Big Leap

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

United Credit is a financial technology company that connects consumers and businesses with an array of experienced, innovative financing solutions. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

In advance of rebranding the company, we hired Big Leap as our digital marketing agency partner to help us assess and grow both our web presence's SEO and PPC through Google Ads. It was important to keep our existing legacy search equity while transitioning to the new company name.

SOLUTION

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

The team support structure presented by Big Leap was much deeper than what we saw from other agencies we interviewed.

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

We began with discovery and account onboarding in May then moved into analysis of our existing SEO/PPC in June. In August, we rebranded and then in September, Big Leap helped us transition to a new online name and website. Throughout, SEO was analyzed to help us retain and grow our online equity. PPC looked at trends in our campaigns and helped us test an increase in spend. Following a few months, we started implementing changes based on data with Big Leap's help.

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

Throughout our engagement with Big Leap, we've had an Account Manager. We've also had 1 SEO specialist and 1 PPC specialist. Recently the team expanded to include more PPC support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since our work with Big Leap, the quality of our website content has been strengthened due to their SEO input. We've also had their SEO support on content edits for EAT (Expertise/Authority/Trust). Our search ranking has remained strong, even through the rebranding. We increased our PPC spend in order to generate more business, but when we noticed diminishing returns, Big Leap helped us change direction quickly.

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

The team is great at communicating, sharing data, and meeting deadlines. Posted Google reports show us both focus and progress in SEO and PPC. Our account manager always sends an agenda in advance of a meeting with links to reference documentation. They also send a detailed meeting summary with more documentation after each call.

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

The team has a very strong 'can-do' attitude. They are very approachable and timely.

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

There was turnover in multiple roles on the agency team, which didn't appear to hugely impact the work, but there's always efficiency lost in transitions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing coordinator for a medical company. We provide medical evidence to veterans through a telehealth platform. I oversee everything from email campaigns to blogs, SEO, website development, social media, visuals, and anything related to marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Leap?

I had a lot on my plate when I entered this position. We realized that I had to juggle more than we initially thought, so we needed someone for social media management. Then, we realized that we also required SEO work and blog writing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Big Leap has provided social media marketing services. They’ve kept all the content, generated ideas, tracked them, and shared them through Google Sheets. The document would provide the topic headline, copy, and links to be attached so we could review it easily.

Initially, they did a comprehensive keyword research piece and a website audit. They provided the keywords for each blog and researched the best trends for the topics we covered. Since then, Big Leap has done a couple of other social media and website audits to ensure our SEO and keywords are strong across all our pages.

On the blog side, they link each blog with a Google Doc, which we can review to make suggestions or comments. They check it, make the changes, and send it back for a second review. We usually don’t have to do more than 1–2 reviews, and then we put it ourselves on the website. We use WordPress, so all the blogs are posted there. For the content, we brainstorm ideas together; their team writes the blogs, does the research, and includes any additional links. Additionally, they help push a couple of pieces of content out on our social media talking about the new blogs on the website.

We also send out email campaigns, so they’ve written emails around some blog topics. Typically, we take the letter description they’ve come up with and put that as the email’s body. When we push out emails that have to do with the blogs, they provide a call to action and a place for us to link back to our website for the customer to read more.

What is the team composition?

Since we engaged with Big Leap, we’ve worked with about 10 teammates. We’re regularly in contact with 2–3 people per meeting: the SEO manager, the client success strategist, and the content review specialist. We usually work with high-level employees; they take all the suggestions back to their team, so we don’t interact much with the SEO and blog writers.

How did you come to work with Big Leap?

We did a bit of market research to find somebody to handle our social media. We interviewed a couple of companies and ultimately decided to hire Big Leap. After talking to my managers, we chose them based on the slide deck of information they provided. The numbers, content, and professional look and feel of their work were the best path for us. We also enjoyed the time we spent on calls; their team members were the best fit for our company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen continuous yearly growth with their monthly reports. Our ranking on Google has also increased, although it’s a bit more difficult to look at because some updates with Google Analytics have caused the numbers to dip a bit. However, for the most part,  the monthly numbers shoot up and are looking strong, which is really exciting.

How did Big Leap perform from a project management standpoint?

At first, everything was going exceptionally well; they were on top of the project. After a few months, we had to bug them a bit to deliver the blog content. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes there were delays. However, since we have the new team involved, everything has been on time. They’re quick to respond and excellent at getting things to us in a timely manner.

We communicate with them through emails, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. Big Leap uses Slack internally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their SEO service has been outstanding, and they’re willing to understand our brand. When we talked about dropping the social media work, they were very understanding about why were letting it go. They’re always willing to learn and grow; we regularly give them honest feedback so they can do their job as best as possible.

