it harder? Whittington Consulting keeps things simple and easy. It's a joy to work with them.

What was your primary form of communication with Whittington Consulting?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

At the Virginia Association of Counties - we believe in the power of personal and professional relationship. We strive to build relationships. We consider Rick and the staff of Whittington Consulting as friends. 

We've known them a long time and over that time they have consistently proved themselves to be honest, reliable, and just nice people. Plus they did outstanding work and provided the best customer service. Their uniqueness is the way they build relationships with their clients.

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

We were very satisfied with the work. We can't think of any improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the former digital marketing and PR specialist for a senior living services company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whittington Consulting?

We hired Whittington to manage our Facebook and Google ads; they handled our PPC and display ads. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Whittington worked on a specific campaign for our ad strategy. The campaign was designed to promote our personal care service line. They created a system of messaging and graphics to accompany our retargeting and first-touch ads across Facebook and Google.

We provided them with a brief of what the campaign looked like for us and our goals. From there, they created an ad strategy that suited the campaign. The team produced the creative assets for the ads; we provided them with the logos necessary for the ads, and they created the graphics. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people from their team, namely an account manager, a Facebook ad specialist, a Google PPC specialist, and a Google display ad specialist.

How did you come to work with Whittington Consulting?

The company found Whittington through a referral. We chose them over their competitors because they specialized in inbound marketing and were experienced in working with senior living organizations, which was important for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started in December 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. I’ve since left the company. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team saw an increase in page traffic and conversions as a result of the paid search campaign. Our Google search ranking also improved. 

How did Whittington Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Whittington delivered everything on time and was responsive when new priorities came up. They were always willing to shift their strategy to accomplish whatever our goals were. We typically communicated via Zoom and email. For project management, we used Trello. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were inbound marketing specialists. On top of that, they were experienced in our industry, which made the biggest difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I recommend they use better project management software, such as Basecamp. Having worked with agencies, I always preferred communicating via a project management app rather than having everything on email, where things could get lost. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your goals from the get-go. Whittington is highly transparent on whether or not they can accomplish your goals and how they can work on them. They’re not going to take on a project if they don’t feel that they can be helpful with what you want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the office manager! We market the whole area of the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation which consists of Alleghany County, the City of Covington, the Town of Clifton Forge and the Town of Iron Gate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Whittington Consulting, and what were your goals?

Our website was created several years ago yet it was outdated. We invested in a new logo and website and hired this team to give us a new fresh look with a robust and updated site with hopes of increasing traffic to the site.

SOLUTION

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

Our board reviewed the work of this team and chose them to enhance our site.

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

We had a kickoff meeting discussing goals, objectives and the content we wanted to see. This team went to work to produce us a more robust site reflecting more of the corporation's services including a connection to VEDP's sites.

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

During this whole process we have worked with a logo designer, a marketing crew, and a web designer as well as others.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am not sure of our numbers yet but we have had lots of compliments on the rebranding of our organization.

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

There were communications on a regular basis providing all them information they needed as well as regular meetings to make sure we were all on tract.

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

They were very professional, took the time to review our website, and provided a video for me for future reference.

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

Perfectly happy with the content, services when needed, etc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing and communications manager at the Shenandoah Partnership, a regional economic development organization. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whittington Consulting?

We wanted to build a talent acquisition companion website for our primary development website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Whittington Consulting designed, developed, and launched our talent acquisition WordPress website. We relayed our needs and required content. Their team then organized that information and created a user-friendly site map, template, design, and taglines.

Whittington Consulting did all of the design work, including several custom modules. One module displayed our monthly podcast episodes, and another was an ambassador program spotlight. After the design was finalized, they developed the front- and backend of our website and launched it. 

Now, Whittington Consulting performs monthly maintenance — they update our plug-ins and user flows. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Rick (Principal), Alana (Senior UX/UI Designer), and Bryan (Lead Developer).

How did you come to work with Whittington Consulting?

I've worked with Whittington Consulting on several projects over the last 10 years. We were in such a niche market, and I knew Whittington Consulting could develop a website to fit our needs. They already understood our unique audience, and I trusted them to execute the project in a way that would appropriately communicate our mission to our audience.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested less than $10,000 with Whittington Consulting on this website development project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project with Whittington Consulting lasted from October 2020–January 2021. However, our partnership is ongoing because we're continuing to add new features. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Whittington Consulting created a website that filled a significant need within our community. We're getting a lot of positive feedback from our partners across the region. Everyone on our staff and our board members are pleased with the website. 

They completely exceeded my expectations — I haven't seen anything like what they developed for us on our competitors' websites.

How did Whittington Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Whittington Consulting really excelled at project management, and their communication was great. Typically, we communicated via phone calls and emails. 

