Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Engagement of Kinbrace Community Society

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Kinbrace community is a registered charity that welcomes refugee claimants with housing, education, and support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing to accomplish?

• Search engine optimization - Make the new public legal education and information website www.myrefugeeclaim.ca discoverable in Canada via google ads and other
• Marketing - get the news of www.myrefugeeclaim.ca out to refugee claimants, service providers, and the public via social media
• Analytics - understand how www.myrefugeeclaim.ca is gaining reach across demographics of importance

SOLUTION

How did you find Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

personal network

Why did you select Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing over others?

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

How many teammates from Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

A & O is providing

• SEO/Online Discoverability
• MOM growth in organic traffic
• MOM growth in keyword quantity & ranking
• MOM growth in backlinks and authority score
• Social Media MOM growth in reach
• MOM growth in followers
• MOM growth in key metric, ex. saves Google Ads
• Continuous ad traffic to website

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• increasing # of - new and returning users to website
• clicks
• overall use of site
• Effectiveness of Google Ads and Google Search Console
• Increasing # of social media followers (Facebook and Instagram)
• Increasing # of hotjar reviews collected

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

A & O Analytics and Marketing

• deliver monthly reports
• take initiative to set up the next meeting
• have the social media posts available to approve in the month prior
• are responsive to email and sms messaging queries
• have a clear and professional communications protocol

What was your primary form of communication with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

A & O are personable, attentive, and understand how to listen. Their team is patient, and take the time to explain what is mysterious and unfathomable to most of us. They also get the work done on time and according to the agreed timeline. They're open to change and learning, particularly about social media; they're willing to match our voice.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing could have done differently?

When they took on creating social media marketing content, they used their own voice and mood, which didn't match the public legal information space My Refugee Claim inhabits. They took developmental feedback seriously and worked hard to create posts that were legally accurate and carried the mood and values of www.myrefugeeclaim.ca.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-founder and CEO of AIMA

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Develop period relief solutions for menstruators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing to accomplish?

• Build our SEO
• Manage our website
• Blogging

SOLUTION

How did you find Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

Referral

Why did you select Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

• Blogging for SEO 
• Building SEO 
• Building and managing Shopify site 
• Managing policies on site 
• Developing key partnerships and relationships with copywriters 
• Weekly meetings and updates 
• Working with Marketing Manager to grow customers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Weekly updates Monthly presenations on growth and what is working, not working, and progressing

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

Yes, they've been amazing at being very flexible and open with our budget and time. They've delivered their projects on time and even ahead of schedule.

What was your primary form of communication with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The human aspect. Everyone is kind, hard-working, and willing to help. They want you to succeed, and so they do everything they can to make it happen. Communicating with them is easy and they aren't afraid to challenege your thinking in order to provide the best results.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing could have done differently?

Right now they're expanding and bringing more talented people onto the team. I'm looking forward to working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the operations manager at Clapham's Beeswax Products. We manufacture beeswax products, including food-safe wax products for wood, furniture polish, hand cream, lip balms, salves, and tinctures.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We were approved for a grant by the government of Canada through the Canadian Digital Adoption Program, whose goal is to improve the digital score of small businesses like hours. Although we didn’t have any issues we were trying to resolve, we got access to funding and chose A & O to help us improve our digital score.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

A & O mainly worked on improving our SEO. We worked with them on keyword research by bouncing the options back and forth. They used a software product to find the best keyword options, passed them to us, and we made some changes. 

They also provided updates to our website by upgrading existing product pages. The team also created 5–6 blog posts for us. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least three teammates from A & O, and they hired a copywriter for the blog. Our main point of contact was Noor (Co-Director). 

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

The government of Canada gave us a list of 70 companies we could work with. We wanted a local company, so we narrowed the list to 5–6 candidates. I called the candidates’ clients and asked about their experience. At the end of that process, I chose A & O based on the positive reviews they received from some of their clients. 

How much have you invested with them?

Their invoice was for $17,000–$18,000 CAD (approximately $12,000–$13,000 USD). The federal government paid 90% of the price, so we invested around $2,000 CAD (approximately $1,500 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–October 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback from our internal team has been very positive; everyone here is happy with the work A & O has done. Our updated website went live the last weekend, so we haven't had any customer feedback.

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything went fine regarding project management. We had a pre-set budget, and although I'm unsure if their hours exceeded the agreement, they stuck to the initial budget. They also met their deadlines for the most part; they had to take a week away from work due to a personal emergency, but we understand that life happens. 

