Bastion Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Managing Director, Partner at a wealth management firm. I am a wealth manager and have also created a thought-leadership platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bastion Elevate?

I hire Bastion Elevate for social media marketing, editorial assistance and public relations for my thought-leadership platform.

What were your goals for this project?

To increase social media following, expand editorial presence and raise awareness for the platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bastion Elevate?

I researched various public relation firms and social media firms online and spoke to various candidates. Bastion Elevate resonated the best with me as they truly understand my mission. I was very impressed with Shana Starr and Jordan Dahlquist.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Bastion Elevate creates and coordinates the content calendar for social media. I then review, edit (if needed), and approve content for posting. They also create editorial calendar and create pieces for review.

What was the team composition?

I work closely with Jordan D., as social media director, and his team. I also work with Andrew K. and Brenlyn D. on editorial pieces. Shana S., CEO, and I coordinate on vision and expanse.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My social media following has increased exponentially, my editorial articles have been placed in several caliber media outlets. Brand awareness is increasing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very efficient and very effective. We have ongoing communication and everyone is flexible.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have great vision, are receptive, responsive and timely. They do their research and have created compelling ideas for content and actual content.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am very happy with the team and our progress to date.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a full-service advertising agency that focuses on automotive clients. I’m the VP of digital strategy and communications planning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Bastion db5?

I hired them to do quantitative and qualitative research for one of my clients on certified pre-owned vehicles. We wanted to get a better understanding of the marketplace in order to develop effective messaging.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a full audit of the business to understand where the brand stood. They also did a fairly large quantitative study interviewing current and potential customers. Their team then provided a report overviewing the general state of the industry. 

We’re still working together on the qualitative research aspect of the project. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve interfaced with about seven different people on their team. 

How did you come to work with Bastion db5?

I’ve worked with the principle of Bastion db5 on several occasions at my previous agency. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I think we started working together in January 2020. The first phase of the project is complete, but we’re waiting to begin the second phase of the project once COVID-19 restrictions are loosened. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I hired them again because of the success I saw on other projects. On a previous project, their work provided us with insights that drove the transformation of our brand. The results I’ve gotten each time I’ve worked with them have been great. 

How did Bastion db5 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re highly communicative, and they’re very responsive. Even when issues come up, they resolve them quickly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a strong opinion, and they stand by it. That’s something that I highly value because of their deep expertise. They’re also very accessible, even in the higher levels of leadership. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything that I would have them change, at least right now. They’re responsive and work hard to deliver high-quality solutions. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Don’t be afraid to come into the conversation with a strong opinion. They’re not afraid to put their opinion forward as well and have a fruitful back-and-forth with you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of SoberBuddy, and we are a virtual alcohol recovery coaching app and online service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion Elevate?

They worked with us to help get us out into the media and to establish ourselves as thought leaders in drug and alcohol recovery.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with them for about 6 months, and their main focus has been to get our articles into different online publications. They have also targeted news broadcasts, and written content for our own site on our weekly blog.

What was the team composition?

There have been three members of their team working with us on the project.

How much have you invested with them?

The collaboration costs us about $6,000 a month, so in total, we’re at about $36,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their team’s efforts, we’ve had over 50 pieces of earned media coverage in multiple different publications and reached an audience of nearly 30 million readers through those pieces of earned coverage. We’ve been featured in 40 news broadcasts, and received over 5000 social media shares across all of that content.

Everyone on their team has been incredible to work with. They take criticism and feedback really well and are always professional, no matter what. They’ve been particularly innovative in their ideas for how to position ourselves in the media so that we can get messages out quickly enough to be relevant to what’s going on around us.

How did Bastion Elevate perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is also extremely responsive, so I never have to wait before I hear back from them about anything. We have direct communication with all of their team members through Slack so that we have immediate feedback on most issues, and then they follow up with monthly reports on all of our media placements.