They understood our tight timeline and set specific deadlines to ensure we hit our launch date. The project took less than three months from conception to launch — we could work within such a tight timeline because of how well they laid out project deadlines for my team and theirs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Whittington Consulting is good at listening to a client's needs and wants — they can turn those into a successful platform for the client. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for them to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise customers to be upfront with what they want and ask a lot of questions. Whittington Consulting has the unique ability to translate developmental answers into layman's terms. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a chemical storage tank manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whittington Consulting?

We wanted to move our website to a WordPress format.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Whittington Consulting helped us redesign our website. They came out with the design by mimicking our old site and turning it into a 21st-century page in terms of look and feel. After coming up with the platform’s appearance, they passed it to a programmer who implemented everything.

They also came up with the copy for each page; it wasn’t something lengthy. It’s just something that’d spark people’s attention.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Caroline (Account Manager), Bill (Copywriter), Brian (Programmer), and Alana (Designer).

How did you come to work with Whittington Consulting?

One of our employees knew someone from their team, so it was a word of mouth thing. We’ve been working together for more than ten years, so we chose them for this project because we trust them and they know our business.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from February–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their website redesign, we now have an updated Chemical Resistance Guide, which gives users immediate access to updated information at their fingertips — it’s a much more user-friendly interface for mobile devices. Our page is also loading faster, and that shortens the browsing time. We also can put high-definition photos on our site, along with more ways for users to contact us.

How did Whittington Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent; it felt like we were always ahead of deadlines. They were also very professional when answering questions or asking us for something for the project — we had plenty of time to get things done right. In terms of communication, we used email, phone calls, and Teamwork to share documents and keep schedules.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their interest in developing and understanding our business to the point of going to our facility to see what we do was key to the partnership’s success. Our work became easy because they knew what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — we were delighted with their work.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be open and help them understand your business and needs. The right information will allow them to draw out the knowledge you need for an effective project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Inspiring HR. We offer consultancy to small businesses owners to help them build HR systems and processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whittington Consulting?

We were trying to improve our business development and sales practices, so we needed help migrating from the free version of HubSpot to the paid version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Whittington evaluated our HubSpot and what we had documented regarding sales and marketing practices. Then, based on their knowledge of the platform, they made recommendations of what we should consider before they conduct the migration, like backend training for our internal team. 

The Whittington team then proceeded to conduct the migration. They customized the backend specifically to help us adjust easily. Afterward, they requested reports and uploaded the client information we already had into HubSpot to give us a jumpstart. Finally, our internal team underwent training, which helped us use it on our own. The project is finished, but Whittington still helps us troubleshoot occasionally.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with an account manager.

How did you come to work with Whittington Consulting?

They were actually one of our clients. Additionally, they had a reputation for being great at digital marketing, so we would’ve hired them even if they weren’t a client.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $9,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from October 2020–May 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They successfully ramped up our processes on HubSpot. We had a fantastic experience working with them — Whittington provided excellent customer service. They exceeded our expectations.

How did Whittington Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was very reliable and professional. Whittington trained our team through video calls and screen sharing. Most of our communication was via email and phone calls, and they were very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was so easy to work with them. The Whittington team really prioritized customer service. They were able to predict our needs in advance, which allowed them to solve things quicker.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they had explained certain things to us more, but to be fair, I didn’t know HubSpot well enough to ask them about these during the project. Overall, we have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a similar project, I can confidently recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Elder Research is a predictive analytic data science consultancy. I’m the director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whittington Consulting?

We wanted to update our corporate website. The company had been in business for, at that time, 20 years, and the website was rather dated and needed a modern look. Also, it was not mobile-responsive, so we needed to address that issue to make it a more manageable, attractive platform.

The other thing is we don't have the staff to do ongoing updates. We needed somebody knowledgeable in web coding. We needed assistance with selecting a platform that would provide an intuitive interface for making ongoing updates and changes to the website for somebody who’s not a web designer. Those were the main challenges: refresh and modernize the look to make it a better overall experience for the user and improve the site’s navigation and maintainability.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Whittington Consulting started off with a kickoff meeting at our Charlottesville, Virginia headquarters. I tried to have the entire leadership team available for that. The meeting was fairly in-depth and went for about two hours. They came prepared with a series of questions that really tried to drill down into the details of our business and to understand what our expectations were for the project, what challenges or problems we had with our current site, and what were some prioritized requests for the new website. They spent a fair amount of time understanding our business and project requirements to the point where, after the meeting, our vice president commented about how impressed he was with their level of knowledge and detail. He expected them to come in and just be web designers and only want to know more about what it should look like rather than trying to understand our business and customer personas and how that would affect the design.

