Whittington Consulting

I lead a digital marketing firm called Whittington Consulting. The Whittington Consulting team has created a digital marketing methodology combining websites, marketing software and CRM to help companies generate new business. I help companies develop a steady flow of warm sales leads by improving their online presence, helping them generate more website visitors and sales leads, then empowering sales reps with digital customer intelligence. 

Whittington Consulting, a digital agency, is based in Richmond, Virginia assisting companies across America.

Principal

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

* Designed web interfaces that collect information and connect organ donors and transplant recipients
* Designed web interfaces that help pharmaceutical companies collect valuable information on medicine usage
* Performed business system analysis; wrote specification documents for web applications
* Developed unos.org, transplantliving.org, donatelife.net web sites

Web Design Lead

Crutchfield

* Managed a design team of three, including hiring and personnel matters.
* Designed and implemented Crutchfield.com's customer rating and review feature.
* Designed site templates for Crutchfield.com.
* Served as an art director for Crutchfield.com and CrutchfieldAdvisor.com.
* Improved design and approval processes for weekly production and for long-term development projects.
* Supervised e-mail marketing deployment for Crutchfield.com and CrutchfieldAdvisor.com.
* Led organic search engine marketing efforts.

Manager of Site Design

Circuit City

* Lead the Circuit City site redesign, including forming objectives, guiding interaction and visual design, planning content deployment and participating in user acceptance testing.
* Manage the web design and development program of circuitcity.com, ensuring the user experience was consistent between site sections.  Also enforced a style guide sitewide.
* Manage a design team of 5 web designers, 1 senior designer, one senior project coordinator and a team of freelancers. 
* Responsible for looking at web analytics and suggesting design revisions based on the analysis.
* Direct the usability testing program for circuircity.com including task-based analysis, real-time web surveys and focus groups.
* Manage creative aspects of the banner advertising, e-mail marketing programs and sweepstakes programs.
* Responsible for creative production process improvements.

Design Manager

Many businesses are stuck with digital marketing that wastes money and doesn’t work. Other businesses want to invest in digital marketing but don't know where to start and need a solid plan. We’ve created a data-driven digital marketing and sales framework that helps almost any business acquire new customers and grow. When your digital marketing works, your business will be more stable and less stagnant.

WHAT WE DO:
I work with business leaders to define a digital marketing strategy that will help their business meet or exceed growth goals.

HOW WE DO IT:
We discuss your revenue targets/business goals and come up with a custom strategy that combines your website, and digital advertising, marketing automation, and CRM. We then do much of the ongoing work to manage, measure and adapt the campaign.

RESULTS YOU GET:
- Professional services company saw a 61% year-over-year increase in website visitors, a 15% increase in leads and a 32% lift in revenue year-over-year.
- We redesigned a different professional services company's website and in only 9 months, they went from 90–110 visits a day to 300–500, beating their one-year goal. Today, they’re averaging 20 new sales opportunities a month, a 10-fold increase.
- Manufacturing company sees $10 in revenue for every dollar they spend on marketing.

Specialties: Digital marketing strategy, website design, inbound marketing, HubSpot Marketing, HubSpot CRM, sales technology, conversion rate optimization, search engine optimization, web analytics, search engine marketing, entrepreneurship.

HOW TO CONTACT ME:
You're welcome to connect with me here on LinkedIn, call me at (804) 592-0190 or email me at rick@rickwhittington.com.

Rick Whittington

Akhia

Chief Operating Officer

Oversaw the entire operations of the organization with all departments (creative, account service, optimization, operations) reporting into this role.  

Reviewed all client estimates and developed a set of standards to ensure estimates were consistent, accurate and fair for our clients. 

Developed streamlined client reporting to communicate hours usage for retainer clients to assist with project prioritization.

Managed an extensive agency building renovation serving as the liaison to architects, contractors and internal stakeholders. 

Served as a member of the Executive Committee.

Vice President, Client Operations

Served as the agency's first General Manager, overseeing everything central to the organization including HR, IT, agency workflow, accounting, and financial analytics/reporting. 

Built a complete company infrastructure during a period of fast, significant agency growth. 

Launched a new workflow software platform company wide and trained all employees through a phased approach. 
 
Created a suite of robust reports, providing key information to agency executives including employee utilization, forecasting, profitability and projection reports. 