We communicated back and forth through email and used Zoom. They were very responsive to requests, easy to communicate with, and quick in their email responses.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with A & O's ability to take feedback, whether it be positive or negative, and work it into their preexisting knowledge of SEO. Our company's leaders are in their 80s, and SEO is very new to them. They're also very knowledgeable about our company's industry, and during the blog post writing process, they rejected the first draft of a blog post. 

A & O took the time to explain why the blog had to be a certain way and what SEO is. They worked to ensure that the blog posts made them happy regarding SEO, and our leadership was comfortable with them being on our website. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We gave them constructive feedback in the blog-writing process. In one of the posts, their copywriter missed the assignment by almost 100% — they didn't understand the language they had to use. A & O took full responsibility; not only did they review that post and improve it by the fourth draft, but they also offered to write us another post for free, which was great. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't be afraid to ask questions and tell them what you want. A & O is very responsive, so you shouldn't shy away from making your requests known and clear.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing consultant, digital branding strategist, and the founder of I Like Storytelling. We’re a company that helps uncover brand stories to connect and communicate with customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

Our company was hired to help a technology platform secure funding. We planned to do this by applying for a media grant, and building a story and presentation for private investors. We needed help applying for the grant, and we wanted to outsource someone with specialties in grant writing and marketing. 

We hired Apples & Oranges to write the grant proposal and help build a marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The initial part of the process was reviewing the grant application requirements and going into detail to uncover what our client wanted in terms of answers to the questions. We took those answers and started to line up our marketing plan around them. We built a timeline with Noor (Co-Director) and agreed to do separate preliminary research before we met and brainstormed. 

When we met with Apples & Oranges, we both brought ideas to the table, and at the end of the brainstorming session, they took all of the ideas we came up with and started to build the plan. 

We workshopped several potential positioning opportunities in the market for the platform. After talking to major players within the market, we were able to discover what was needed and wanted in a product. During this time, we were also conducting competitor research to find out what other opportunities were already out there. Apples & Oranges led this project, but we offered support because it was a large amount of work. 

Once we understood the market, we met with our client and went through the product they were offering and what they were looking to do in the future. We worked out four different positionings in the market. Apples & Oranges took that information, developed one unified positioning statement, and built an intricate go-to-market strategy. 

They created an account-based marketing strategy that zeroed in on about 20 customers and built tight relationships with them. These customers were able to test out the products and give insights, which allowed us to understand precisely what they needed from the product. The product was difficult to describe, but made more sense when it was used, and Apples & Oranges came up with a strategy to make that happen.

In addition to this strategy, they also created a smaller strategy that used more traditional digital media tactics to raise awareness and garner interest from people. 

After going through these processes, Apples & Oranges wrote the grant. We went through a small editing process, but the grant was based on what we had learned throughout the demos and the feedback we received. 

What is the team composition?

We met with Michael (Co-Director) and Noor to start with, but Noor was the only person that we communicated with past the initial meeting. 

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We knew we needed help to complete this project because we were on a tight timeline, and they came highly recommended by three separate people in our network. They met with us the day after we reached out, and we started working together soon after that. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $6,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between July–September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The grant winners have not been announced yet, so it’s too soon to tell, but the grant was incredibly well-written, and we were very happy with their work. 

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed incredibly well from a project management standpoint. They were efficient and highly professional. No problem was too big for them to handle, and they completed everything in a very short amount of time. 

We communicated via email and Zoom, and we used Otter.ai to record meetings. We also met weekly in person. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were incredibly detail oriented and methodical, and they covered all aspects of how to build customer relationships. They produced ingenious and creative strategies that narrowed down what we needed to succeed. They were highly experienced, and their knowledge was incredibly valuable. 

They learned about the product, and understood how best to sell it. They were very customer-focused, patient, and solution-oriented. No matter how frustrating the process became they handled it professionally and brought answers and solutions to the table. 

They had incredible writing skills and were forward-thinking in all their strategies. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing that they could have done better for us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide as much detail as possible in the initial brief, especially with grant writing. If you need brand marketing, then be very clear about what you’re looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a tea company that sells directly to consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We wanted to do some upgrades to our website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Apples & Oranges helps us update our website. They develop it on Shopify and install various apps or plug-ins as needed. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Alia (Accounts & SEO Content Lead) and Michael (Co-Director). 

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

Apples & Oranges reached out to me. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $50,000 CAD (approximately $38,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Apples & Oranges’ work is great. They’re responsive and have in-depth knowledge of Shopify. They can figure out solutions for the tasks we need to complete. 

