This case study shares why the Weinheimer Group chose to partner with Content Pros to meet their clients’ diverse digital content needs.

 

The Weinheimer Group is a digital marketing agency that specializes in connecting brands with the artificial intelligence (AI) mobile movement. They help firms figure out their brand identity and plan their digital marketing strategy, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (think chatbots and smart apps that anticipate user needs). Content shared on social channels is a core element of any digital marketing campaign. They knew from the start that they’d be providing quality brand-focused content for their clients. For an agency juggling numerous clients, however, that’s a monumental task. It requires management of a large team of writers, editing, and quality control.

That’s why since 2016, Content Pros has played a key role in enhancing the agency’s branding campaigns by creating quality content targeting their clients’ specific needs. Hiring Content Pros has saved the agency the enormous time expense and hassle of managing a team of freelance writers, while ensuring outstanding results every time.

Who They Are

With just five staff members, the agency has an impressive reach, boasting clients such as Samsung, Sprint, Texas Instruments, and HealthIT.gov on its roster. Based in Austin, Texas, the Weinheimer Group formed in early 2016.

 

The agency’s areas of focus include technology, healthcare, energy, financial services, corporate social responsibility, and cause marketing. It handles every aspect of the brand development and brand strategy processes, from conducting a brand audit to launching a brand identity campaign and tracking the results. The website asserts, We keep lookout and ride shotgun. We are command control for brand development, countdown, launch and every brand experience thereafter. More recently, it has begun focusing more on connecting brands with opportunities to use AI to promote and enhance their products.

 

Tim Weinheimer is the agency’s founder, strategist, and fearless leader. He’s won more than 30 industry awards for his digital marketing efforts.

The Weinheimer Group started working with Content Pros in the final quarter of 2016. From the beginning, they were impressed by Content Pros’ ability to deliver superb results while saving them countless hours of managing freelancers each week.

Saving Agencies a Wealth of Time

Agencies have to juggle a lot of things, and they have to deal with a lot of different moving parts of their business, Tim explains. Content production is a vital but time-consuming piece of the puzzle. It means recruiting and managing a team of individual writers, which includes reviewing and editing their work. That’s a full-time job in itself. And most agencies just don’t have that kind of time to devote purely to content production.

Professionals who specialize in digital content can produce a higher quality product in a much shorter timeframe than busy agency staff who specialize in another area. It’s all about time savings, and providing them with someone who they can actually rely on, because it’s difficult enough to find and manage freelancers on your own and worry about the final output, he emphasizes.

How did their relationship with Content Pros begin? When we started in 2016, we had five freelance strategists with different specialties”data scientists, a solutions architect, a social media strategist, says Tim. Their small marketing team was already juggling numerous balls, and it needed content for its own social media channels as well as its clients.

There’s no time to write content for yourself. Agencies are sometimes the worst at producing their own relevant content,

They tried working with freelancers, but that proved challenging. A few of those freelancers are still with them today, to handle articles that require a Ph.D-level of understanding about a topic for certain clients. But trying to manage a team of writers who could serve all their clients proved inefficient. They weren’t trying to turn themselves into a full-time content production firm.

Then Tommy from Content Pros reached out and pitched this idea: Instead of contracting individuals freelancers to work with specific clients, they could contract a whole team that would oversee every aspect of production for each individual client and guarantee an outstanding product every time.

Tim was intrigued. The subjects they needed writers to cover spanned a broad range of fields, and the writing style needed to vary dramatically. There was a need for someone who could talk about more basic stuff like public relations, but there was also a need to find someone who could talk about mobile banking. That right there is quite a spectrum, he explains.

Even agencies that have a lot of in-house writers have Content Pros produce their digital content. Tim says one of his clients is an agency with twenty-five or more in-house writers, but they’re all busy writing for their own clients. It’s more cost-effective for them to source content from outside for their own firm’s blog. And since they’re a writing agency, the quality obviously needs to be excellent. Working with Content Pros is the perfect solution.

Tim liked the fact that Content Pros was also a young company, though it had a proven track record. It had developed methods of doing things that worked, but it wasn’t too staunchly set in its ways to adapt to his company’s needs. He felt that growing together would prove mutually beneficial.