We use those as an opportunity to re-center the teams on our plans going forward, and they’ve been really thorough in making sure that we stay informed and they stay accountable to producing results.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Beyond just the number of media placements that they have been able to secure, which has been a huge success for us, I’ve been most impressed with their professionalism. They take feedback and hear about any issues that might come up and just get on it immediately.

I have never seen them take offense or push back on anything that I’ve asked them to do, which has made the collaboration incredibly easy for us to manage.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly don’t have any suggestions for things they could improve. They’re one of the most impressive companies I’ve ever worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to be totally open with your thoughts. They can handle anything you have to say and will work with you to find the best way forward, so just go for it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company designs and sells Powerlifting and Bodybuilding apparel and safety gear. I am the Chief Sales and Marketing officer. I help in designing all our products and make all the marketing content that we distribute on social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bastion Elevate?

Bastion Elevate helps us design and implement our social media targeted advertising. They also consult with us about marketing strategies.

What were your goals for this project?

We want to increase sales and reach a more broad market through social media advertisements. With a large customer base in our specific community, we are looking to reach a more diverse market.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We made contact with Bastion Elevate through another company that we are familiar with. We have worked with several other companies to distribute our social media advertisements. We like Bastion Elevates great communication, quick turnaround and rapid results. My other partners and I chose Bastion Elevate.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After finding Bastion Elevate we had meetings to discuss our direction and possible methods for marketing. We work exclusively through social media advertising and use Facebook and Instagram to target our audience. We consult with Bastion Elevate and use their knowledge to create media content with our in-house athletes. Once we have created the content we give it to Bastion Elevate and they distribute it accordingly through social media channels. Bastion Elevate is continuously amending our social media advertisements to reach a more diverse audience and get us increasingly better returns on our investment.

What was the team composition?

I work mostly directly with my contact, but I receive weekly updates on projects or reports from other members of their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bastion Elevate created a monthly sales goal with us at the beginning of our cooperation and we have met and exceeded that throughout our partnership. We have also noticed continuous growth in new customers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

This project was one on one using simple email to communicate. Bastion Elevate adapted the advertising on the fly to meet and exceeded required sales metrics.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

My favorite part about working with Bastion Elevate is that I have a direct phone number with my project manager. We sometimes communicate at all different hours of the day, many times outside of the normal working hours or even on weekends. Also his expertise and guidance helped me choose the right advertising channels to increase and the right ones to abandon. This experience may be tough to find with other companies.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very satisfied with the projects that we have done and will continue with. Work has always been done on time and for the price that was agreed upon.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of strategy at a global advertising company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion db5?

We were working for a state’s clean energy program whose goal was to change perceptions and awareness around energy behaviors. We needed a way to pull and track a massive audience’s attitudes to understand the movement’s impact.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bastion db5 developed a brand tracker survey on our behalf. It allows for many demographic and geolocation views along with a robust data set that we can slice, dice, and study to see how the target audience was reacting to our campaigns. 

Bastion db5 did all the surveying, reporting, and even analysis of data. After the surveys were complete, we had many rounds of discussions around various ways to cut up the data and study different groups of people. 

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 different people. It started with their lead and then some other analysts and folks joined. Now, those folks on the team have grown and been promoted. They’ve been a fantastic team; they’ve been responsive and helpful throughout the engagement.

How did you come to work with Bastion db5?

When this opportunity came about, we reached out to companies we worked with in the past. Bastion db5 made the shortlist. We asked people to do proposals, and we liked Bastion db5’s the most. We really liked the people there and the way they talked about the research methodologies. We also challenged them to propose their own solutions and were impressed with their level of thinking and the scope of their idea. The prices were competitive as well for our client. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’m not sure, but I’d guess about $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We do two tracking waves in January and June or July. We started working together in 2018, and it must have been a few months before to get approval from our client through their bureaucratic processes, so I believe the partnership started in September or October 2017. We’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bastion db5’s survey data has been essential for all our work. We rely on it for our creative communications to know how to talk to different groups.

