Wondering what it is like to partner up with the leading events publisher out there? Let’s say you are working closely with industry giants. With 30+ years of experience on the events market. Awarded with multiple world-class rewards.
Smart Meetings is a leader in the meetings and event industry. They specialize in corporate event planning, event sponsorships, and hosting networking events. On their website, you can find interactive webinars, professional online classes, and tons of resource guides, including a world-class monthly magazine in both digital and issues, videos, podcast, and news.
Marin Bright, founder and CEO of Smart Meetings, revolutionized the industry, and has been presented with multiple awards, including:
- Inducted in Women in Events (AWE) Hall of Fame as a Woman of Influence.
- Received Folio recognition for “Top Women in Media” twice.
- Granted the PCMA Legend Award for significant contributions to the meetings’ industry.
- Given the Western Publishing Association Distinction in Leadership Award for outstanding representation in the media industry.
JT Long, Editorial Leader at Smart Meetings, with 25+ years of experience in writing and editing for print and online media, has also been honored with:
- Folio Women in Media Change-Maker Award in 2021.
DevriX has worked with Smart Meetings since 2015, and we’ve gone above and beyond to deliver a top-class website development and maintenance service. During this time, their website achieved a 350% increase in traffic, and sessions coming from Google increased 4.7 times.
In today’s video case study, we’ll be talking about some highlights of our partnership and what we’ve accomplished. You’ll hear from DevriX CTO, Stanko Metodiev, Smart Meetings CEO and Founder, Marin Bright, and Smart Meetings Editorial Leader, JT Long.
Links Referenced in this Episode
Smart Meetings – The website of our client, a leader in the meetings and events industry.
DevriX – We helped them increase traffic, and took care of all technical aspects.
Transcript
Stanko Metodiev: 00:00. Thank you ladies for joining us today, we’re going to have a quick conversation to discuss our partnership for the past 7 years. We’ve been working with Smart Meetings since 2015, and we have a couple of questions. We would like to ask you how the whole relationship between the companies was, and to discuss parts of the journey – we have changed a couple of versions of the website. This is probably a question for Marin – do you remember the first, initial conversation, we had back in the day?
Marin Bright: 00:48. I do, and I remember thinking that you guys are very creative, and flexible, and really listen to what it was that we wanted to accomplish. You were very responsive, and I would say the two things that are very important to us: creative – you came with great ideas, and you’re quick. That was really great, back when we started.
Stanko Metodiev: 01:13. Yeah, I do remember we did the migration in less than fifty days or so – you had plenty of content, and plenty of images and what-not, so it was quite the journey, but we are very happy with the result we got back in the day. Since then, we’ve managed to update the site a couple of times. Awesome. So, can you share with us, like when you think about the whole journey so far, what was the biggest accomplishment we had together during our partnership?
Marin Bright: 01:45. I think we’ve expanded our website. You know, our industry has evolved, and we’ve had to evolve, and you’ve been very responsive in that process. I can remember adding so many digital products. You go out to the marketplace, or sales people go out, and people want these different products, and they would come back to us. We would go to you, and you would put it together. Next thing you know, we were able to offer, like the native content comes to mind, a lot of the lead gen type products, the landing pages for our events. I mean, we’ve had a lot of changes, as the digital world changes so quickly, and you have been right there with us, reacting, so that we’ve been able to offer that to the marketplace, which, in turn, has kept us relevant, and also being able to sell these products is certainly very important for the company’s income, so that’s been super good.
Stanko Metodiev: 02:53. Awesome! Amazing! Alright, so based on that, and everything we got through together, do you feel, in general, that the traffic of the website has increased over the years?
Marin Bright: 03:11. Yeah, we’ve been growing our traffic exponentially, and you know SEO, you guys certainly get that and helped us with that, and you know, we are above market standards with our stats that we send out to our customers, and I believe that you’ve had a lot to do with that. It’s wonderful to be able to deliver that kind of good news to our customers, and show them the kind of results that not only are they getting, but we are getting, as a company, so an excellent, excellent job.
Stanko Metodiev: 03:48. That’s amazing. We’re very happy to be able to help with that. In general, if you have to list down the top 3 services that we are providing, can you, off the of your head, name the top 3?
Marin Bright: 04:05. I’m gonna differ to JT on that, ‘cause she’s been really working closely with you
JT: 04.11. Well, I would say that it’s a huge help, and we sleep better at night knowing that you are monitoring and watching. If something breaks, we don’t have to tell you, usually you tell us that it broke, and that you have a fix for it. That is a huge service that you offer. You make suggestions on how to slim things down, and make sure that it stays fast with getting rid of plugins that we don’t need or compressing photos and those sorts of things, so you make those great suggestions. Then, the biggest thing is when we have a goal, you’re open to having a conversation about – okay, how can we reach that goal, how long is it going to take, what are the options, what are the pros & cons of each option, and so we really appreciate that.
Stanko Metodiev: 05:05. Amazing. Alright, can you say in what extent can you agree with the statement that we, at DevriX, are helping you focus on your main company strategy, and leave the technical side of your business to our end? Do you agree with this statement?
Marin Bright: 05:43. Absolutely. The world has changed pretty vast, no doubt, on the digital side, and you have kept us abreast and competitive. We really count on you for that technical support. As JT just mentioned, it’s wonderful to know that you guys have it handled, and we count on that.
Stanko Metodiev: 06:01. Awesome. With that said, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or a different company?
Marin Bright: 06:10. Oh, we’re very likely to recommend you, right JT?
JT: 06:14. Absolutely.
Stanko Metodiev: 06:16. Awesome. We can say pretty much the same on our end. It has been quite the fun for all these years, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we’re going to achieve in the next 7 years, and then celebrate the next milestone, and continue working together, growing your website opportunities, ads, inventory, and all that, so you can continue shinning and being the leader in your industry. We can, basically, both conquer the world and allow you to reach new horizons, and expand more and more.
Marin Bright: 06:56. We look forward to that, too, absolutely. We are excited about moving forward with you and where it can lead. Thank you!
Stanko Metodiev: 07:06. Thank you! Thank you for your time.
If you need a reliable partner to take care of the technical side of your business, allowing you to focus on business development and strategy, get in touch with us. We would be happy to have the opportunity to help your company grow and scale the same way Smart Meetings did.