Actual Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, Marketing Communications of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

My company develops the software that helps people powered businesses operate efficiency, scale faster and deliver remarkable outcomes to their clients and employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Actual Agency to accomplish?

• Launch a new company formed by a merger of two industry leading technology companies.
• Build brand awareness

SOLUTION

How did you find Actual Agency?

Online Search

Why did you select Actual Agency over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Team

How many teammates from Actual Agency were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

SOW: 

• Develop high-level messaging framework and key thought leadership storylines to serve as the foundation for the communications program and overtake SOV amongst top competitors
• Creation and maintenance of a media target list focused on journalists, influencers and bloggers recommended for engagement
• Creation of a news bureau program and framework that maps top media and influencers with key related topics
• Build and maintain awards and speaking engagements program
• Ongoing outreach to and engagement with target media, influencers and bloggers on behalf of my company supported by agreed corporate content, news and pitches.

Program Outputs: High-level, one-page message framework, thought leadership storylines for the plan, and six-month comms plan. As part of the narrative and communications plan process, creation of strategic thought leadership media storylines to use for proactive press engagement. These storylines are product, business and idea-driven stories that ladder up to the journey to the future of professional services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Coverage and increased SOV

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Weekly status calls to ensure deliverables were on track.

What was your primary form of communication with Actual Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Great company culture, commitment to success and they became members of my extended team.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Actual Agency could have done differently?

no

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Principal/Creative Strategist of Farinella LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a branding and marketing agency. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Actual Agency to accomplish?

• Create brand awareness for our client.
• Offer thought leadership guidance.

SOLUTION

How did you find Actual Agency?

Referral

Why did you select Actual Agency over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Actual Agency were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We've relied on Actual as a strategic partner based on their expertise in strategic PR, corporate communications, media relations, and thought leadership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We saw an uptick in our clients' brand awareness, increased media coverage, and website traffic.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Always communicating, always on time, always responsive. We couldn't have asked for a more professional team to work with us.

What was your primary form of communication with Actual Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their team's strategic guidance is top-notch, and their follow-through is strong. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Actual Agency could have done differently?

No, they delivered exactly what they promised when it was promised.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Global VP of Marketing 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Actual Agency?

We needed support to provide financial press coverage in addition to traditional bitcoin coverage.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Actual Agency provided global media coverage for Bitfarms. They arranged interviews with the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among others. Actual Agency also secured TV coverage and delivered articles for Forbes, The Block, Yahoo Finance, and Financial Post.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three teammates from Actual Agency.

How did you come to work with Actual Agency?

I worked with one of Actual Agency's partner agencies, so I found them through a referral. I respected Erin (CEO) and her team and knew that anyone under her would be able to get the job done.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from 2022–2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Actual Agency delivered excellent media coverage results for us.

How did Actual Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most unique aspect of working with Actual Agency was the true sense of partnership. They didn't feel like an external agency but an extension of our team — they were proactive, responsive, and always invested in our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Actual Agency could have managed team turnover better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CMO of Privacera

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Software developer building a unified data and AI security governance solution

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Actual Agency to accomplish?

• Grow general awarness for Privacera and our market space
• Increase our SOV versus competitors
• Build thought leadership program around the needs for data security governance

SOLUTION

How did you find Actual Agency?

Referral

Why did you select Actual Agency over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Actual Agency were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Privacera engaged Actual Agency as our PR and Communications agency of record. The overall objectives is to build out our PR and Coms program to deliver on three major objectives: (1) grow awareness of Privacera in general beyond our traditional analytics media only, (2) increase our share of voice (SOV) versus other players in the market, and (3) to create a thought leadership program to educate the market on data security governance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Coverage and awareness increased by more than 200% - averaging more than 60 content pieces per qtr. SOV increased by more than 100% to put us close to our primary and much larger competitor. Privacera and our spokes people are often quoted or interviewed now for articles relating to data security governance and the importance of this market domain.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Actual's team doesa great job at tracking projects at a very granular level with weekly check-ins plus Slack channel where everyone can collaborate. All activities are tracked and readily available for me to review. Detail analysis of the work performed and process are shared on a quarterly basis.

What was your primary form of communication with Actual Agency?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

From the first conversations before we engaged Actual we found their team very knowledgeable and will to engage with us in thoughtful manner. I really appreciate the joint message exploration discussions and teaming to work on themes we wish to target. In addition, I always feel we have the A-team working with our account, even though we are a pretty small startup still.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Actual Agency could have done differently?

Nothing I can think of.