Customer Spotlight

Order: Waterman Supply – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight

“Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.”⁠

Pearl S. Buck

This week’s Interfanatic Virtue in focus is Order. As Buck says, order provides a framework for all things beautiful. It’s an excellent, concise commentary.

Through 20 years of experience, Interfanatic has discovered systems and processes to sort the chaos. To simplify. To help you bring order to your digital marketing initiatives.

Order: A Framework to Layer Creativity and Beauty Upon

Order doesn’t have to squeeze out all creativity. No; it can indeed provide a basis for showing off creativity – for creating something of beauty.

Case in point: Waterman Supply. Waterman provides products for large shipping companies: Screws (propellers) the size of buses, bumpers the size of Monster Trucks, shackles from the size of your finger to that of a VW Beetle.

Too Much to Handle?

When Waterman came to us years ago, there was just too much! “How do customers find out what sizes of product exist when we have four manufacturers, each with their own measurement systems?”

We helped them bring order to the massive store of data. And we did it in a way that has positively impacted their SEO, and improved customer experience.

Using Systems to Redirect into a Positive Customer Experience

Waterman Supply, based in Wilmington, CA, is just another fabulous customer we’ve gotten to deal with through the years.

Order from chaos. Systems to simplify. That’s the Interfanatic way.

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Humility: Allen Berg Racing Schools – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight

“We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

– Rabindranath Tagore

Oh, humility. We’ve all be taken down a step or two in life. Tagore felt it if he was able to say this. And like Tagore, Allen Berg lives it – on both sides.

Berg was a Formula One race driver. And when I use those words, I’m cognoscente of the fact that most people interpret that to mean “he raced some funny looking cars”. But there’s a huge difference between Formula One and everything else.

Formula One: Just Being There is Huge

Formula One is, by a significant margin, the pinnacle of motorsports. There are other great motorsports, absolutely. But Formula one means you’re in the best 20 racers in the world. Not like the NBA, where making it there means you’re among the best 3-400 basketball players in the world. It’s more like making the NBA All-Stars. The starters in NBA All-Star games are household names, just like the top-ten Formula One drivers are housefhold names everywhere else in the world. If you’re in F1, you’re NBA All-Stars level good at racing and attaining sponsorship.

And yes, there are those flat-earthers who feel racing isn’t a sport. That’s fine. Don’t fall off the edge looking for the cameras that faked the moon landing.

Racing Senna: Humbling

For the rest of us, understand that Berg raced Senna throughout his career. For those who don’t know, Senna is the Michael Jordan of Formula One. Okay, Berg didn’t beat Senna, but he did get on the track with him. And that’s the first side of Berg’s humility. He’s always quick to unequivocally explain that he was no Senna, he just raced with him. But still, just being there is a big deal.

And then there’s the other side of Berg’s humility. Many people feel that racing a car is like driving a car around the streets, fast. In fact, it’s just about the opposite of what most people do.

Teaching the Next Senna: Teaching Humility

So when Tom-Cruise-wannabes show up at Allen’s school with something to prove, driving their Lamborghini, Allen has to quickly get their attention with the reality they don’t yet grasp. In this way, Allen makes a living out of teaching humility. And having been a motorsport instructor myself, let me clarify this for you: it’s not easy.

And the consequences are stark. If Senna or Clark, the best the world has known, can be taken from us, it can happen to anybody. If Allen doesn’t quickly get the attention of his hothead of the day, the result can be catastrophic. And yet, Allen takes on this challenge day after day.

If you want to learn from a real Formula One driver, in the best cars, on the best tracks, check out Allen Berg Racing Schools. It will be worth everything you invest.

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Value: Peters Realty Center – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

Price is what you pay; value is what you get.

– Warren Buffett

In this fascinating, terrifying and often delightful world, it’s difficult to know the price of a dollar. Nick Peters (now of Engel & Volkers) knows value.

We do on-going consultation with Nick. He’s one of the best Real Estate Agents in South Redondo Beach and Torrance, CA. All RE Agents claim to have superior customer service, and they all claim to really care about their clients, and they all say they really work hard for them. And many do.

But Nick takes it next level. Nick puts his money where his mouth is. He is constantly investing in his business to bring his customers value. And it works. And his customers know it. That’s why, in a flooded market, they stick with Nick and his team.

We at Interfanatic are attracted to Nick’s business because we do the same thing. We’re always brainstorming new ways to get value to our customers; to improve ROI; to help their business be better.

Nick and I sometimes just sit and chat and it’s amazing what comes out of our little sessions. It’s always valuable. And we’re happy to share what we learn from each other and pass it along.

Because to us, sharing what we learn… that’s value.

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Attention to Detail: Fowler & Moore Interior Design – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

Simple ingredients can be used to make elegant dishes with just a little extra attention to detail.

– Marcus Samuelsson

Focus on the fundamentals. Bring out the basics by getting them right – doing the details better. That’s what we’re about.

Now, just like Samuelsson no doubt loves to play with exotic ingredients, we here at Interfanatic love trying something new.