Moreover, they’ve been excellent these past few months. The team delivers on time and ensures all the content is exactly what we want. They do their best to ensure the quality of the content so it doesn’t detract from our work. We make 1–2 suggestions, and the blogs are good to go. Big Leap is 100% on the same page; they learn as much as they can about our company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re in a good position with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a beauty supply company for licensed professionals. We are best known for our Lash Lifting, Brow Lamination and Tinting Supplies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

We hired Big Leap to improve our SEO and drive more traffic to our sites.

SOLUTION

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

Big Leap was recommended to us by a partner who has previously worked with other companies that Big Leap has assisted in meeting their goals.

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

Their team has assisted us in many ways throughout our "Roadmap"

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

Anita has been the team leader throughout our work. Holly has assisted us in our SEO needs. Others join our call occasionally, but Anita and Holly have been our two main team members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Big Leap has been wonderful to work with! Anita and her team are very attentive, organized, and thorough with their work. The SEO work completed by Big Leap has helped take our websites to the next level!

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

Anita is very good at sending our agenda and zoom link before our weekly scheduled call. The roadmap is also helpful to review the next steps that will be taken to reach the goal.

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

Their level of professionalism and knowledge were outstanding, and we have felt very supported throughout this whole process.

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

None. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Urban Orthodontics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

We were transitioning from a previous "all in one" SEO & PPC firm and wanted a more original approach to market our services. Our goal was to increase our online presence and get more leads through google and online.

SOLUTION

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

We were reccomended to Big Leap through one of our consultants.

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

We had a discovery period where they analyzed the previous work which was done on our site. It was very revealing to see that the work was very generic and copy/paste from other sites. They then setforth a plan on how we are going to change our current trajectory and also change certain aspects which would give us control of our own website.

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

We worked 2 people from Big Leap directly. Matt helped get us onboarded and set up a solid plan and helped explain the nuances of what they did and also explained how to read/interpret the data they collected. A lot of hand holding and communication which was important since we had no idea how SEO and PPC worked. Ryan was very involved in the early meeting and is currently our point of contact about anything associated with our practice. They make themselves very available and are excellent communicators. Ryan is also very proactive and works/speaks with other vendors/services we use to make sure things are working properly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have seen an increase in our total number of leads. We are also ranking very well on google and are in the number 1 position for several key words for our industry.

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

We have monthly meetings where we go through the actual results and get an update on how we did. However if we are running any promotions or need to update something they have been very responsive via email and phone.

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

They go out of their way to explain what the did and why. I know to them it is all very easy but for someone who is doctor who knows nothing about SEO it is nice for someone to take their time to provide the indepth insight and dumb it down. I feel they genuinely want their clients to succeed and will make the extra effort to make sure they are doing right by their clients.

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

Overall I like their work. The only thing which at first was mildly annoying was they didn't do Google Ad words and I would have to work with one of their reccomended clients. We have now been working with the reccomended ad words client and have been happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I worked as Social Media & Community Manager at an online review platform. My day to day included helping execute a social media strategy as well as a community management and online reputation strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

We needed extra hands on deck so we worked with Big Leap for SEO services to help improve our rankings in search results.

SOLUTION

How did you select Big Leap and what were the deciding factors?

We did our research, read reviews and testimonials and spoke with lots of agencies, but found that the team at Big Leap was the most qualified for what we were looking to do and the team was great to work with.

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

We worked with Big Leap and helped them get to know our company and goals. They put together short term and long term strategies to achieve those goals and helped us implement those. We worked with Big Leap on optimized content, links, site fixes and clean up, social media posts and more to help improve our rankings and they delivered monthly reports to track our progress.

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

We had an account manager and 2 SEO experts that we met with on a biweekly basis. They always checked in with us on those meetings and via email to make sure we were all in sync and communicating with us regarding any updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since working with Big Leap in implementing SEO efforts, we saw our results in search improve. They definitely helped us reach our goals and delivered what we were looking for.

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

Big Leap was awesome to work with! They're organized and efficient and made sure they communicated everything to the team either in the biweekly meetings or via email. We used Google Suite for most campaigns, which made it easy for both us and them to collaborate on new ideas. They always met any deadlines and always helped in pulling together reports as asked.

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

Big Leap's knowledge and professionalism has been super impressive. They helped the team to understand SEO and how to achieve our goals in a simple way.

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

I can't think of any! They're creative and helpful and always walked us through any new initiatives that they came up with so everyone was really happy with that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a nonprofit organization raising awareness on controversial and polarizing issues.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

Our nonprofit organization works in addressing controversial and polarizing issues. Over the years, our efforts have come under some inaccurate scrutiny from individuals in industries across the aisle, which has unfortunately caused people to have a misunderstanding of our mission.