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve met deadlines and stayed on budget. To communicate, we use emails, phone calls, and Google Documents. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Apples & Oranges has a great response time, and they understand the needs of their customers. The team is also thorough — they never leave things unresolved. Everything is clear, and they break things down into specific tasks when doing a big project. They provide clear details on what needs to be completed to ensure the project's success. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Geenees, a marketplace for in-kind giving; our platform is to donate products and services to families in need.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

This year, we started working with our nonprofits and charities on a larger scale. As we completed a new onboarding and prices package for them, we needed to understand a bit more about their customer profile. We wanted to know who would be the right type of clients for us, who would use us, and what sort of value we’d bring them. 

We hired Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing (A & O) to do some qualitative research about our nonprofits to understand the value they saw and if they had any specific feedback about using our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we explained to A & O what we were trying to achieve and understand about our users. We wanted to know who we should target and how and the messaging that should be at the front. The research also included whether our new pricing had the right structures and fees. We had an onboarding phase where we provided education about our product’s features and what we wanted the messaging to be. 

From there, the A & O team started with a sales approach. They reached out to trusted nonprofits and charities they had connections with and collected feedback about our service. The team reported every conversation and explained the feedback users gave. At the end of our engagement, they presented all their findings and provided recommendations about our next steps. The team also participated in an internal strategy meeting and provided their perspective. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Michael (Co-Director). 

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We found them through a referral. Our fractional CMO was connected to them through a channel. A & O had worked with nonprofits and impact-driven organizations, which really appealed to us. We reached out, had an introduction, and explained what we were trying to understand. 

The next step was looking at the quote and proposal they thought would best match our needs. A & O presented their proposal with all the steps that would go into the process, and we liked their suggestion to start with a sales approach. We felt that their relationship-building approach would give us a good sense of what our users saw and the questions we may get from a salesperson. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $2,500 CAD (approximately $1,900 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–June 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before working with A & O, we didn't know how to pitch to nonprofits, what to emphasize, or what to start with. Our product provides two types of value: removing the logistical burden of in-kind donation facilitation and bringing new generations of donors. The process with Michael helped us understand that we have to focus on the engagement of Millennials and Gen Z in nonprofit organizations. Thanks to their work, we changed our messaging, which was a big turning point for us. 

From our understanding of the messaging, we also transitioned our marketing efforts. Additionally, we now understand who to target, thanks to A & O. They were good at explaining what types of nonprofits we should focus on, how to characterize the types of organizations that would most benefit from our product, and how to qualify leads properly. The team helped put our priorities into perspective.

Additionally, A & O's reports were really helpful because they enabled us to understand the good and the bad of what we offer. They also clarified what we could change as we continue working through our sales and development efforts. Their final presentation was also great — informative and detailed. 

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They were wonderful at project management. They communicated how each feedback session went and all the information from the sales calls. The team was also always on time. Michael exceeded our expectations because he didn't charge us more to participate in the strategy meeting. Even though the meeting wasn't part of the project, he wanted to help and spent his time and effort giving us his perspective, which we really appreciated. 

We integrated A & O within our Slack, which was helpful for us. They were quick with communication and made sure we were on time.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Firstly, I was impressed with A & O's communication regarding what worked and what didn't and the feedback from every single session. Secondly, they're very detail-oriented. They analyzed what each word of feedback meant and the trends they could find from that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything they needed to improve. This isn't usually the type of projects A & O does, but they saw it as an opportunity that would be helpful for us. Once I do other projects with them, I'll probably have more constructive feedback. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What worked well for us was scheduling recurring meetings with A & O, which I would definitely recommend. I'd also advise adding them to your Slack; it's an efficient way to get documents, have quick feedback, or brainstorm on the spot. Additionally, involve them within your team instead of just as an agency because they can share a perspective you can't see internally.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations coordinator for a nonprofit organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We hired them to do an email marketing workshop for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing conducted an extensive workshop on email marketing for our members. During the workshop, they gave us recommendations for email marketing platforms and services, introduced ways to write email sequences, and trained us on other aspects of email marketing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the two co-directors of their company.

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

I don’t know because it was one of my colleagues who connected with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $1,000 CAD (approximately $800 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project during the entire month of June 2022. Our collaboration has already ended.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a lot of people sign up and show up for the workshop, which was really great to see. A good amount of people also wrote to us, saying thank you for organizing the workshop.