We had to build scorecards for the clients that are part of our tracking systems and our metrics. everything we’re paid for is tracking to those metrics. We used Bastion db5 to come up with which questions should go into the critical KPI scorecard and to help us model and project out the hoped-for list we want to see. They use advanced data science analytics to combine survey data and info from our media plans and to create these calculations, and they turned out to be accurate. 

It’s been helpful for our client to have a third party hold our work accountable. It proved the success of our work, showing the movement and our success in making that happen. 

How did Bastion db5 perform from a project management standpoint?

Bastion db5 is really proactive. We regularly check in with them. They’re also very responsive when we had extra needs. When the client needed some data points or need a new data cut, Bastion db5 would be on the phone almost immediately and get back to us quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re just really great partners. They take on our problems as their own. Their processes are thoughtful and fast. In an industry that moves fast, it’s important for us to have a partner we can trust. Bastion db5 has never let us down. 

They also present their own work very well, which is helpful for meetings when we have run through multiple stakeholders. Bastion db5 is able to quickly join us and present over the phone, electronically, or even in-person to walk through their findings. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been really pleased. The nature of our relationship evolved recently where we no longer needed a brand tracker, but we kept them on and evolved the work we asked them to do. We really appreciated their help and wanted to find a pipeline for them that didn’t affect their bottom line. That’s a testament to how much we value them and how we wanted to make good on the partnership. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run insights and innovations for a publishing company. We have a robust offering for consumers to hang out with us.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion db5?

We work with Bastion db5 for different services including primary research into ad effectiveness to help scale our branded content engagement. They’re a full-service agency when it comes to specific insights and research.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Bastion db5 a big problem: how to gauge the effectiveness of branded content. They built an entire system that allows us to view our branded content cost-efficiently and at scale. We’ve worked with them from that perspective for quite some time.

What is the team composition?

We work with Chris (CEO, Bastion db5), Neva (President, Bastion db5), and her entire team. We’ve interacted with a large number of folks across the organization.

How did you come to work with Bastion db5?

I’ve known Chris as an industry leader for decades. I worked with Bastion db5 during my days with other organizations. We go back to them because their team looks for flexible methods to build new solutions that scale well for a company of our size.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve worked with Chris for almost two decades but my relationship with Bastion db5 at this company started around April 2019. Our partnership's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re big fans of Bastion db5. The quality of their work informs the quality of the content that we put in front of advertisers. In many cases, it’s a tool that we use to validate the effectiveness of our branded content. It’s an important part of our business.

How did Bastion db5 perform from a project management standpoint?

The process is collaborative. We speak to them by phone, email, and in-person often. Their team makes changes constantly to the tools they created, ensuring that they're scaled and optimized to business changes. They’re essentially an extension of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility’s important. Their team builds customizable tools that are appreciated

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, research is ever-changing. The information that we need always changes and Bastion db5 is willing to change. It’s appreciated.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A strategic partnership requires time on the side of the client to make sure that you’re getting the most and best out of any company. I appreciate that Bastion db5 is willing to give us the same time and dedication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at Swiftpage, a software company, and I've been there for seven and a half years. I am the corporate engagement and communications manager. I do internal and executive communications and act as our company’s main liaison with our PR agency. I also work with nonprofits and organizations on community work here in Denver. Finally, I manage our blog with the marketing team and contribute to our media presence and digital reputation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion Elevate?

We hired them to handle all our PR services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle media outreach, product launches, organizational news, press releases, and core thought leadership. They also provide support on applying for awards, crisis communications support, analyst outreach, and general corporate communications and PR strategy. They also managed our CEO’s social media presence for a while before he resigned last year. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for our new CEO. Finally, they’re in the middle of helping us kick off a social media influencer campaign.

What is the team composition?

Our core people are Dave (Senior Managing Account Director, Bastion Elevate) and Shana (CEO, Bastion Elevate). We also work with Fred, Lynn, and Jordan (Social Media Director, Bastion Elevate). We’ve also worked with a few other people over our eight years together.