SOLUTION

How did you select Big Leap and what were the deciding factors?

Big Leap has helped to combat this negative misinformation by creating new content on different websites that directly address this misinformation, all while using the popular keywords and search terms people are usually using when looking for this information.

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

Big Leap has helped by picking content we've created, having their copywriters rework the articles, and find other credible sites to host this content to.

Their team meets with us biweekly to go over results, update us on progress, and address any more of our concerns.

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

We've had several Big Leap team members work with us, however, we've worked most closely with our Account Manager from Big Leap.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The content that Big Leap has helped us create has increased these positive pieces in our Google search ranking and has caused "hit pieces" to rank lower in search results.

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

With our team, Big Leap has used Google Sheets and Google Documents to collaborate with our team on projects.

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

The most impressive part of working with Big Leap has been their understanding of the sensitivity of our work. The importance to correct misinformation.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager of a nonprofit committed to the eradication of child sexual abuse and its impacts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

Big Leap was brought on to help support us in our organic growth goals and to consult on our content development from our in-house team. Our goal was to start ranking for major terms for our services.

SOLUTION

How did you select Big Leap and what were the deciding factors?

We previously had another SEO company who did not work very well with us. Instead of working with us on solutions they consistently told us we needed to change our content and the scope of our offerings to be eligible for more terms. That was a no-go. As such, we did a vendor search from a small pool of companies for a project to launch a new website.

I had previous experience with Big Leap from another job and they were added to the pool. Their proposal was the most cohesive and collaborative of the bunch we got. They also provided an amazing level of support through the project and thus convinced our executives to let us switch to them permanently.

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

Our engagement started by doing a vendor selection and asked each SEO vendor to scope our the project to launch a new website. Big Leap provided that scope and also set up several calls with us to talk through any of our anxiety points as well as to talk through timeline and game plan to make sure we felt supported.

Once they were selected as our vendor, we were in regular communication while launching the website and in the days following. They followed up on all the proper audits and fixes and talked me through additional projects we could undertake in-ouse once they were no longer on the project.

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

We worked with 3 people initially: The Digital Marketing Director, the Digital Marketing Manager/Account Manager, and the Salesman who part part of the initial pitch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website they helped up launch and have subsequently continued to work on has shown triple digit growth over the last 2 years since the launch. Big Leap was also able to help up turn around the negative growth that was happening on another one of our sites and we have seen double digit growth after the initial year of fixing a lot of problems introduced by the previous company.

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

They are very collaborative and supportive. Given the structure of our business, marketing and content creation are separated by departments. Big Leap does an excellent job of bridging those departments and helping us and them form a cohesive team.

They send us monthly reports on our performance as well as reports on additional projects. Recently, Big Leap has helped us with a bunch of content creation and they have consistently been sending us outlines and finished drafts every week.

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

Their willingness to listen to their customer and work collaboratively on solutions, taking into consideration all the quirks that come along with our company.

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

Honestly, no. They have been an excellent vendor.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization is based in Japan, and we’ve recently established a business in the US. We sell haircare products, mainly online. I’m the CFO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Leap?

We were doing our own SEO in Japan, but we had no knowledge of the US market. We needed a professional that knew the market very well, and we found Big Leap.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a 3–6-month contract with Big Leap to create content for our website and establish our brand and website in the US market.

We’re continuing to work with them for SEO. They’re helping to bring our name to the top of Google searches. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–6 people from Big Leap. Right now, we have three resources and a project manager on their end.

How did you come to work with Big Leap?

They were referred to us by a previous advertising company we were using. We were approached by another SEO company, but we ultimately chose Big Leap.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is $70,000–$100,000. We pay a fixed fee each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Big Leap in early January 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In early 2020, our name didn’t come up in the first 50–100 search engine results pages (SERPs). Also, a brand in another company with a similar name to ours always appeared before us. Since we began working with Big Leap, our name has appeared before that other brand. Many people have started clicking on our links.

We’ve gotten really good visibility after just one year of working with Big Leap. We’re running a lot of ads, and almost 99% of our sales used to come from those. Now, as a result of Big Leap’s work, 10–15% of sales are coming from organic traffic.

How did Big Leap perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of our communication is via email. If we have a quick question, we can get in touch with them by phone. 

We also have videoconferences twice a month with everyone on our teams. They have a tool for measuring conversions and other data on their end, and they give us full reports at the end of each month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s definitely their communication. They respond quickly whenever I call them, and they give us the right answer. They’re very supportive, and we can see actual results. Our marketing team had wanted to do SEO for a while, but I never believed that it actually worked. I thought that it was impossible to make a brand visible within a year, but Big Leap flipped my expectations.

