OpenView Partners: Driving a New Content Strategy on Pantheon

In May 2014, OpenView Advisors hired Churt to help the firm build a larger market share and knock content marketing out of the park. Running on legacy infrastructure and outsourcing to three different hosting vendors, Churt quickly realized that her team didn’t have enough control over their sites. After some research on the state of website hosting and discovering the more advanced website management platforms, Churt decided to bring OpenView’s websites over to Pantheon to take advantage of the workflow and long-term cost savings.

I recommend Pantheon to our whole portfolio because of the amazing workflow, performance and ability to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard. It is a huge savings in the long run, especially for startups."

- Rebecca Churt, Growth Strategist, OpenView Partners

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New Content Strategy = New Workflow

When Churt joined OpenView, she had one goal: to completely revamp the content strategy. Her team was responsible for two sites under the OpenView umbrella—OpenView Advisors and OpenView Labs.

“Our whole mission is to be a resource for B2B companies in the software space,” she said. “So my first goal on Pantheon was to migrate our resource/content hub, OpenView Labs.”

It was immediately apparent that the site needed to be updated, and it didn’t take long for Churt to realize that their legacy infrastructure was a major roadblock. Her team had no control over headers, CTAs, etc.—they could only update blog posts. They were outsourcing infrastructure to three different vendors, and nobody at OpenView knew how to manage the backend of the site.

Our old setup was incredibly complex. It just didn't cut it. Pantheon's offering made the decision easy."

- Rebecca Churt, Growth Strategist, OpenView Partners

Both of OpenView’s marketing sites run on WordPress, so Churt was excited about the ability to manage everything on a single platform. “I manage 30 content contributors on a monthly basis. WordPress makes that easy. I also have to manage a 60,000+ readership for our weekly newsletter. Pantheon makes that easy.”

Launching on a Website Management Platform

OpenView teamed up with local web development agency, WhatArmy, to revamp and relaunch the content site. Although the Pantheon platform was new to the WhatArmy team, they picked it up right away, and Pantheon support was there to help with any onboarding needs.

The onboarding team was fantastic, and the tools that the Pantheon platform provides were incredibly helpful throughout both the development and launch phases."

Chad Lord, Director of Operations, Whatarmy

On launch day, Churt’s content team was on standby, and each person had assigned pages to QA. WhatArmy was also on hand to monitor the transition. All went well. The ease of launch for OpenView Labs encouraged Churt to migrate OpenView Advisors soon after.

Launch day was a breeze. We were completely buttoned up and everything ran smoothly. I had no qualms about launching our main marketing site on Pantheon."

- Rebecca Churt, Growth Strategist, OpenView Partners

Now, WhatArmy works on Pantheon to maintain both OpenView sites, and Churt’s team works in the native WordPress environment. Their workflow couldn’t be better. “They work on the platform every day now,” Churt said. “They love it. And I like that I can easily see what they’re doing, whenever I want.”

Saving Time and Money

Now that both of OpenView’s marketing sites run on Pantheon, the benefits are clear:

1. Cost Savings. Thanks to Pantheon, Churt and her team can rest easy on a professional platform, without breaking the bank. “We’re saving at least $500 a month over our old solution,” Churt said. “This gives our budget that much more wiggle room.”

2. Time Saved. Now that Churt and her team don’t have to worry about managing infrastructure, they can spend that valuable time focusing on what they do best. “We’re saving 10 hours a week now that we’re on Pantheon,” Churt said. “This makes all of our lives easier.”

Ultimately, Churt is ecstatic that the relaunch encouraged a new way of thinking amongst her team. “This project got us to try something new, to think about content in a different way,” she said. “I look forward to making even more updates to our sites, and am confident in our ability to do so, thanks to Pantheon.”