27th Letter Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Camp Perkins Outdoor Ministries is a year-round, non-profit camp. I am the development and marketing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

We wanted to redesign our website and develop our messaging in line with a proprietary story brand perspective. We wanted to help clients understand who we are and what we do through our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They completely overhauled and redesigned our site. They interviewed several people involved with our camp, including staff, customers, volunteers, and campers, to better understand our core benefits and to really understand our brand. They then developed that information into the wireframe and homepage for our site, and they came up with ways for us to market ourselves as we meet new clients.

We wanted a user-friendly CMS that we could update ourselves, so they designed the site in Weebly. They built all the pages and elements of the site, a photo album, and various functionalities, including new forms and applications for volunteers and various positions. They automated a lot of that online, and completed forms come to us through email. They also had great ideas about the flow of the website and how to organize things so people could find things easily. They helped with all the style, structure, and organization of the site.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact who worked with us from the beginning, but also communicated regularly with a second team member as we worked on the actual project.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

We listened to the originator of the methodology we wanted to use and went to his website to look for agencies. 27th Letter Media was on the list of approved vendors who work within that framework, and they seemed like a good fit. We downloaded a marketing guide from their site, and our main point of contact reached out to us. We spoke with them and really liked what they were offering.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $7,500 for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We originally hired them for a branding message and the homepage wireframe. We were really happy with what they did, so we decided to use them for the website as well. We started the branding project in May 2018 and launched the new site in February 2019. We'll work together through the training sessions on the Weebly CMS platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We just launched our site and have received positive initial feedback from users. We expect there will be more feedback as more people start using the site. 27th Letter Media met all our goals for the redesign and implemented all the features we wanted.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent, and they use a software system called Monday to track everything. It lists each task and who is responsible, and it lets us check things off as they’re completed. They also used a great tool for communicating and uploading content.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their personal involvement is impressive. They took the time to understand our business and had a customized approach that made us feel important and unique. They’re enthusiastic about the project and show that they really care about what they’re doing. They got to the core of our brand and found ways to express our message and benefits clearly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything; they’re an awesome team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are an excellent choice. Their design work is superb and they’re amazing to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a nonprofit serving the child welfare field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 27th Letter Media?

Instead of delegating marketing and communication efforts to a single employee, we wanted to outsource those tasks to a team to maximize the results. We hired 27th Letter Media to manage our website and social media and produce various marketing materials.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to provide consistent quality branding across communication channels to attract and keep more client families and donors.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The vendor had a personal relationship with a staff member and provided services pro bono at first. We decided on a more formal engagement to access a broader skill set for marketing and communication. We appreciated their set of values and ability to establish contacts.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We rely on 27th Letter Media to make edits to our website when necessary and manage our social media accounts. Further, they produce three e-newsletters a month and a range of event marketing elements. I serve as a liaison with the principal at 27th Letter Media and detail the requirements of each marketing piece.

What was the team composition?

I meet weekly with the principal of the firm, and we have larger meetings three or four times a year with other team members. 27th Letter Media’s team consists of a website developer, an e-communication specialist, and a resource R&D staffer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our social media engagement has increased, and our email open rate has improved significantly. Our target market seems to be engaged with the campaigns.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

27th Letter Media has gone to great lengths to minimize the everyday challenges of outsourcing this work. They utilize monday and a project portal to facilitate communication. We have weekly phone calls to review workflow and respond to hurdles. 27th Letter Media has been incredibly responsive to our needs and requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The company has a wide range of communication and marketing skills. They collaborate effectively, and they respond to our needs. They care about our work, and that shows in the products they deliver.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is room for our engagement to improve workflow, but overall, I think we have a healthy relationship that produces our desired outcome.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a managing partner at Dry Fly Capital, a boutique private equity company. We are a buyout firm that acquires older companies of a particular size, and we implement management and digital marketing strategies to promote growth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

If the companies we acquire have a website, it is generally outdated, and the overall branding is lacking. We hire 27th Letter Media to help us think through brand strategy and marketing efforts for each of these organizations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Each case is different, of course, but generally, our first step is to rebrand the company. In some instances, we’ll change the company name. From those branding efforts, we then make website changes and create new logos, collateral, and value statements if necessary. A digital marketing strategy is bred from that as well.

What is the team composition?

Audrey (Founder, 27th Letter Media) serves as our project manager. Our entire team size is 2–4 people.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

Audrey and I used to work together at a different company. We’ve seen her succeed and start 27th Letter Media, and when we started our company, she was one of the first calls we made. We are familiar with her excellent work, and we know how trustworthy she is. Their work is top-notch and on time, and they come at a fair price.

How much have you invested with them?