Also, they always make sure that the project is on track and never late, and they give us reports and answers at the right time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve been working with them for one year, and there’s nothing that I want to ask them to improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I definitely recommend them. Apart from what I’ve said so far, pricing is definitely a reason to work with Big Leap. Their price is fixed, so they don’t overcharge us.

They never give us unexpected surprises at the end of the month, and the work quality is always the same. I’ve worked with two other companies, and they always gave us unexpected prices at the end. I think that most other companies do that, but not Big Leap — we can work with them without worrying.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a custom software development company. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Leap, and what were your goals?

We hired Big Leap to lead the efforts on the SEO of our website and also direct the content strategy for us as we try to increase our visibility and authority online.

SOLUTION

How did you select Big Leap and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Big Leap due to their expertise and depth in SEO. They also already understood our industry and had great ideas on how we could stand out from the rest of the crowd.

The deciding factors mainly centered around finding the right partner for us, someone that would see themselves as an extension of us rather than a vendor. We also had a budget that we needed to fit under. Big Leap checked both of those boxes and gave us a proposal that showed us they could check both of those boxes.

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

The engagement started out with an in-depth audit of our site and overall presence online. They then created a detailed roadmap that outlined what work would be completed each month. The work was focused on optimizing the site on-site, off-site, and a content creation strategy. They were able to quickly knock out the on-site optimizations at the beginning and then move to off-site and content.

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

We worked with at least 5 people on their team. We had SEO strategist, content creators, the head of business development among others.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Yes, we quickly started ranking in the top 10 pages for almost all of the core keywords we were targeting. We also within a month were ranking #1 for our company name, which we had problems with in the past. The work is ongoing and we continue to see an increase in rankings each month.

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

They kept us updated each step of the way as they onboarded us and throughout the ongoing monthly fulfillment. We had bi-weekly calls with the team to go over progress and the upcoming work.

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

They really are a partner instead of just a vendor. I felt they did a great job of putting themselves in my shoes and understanding my concerns and apprehensions. They were transparent about what I could expect and what I shouldn't expect. This has led to a healthy and productive partnership between our company and Big Leap.

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

It's really hard to find something here, but there is always room for improvement. They did an excellent job on everything we've done so far. The only thing I can think of is the actual content creation. Our industry is really tough to write for and requires a lot of expertise. They have done a great job, but if there was one thing I had to point out it would be going deeper on the content.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of demand generation for a company in the training, learning, and development space. We sell courses and products that help people in a number of different ways.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Leap?

I brought them on board to start building our SEO channel. Our company has a great reputation in our space but organically, people couldn't find us. We had a ton of content but needed people to be able to find it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Big Leap primarily helps build our organic traffic. They help with strategy, implementation, and execution.

We leverage them for a number of use cases, such as content generation and content marketing initiatives. They create content to help us rank for certain terms and topics. Their team helps with optimization too. If a piece of content isn’t performing, they’ll take a look and figure out why.

Big Leap did a competitive market analysis and now, they’re creating a strategy based on their findings. We also have strategies in place, and their team uses their expertise to optimize them. They perform technical SEO audits to optimize our website too.

What is the team composition?

On a week-to-week basis, I work with 1–2 people from Big Leap. However, the team changes in some cases.

How did you come to work with Big Leap?

I found them through coworker referrals.

How much have you invested with them?

Their services cost between $50,000–$80,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them at my current organization in January 2021, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ultimately, I measure our organic search ROI. Additionally, I track traffic, click-through rates, and keyword rankings, which are leading indicators of their campaigns’ success.

In a previous role with them, we did a lot of training with our internal team that was in charge of producing content. We basically didn’t have to train Big Leap. We spent about a month measuring the difference in performance between Big Leap’s content and our internal team’s content. In almost every case, Big Leap’s content outperformed our own.

How did Big Leap perform from a project management standpoint?

Big Leap’s organized and in some cases, we leverage their project management offerings. We will also pass them into our own project management system for other projects. We seamlessly work together and no matter the form of project management, the work gets done. They’re a great partner because their team can help on a variety of different fronts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Big Leap connects the dots. A lot of SEO agencies are fluffy but not Big Leap. They build specific strategies based on our goals. Their team also has great project management skills. They create project road maps and monitor them. If we need to make a change, Big Leap communicates it to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Broadly, I’m pleased with their project management. However, there are opportunities for individual improvements. Big Leap should also try to prove a project’s ROI. It’s often the client that needs to prove it, but it would be easier if their team did it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want but also be open to them providing their expertise. If you don’t know what you want, it’s easy to be steamrolled. It’s important to have an experienced member on your team if you want to scale your offering. Have a solid contact in-house running the day-to-day operations.