The services that they provided started with the kickoff meeting, and then they drafted a website map so we could get an idea of what the overall page and navigational structure would look like. We went through several iterations to refine the site map before we started to develop content. We initially developed some new page content, while Whittington imported content from our existing website. Some of the new content was based on a series of interviews Whittington conducted with different members of our technical and leadership staff. We asked Whittington Consulting to target specific pages where they would draft the initial content and supply it to us for final editing before it went on the website. The overall web content was a collaborative effort; we did 70% of it, and they drafted 30% of it with final editing by our team.

Then, they helped with the selection of the platform. We ended up choosing HubSpot, which we are very pleased with. Initially, we were considering using WordPress but decided afterward that some of the amenities, analytics, and the ease of use of the HubSpot platform made it a better choice.

How did you come to work with Whittington Consulting?

After I had drafted the RFP [request for proposal] to do this project, I found them through a Google search. I wasn't necessarily restricting it to local firms, but that was a plus. They're based in Richmond, and we are based in Charlottesville. They were one of three or four companies that I ultimately submitted the RFP to ranging from New York to California. Working with a firm that could be onsite, face-to-face, for some of these meetings was more productive than a teleconference.

I liked their overall value based on what they were planning to offer and their pricing for that service. After talking with Rick, the owner, to get a better feel for their proposal and to review their reference websites, I concluded that their offer provided the greatest value and ultimately awarded them the project.

How much have you invested with Whittington Consulting?

There was a one-time development charge of between $20,000 and $50,000. There are no ongoing maintenance or service fees; it was a flat project cost to do the website development and launch.​

​​​​​​What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February of 2016. Our collaboration is ongoing. I’ve had them do several updates or feature enhancements to the website since we launched based on things that have changed or new capabilities that I wanted. They've been very responsive in providing services to do those in a timely fashion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before the launch of the new website, we had about 90 to 100 website visitors a day. Now, we're ranging anywhere from 300–500 a day. We've had several clients and prospects compliment us on the website; they said it's one of the best they've seen. Any project like that is long and arduous. Coming out of it with a product on the backend that accomplishes what it's meant to be—effective, attractive, and informative to prospective clients—is great feedback and a compliment to Whittington Consulting. I've had a lot of internal feedback that they did a great job, and our own staff and leadership said that the end result exceeded their expectations.

How did Whittington Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a very effective job. They had a web designer and another person who was involved more with the project management side of it, and they kept us on track. The frequency and level of communication from them were great throughout the process and kept me informed about where they were with the process, what were some of the next steps, or what were the needs or expectations from our side. They gave me advance notices so I could line up the appropriate personnel if I had to rely on others for completing the next steps. I was very pleased with the way they managed the overall project.

​​​​​​What did you find most impressive about Whittington Consulting?

I can't really answer that in comparison to others because this is the first time I've been through a project like this, but I can compare it relative to the value from the comparative quotes I got from my very detailed RFP. For the price Whittington Consulting charged, which was the lowest bid that I received, and after comparing feature for feature what I would be getting from others for a higher price, I determined that I was getting pretty much apples to apples across the board. I didn't think going in (but you never know until you're into the fray) that I was sacrificing anything as a result of going with the lowest bid. Their performance, relative to our expectations, exceeded what we thought they could do for that price; it was pretty phenomenal.

Are there any areas Whittington Consulting could improve?

The only hiccup was that they had personnel changes in the middle of the project, which set us back a bit on the schedule. Some of that was outside of their purview; it happens to all companies. The overall schedule that was planned from the beginning was extended quite a bit, but the vast majority of that delay was on our end. It took time to get through the review, editing, and final approval of the page content. The schedule impact from Whittington, relative to the delay that we caused, was fairly insignificant.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of GO Virginia Region 8

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

State-funded Regional Economic Development Organization

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Whittington Consulting to accomplish?

• Update website

SOLUTION

How did you find Whittington Consulting?

Relationship

Why did you select Whittington Consulting over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Relationship!

How many teammates from Whittington Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Navigation Updates
• Additional Page Creation
• Information Sign-Up
• Page Function Updates
• Staff Training
• Website Design and Development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Greater reach, more functionality, more views

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They provided continuous follow-up and communication to stay on schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Whittington Consulting?

Virtual Meeting

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

Extremely high service levels. They genuinely wanted to help us improve.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Administrative Coordinator for a regional council which oversees a Virginia state initiative.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Whittington Consulting, and what were your goals?

Whittington was hired initially to give feedback on our current website and then hired to develop/implement enhancements.

SOLUTION

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

They were strongly recommended by a co-worker for their professionalism and quality of work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team I worked with was great!  They were professional, timely, and responsive.

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

The team kept in communication, offered advice, and maintained deadlines.

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

The team was focused on making sure I was happy with every aspect of the project.

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