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent in this regard. Our communication with them was pretty good, and we mainly interacted through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their ability to explain technical concepts in layman’s terms, which made it easy for people with no email marketing background to understand things easily. We also appreciated how accommodating they were. For instance, before the day of the workshop, we asked them to learn how to properly describe their slides as they through each of them so that the people who were visually impaired could still follow. They really did a pretty good job of that.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I don’t think so.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at CleanO2, a carbon capture technology company. We take CO2 emissions from natural-gas-fired heating appliances in industrial buildings and turn them into a byproduct to create cleaning products, such as soap bars, hand wash, and body wash. Within the company, I’m the communications and operations manager for our soap and cleaning products marketing team. We sell these products online and through retail outlets in Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We needed help with SEO and content marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

A & O helps us with our SEO and content marketing. Their work has included the keyword research and content writing needed for our newest website to help us get better results with our marketing. Additionally, they’ve slowly started working on our backlinking efforts by reaching out to other blogs, newspapers, and industry-related websites to get us mentioned in more places.

What is the team composition?

We work with Michael (Co-Director), who is our main point of contact, and Alia (Accounts & SEO Content Lead), who writes the blogs and edits the content on our website.

How did you come to work with Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

A & O reached out to us. During our initial call, they provided us with keyword analytics, an overview of our site, and the areas of improvement they found. They also explained what they could do for us. Ultimately, we decided to start working with them on SEO because we were developing our new website.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $10,000–$15,000 CAD (approximately $8,000–12,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching our site in June 2022, we’ve seen a substantial increase in our visits and our site’s ranking on search results. Additionally, their backlinking efforts have helped us convert around 5–6 backlink opportunities.

How did Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

A & O is very good at project management. We’ve never gone over budget, but they’ve always done more than what we ask them for. Although our contract is focused on SEO, Michael is always happy to provide us with extra services like marketing consulting or small backend development tasks. Additionally, they offer very quick turnaround times, so they’ve never missed a deadline.

We meet with A & O once per week, which really helps us stay on track and share ideas. During these calls, both sides share updates from their end. Their team is very good at picking up things that might be useful for their SEO efforts to help us keep moving forward. They use Airtable to coordinate the blog posts and transfer content, and we leverage Google products for communication and documentation, like Google Meet and Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A & O’s willingness to collaborate with us and answer our questions on topics outside of their scope is impressive. They’re extremely knowledgeable regarding e-commerce and marketing, and they’re always happy to give us excellent recommendations. They’re extremely helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re excellent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Meeting with them frequently is a great way to get the most out of your engagement; they’re always happy to help.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an organic macadamia brand focused on connecting consumers to a healthy Hawaiian snack grown sustainably on our farm. I manage our brand, sales, and marketing as a VP of Island Harvest.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing, and what were your goals?

We wanted to improve the SEO of our website by building out better and more content.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Great communication, clear deliverables, and good value.

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

• Shopify
• Klayvio
• Sleeknote
• Shogun
• Google Analytics

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

We worked with two people on A&O's team. Michael led the project and did much of the backend SEO work and Alia helped create really great content to be used on our website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A&O did thorough keyword research, developed recipes and blog content, improved our product listings, and much more to vastly improve our website. Not only is our SEO much better, but the feel of our website is much more professional because of how they laid things out and the content they created.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had meetings regularly to go over content and deliverables and the A&O team really took the time to make sure I liked what they were working on. They were also very punctual in all email communications.

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

They practiced clear and honest communication, followed by delivering quality results.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a Canadian water technology company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Apples & Oranges Analytics and Marketing?

We are a new company who had a very basic website and we wanted to re-design our website to allow for our product pre-orders and better conversion rates. Additionally, they assisted us with our blog briefs to create more engaging SEO friendly content.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We chose Apples & Oranges because of their relationship with SheEO and I had spoken with other founders who had worked with them in the past and had positive experiences.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We developed a design scope, and an ongoing monthly retainer to support the project from start to finish. We had bi-weekly meetings to work through the project. Michael provided updates and designs for our team. He also introduced us to his blog brief team member who assisted us with content development.

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

In total we worked with Michael as the lead contact, as well as two other colleagues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the assistance of A&O, we successfully completed our website design and using blog briefs from their team we were also able to write thorough content according to revelant SEO keywords and trends. Overall, it was a successful project.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Michael is thoughtful, smart and trustworthy. I would consider him a marketing "scientist" in his approach. He is methodical and data driven and our team got along with him and his team very well.

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

They were thoughtful and data-driven with their approach. Sometimes marketing agencies are great with strategy but terrible with execution and I found A&O to base their decisions on data which is refreshing.

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

We had a successful project together. The only piece of feedback for improvement would be staying very strict to deadlines. We had very tight timelines and sometimes we were waiting extra days for completion of tasks.