Cinch Branding and Content Strategy Review

August 1, 2025

Here’s some thoughts on Cinch branding and content strategy for the website.

Branding

Cinch needs a rebrand. We have a long history of unclear or unfocused branding, starting with the logo. 

  • Our very first logo was a simple typographic based mark with an outline. I hardly remember it.
  • We then moved to a submarine icon and simple lowercase, sans-serif typography. I don’t think we ever nailed down the why or what around a submarine
  • There was a brief period we used a letter C inside a rounded rectangle
  • Our current logo is again, a simple typographic mark. It’s not bad, but it’s also not memorable, and is often confused with another company, who shall not be named.

Recent attempts

In the last few months, I’ve taken a crack at a new logo. The thought at the time was to revive the idea of the submarine somewhat – but with a periscope instead. Maybe to evoke the idea of looking above the fray. Spray. Whatever. The ideas were more illustrative than a logo should ever be. And I’m not an illustrator. Glad these were put to bed and not considered. I also explored the idea of a neck tie, which isn’t a terrible direction. Execution wasn’t fantastic however. 

Emily’s attention

Emily is a fantastic logo designer. There are currently a series of options that have legs and I’m interested in seeing refinements. The snapped finger makes sense. 

Reviewing Chris’ Cinch Mood Board 

I went back to the mood board folder Chris put together, with logos from tech firms like Supabase, Tailscale, and others. And, as of now – as I write this – I’m feeling this might be the best direction for us to go. We are a tech focused business and our branding should reflect that. What does being tech focused in our branding mean? Looking at the comparables, it’s stripped down, somewhat vague, and extremely simple.  This means that perhaps the idea of a necktie or snapped fingers isn’t it. Both tie in to the company name – Cinch – meaning we make it easy… a fine idea but maybe too kitchy or cartoonish. There was a brief moment I considered a name change because of this. I came up with Makari and whoo boy. Like I said, it was a brief moment.

Bryan’s second attempt

In that vein, I gave it another shot, stealing straight from Tailscale and going with a minimal, vague-ish, and tech leaning. I have good feelings about this direction, but I haven’t heard feedback from Chris or Kari, and I haven’t seen revisions from Emily.

Website Content Strategy

The site needs a revamp in content, and likely also the overall design.

Home page content strategy 

Marquee 

We have a hero section that is fairly generic. ‘The best choice’, ‘the smartest thing you can do’. It’s not terrible, and it gets to the point, but it it could be better. We also showcase a NEW pro bundle plan… which nobody buys… 

The next section is a three box thing with generic icons, taking about three levels of support, ideal for Woo, and managed hosting. We don’t talk at all about our customers pain points. 

Then we have a callout to our 30 minute fixes. Cool. 

Then a how it works section… I’m not sure if a how it works section, or a page even is necessary. Nobody visits that page. 

Then we get into choosing a plan. Not bad idea, but can be simplified and clarified a bit. 

It’s probably time to get rid of the badges

Then a woo CTA, then a blog feed, then some testimonials. 

Key Strategic Changes:

1. Lead with Emotion, Not Features Your current site leads with “smartest thing you can do” which is vague. The new approach leads with a specific fear every business owner has—website problems causing business problems.

2. Be Specific About WordPress Instead of generic “website support,” emphasize that you’re WordPress specialists. This differentiates you from hosting support and general IT services.

3. Address the Real Competition Your competition isn’t just other support services—it’s business owners trying to DIY or relying on hosting company support. Address these alternatives directly.

4. Build Value Before Pricing Your current site jumps to pricing too quickly. The new flow establishes significant value and addresses objections before presenting plans.

5. Use Customer Language Replace technical terms with business outcomes. Instead of “optimizes performance,” say “keeps your site running smoothly during busy sales periods.”

I’ve started a home page wireframe… here’s a quick outline

Hero Section

  • Headline, subhead, CTA

Problem Section

  • “When your site breaks, your business suffers”
  • List pain points

Solution Section

  • Real WordPress Experts. Real Solutions. Real Fast
  • Three columns of benefits
    • Proactive Monitoring
    • Expert fixes
    • Business Protection

Social Proof Section

  • Headline: Trusted by 200+ business owners…
  • Customer quote
  • Mini testimonials

How it works Section

  • Three steps…
    • Choose a plan
    • Site assessment
    • Relax as we work

Plans section

  • Three or four plans. See Pricing thoughts below

Objection Handling Section

Why Business owners choose Cinch over DIY or other services

  • I can handle WordPress myself…
  • My hosting company provides support…
  • Other services are… cheaper… etc. etc.

Final CTA

  • Headline
  • Guarantee
  • Two CTAs : Start plan, schedule a consultation
  • Trust indicators: US-based, 4.9 star rating, 200+ satisfied customers, since 2007

Content Strategy Notes

Key Messaging Shifts:

  1. From generic to specific: Focus on WordPress expertise vs. general web support
  2. From features to outcomes: “Peace of mind” vs. “we do updates”
  3. From company-focused to customer-focused: Lead with their problems, not your solutions
  4. From technical to emotional: Address the stress and worry, not just the technical issues

Flow Logic:

  1. Hook with emotion (worry/stress)
  2. Amplify the pain (what happens when sites break)
  3. Position as the solution (WordPress experts vs. generic support)
  4. Prove it works (social proof)
  5. Show how easy it is (simple process)
  6. Remove barriers (address objections)
  7. Close with confidence (guarantee + trust signals)

Tone & Voice:

  • Conversational but professional
  • Confident without being arrogant
  • Empathetic to business owner challenges
  • Clear and jargon-free
  • Results-focused

Plans and Pricing

I’m thinking about revamping how we price things. Current issues:

  • We currently separate hosting from maintenance even though most of our customers pay for both
  • We have a “Pro Bundle” that nobody purchases. We don’t do much to sell it either.

An idea to consider… combining the hosting and maintenance and sell everything as Managed WordPress Hosting + Support:

  • Basic Managed: $99/month (hosting + maintenance only)
  • Essential Managed: $129/month (hosting + essential support with 30-min fixes)
  • WooCommerce Managed: $179/month (hosting + WooCommerce support)
  • Pro Managed: $249/month (hosting + pro support + 60-min fixes)

Other thoughts

  • We can still sell a maintenance only plan… for those happy with their own hosting
  • Market our hosting as white glove or hands on. Since we already to have to manually migrate onto the server, might as well sell it as a benefit.
  • Market ourselves from a scarcity / premium angle: A message like “Accepting new clients September 2025” in the future…

Design considerations

I’ve started a new design concept. Just the header and hero section. As of today I like the direction – getting away from the colorful, cartoonish vibe we’ve been rocking… Something more modern, tech focused, and premium feeling. We have too much random images. I’ve been the worst offender using stock images of ocean based things, or AI… To what end? Based on the Chris Mood Board© I’ve been gravitating heavily towards what Supabase is doing. I can see us revamping the blog posts to remove the imagery and just show the content. Any images could be bits of code or something. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

https://www.figma.com/proto/mXa8PV7UlgdR7j925doOt2/Cinch-2026?page-id=0%3A1&node-id=1-2&p=f&viewport=124%2C195%2C0.52&t=MAWKV0iTzdwdi4ae-1&scaling=min-zoom&content-scaling=fixed

Website SEO

I searched for ‘WordPress Support Service” on Google, and got 10 pages in before quitting. I don’t think we’ve ever focused on ranking that well, or for organic traffic, but that’s pretty bad. Companies that merely dabble in WP hosting and support are ranking above us. We don’t rank at all… Same for ‘WordPress Managed Hosting’.