Appalachian Trends

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Dennis Alexander Construction, a commercial construction company. We also provide maintenance services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appalachian Trends?

We brought in Appalachian Trends to help us scale up and establish our web presence. We already had Facebook, Instagram, and Google accounts, but we weren’t using them to their maximum potential.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appalachian Trends has helped us maximize our social media usage, giving our accounts a professional touch. They built our website from scratch, rebranded our logo, and have been working on our organic SEO. At the end of each week, they provide statistics and metrics through Slack.

They‘ve also implemented a CRM system and streamlined our Gmail server, our in-house job tracking process, our lead tracking process, and a little bit of our inventory as well.

Basically, they’ve helped us address inefficiencies throughout the company. When we finish with one project, we find another one to focus our efforts on.

What is the team composition?

Zack (Founder) is my main point of contact. I’ve also talked with an intern.

How did you come to work with Appalachian Trends?

We interviewed three different companies before them, but we weren’t satisfied with what they had to offer. We ultimately heard about Appalachian Trends through other local businesses they were working with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $2,500, and we’re working on a $1,000-per-month agreement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's staggering how much has been accomplished in the short period of our engagement. We now appear on the top list of contractors in search engine results for Fayette County thanks to the amount of web traffic generated through social media and Google positioning — that’s extremely impressive.

Phone calls, leads, and friend requests have also gone up. One of our social media profiles was brand new, and we currently have almost 400 followers on it.

How did Appalachian Trends perform from a project management standpoint?

For project management, we use Slack, Zoho, QuickBooks, and Chirply. I have daily calls with Zack from 4–5:30 p.m. — I’m giving him as much as he can handle.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The graphic design work is Zack’s most impressive quality. He is an artist first and a web developer second — his graphic art is impressive and eye-catching.

Zack also has a very well-rounded understanding of our business needs. We’re able to bounce ideas off of each other pretty fluidly, and he has the ability to take them and bring them to life. So far, I’m pretty happy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like to see Zack get a few people under him, so he’d be able to delegate some of the less skill-requiring tasks and continue to do what he’s best at. It’d be good for them to diversify, expand, and increase their outreach.

Any advice for potential customers?

What you put in is what you’ll get out. Some people expect to have their vision translated into reality. My advice to them is to provide as much feedback and to be as engaging with them as you want the end result to be. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it has worked really well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-owner of outdoor product company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appalachian Trends, and what were your goals?

To establish a professional website and social marketing presence to launch our business which our sales are primarily online

SOLUTION

How did you select Appalachian Trends and what were the deciding factors?

Referred by a family friend, and was very pleased with the professionalism and overall product, and ease that was incorporated into our online sales process for the customer.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I have no idea; we told Zach what we needed and our expectations and he delivered what we wanted. It is not our job to know the ins and outs of the tech part, and that is the great part about working with Zach. He knows that side of things, and leaves us free to manage our company and sales.

This is how we expect an IT company to operate. If I knew all the details, I would do it myself.I am not the IT professional, so I expect my contractor to handle all of the details for me. Zach did a great job, and I would highly recommend working with him.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One, just Zach the developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

No

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Excellent! They did what we asked, and added points that were result driven for what our expectations were.

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

Just ease to work with

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

None that I know of

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Tri-County Drain Specialists.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appalachian Trends?

We went through many marketing agencies big and small before we hired Appalachian Trends and Zack (Founder). We were looking for somebody to turn everything over and brand us and take us to the top so we could start scaling our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appalachian Trends helped us rebrand our company with a new site and visual identity. We specialize in trenches and pipe repairs, so we’re in a unique market. It takes some deep-diving to understand how our process works. I gave Zack very limited information, but he did all his research and over-delivered the whole way around.

He took what was currently going on with our online presence, shut it down, and built a new website on a separate domain. He also provided us with a rebrand, including designing a new logo. Finally, he automated our ads. His job was to basically bring us back from the ground up.

What is the team composition?

I only ever worked with Zack (Founder). He is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Appalachian Trends?

I came across some of Zack’s content creations on Facebook. After having a conversation about our goals and the abilities he was able to provide, we made the decision that he would be a very good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we’ve invested around $5,000–$10,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019. Our partnership remains ongoing to this day.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

He grew our organic traffic immensely, and we’re spending way below what we’ve ever spent in converting a potential customer. Our content creation is top-notch, and there are no businesses that can compete with us locally. Without a doubt, he’s helped grow our business by 50–60%.

It’s been an absolutely great experience, and we're excited for the future with Appalachian Trend.

How did Appalachian Trends perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls where he shares the traffic and analytics as they change or become available.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What’s impressive about them is they over-deliver on every project they’re tasked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I were to critique them in any way, I would like it if they had a little bit of uniformity when it comes to their way of operating. As a business owner, I’m constantly busy. So having a standard process of how to conduct business would be great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If I was to give any advice to a new customer of theirs, I would tell them to trust the process. I don’t know who else works underneath Appalachian Trends or their capabilities, but I know that Zack is very passionate about what he does, and it shows through his work.

If you’re a business owner, focus on the task inside your company and let these guys handle the marketing aspect. Let them do their thing and get ready for the scale of the results.