But the bread and butter of every business is getting the basics right. So it is for most of our projects.

Of course, we think of the design geniuses at Fowler & Moore Interior Design, just up the street from us here in Redondo Beach. They know how to balance a room with just the right details – just the right colors and accents – to completely transform it into something fresh and uniquely beautiful.

We’ve been working with Fowler & Moore for a long time. In fact, it’s time for their website to get another refresh. They’ve moved locations a few times, but their fundamentals are what drive their business. Great interior design. Serving their customers, and making their homes more beautiful.

Details & Fundamentals Win the Day

It’s all about details, it’s all about fundamentals. Perfection is the enemy of good, of progress. But when you have qualified professionals, whose fundamentals are sound and strong, paying attention to the details comes naturally.

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Respect: The Landmark Sports Agency – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight

People don’t have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.

Aretha Franklin

I remember a high-profile project for then-Kobe Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka. Mr. Pelinka is now the Lakers’ General Manager (don’t call me looking for tickets – good luck with that!)

But I often think of the respect Pelinka gave us when we took on his agency’s website. I always felt we did a beautiful job on the site, and it outshone two or three websites that followed it. (After us, he gave it to his nephew to take over.) One of the signature pieces of the site we created for him was a phenomenal sound logo our friend and Hollywood composer Aaron Goldstein produced for us. It had just the right pop. That was a great website.

But he didn’t have to give it to us. He had, of course, his choice of agencies. My friend Eric Marentette recommended us, and he respected Eric’s recommendation. Then, Pelinka respected us, he trusted us, and we delivered.

We treat all of our customers, large and small, with immense respect. Some are striking out on their own for the first time. Others are institutions – small businesses that have worked to fill a need in their communities for generations. Either way, they deserve our respect, and we give it to them. We’re grateful for our partners all over. And we respect them immensely.

Shortly after we took over Landmark’s website, Kobe delivered another Championship to the Los Angeles Lakers. It went well for everyone.

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Ingenuity: Rockwell Medical Supply – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight

Emenike says it: success comes from a combination of things. One of those primary ingredients is ingenuity. Unless you’re the only gig in town, it’s hard to be successful without a unique and compelling proposition.

Thinking about all of this immediately triggered a memory of Rockwell Medical Supply. What a great company! Lean and mean, and an ingenious method of selling. They outsmarted their competitors.

Rockwell has since been sold and merged into another company, accomplishing a dream of the founders.

Rockwell Medical Supply: A Great American Success Story of Ingenuity

Rockwell knew that their customers cared about certain products, and less about others. They also knew that in an extremely competitive field, they were hard-pressed to beat the competition with such tight margins. So they focused on their customers first, giving them what they needed at the price they wanted, and made up for tight margins in other ways.

It was ingenious, and it worked.

We designed and built an attractive, functional Magento-based website for Rockwell many years ago, long before ownership sold. Crucially, it was functional in the complicated way that it handled each customer. It wasn’t easy, but we all made it work. And work it did.

It wasn’t easy, but we all made it work. And work it did.

We love coming up with novel solutions for problems.

That’s one of the reasons we refuse to get stuck in a niche – you learn something new from every customer – when you listen.

And we listen.

We’ve already congratulated the Rockwell Team on their incredible success, but what they hey, we’ll do it again. Congrats on your fantastic achievement, Rockwell Medical Supply! And congratulations more on giving your customer exactly what they wanted – in an ingenious way nobody else could.

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Honesty: Aero-Vac Alloys & Forge – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

Mother Teresa’s quote pairs with an image I got to take of my Uncle flying. He was not Mother Teresa.

But my Uncle was honest and transparent.

Honest and transparent is the best way to do business.

Aero-Vac Alloys & Forge are plainly honest and transparent, with their partners, with their customers, an in everything they do.

Insert quote about Scotty talking about transparent aluminum.

We did AVAF’s original website years ago, and it’s still extremely productive. It’s fantastic to be working with a great group involved in aerospace production. As we’re all a little nerdy here, we’d love to do more of that!

Aero-Vac Alloys & Forge supplies rare and difficult to produce alloys of aerospace grade to its industrial customers. They moved from California up to Washington recently, and they’re really thriving. As I’m a native Washingtonian, I understand the allure of the Pacific Northwest – especially for business.

It’s a great company, lead by diversity, driven by success and superiority of product. They have to be honest or their products would lead to major failures. Their products succeed.

So if you’re ever in the market for stainless steel, corrosion resistant nickel alloys, or some other obscure metal for your project, go to Aero-Vac Alloys & Forge.

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Honor: Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce & Social Media Marketing – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

Calvin Coolidge, who succeeded Harding as President after Warren G.’s untimely demise, reminds us of an axiom of honor. (I had wanted some juicy Worf quote from Star Trek, but decided on the POTUS30 instead).

That is:

Honor is bestowed for acts done unto others.

It’s something always on our minds here at Interfanatic. We wish to honor our customers. We don’t have to work with anyone; we’re blessed in that. So we get to choose the best and work with them.