Over several different projects, we’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve received incredibly positive feedback, not only internally from the companies we acquire by externally as well.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very attentive, and they use great project management tools. They set expectations correctly, and they deliver on what they promise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The customer service is incredible. They’ve been very easy to work with, and their skill set is better than anybody else we’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’re proactive in their approach and have given us great service. We have nothing to complain about.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a call and see what they can do for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cherry Hills Community Church is located in Colorado. I am the graphic designer and help oversee all of our printed pieces as well as the hiring of web artists needed on the graphic side of the things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

We have more volume than we can handle in-house, so we were looking for a team to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We give 27th Letter Media our requirements, they assign the project within their staff and send the finished project back to us. They primarily do graphics, printed pieces, and audio-visual graphics. We have a lot of TV screens throughout our building that rotate graphics on them, and 27th Letter Media takes care of pieces for that as well. There may be one or two people working on the project.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

I have known 27th Letter Media since they started their business. I had worked on multiple projects with them in the past and knew they would be reliable. We worked together really well in the past, and they know our business. They’re always able to understand quickly what we need and deliver in a timely manner.

How much have you invested with 27th Letter Media?

We have a monthly retainer with 27th Letter Media that’s approximately $1,000 for a certain number of hours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with 27th Letter Media three or four years ago, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The departments that work with 27th Letter Media have been very pleased with the deliverables. They make sure we’re happy and accept feedback from us. They’re very customer oriented. They do a great job of following our style guide so that the work is consistent with the work we do in-house. I haven’t heard any negative feedback. Everyone is pleased with how easy they are to work with and how knowledgeable they are. They keep us updated on what’s going on.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job of meeting deadlines as long as we’ve met ours.

What did you find most impressive about 27th Letter Media?

I appreciate 27th Letter Media's versatility. I’m familiar with a lot of the other services they offer including marketing, graphic design, web design, etc. They keep up with trends and let us know what we need to do to stay updated. They’re a smart, well-rounded team.

Are there any areas 27th Letter Media could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh Day Adventists in the youth department. It’s a church organization, and the youth department runs events and summer camps in Wyoming, Colorado, and Northwest New Mexico. As the assistant youth director, I’m responsible for summer camp as well as office and financial administration of our youth events. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

I was looking for graphic design work for logos, posters, and web banners. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed promotional flyers and posters for our summer camp program. I wanted an old-school, national-park-style poster with our information on it. I wanted to use some of the landmarks of our summer camp, Glacier View Ranch, incorporated in the design with details about the camp.

Working with Mary at 27th Letter was easy. We had a sit-down meeting together to talk about the concept and direction of the project. After that, we communicated by email. They were timely and professional.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

The person previously in my position had worked with them in the past, so I had their contact information. I don’t know the criteria for selecting them initially, but I know price had something to do with it.

How much have you invested with 27th Letter Media?

We’ve spent roughly $1,500 since I started with the organization in August of 2016.

What is the status of this engagement?

They first started working with us in May of 2015, and the most recent project started in November of 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

When we post their design work on Facebook, it gets a higher engagement. Our registration numbers for 2017 have increased from last year.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I think it’s been excellent. They send us the first draft based on the concepts we’ve talked about. I send back an email with five or six bullet points with ideas. They’ve always been very open to our suggestions and very accommodating with changes. If we ask for something to be rushed, they’ve been excellent in getting that back almost immediately. They’re good at understanding what I want and then producing it.

What did you find most impressive about 27th Letter Media?

I think they’re great at communicating. We had a specific idea of how we wanted our design work to look, and they incorporated some key features of our camp into that style. I think they did it cost-efficiently, and the final product looks very good.

Are there any areas 27th Letter Media could improve?

There were a couple of spelling errors in the material. They always resolved it quickly, but having to do that is tough.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a home builder, general contractor, and construction consultant. I’m the owner. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

Initially, I had a different firm that was working on a logo and rebranding project for me. They weren’t performing at all, so I decided to find a different firm. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They had my logo and rebranding finished within 2 or 3 weeks. From there, I had them build my website. They now handle the hosting of and updates to my site. They helped me set up my company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They’ve been my gurus for anything to do with marketing and social media. They’ve also built a website for my second company. They help me generate original and creative content for the website.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

They were referred to me. I talked to them about the trouble I was having with the previous firm. They explained their process and gave me confidence that they would be responsive and work in a timely manner.

How much have you invested with 27th Letter Media?

I’ve spent $4,000–$5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project started in early 2015. The websites are complete, but I still engage them for hosting and updates. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

The site just went live at the end of January, and I’ve already had a lead contact me because he loved the site.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Audrey and Mary have been my contacts. We’ve worked well together through email and video conferencing, and I’ve visited their office a couple of times. They’re easy to work with, and their communication is clear. I haven’t had to bug them or push them like I have with other firms in the past.