Building Brand Visibility for Clients

The digital content that Content Pros creates serves as the voice of a client’s brand; you must tailor every piece to that branding campaign. That’s why Tim gives writers clear guidelines on what he wants to see. I feel like we need to be pretty darn clear on what we want the end to be; otherwise, as with any project, you could go round and round and it will never, ever get produced, he asserts. From the get go, you guys offered a very diverse set of talent for a lot of the writing that we needed. You’re usually able to find the right person, the right talent, Tim says. Plus, he adds, the writers have proven skilled at taking direction on subject matter and tone. He could request an article on a complex, emerging topic written in a particular voice, and he’d get it.I usually have the concept in my head, with a pretty good outline of what I would like to get from the article, what I want the reader takeaway to be, and what I want the reader to do”how I want it to tie back to us or the client.This client-specific content is typically meant to help generate leads, as well as keeping current customers engaged by informing them about relevant topics. For that reason, it’s shared through social channels rather than in traditional marketing materials, Tim says.

A diverse range of topics and styles

Content Pros’ writers are skilled at shifting between a wide range of tones. Whether a client needs a humorous piece that sounds like advice from a friend, or a piece written in the voice of a data specialist talking to colleagues, they’ll create a piece that shines.Content must be thoroughly grounded in research but easily digestible, since readers don’t have a lot of time, Tim notes. Creating an engaging read while imparting quality information that educates the reader is key.Tim describes how one writer produced a blog post about how the fragmented, changing nature of the news cycle has made it harder to get attention for a brand. The writer created a piece based on a case study that performed extremely well because it was funny and conversational. Sometimes we forget humor is probably one of the most appreciated forms of content, Tim remarks. Merging humor with quality research is a distinct skill that Content Pros’ writing specialists have in spades.

Quality research on emerging topics

Writers from Content Pros are able to dive into complex topics within the client’s area of focus and help the audience wrap their minds around them. Content Pros usually has a writer with a strong foundation in the client’s subject area, who can write confidently on the topic requested. Because the Weinheimer Group often needs writers to cover an emerging topic, writers must be adept at finding quality sources when there’s not a lot to go on yet. They’re willing to go figure something out. That saves us a lot of effort, Tim remarks. When the Weinheimer Group itself began focusing more on artificial intelligence, Content Pros’ writers helped navigate these new waters.

Positioning the Agency as a Thought Leader

The Weinheimer Group also has Content Pros produce content for their own agency, usually in the form of 2,000-word blog posts. They post it on social channels like LinkedIn to inform current and potential customers about topics related to digital marketing. We’re illuminating things that people don’t have time to educate themselves on, Tim says.

A steady stream of actionable content

Our goal has been for us as a consultancy to be one step ahead of our clients in giving them the latest point of view, he emphasizes. A lot of people may still be doing traditional forms of marketing, public relations, branding, advertising. We try to point them in a new direction that gives them more efficiencies and gives them better reach. We feel like the content and writing we need to create has to have a pretty specific point of view. It also needs to be actionable.We make the time to understand what’s happening with personalized software and social media management. That’s why clients hire us for what we do, he asserts. And Content Pros’ writers often help figure those things out and create content that’s valuable to their customers.

A groundbreaking ebook

Content Pros doesn’t just write blog posts. It also offers long-form content like ebooks, if clients provide a strong outline of what they want. (It focuses on content, not design.) Content Pros worked with the Weinheimer Group to provide an ebook in the final months of 2017. Called The Robot Apocalypse: What Your Brand Needs to Survive and Thrive in the Age of AI, it shares when and how to leverage AI to enhance products. The wave of interest in AI began building just after the company’s formation, as manifested by the impending surge in smart home technologies, chatbots, and voice-activated devices. As a young, agile company, it caught that wave and strove to position itself as a thought leader in the emerging field.

The Weinheimer Group is passionate about visual storytelling”developing evocative graphic solutions like this infographic.

The ebook is playing an important role in establishing the Weinheimer Group as a thought leader in the field of AI. Last year, says Tim, he delved into research on artificial intelligence in marketing. Then I thought, very few people have talked about artificial intelligence in branding, and the role it plays relative to brand personalization, he says. He saw an opportunity, and he knew working with Content Pros on the project would help him to seize the moment.Released on January 10, the book formed part of a larger campaign to boost understanding of AI in marketing. It’s based on research that the Weinheimer Group had conducted in partnership with Ipsos, a nationwide polling firm.Thus far, the project has been a sweeping success. The big thing again here is marketing position. Our job is to stay ahead of what’s happening. There’s no need for us to be in business if we don’t keep up with artificial intelligence and marketing, Tim asserts. That’s the next big wave. I saw it coming, and I think several other people saw it coming. Now it’s all anybody’s talking about. I felt like our timing was spot on with getting something out that’s very specific to AI and branding, and very much part of the wave of social conversations happening right now.