How did you come to work with Bastion Elevate?

We acquired a company that worked with Bastion Elevate. We were happy with them so we kept them on.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $1,000,000 with them including $10,000 per month on PR and thought leadership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every year is our best year ever in terms of PR coverage. We always seem to beat what we did the year prior. We can’t be mad at that. I’m always doubtful we’ll beat last year’s numbers, since we don’t spend more and more money, but they always hit that mark. It’s awesome, I think.

Throughout the engagement, they’ve gotten us 1,100 pieces of unique coverage (including product launches, thought leadership, and other news), which resulted in 750,000,000 in total circulation and over 100,000 social shares.

How did Bastion Elevate perform from a project management standpoint?

They come in and meet in-person once a year to plan the entire year. That planning includes corporate communications and PR strategy, as well as our marketing strategy. I’m in contact with Dave every day, though, and consider him an internal team member.

I’ve asked them for more ways to increase our reach and leads and they brought this social media influencer campaign to me. They’ve stepped up to help us at every step by curating a list of influencers and assets that we’ll use in the campaign. They’re great at laying out different tactics and holding us accountable to give them what they need to be successful. They’re a great partner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other vendors I’ve worked with, Bastion Elevate isn’t about selling us something or getting something out of us. They care about our relationship and want us to do well. If we do well, then they believe they’ll do well. They would never suggest we do something they didn’t think would benefit us. I thought that at the beginning and it’s only become truer as the years have gone by.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints. They’re already doing this, but they should keep coming up with new ways for us to increase our reach and grow our brand.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and honest with them about what your goals are and rely on their expertise to reach those goals. I put a lot of trust in them, and you have to be willing to do that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Cyrex Labs is a high-complexity clinical laboratory offering innovative tests designed to detect and monitor autoimmune reactivities and their possible triggers. Cyrex is focused on the fast growing health issues of autoimmune disorders now affecting tens of millions of people in the United States. Cyrex test panels are designed to evaluate your immune reactions using our proprietary, advanced technology. I have worked in several different areas of Cyrex including, Customer Support, New Account Specialist, Patient Services, Marketing (social and otherwise), Emails, website content management Liaison for all PR related initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bastion Elevate?

Bastion Elevate primarily provides PR services for Cyrex, including media outreach, product launches and organizational news, press release drafting and distribution, thought leadership, speaking engagements, crisis communications, spokesperson positioning as leaders.

What were your goals for this project?

We hired Bastion Elevate on a continual basis for all items pertaining to raising public awareness of Cyrex Testing. We wanted to expand our visibility to consumer base, as well as take our place as a leader in the testing field among healthcare professionals. We wanted to increase interest and obviously sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My manager had secured them for an interview. I was one of the people involved in making the decision of what PR firm would best fit our needs/tone.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After an initial meeting to interview Bastion Elevate in 2015, we quickly made the decision to hire them. From there we scheduled a meeting to discuss the first steps, decide on the first press releases, timelines and who our industry leaders would be to use for bylines and interview opportunities. In my roll I was responsible for getting them any necessary collateral that we had including all marketing flyers, images etc and keeping them apprised of the new website additions I was designing for patients.

What was the team composition?

While I don't know the exact number of team members they use, I work very closely with Dave Fiestel on a daily basis. He is WONDERFUL! I worked With the owner as well mainly during our monthly in-person meetings and also worked with two other members of her PR team. Everyone is very responsive and helpful and a complete joy to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bastion Elevate has secured more than 3 dozens radio and podcast interviews and more than 100 pieces of thought leadership coverage for Cyrex. They have secured more than 500 pieces of total coverage for Cyrex for an estimated total audience of more than 300M and a total advertising equivalency of nearly $3M.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I've always been a huge fan of their work ethic. They meet deadlines and always manage to be flexible with us when it comes to the review process and timelines. Dave, who I work with the most is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and overall a great person to work with.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by the types of high profile media organizations that Bastion Elevate was able to gain interest in our product/services. They secured leading media outlets for byline pickups and speaking engagements..