What did you find most impressive about 27th Letter Media?

They nailed exactly what I wanted for my logo and the graphic art and layout on the website. They gave me great suggestions. They understood my requirements and had the creative flair to execute them.

Are there any areas 27th Letter Media could improve?

They could probably upsell their agency a little better. They’re humble and genuine people who do a great job, but they could probably sell me more services if they tried. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a full-service commercial and real estate property management company providing brokerage and property management to our clients. I’m a broker.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter Media?

Originally, we wanted them to provide us with marketing and advertising brochures. We didn’t have anyone in-house that had access to graphic design software. Over time, we learned about the other services they provide, and we now use them as our one-stop shop for marketing. They’ve been a good point of reference for us for future growth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

27th Letter Media does all of our marketing materials, including creating our marketing brochures. They’ve done one-page brochures all the way up to 30 pages of content offering memorandums which are very detailed. We write a lot of the content, and they do all of the design work, including layout, tables, logos, etc. They’ve done some SEO campaigns as well as helped us to write some constant contact campaigns. A couple of brokers in our office have used them to help with their personal logo design and marketing materials.

As we started to ramp up the work with 27th Letter Media, they suggested we do a rebranding of our company. We agreed with them, and they came up with a template for all of our marketing brochures, which was awesome.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter Media?

I found them on Thumbtack.com. I put in a request for someone to help me create a marketing brochure, and 27th Letter Media was one of the six companies that responded. Audrey, the founder, was very eager and quick to respond to my questions and comments. Her background and expertise in the field we were looking for really made sense.

The main reason we made a change was because the vendor we were using before had too many typographical errors on our projects. They also changed things I didn’t ask for, so we found that we had to proofread everything, which was taking a lot of time. When we started collaborating with 27th Letter Media, we told them they had to be super tight on the typographical errors. They didn’t have a problem with that.

How much have you invested with 27th Letter Media?

We have spent less than $10,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Some of the work they did had never been available to us in the past because we didn’t have the ability or time. Because of that, we weren’t even fighting for deals of that nature because we knew we couldn’t compete. Now that we have the ability to do that, we can submit an offering memorandum and compete with every other brokerage house in town.

How did 27th Letter Media perform from a project management standpoint?

In the beginning, we started with small projects. They were able to bill us in 15-minute increments, which was very nice. As we started to ramp up the work, the projects got harder to manage. Because of that, they developed a portal for us to submit all of our information online. They also set up a system to monitor and track the projects so we could see what was happening and when the project was due to be completed. Automating all of that made it super easy for us. It allowed us to have multiple points of contact, and each broker could have control over their own projects. We used these systems they created and email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about 27th Letter Media?

They are able to adapt to our needs and what we don’t know. I may send them something I think is super difficult, but they do a phenomenal job creating what I need. Their work looks professional, and it’s great to have them as our one-stop shop for marketing.

Any time we give them a project, they deliver or give suggestions of how it can be done differently. They are proactive in giving feedback and letting us know what kind of work they are capable of doing. They are able to turn projects around quickly.

Are there any areas 27th Letter Media could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

SimpliNumbers is an online bookkeeping/accounting/payroll consulting firm. We help small businesses manage the finance and accounting portions of their business.

What is your position?

I'm the owner and CEO at SimpliNumbers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 27th Letter?

I don't enjoy marketing myself at all, and I was running out time to get the word out about my business, so I had to bring in help.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did a touch-up to my website, and they completely managed all of my social media and blog postings.

How did you come to work with 27th Letter?

I actually put a project out on a job posting site, and they were one of five pros that responded to my request. I emailed all of the respondents a couple of times back and forth, and I liked the way that 27th Letter Media worked. Eventually, I had a sit-down conversation with them, I liked what they were doing, and I thought they had the most experience of anybody that I talked to.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It's been less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They are still working for me, currently. I don't foresee that ending anytime soon. They began in mid to late January [2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

My website traffic has doubled since 27th Letter began managing the site and my social media activities.

What distinguishes 27th Letter from other providers?

I like that they customize their pricing. We had a two-hour meeting so they could understand my needs, and get to know my personality so they could match my tone in my blog posts. I like that, and I didn't find another company that was willing to get so personal with me.

Is there anything 27th Letter could have improved or done differently?

I haven't seen anything yet. They have been great. They're posting on my social media constantly, and always follow up with my emails quickly.

Do you have any advice for anyone considering working with 27th Letter?

I was strapped on cash. I was a startup entrepreneur, and I didn't know where to start with my marketing. 27th Letter Media absolutely gave me all the insights that I needed. They didn't even know that I was going to hire them, and they still gave me those insights. I would say that reaching out to 27th Letter Media for any startup or any business that's watching the bottom dollar is an absolute must.