At Last, a Painless Workflow Process

How it works, in a nutshell

More often than not, Tim gives the writer the topic idea and a few key pointers about the kind of article he wants. Sometimes he sets up a short call with the writer to describe how he wants the content to look. The call with the writer helps to shape and crystalize the idea, and probably saves a second or third draft, he says.From there, the writer is able to adapt to his needs and produce just the piece he is looking for.Tim compares the ease of the process with his experiences with in-house or freelance writers while working in a larger company. I’ve seen people go through six and ten different rounds, and walk away from things, and we fortunately haven’t had that problem.Tim thinks back to a piece on mobile apps that Content Pros created. Because finding solid sources took some legwork, he says, that could have easily been ripped apart, ripped to shreds. But the writer’s skill at digging for expert opinions startled him. There were very few changes to the first and second round on that copy, he remarks.

The agency’s clients have been pleased with the content. They don’t really ever request changes, Tim says. By the time they see it, it’s already gone through a quality control review with Content Pros. It has also been reviewed by the Weinheimer Group. Even the first draft doesn’t require a lot of editing, Tim says”perhaps just a few small tweaks.

Relationships with writers

Tim has had ongoing relationships with different writers who produce content for him and his clients. Last year, he worked quite a bit with one writer in particular. He was terrific. He was very plugged into social listening, social analytics, the whole tech marketing space, marketing automation. It was effortless to get him started, and I knew that our second draft would be really strong, says Tim. Content Pros provides its customers with the ability to develop meaningful and productive relationships with writers.Tim often prefers a call because that gives the writer more texture about the piece he’s requesting. Content Pros also provides a detailed article request form that clients can fill out to share exactly what they’re looking for. Someone from the customer service team is always available to talk, or to set up a call with the writer, he says.

The number one goal that we try to achieve for our customers when they submit a request for an article is to make it as easy as possible for them to go from idea to executed blog post, Tommy Joiner of Content Pros asserts.

Creative direction

Providing creative direction is key to ensuring that the agency and their clients’ brands are accurately represented.It does involve a little bit of strategic thinking from their end to get the most out of our service, Tommy notes, while acknowledging that some clients do want Content Pros to handle idea generation. When the client can provide clear direction, and then let Content Pros do the heavy lifting, they get the best results, he says.Content Pros took creative direction from Tim in writing the ebook as well. That project took about three months to complete in late 2017. There’s a lot more strategy that goes into the front end, says Tommy. Tim was really helpful in terms of laying it out for us, because he had a lot of ideas. If someone comes to us with ideas, we can do long-form content of any sort. When they began, Tim had already fleshed out a thorough outline. He knew the key takeaways he wanted readers to have and had done a fair amount of research. It wasn’t too painful, and it wasn’t a lot of back and forth, he said, in terms of revisions. Tim and the ebook writer engaged in collaborative research, sharing source links to compare notes. The process brought them both to a deeper understanding of the emerging field of AI used as a mobile technology.

How Content Pros Began Working with Agency Clients

Agencies that need content for their own clients are some of Content Pros’ biggest customers.

Producing content for agency clients was a natural progression that happened largely by accident, says Tommy.

When we started out, we were working in areas where we had a lot of expertise, which we originally built our writing team around, he explains. These areas included B2B SaaS and technology, digital marketing, human resources, and big data and analytics. Then we started working with more customers like Tim at different agencies and consultants that had different clients. We started building our writing team around their needs. That’s how we’ve been able to build our writing team out on a real-time, as-needed basis.

In the beginning, Content Pros started looking for leads by researching keywords related to digital marketing. A lot of the potential clients that started coming up in the results happened to be agencies, because a lot of them fall into that realm.

Dalia Nazzal, who’s built the team of writers, has carefully vetted writers who fit into various specialized subgenres. Our writing team is almost at 200 right now, says Tommy. It’s catered specifically to the people we’ve worked with in the past and the people we’ll continue to work with moving forward. It’s been a very organic evolution, in terms of how we’ve recruited to fill needs like the ones that Tim was talking about.

If you’re a creative agency, working with experts in content production will ensure your clients are fully satisfied with your service. As the Weinheimer Group’s experience shows, working with content experts will make your own agency more efficient and reliable. It will also supply your valued clients with a steady stream of material customized to their individual needs; an obvious win-win for everyone.