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only time we hit some bumps was in the beginning while working on the tone of Press Releases/ bylines. This was mainly because there was a disconnect on format and who the audience would be for each type of press piece. Healthcare providers or patients. In the end Bastion Elevate was able to communicate to my superiors what the best tone would be, why, and carry out a successful piece.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and CFO of a software company that specializes in clinical documentation solutions for hospitals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion Elevate?

When our company first started, we were operating in a fairly new industry. We needed a lot of PR work to increase awareness of our firm and the services we provide.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Early on, Bastion Elevate worked to secure interviews and unpaid media placements for our company.

The team handled all of our press releases around product launches and upgrades, as well as any organizational news. They also managed our social media and SEO efforts. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of about five PR specialists. 

How did you come to work with Bastion Elevate?

We were introduced to Bastion Elevate by some marketing consultants we had partnered with when our company was first established. 

At that point, they were involved with another group of marketing specialists. Over time, they split into two groups, and we began our formal engagement with Bastion Elevate as a PR firm.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $800,000-$900,000 with Bastion Elevate.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership spanned from 2010-2019. At that point, we ceased our PR efforts as a company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bastion Elevate secured our firm’s position as the undisputed thought leader in our industry. 

We were sought after for speaking engagements with increasing regularity after having partnered with their team for only a short while. We found this especially impressive given how new our industry was and how little they had to work with.

How did Bastion Elevate perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance was outstanding. The team was wonderful to work with and they were always proactive in their efforts to reach out to outlets and secure media engagements. We can’t give them enough praise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were amazed by what Bastion Elevate was able to accomplish in the time they worked with us. At the beginning of our partnership, the team had very few healthcare contacts, but within only a few months it was as if they knew everyone everywhere.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hand them the reins and let them do their thing. Throughout our entire engagement, we never needed to prod or nag them. Bastion Elevate always did independent, outstanding work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work with Avalara, which a sales tax automation SaaS company. I am a senior marketing manager, and my role is in providing lodging tax automation services to vacation rental owners and property owners such as commercial hotels and online travel agencies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bastion Elevate?

We originally contracted with Bastion Elevate to provide PR services for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle our media outreach, promoting product and technology launches, drafting and distributing press releases and thought leadership, and any crisis communication that may arise.

All of their work focuses on positioning our company as a thought leader within the vacation rental industry. That includes securing earned media with local press outlets or podcasts and other feature opportunities, as well as managing social media accounts for our company and one of our executives.

What is the team composition?

We work with up to five members of their team at any given time. They provided us with a social strategist to draft and execute thought leadership content for our channels, an account director to manage the deliverables of the project, and one of their founders who was in charge of the overarching strategy for the engagement.

How did you come to work with Bastion Elevate?

I inherited the relationship from the previous marketing manager, but they were selected for their reputation as a service provider in the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of our work with Bastion elevate, we have spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in 2015 and is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the things I’m especially happy with about their performance is the detailed reporting that they provide to us on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Those reports make it really easy for us to keep track of the impacts that their work provides, despite some of those metrics being particularly hard to evaluate. We continue to be satisfied with the results that they deliver in those regards.

How did Bastion Elevate perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is fantastic at project management. They lay out really clear project plans, and their project manager checks in regularly when we are working on larger initiatives. Not only that, but deliverables are on time or early every single time, so we’ve been really happy with their performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We operate in a very niche space when it comes to the intersection of the vacation rental industry and the sales and transactional tax industry. Bastion Elevate has really dug in to understand not only the needs of the vacation industry but also how those relate to sales tax on a broader level.

That allows them to do a really good job of identifying opportunities or current events that have the potential to benefit our business or generate earned media opportunities, which we really appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing immediately comes to mind. I’ve been completely satisfied with all of the work that I’ve seen from them since we started working together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Assemble as many educational resources as possible, because the better the agency understands what you’re looking for and the needs of your space, the more they are going to be able to do for you.