Boosted agency efficiency by an average of nearly 25% on each account. 

Served as a member of the Executive Committee.

General Manager

Led the agency's account service team which consisted of 24 direct report team members. Managed every aspect of the department including recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new team members, staffing allocations, workload management, and overall client satisfaction with a strong focus on the organization's mission to serve clients beyond their expectations.

Director, Account Services

Served as the primary lead on the GE Lighting (consumer and professional) account, managing a full internal team. Oversaw significant projects including high-profile media events with GE Lighting's CEO. 

Pitched and onboarded the GE Appliances account, serving as the primary account lead and managing an internal team. Conducted extensive media relations in both business and consumer trade outlets, securing substantial media coverage.

Account Director

Served as the primary client contact on multiple accounts including GE Lighting (professional and consumer), Fomo and Nature's Touch organic fertilizer. 

Profiled and launched dozens of products on the GE Lighting professional side of the business, including writing releases, developing angles, media pitching, case study development, trade show launches, event planning, and serving as the primary media contact. Worked with subject matter experts, engineers, product experts and city leaders to develop case studies leveraged by the GE sales team.  

Consistently grew the GE Lighting business year over year. Campaign successes ultimately led to securing additional business within various GE divisions, including GE Appliances. 

Additional clients included Diebold, Matco Tools, Chromaflo Technologies, White Dove, Oasis Floral Products, Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association and Project Learn.

Senior Account Executive

Ligget Stashower

Served as the key account manager and client contact on multiple national and local accounts, managing several teams. Conducted media relations, event planning and execution and aided in adding five additional brands to the Liggett-Statshower roster including Dial Complete and Purex. Additionally, served as the account manager on Microsun, Brush Wellman, Renuzit, 20 Mule Team Borax and Blaklader Workwear. 

Doubled budgets on two agency-significant accounts over the previous years due to campaign success and results delivered.

Consistently delivered high-quality, award-winning work on deadline and consistently on or under budget with a keen eye for account profitability and efficiencies.   

Aided agency leadership in researching, pitching and securing additional business for the agency. 

Concepted and implemented a plan for a new Renuzit air freshening product. The campaign garnered 70 million impressions and captured 35,000 names for the Renuzit database along with a Gold Rock Award and the Judges' Choice award at the 2007 PRSA Awards.

Account Manager

Liggett Stashower

Developed and implemented award-winning integrated campaigns for multiple clients including Renuzit, 20 Mule Team Borax, Duck brand duct tape, Combat pest control and the Ohio American Society of Home Inspectors . 

Conceptualized and managed community relations plan for Henkel North America which included media outreach, a three-phased website, internal communications, mobile marketing and a grand finale event yielding more than 90 million impressions, a best practice article in PRWeek, a Gold Rock Award, a Silver Rock Award and a Diamond Award.  

Collaboratively developed and implemented an integrated campaign for 20 Mule Team Borax resulting in 95 million print impressions, a Gold Rock Award and the Best of Show Award (PRSA Cleveland Rocks)

Conducted media relations outreach for multiple clients that resulted in placements such as CNN Headline News, Fox & Friends, The Associated Press, Handy magazine, Family Circle, Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens, Domino and Hannity & Colmes.

Account Executive

Conducted local and national media relations for a wide range of consumer and B2B clients including Duck brand duct tape, Loctite, Polyseamseal, TimberTech and Alvin's Jeweler. 

Collaborated with the agency Interactive team to develop an online press room, a first for the agency at the time.

Comprehensively managed the entire media relations portion of the 2005 Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival, concepting a 3-D media kit, pitching local and national media, and serving as the primary point of contact at the event. Placements resulted in more than 40 million print impressions.

Media relations efforts resulted in placements in local publications and all local television stations, Continental, SkyWest, Spirit, New York Daily News, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, HGTV, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Columbus Dispatch, The Boston Globe and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Account Coordinator

The Hill

Interviewed members of Congress, press secretaries, lobbyists, special interest groups and field experts in a deadline-oriented environment resulting in 20+ published bylined articles during the 108th congressional session.

Editorial Intern

Award-winning agency practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in client service, team management, operations and agency management. Passionate about client service, agency infrastructure, process development, operational efficiency, and business reporting and analytics.

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The Battle

Rick Whittington

Angela Bachman

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