Which is why I think of the PV Chamber. Like us, they honor their customers with hard work, ingenuity, and advocacy.

When WSmad joined the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce over a decade ago, and it wasn’t the same as it is now. Now the PVP Chamber, under new leadership, is vital, active, and an even bigger proponent for businesses working in and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

They’re hustlers, in the absolute best sense of the term. Eileen’s team works extremely hard. But they’re not hustling for themselves. They hustle for their customers – for their constituents.

Much of what they do happens behind the scenes. But much of what they do is visible and felt all over the Hill. They’re advocates for the businesses who work with them. They’re connectors. And they wish to bring great business to Palos Verdes, and make sure the local residents know of all the good going on in their neighborhoods.

Recently, Interfanatic got to handle some social media marketing for the Palos Verdes Chamber through their PV Street Fair. It was an incredible event, and proved a microcosm of how effective the PVP Chamber has become. We had a lot of fun, and we’re proud that we got to sponsor the event.

… they wish to bring great business to Palos Verdes, and make sure the local residents know of all the good going on in their neighborhoods.

But it all comes back to honor. As we were honored to work with the PVP Chamber, the PV Chamber honors its constituents with work and dedication.

And what more could you ask from a Chamber – or any business – than for them to work hard and produce results for you? What greater honor could be given you?

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Wisdom: Hansen Wholesale & Content Marketing – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Interfanatic Expertise

Will Rogers pokes fun at attaining wisdom – through lack of wisdom. It’s funny, and of course it’s true.

Hansen Wholesale was the very first online ceiling fan seller. They used to have a brick and mortar store, but some years ago they realized they could streamline operations by turning to online-only. That realization took wisdom, and the implementation took guts.

We worked with Hansen Wholesale on a content marketing program, attacking eroding SEO results. Their previous SEO service provider had used strategies that no longer worked, and in fact, some of the SEO “tricks” they tried hurt them.

There is no shortcut to the top of the search engines. It takes a lot of hard work to get excellent organic results. We know that, and we implemented a content marketing program for Hansen Wholesale that had both long-term and short-term SEO results.

How does effective Content Marketing for SEO work?

1) It’s Time Consuming

Producing excellent content is hard work. It took time with their experts, leveraging their experience and wisdom, to create useful, interesting content their customers wanted to know.

Everyone wants to sell you a shortcut. Every time it backfires. That’s why we’re still here after 20 years and they’re not.

2) Results, Unfortunately, Take Time

There was often an immediate boost in results for the keywords that we targeted, but it was short-lived. After a few weeks, though, it started to gain more credibility with customers and AI as more people clicked in and read, and it lead to long-lasting, higher positions for targeted keywords and phrases.

3) Excellent Content Marketing Is Integrated with All Other Marketing

We didn’t just produce content and leave it. We used Hansen Wholesale’s vast customer and fan base to drive traffic to the content, leading results that would last.

Content Marketing done the right way isn’t easy. But it’s a worthwhile endeavor for any business looking to increase customers.

Our customer had the wisdom to trust us as experts in the field, and our program is still paying dividends.

We took our wisdom, combined it with Hansen Wholesale’s, and generated positive results. Our customer had the wisdom to trust us as experts in the field, and our program is still paying dividends.

One way to supercharge a content marketing program is the effective and careful use of press releases. It’s not cheap, but done properly, they can have effective results.

Let’s talk about a content marketing program for your business that will lead to more, better-qualified customers.

Get a quote. >

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Loyalty: Medawar Fine Jewelers – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

Loyalty.

Not just in the business sense; not just customer loyalty. Real loyalty that is beyond price – it’s belief in a business because of the people that make it. That they do the right thing. Faith in that business’ purpose and its genuine wish to do good, and fairly.

When I think of loyalty like this, I think of Family Medawar, proprietors of Medawar Fine Jewelers in Palos Verdes. They’ve been supporting the Palos Verdes Peninsula for 40 years.

When I think of loyalty like this, I think of Family Medawar

40 years is a lot of time to be in any business. It’s even more for a California business. It’s yet even more for a Palos Verdes Business. Palos Verdes was relatively undeveloped when Family Medawar came to live there.

But they’ve been loyal to their home, and their home has been loyal to them. Through the good and the bad, they’ve stuck it out.

And their customers keep going back.

Because they’re good people.

Customers go back. Not because they give the best price (though they do.)

Not because they’re warm and friendly even when things aren’t perfect (though they are).

Just like our Sondra Faye quote this week: prickly, beautiful, difficult, pleasant, temperamental roses require a loyal gardener.

You can now find Medawar at Terranea.
You can now find Medawar at Terranea.

Customers go back because they recognize the investment Medawar has made in Palos Verdes and how much better the Peninsula is for their efforts.

And, the result is that the Medawars have some big news to share regarding the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

We designed and built and host the Medawar website going back over ten years; we’re proud to be part of their tradition on the Peninsula for that long.

That is earned loyalty. If you want your business to be around for 40 years or more, do what the Medawars do.

Do what is right. That is how you earn loyalty.

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